Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Mendacity, Lies and Ambiguity

Mendacity, the quality of being untruthful or having the tendency to lie, is a theme that resonates throughout Tennessee Williams’ play, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The art of lying is also examined in one of Mark Twain’s short stories, Was it Heaven? Or Hell?. Both authors discuss the detrimental effects of lying especially lying through the character’s hypocritical actions. Ambiguity is the other tool that Williams uses effectively throughout his works. It is used to increase the dramatic tension within the play and add realistic aspects for life is not black and white, there is always some grey. Through out the duration of this essay I will be discussing Williams use of ambiguity as well as his dislike of mendacity.

This play is about a Southern aristocratic family who is getting together for Big Daddy’s (the father) 65th birthday. It begins with Brick, the “favorite” son of Big Daddy, spent his time drinking. His wife, Margaret is childless and wants to have a child so that they can secure their chances for the inheritance. Gooper, the other son, works with his wife, Mae, at impressing Big Daddy so that they could win his inheritance. Throughout the duration of the play, the characters try to protect and not upset Big Daddy through repetitive lies via their behaviors as well as their words. At one section in the play, Big Daddy forces Brick to give a reason for his alcoholism. Brick attributes his alcoholism to mendacity. Big Daddy responds with stories about the mendacity that he has had to put up with his business as well as the mendacity in his family. In this play

Similarly, lying is also a major theme in one of Mark Twin’s short stories, Was it Heaven? Or Hell? In this story, a small family consisting of a mother, her daughter, and their two elderly aunts, faces a problem for the mother is suffering from tuberculosis and is on her death bed. In this small family, morals are taught to an extreme even to the degree that when the young girl confessed that she lied, the two aunts felt it necessary to disturb the bedridden woman about the small trouble. The mother’s doctor chided the aunts for their careless behaviors and for their tactless disruption of the ill mother. He rebuked them for their false-righteous actions saying that though they were “correcting” one lie, that the two of them lie constantly through their thoughtless and even hurtful actions, not always through their words. He then dared them to abandon their false niceties, and try to help their sick niece and to help others and not bother them with all the problems happening around. This meant, if they had to utter a lie to help easy the suffering of a person, that should be done rather then focus on their self-centered interest of “saving their souls”.

The doctor really has the personality and understanding as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Both men were fed up with people “buttering up” or being presenting a façade and false image to others and trying to lead exemplary life on the outside, while always maintaining ulterior motives to their actions. In Was it Heaven? Or Hell?, the doctor had to deal with the mendacity of the two aunts who refrained from lying with their mouth, but lied through their actions or through their false kindness that they showed to others. In the same way, Big Daddy was annoyed with May and Gooper who tried to hypocritically curry favor between them and Big Daddy so as to receive his inheritance. Likewise, Margaret appeared to want to get pregnant so that she could be the principle recipient of Big Daddy’s inheritance. The mendacity that was expressed by the characters in this family is one of the many things that Williams was trying to address and critique.

Williams’ apparent dislike of mendacity and hypocrisy resonated through this particular play. Mark Twain reverberates the same vibes throughout his short story about false righteousness, and lying through one’s actions. Michael Josephson, founder of the Josephson Institute provided a rather interesting view on the subject of lying. In his commentary called “If You’re in a Hole, Stop Digging,” he brought to light the idea that despite the natural tendency of humans to cover up the truth so as to distance them from the discomfort it may cause. This cover up is almost always worse then the original problem, and eventually the truth will come out. This is true in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, when Brick is finally forced to examine his relationship with Skipper, and to come out from hiding under the guise of an alcoholic. Similarly, the truth that the aunts refused to confess to the dying mother about the illness of her child, in Was it Heaven? Or Hell?, eventually would be brought forward when the mother meets up with her daughter in heaven. In both circumstances, the perpetrators’ actions would be uncovered and yet they postponed the inevitable.

The hypocrisy characters of Mae, Gooper, and Margaret in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and the two aunts in Was it Heaven? Or Hell, both exercised a certain sense of truthfulness, it was just not the whole truth. Ferdinand De Saussure, in his Course in General Linguistics discusses the signs and signifiers of the verbal and non-verbal components of language. In essence, the word “a” in English can be an article normally referring to one item; however, in Spanish, this same word means the preposition to. Though it is the same signifier, what is signified is very different. Using his knowledge and understanding, it is arguable that the things that they were doing was the correct and truthful thing from their point of view. But just as “a” can mean many different things from different points of view, their actions may be not as admirable as they wish them to be interpreted.

Similarly with Saussure, as the mother’s illness worsened, the two aunts began to take care of her. Regrettably, after visiting her mother, the young daughter also contracted the illness. Keeping with the dare of the doctor and in attempt to not bring along undue pain, the two aunts began to fabricate the condition of the young girl, refusing to tell of her illness. At first, the girl was able to write notes to her mother to keep the mother’s hope up, but as the girl got sicker, the aunts began to write notes to the mother in her stead. The notes were laced with alluding to the reality of the situation, however, it was told in such a way that from the point of view of the mother reading them, the girl seemed to be feeling fine. In this way, the notes signified one idea in the situation of the aunts and signified a very different idea for the mother. The double connotation of these letters sent by the aunts is successful because of the ambiguity or vagueness of the words used. Mark Twain uses ambiguity to great effect to propel his story and add some effect to it, just as Tennessee Williams uses it to add drama to his own works.

Ambiguity, the art of vagueness, is a tool that is utilized by both authors to enhance the duplicity and similarly the sense of care and sensitivity shown by the characters. Tennessee Williams uses it to add drama and to leave the viewers the opportunity to decide what they feel about the characters and the plot. Examples of the use of this ploy include the possibility of Brick having homosexual tendencies toward his late friend, Skipper. Also there is the possibility of Brick bedding with Margaret at the end, to rectify her lie of being pregnant. This same use of ambiguity is exploited in Mark Twain’s short story. Throughout the story, the two aunts lie to the mother by being ambiguous with their words, and not explaining the full truth of the situation. Furthermore, at the end of the book, an angel comes to question their motives and to establish whether they were destined for heaven or hell, a question that is left to the discretion of the reader.

Thus, it is through the reading and understanding of these works, the reader can understand the author’s view about the mendacity shown and illustrated by and through these characters. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Williams articulated his dislike for mendacity in the current era. Likewise, Mark Twain used his books and short stories to display his apparent for false righteousness an hypocrisy especially concerning lying. Finally, it was through their writings, and the employing the use of ambiguity to add drama and to allow the audience to impose their own views on the situation, that they were able to better reach their readers and better broadcast their opinions and ideas to a larger audience, so that they eventually could have that they were able to better reach their readers and better broadcast their opinions and ideas to a larger audience, so that they eventually could have a bigger effect on a greater amount of people.


Works Cited

Josephson, Michael. "If You’re in a Hole, Stop Digging 613.3." Michael Josephson Commentary. 07 Apr 2009. Josephson Institute, Web. 12 Oct 2009. .

Twain, Mark. "Was it Heaven? or Hell?." The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. Ed. Charles Neider. Garden City, New York: Hanover House, 1953. Print.

Williams, Tennessee. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." The Theatre of Tennessee Williams. Volume 3. New York, New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1990. Print.