Summary Of Tennessee Williams 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

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Tennessee Williams, a famous playwright and author of A Streetcar Named Desire, wrote “What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains.” He wrote this to speak out against the harsh treatment of homosexuals during the 1950s and to emphasize that gays are still people. Homosexuals were treated inhumanely and were perceived as blemishes on society. Tennessee Williams also attacks this maltreatment in his 1958 play, Suddenly Last Summer. The play revolves around the deceased Sebastian Venable and the true story of his death. Sebastian is an avid poet that is forced to hide his homosexuality, and after years of oppressing his feelings, he finally releases his frustrations, …show more content…
San Sebastian was also a homosexual, and he was in love with Emperor Diocletian. Diocletian was persecuting Christians at the time, yet San Sebastian decided to continue pursuing Diocletian, leading to San Sebastian’s capture. Diocletian ordered for archers of Mauritania to shoot San Sebastian to death; however, he survived, and a widowed woman saves his life and helps him recover (Debusscher 19). San Sebastian decided to pursue Diocletian again, but this time, after “recovering from his surprise, [Diocletian] gave orders for [San Sebastian] to be seized and beaten to death with cudgels and his body thrown into the common sewer”, ensuring that San Sebastian was dead (Debusscher 20). San Sebastian’s body is recovered by a different woman and is buried properly. Every element of this story can be directly attributed to Sebastian Venable and his rash actions after years of oppressing his homosexuality. Annually, Sebastian would pursue lovers and release his sexual feelings, and each year, his mother, a widow, would be there to save Sebastian from death. In Sebastian’s final summer, Catharine, a different woman, is with him instead of his mother. Sebastian once again pursues his potential suitors, and after using them excessively for his sexual release, he tries to return to normalcy. This time, his mother is not present to protect Sebastian (Debusscher 20). Catharine recalls the events that
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