Maggie, we're through with lies and liars in this house. Lock the door.
Oh, Jacques, we're used to each other, we're a pair of captive hawks caught in the same cage, and so we've grown used to each other. That's what passes for love at this dim, shadowy end of the Camino Real.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote expresses a complex form of love that arises from familiarity, but also hints at confinement and lack of freedom.
In this quote, Tennessee Williams encapsulates the idea that love can sometimes develop in constrained circumstances, where two individuals become so accustomed to each other that their bond feels like a comfortable yet restrictive familiarity. The metaphor of 'captive hawks' illustrates how, despite their deep connection, they are both limited in their potential and freedom, suggesting that love may not always be pure or liberating but can also embody elements of dependency and entrapment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about the complexities of relationships, one might quote this to illustrate the challenges of love within constraints.
More from Tennessee Williams
All quotes →Time rushes towards us with its hospital tray of infinitely varied narcotics, even while it is preparing us for its inevitably fatal operation.
Show me a person who hasn´t known any sorrow and I´ll show you a superficial.
Success and failure are equally disastrous.
The rest of my days I'm going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? I shall die of eating an unwashed grape. One day out on the ocean I will die — with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.
Life is partly what we make it, and partly what it is made by the friends we choose.
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All things therefore are charged with love, are charged with God and if we knew how to touch them give off sparks and take fire, yield drops and flow, ring and tell of him.
Love is a horse with a broken leg trying to stand while 45,000 people watch.
If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting "Who made thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received?" then I know nothing of Calvary love.
A woman should be able to kiss a man beautifully and romantically without any desire to be either his wife or his mistress.
So even as we see the horror of death, may we be reminded that in the end, love wins. Mercy triumphs. Life is more powerful than death. And even those who have committed great violence can have the image of God come to life again within them as they hear the whisper of love. May the whisper of love grow louder than the thunder of violence. May we love loudly.