Women’s Quest for Identity in Tennessee Williams

American woman’s struggle for a better representation of her identity has never been easy. Her claim to an independent self, even after the patriarchal system in the Northern American society gave way to a more liberal gender representation early in the twentieth century, remained subjected to her relationship with man. However, in the decades that followed, echoes of woman’s yearning for recognition were heard in the writings of many American dramatists, such as Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller, and Tennessee Williams. This study aims at analyzing how Tennessee Williams demonstrates in his plays the means by which his female protagonists realize an inner power that helps them achieve an identity of their own. The study focuses its analysis on the role assigned to Hannah Jelkes, the major female character in The Night of the Iguana