Sweet Bird of Youth ( Tennessee Williams) - Analysis of Act 1 PDF

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Summary about Act 1 in the play 'Sweet Bird of Youth' by Tennessee Williams, where the language, themes and quotes used are described in deep detail with context provided. This is followed by both historical and literature analysis as the play is set in the 1950's....

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Sweet Bird of Youth – Analysis of Act 1    

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The primary motifs are time, dreams, opportunities and belonging DOBT The play is primarily about time and its effects on humans In addition, it’s worth mentioning that, due to its examination of corruption and lost innocence, Sweet Bird of Youth can be linked to the Biblical book of Genesis, one of the first literary accounts of humankind’s corruption of innocence via sexual activity. In fact, Boss wants Heavenly to wear the “stainless white” of a “virgin” so that people won’t speak badly about her and the operation she had. Despite his insistence, she protests, and they start arguing. Before long, though, Boss Finley embraces her and tells her that she’s “still” beautiful. Act 1 Scene 1 –

You’ve latched onto a princess? - mocking tone, sheer disbelief, the verb latch is callous and shows chance as a leech essentially, desperate  ‘In this letter I just told you that a certain girl we know had to go through an awful experience, a tragic ordeal, because of past contact with you.’ – shows chance corrupts other people and leaves disaster in his wake  The fact that Chance doesn’t even know his own mother has died suggests that he is too preoccupied by his own life to bother paying attention to other people, even if they are close to him. Indeed, Scudder is right to point out that Chance seems more interested in this woman named Heavenly than he is in checking on his mother. In turn, the audience sees that Chance’s priorities are a bit misaligned, as he clearly prioritizes his desires over his obligations.  ‘shes gone – why talk about it? – shows his cold tone, theme of escapism and denial  ‘the father of this girl wrote out a prescription for you, a sort of medical prescription, which is castration. You’d better think about that, that would deprive you of all you’ve got to get by on.” - this unnamed girl’s father wants to castrate Chance suggests again that people in St. Cloud see him as someone who corrupts the purity of others, especially through sexual exploits.  Also implying if he’s castrated he has nothing else going for him, shows how little success he has despite his bragging 

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Responding to Scudder’s remark about castration, Chance says, “I’m used to that threat. I’m not going to leave St. Cloud without my girl.” – highlights him being delusional as he doesn’t even know whats occurring in her life, living a fantasy Chance is “used to” the threat of castration, this statement reinforces the idea that he must use his good looks and sexuality to his own benefit. Indeed, that people often want to castrate him once again underlines the idea that he is seen as someone who sexually corrupts others and is toxic. ‘I thought that having me with you to protect you would stop these attacks of panic, I..’ - Chance is surprised that the Princess has panic attacks in his presence, a sentiment that demonstrates just how much confidence he has in his ability to put people at ease, even strangers. It’s clear, then, that he’s accustomed to having a certain effect on people, perhaps because he’s used to being seen as good-looking and desirable. Also highlights his desire to be wanted, to have a purpose in at least someone’s life after he is constantly rejected.

‘a pinkie and a vodka’ – shows how she faces her problems, and Chance too in a nonhealth way, after having just woken up implying she wants to be numb from any psychological distress her past gives her  ‘Adrenalin pumps in my blood and I get short winded – that’s all, that’s all there is to it’ - By saying that her panic attacks are merely “adrenalin” getting “pumped” into her blood, the Princess tries to normalize her anxiety, breaking it down into a tangible biological process and thus making it less likely to overwhelm her emotionally/reduce the size of the problem she isn’t dealing with  Of course, while this might help temporarily, it is a rather escapist attitude toward emotional health (just like chance when he takes a pinkie with aunt nonnie), and it becomes clear that the Princess is actively trying to avoid her own thoughts.  Her repetition of ‘that’s that’s all’ highlights her denial and a means of convincing herself ‘plump lady’ ‘disappointment you had last month’ – trying to encourage her up to get  her out of her memory block, knows how to push her buttons but she’s determined not to reflect on it. Also may be a means to comment on someone else’s appearance fading away besides his own, tearing her down to make himself feel better  The Princess tries to get a better look at Chance, saying that she doesn’t mind “waking up in an intimate situation with someone,” but that she prefers to know what that person looks like, at least. – implies chance is disposable, she is the female version of him, also sleeps around for the sake of it  ‘I used to be the best looking boy in town’ – reference of ‘boy’ shows how long ago it was but how he still holds on to that notion, and used to shows he’s still living in the past  Williams presents Chance as a strikingly good-looking man, but also makes sure to note that Chance’s beauty is fading and the pressure of time that comes with it. Indeed, even Chance himself says that he used to be the “best-looking boy” in town. In this way, the audience understands that Chance has in recent years undergone a gradual transformation as he replaces his youthful looks with his current “ravaged” appearance.  When princess is feeling chance up, he feels like a ‘piece of goods’ – reverse gender roles, he is like a woman where only his outer appearance is deemed worthy and he has no input.  Princess only likes ‘bodies to be hairless, silky-smooth gold’ – implies an inhumane nature, cold almost, doesn’t want a real relationship, nothing substantial in means to avoid reality  ‘Chance obeying this instruction by knocking the glasses sharply on the bed table’ – the stage direction shows he’s on her whim and call, however secretly he is angry about the manner he has been degraded to since he believes he should be a Hollywood star, his actions betray his passive words  The Princess wants to call the manager to ask where she is and who she’s with, but Chance tells her to calm down, pulling her to himself on the bed. As she lies against him – ‘he pulls her into his arms, she rests…like a trapped rabbit’  Although Chance’s motivations regarding his relationship with the Princess aren’t yet clear, it’s obvious that his intentions aren’t entirely wholesome, since he actively stops her from calling the hotel manager to ask who he is. 

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What’s more, it’s worth noting that he manipulates her attraction to him in order to keep her from calling the manager. He uses his good looks and charm—his sexual energy —to his advantage by convincing her to come lie in his arms.

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‘he takes hold of her shoulders’ – indicates he wants to have control of something at least in his downward spiraling life of drugs, booze and sex

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‘chance glances at her with his flickering smile and laughs softly’ - he doesn’t bother to give his full attention to look only a passing glance, and the smile is referred to as ‘the’ not ‘a’ meaning it’s his signature smile acting as a façade, a ploy he uses with his women so his whole interaction with her is fake

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‘I was stopped.. what,by a cop?.. no, no cop but I was arrested by something else’ - It seems as if Chance has his own personal demons that he can’t fully escape. This is perhaps why he feels like he was “arrested by something” in St. Cloud, as if he couldn’t possibly pass by without attending to whatever it is that is bothering him. Of course, the audience has already learned that he is a wayward man who seems to travel as a way of escaping his personal demons, but now for once he is not trying to escape his mistakes and is now determined to fix them, perhaps a fresh start in his hometown if he can’t get a start outside of it.

Vs Princess who wants to continue avoiding her past and make no amends, with the confrontation of it “Oh God, I remember the thing I wanted not to. The goddam end of my life!” causing her pure distress. 

‘an infinite stretch of nothing but water (she cries softly) – princess cries as it could be a reflection of her life, that the same applies to her where nothing lies ahead except misery and how she feels like she’s drowning

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He triggers these memories of princess’s to get him juicy stuff for his tape, shows his manipulative nature deep down despite his shallow sympathetic one he puts on for princess

‘Don’t you know what it is, you beautiful, stupid young man? It’s hashish, Moroccan, the finest.’ - Summarises chance perfectly  ‘I knew in my heart that the legend of Alexandra del lago couldn’t be separated from an appearance of youth – refers to herself as a legend, highlights her ego much like Chance as being the best thing around, but ‘legend’ implies a sense of oldness much like Chances once beautiful looks.  she has always seen her fame as directly related to “an appearance of youth,” investing herself in a superficial sense of beauty that inevitably must fade, much like chance that their success rate goes down as so do their looks. Not worthy anymore  hashish, drugs and young lovers help to ‘put to sleep the tiger that raged in my nerves.. unsatisfied and raging’ – implies she is pacing internally, mulling over her career and caged within a box of misery

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‘I wandered like a lost nomad’ – highlights her lack of direction in life, has no purpose so she turns to sex and drugs as a distraction ‘ I turned.. fell and rolled, rolled’ – the repetition highlights a never-ending motion, constantly in a downward spiral, reflects the endless turmoil since ‘the gulf of misunderstanding between me and you’ – ironic since they were quite similar, both fear time, being forgotten etc yet the metaphor also highlights the vast emotional distance between them as their relationship is quite shallow; princess using chance for distraction and chance for her fame

‘I cannot imagine what possessed me to let you know…princess don’t forget that this stuff is yours, that you provided me with it’ - Although the Princess has just told a long story about herself—one in which she reveals her deepest insecurities—Chance is rather uninterested. Instead of engaging with her tale, he swiftly changes the subject. Although it’s not yet clear to the audience why he brings up drug smuggling now, his abrupt interruption of her story highlights his inability to empathize with others.  Indeed, rather than listening with kindness to the Princess’s story and talking with her about her emotional troubles, he coldly shunts the conversation in another direction, one that will benefit him somehow, hence showing his manipulative nature and how he intends to benefit from her moment of weakness.  ‘the lament’ as a motif - Williams uses The Lament to signal shifts in the general mood and atmosphere. In this moment, The Lament seems to play because the Princess has once again mentioned “the disaster” from which she has fled, and doing so inspires a strange mood, one that destabilizes the play’s ordinary feeling.  Yet again, though, Chance remains completely uninfluenced by the Princess’s distress. Instead of kindly talking to her about what’s going through her head, he reminds her that she promised to help him become famous, once more revealing just how obsessed he is with himself.  ‘…and made the grade almost, but not quite, every time… Something always blocks me’ – again projecting his insecurities on an outer force, never his fault As he says this ‘the lament’ fades back in and the Princess asks him if fear is what holds him back. “No,” he says, “not fear, but terror.” He expresses a self-awareness in this moment, one that suggests that he understands he’s not especially talented as an actor, hence explaining his desperation to have princess under his thumb somehow to use her to help launch his career 

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‘chance, come back to your youth, put off this false ugly hardness’ – trying to save him from her fate, ironic ‘ugly’ contrasts to his handsome looks, his sour attitude is further ruining his beauty. ‘Princess, all this conversation has been recorded on tape…this is blackmail, is it?’ both Chance and the Princess drop all pretenses of treating each other with dignity. Instead, they bluntly state what they want from each other, since each of them wants to use the other as a means to some end. In Chance’s case, he intends to blackmail the Princess into making him famous. In the Princess’s case, she intends to sleep with Chance as a way of forgetting about her troubles and—perhaps—her old age. As such, it’s not hard to see that their relationship is twisted and corrupted by ulterior motives. ‘no wonder you didn’t make good in your comeback picture’ – chance is making a dig and being spiteful, however at least she was successful enough to have any movies, much a less a come back one

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You were well-born… a laurel wreath on your forehead, given too early, without enough effort to earn it – laurel wreath often given as symbols of victory to a champion, yet chance is no winner of anything, if anything a loser as he has no talent except his looks, even then they are dwindling vs alexandra, a woman who has worked her way to the top ‘where’s your book full of little theatre notices and stills that show you in the background of… your leaky fountain pen’ – princess’s patronizing tone highlights chance’s failure and how she’s almost thinking of his blackmail as a game, a cute attempt by a failed actor to manipulate THE Alexandra del lago, she will play along with his game – him being in the background implies how they are both aware chance is never first choice and will always remain irrelevant ‘through the act of love-making’ – ironic as their toxic relationship is nothing but that, however this agreement is a means of illusion for princess to feel good about herself, as if she herself and chance don’t hate her, shows her living a pretense and how the whole process sounds quite stiff and mechanical as she is ordering it, it’s not coming about naturally as he’s using it as a distraction not a means of focus. ‘you mustn’t hang on your silly little idea that you can increase your value by turning away and looking into the window’ – ironic as she is telling him to face reality out of all people, time for chance to take his life seriously and stop acting as if its all a movie ‘now get a little sweet music on…make me almost believe we are almost a pair of young lovers without any shame’ – this highlights princess’s longing for youth and chance’s desire of what should have occurred between him and heavenly, no stigma attached to their young passionate love. The sweet music is to cover up the bitter reality of the true nature between them, to tune out their toxic thoughts meanwhile, acts as a distraction for a while

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‘white silk pyjamas… wearing dark slacks, socks etc’ – a stark contrast of attire from the previous scene, perhaps his dreams have been dashed once more and he has taken on a more dire persona ‘tell me your life story…let’s make it your audition, a sort of screen test for you’ – princess is obsessed with acting, much like chance sees everything as an act, not tuned in with reality ‘the little crowd I was in with, that I used to be the star of’ – highlights how he felt the king of the world, again the repetition of ‘used to’ shows him reminiscing of his past, as he no longer attracts the same attention from one person much a less a crowd. ‘what I had was… BEAUTY! Say it! Say it!’ - Both Chance and the Princess invest themselves in their own “beauty.” In fact, this superficiality means so much to them that it’s the primary thing they talk about when reflecting upon their respective pasts. Chance, for his part, has always felt that his good looks mean he’s destined for “something better” than the people with whom he grew up. With this, Williams showcases the vapid assumption that beauty entitles a person to success for chance ‘expected..to get something better’ ‘such famous names as vanderbrooks and Master and halloway .. named mentioned daily in columns’ – chance lists these names proudly as if he acted with them or did

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something honourable, sleeping around is a profession for him, however deep down he wished his name was on that column too. “Middle-aged people I gave back a feeling of youth. Lonely girls? Understanding, appreciation! An absolutely convincing show of affection. Sad people, lost people? Something light and uplifting!” – chance seems himself as a true giver here as if hes doing these women a favor by ‘love making’ as If he truly changed their lives for the better, if anything he practiced acting the most through his sleeping ways by practicing how to be loving and caring, hence why he can conceal his shallowness around princess. He does seem to derive some sort of pleasure out of his experience as a gigolo, as evidenced by his enthusiasm regarding his ability to give people “a feeling of youth” or “appreciation.” Which in turn soon leads to be the reason how he gives heavenly a std ‘it would blaze with it, then that thing in korea came along’ – in regards to how his presence back in saint cloud sent everyone excited however the recruitment for korea killed his vibe, highlights his dismissive tone as if he visiting his town is more important than war ‘by the time I got out, Christ knows, I might nearly be 30!’ – makes it seems he had a prison sentence to serve and only leaving prison then, hilarious to audience that peak of youth is already diminished by almost 30 for chance, but for him it’s a real fear showing how irrational his fears are but how they affect him to such an extent he leaves the army over a nervous breakdown

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‘in a life like mine.. you’ve got to keep going right on up…’ Once again, Chance feels as if he deserves more than the average person and that he’s on a different level that most people can’t comprehend, hence the separation of his life versus others. Because he’s handsome and charming, he can’t fathom the idea of growing old in the Navy.

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‘I ran my comb through my hair one morning and noticed that 8 or 10 hairs had come out’ - The fact that he has a panic attack after finding several gray hairs only reinforces his obsession with superficial notions of beauty. ‘that was when heavenly became more important to me than anything’ – when chance’s return to st.cloud doesn’t generate its general buzz like in the newspaper and receives cold but polite return from people, only then does he finally focus on heavenly as he has nothing else or no one else wanting him “the great difference between people in this world is not between the rich and the poor or the good and the evil, the biggest of all differences in this world is between the ones that had or have pleasure in love and those that haven’t and hadn’t any pleasure in love.” - When Chance says that the “great difference between people in this world” is whether or not they’ve had “pleasure in love,” he reveals the strange way he conceives of love: not as an emotional connection between people, but as something that satisfies desire and lust. This is important to keep in mind as Sweet Bird of Youth progresses, since Chance’s love for Heavenly often seems as if it has more to do with rather arbitrary pleasures than genuine connection, as if just seeing her physically nothing deeper. ‘hands princess a snapshot’ – picture of heavenly at 15 on the beach acts as a frozen anchor of his youth, reminds him of his prime ‘so… im being used? Why not? Even a dead race horse is used to make glue’ – princess views herself in a brutal way ,realistic about her usage now as a washed up old star ‘so...