Beginning of Essay
Thesis: The outcasts in Tennessee Williams's major plays suffer, not because of the acts or situations which make them outcasts but because of the destructive effect of conventional morality upon them. More than a half century has passed since critics and theater ....

Middle of Essay
.... in violent juxtaposition" (The Rose Tattoo 151). Williams's plays outline a struggle between the moral values of non-conformists, who are outcasts because they can not, or will not, conform to the values of the dominant culture, and of conformists, who represent that culture. The outcast characters in Tennessee Williams's major plays do not suffer because of the actions or circumstances that make them outcast but because of the destructive impact of conventional morality upon them. The outcasts are driven, in the conflict between their values and those of conventional morality, to: 1) confess their transgressions against conventional morality, and 2) ....