Quick Guide: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

By Students' Academy

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” by Tennessee Williams is a Four Act play. It was first enacted in 1955. The play was produced by the Playwrights’ Company.

It is known as one of the best known plays written by Tennessee Williams, and it is also said to be the author’s favourite.

The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955.

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” is set in a plantation home in the Mississippi Delta. The place belongs to Big Daddy Pollitt. He happens to be a very rich cotton tycoon.

The play explores the relationships among the members of Big Daddy’s family. He happens to be close to his son Brick and his son’s wife Maggie, the ‘Cat’ in the play.

Quick Guide: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Summary
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Chapter Five: Critical Commentary

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Oct 7, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301274765

Students' Academy

Easy study guides for the students of English literature.

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Quick Guide: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Copyright

Quick Guide: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

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Chapter One: Introduction

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams is a Four Act play. It was first enacted in 1955. The play was produced by the Playwrights’ Company.

It is known as one of the best known plays written by Tennessee Williams, and it is also said to be the author’s favourite.

The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is set in a plantation home in the Mississippi Delta. The place belongs to Big Daddy Pollitt. He happens to be a very rich cotton tycoon.

The play explores the relationships among the members of Big Daddy’s family. He happens to be close to his son Brick and his son’s wife Maggie, the ‘Cat’ in the play.

Social mores, avarice, mendacity, superficiality, decay, sexual desires, repression, and death are some of the recurring motifs in the play.

The dialogue in the play is often presented phonetically to clarify the accents of the Southern United States.

The movie of the same name Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was produced in 1958. The film starred Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman as Maggie and Brick, respectively.

The play was revived in 1974, with substantial excisions and alterations made by Tennessee Williams.

Up to the present time the 1974 version is popular and there have been several revivals of the play.

It has also been included in the course of study for the students of English Literature at several schools and colleges in English speaking countries.

Chapter Two: Plot Summary

The play tells the story of a Southern family that happens to be in a crisis of mutual understanding and family bonds.