Mendacity and Crap

       While I was not particularly fond of the play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, I did enjoy the underlying themes, backstory and the overall connection to King Lear by William Shakespeare. The most profound connection that I saw between the two plays, was that of Big Daddy and King Lear. Both men seemed to have favorites when it came to their children, however they seemed to have the most trouble with the child that was their favorite. For King Lear his favorite daughter Cordelia gave him trouble as she would not profess her love to him before everyone to get her piece of his kingdom. This thoroughly upset Lear and he banished her and no longer called her his daughter. For Big Daddy his son Brick was clearly the favorite when it came down to it. However, Brick was an alcoholic and was thought to have had relations with another man. While the other children were discussed in both the plays, Gooper in COAHTR and Regan and Goneril in KL, the men seemed most distraught when it came to their other children Cordelia and Brick. 

      A huge theme in the play was mendacity which means untruthfulness. Big Daddy stressed the importance of being truthful to Brick and how everything revolves around it. This was ironic as his entire family was being untruthful to him about his health and Gooper through this all was trying to swoop in to gain control of the family business for when his father died. Also, this theme is shown in King Lear as Goneril and Regan lied to their father about how much they loved him just to get bits of his land and kingdom for themselves. The girls and Gooper had ulterior motives when it came down to it and were merely looking out for themselves.

      Although I did not particularly enjoy the play, I thought that it was cast very well and that the scene was wonderful. I also enjoyed seeing the many parallels between Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams and King Lear by William Shakespeare.

--posted on behalf of Avery Postema