This article presents a critical analysis of Tennessee Williams?s play Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), focusing on the theme of immorality and the moral decay of modern society. It examines how the play depicts fading youth, sexual exploitation, corruption, guilt, loneliness, and the destructive passage of time through characters such as Chance Wayne and Princess Kosmonopolis (Alexandra Del Lago). The study highlights Williams?s portrayal of marginalized individuals driven by ambition, illusion, and desire, resulting in emotional sterility, alienation, and despair. It also explores motifs of castration, impotence, loss of innocence, and identity crisis, arguing that the play reflects a tragic universe where characters are defeated by their moral compromises and relentless time, yet attain painful self-realisation at the end.
Associate Professor & Head, Department of English, Soghra College, Biharsharif, Patliputra University, Patna
