Maggie And Brick example essay topic

In the play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" Brick and Maggie don't have the best relationship, their marriage is going through a "slum". Brick is an alcoholic who basically quit life, he doesn't work, show his love towards his beautiful wife Maggie or show any emotions or thought towards anyone. Maggie is struggling to fix her marriage and to get Brick to love her again. It appears that Maggie does love Brick but the reason she loves him is not so obvious. Maggie might actually love Brick because of who he is and what they once shared but it seems that she may love him just to get to Big Daddy's (Brick's rich dad who is dying of cancer) money.

In the first scene of the play Maggie tries so hard to get through to Brick, to find out what is going on in his head and why he won't pay attention to her". When something is festering in your memory or your imagination, laws of silence don't work, it's just like shutting a door and locking it on a house on fire in hope of forgetting that the house is burning. But not facing a fire doesn't put it out. Silence about a thing just magnifies it. It grows and festers in silence, becomes malignant". (pg. 622) Here Maggie is trying to get Brick to tell her what he was thinking while he was staring at her in the mirror earlier.

She also says that him not talking to her only makes the problem bigger, they can't fix the problem if you ignore the problem and run away from it. This is what Brick tends to do, which is shown in his response", Give me my crutch". (pg. 622) Here she tries to reach out to Brick and it appears that she may love him. Two major problems for Brick and Maggie are that they do not have any children and Brick is an alcoholic. These two problems work against them in getting into Big Daddy's will since the only competition is Gooper who has 5 children. Maggie says that she would like to have children". MARGARET: I do SO like children!

Adore them! - well brought up!" (pg. 627) Once again, the reasoning behind Maggie wanting children is not so clear. It seems she may only want children to have more of a chance of getting in the will and to please Big Mama who is constantly reminding her that she doesn't have any children " BIG MAMA: Something's not right! You " re childless and my son drinks!" (pg. 629) Maggie tries to talk to Brick about having children but once again, he doesn't want anything to do with the problem or her". I've been completely examined, and there is no reason why we can't have a child whenever we want one.

And this is my time by the calendar to conceive. Are you listening to me? Are you? Are you LISTENING TO ME! BRICK: Yes. I hear you, Maggie...

But how in hell on earth do you imagine - that you are going to have a child by a man that can't stand you?" (pg. 636) This brings up another problem in their relationship; Brick can not stand Maggie. In the past, in hope for Brick to notice her and in love for Brick, she sleeps with his best friend Skipper. Skipper also wanted Brick to notice him. ."..

Skipper and I made love, if love you could call it, because it made both of us feel a little bit closer to you... ". (pg. 633) Brick holds this against Maggie because it ruined his friendship with Skipper which is the thing he valued the most". One man has one great good true thing in his life. One great good thing which is true! - I had a friendship with Skipper.

- You are naming it dirty!" Not love with you Maggie, but friendship with Skipper was that one great true thing, and you are naming it dirty!" (pg. 634) Even though Brick shows all of this hatred against Maggie, she will not leave him or cheat on him as of yet, even though he says he is ok with it and asks her non-stop why she won't. Maggie and Brick were talking about how she had the opportunity to cheat on Brick with Sonny Boy Maxwell, but she didn't and he asks why. She responded " And have someone catch me at it? I am not stupid. Oh, I might sometime cheat on you with someone, since you " re so insultingly eager to have me do it! - But if I do, you can be damned sure it will be in a place and a time where no one but me and the man could possibly know.

Because I'm not going to give you any excuse for being unfaithful or anything else... ". (Pg. 631) Maggie wants Brick to want her. She tells him how other men want her and they look at her, and she tells him how she still looks good. She makes it seem like she might love Brick but she is constantly bring up money and this brings up the question if her reason for not leaving is because of her love for him or because she wants to get Big Daddy's money". You can be young without money, but you can't be old with out it.

You " ve got to be old with money because to be old without it is just too awful, you " ve got to be one or the other, either young or with money, you can't be old and without it. - That's the truth, Brick... ". (Pg. 633) " Mae an' Gooper are plannin' to freeze us out of Big Daddy's estate because you drink and I'm childless. But we can defeat that plan.

We " re going to defeat that plan!" (Pg. 632) So in conclusion, in the first scene Maggie and Brick seem to still be married for their own reasons, which isn't for love. Maggie was once in love with Brick, but now that he doesn't show any affection towards her, her motive to stay married is because Big Daddy is dying and she is hoping to get his money. Brick is an alcoholic and can not stand Maggie, but deep down he knows he needs her because she takes care of him since he isn't responsible enough to take care of himself. This is not a good relationship and it will not become a good relationship unless Brick does talk to Maggie about what is on his mind and what he is going through. If this does happen I do believe that Maggie will once again be in love with Brick for all of the right reasons.