Character analysis
Mae Pollitt
in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Mae Pollitt is Gooper's wife and one of the main antagonists in Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She was once crowned the "Cotton Carnival Queen" at Ole Miss, but underneath her Southern charm, she's fiercely calculating. Every move she makes in the play aims to secure the Pollitt plantation inheritance for Gooper and their five—soon to be six—"no-neck monsters," a term Maggie sharply uses.
Throughout the drama, Mae acts as a spy and provocateur. She listens in on conversations, positions herself by doorways to catch incriminating exchanges, and shares information with Gooper to strengthen their case against Brick and Maggie. When Big Daddy's cancer diagnosis is confirmed, Mae quickly produces a legal document that she and Gooper have prepared, revealing just how long she's been plotting. This hasty action backfires, exposing her greed to Big Mama and pushing away the family matriarch at a critical moment.
Mae's key traits include competitive vanity—she can't help but compare her children's achievements to Maggie's lack of children—performative fertility, using her pregnancy as leverage, and a sharp, biting wit that reflects and heightens Maggie's own verbal attacks. However, Mae is ultimately outsmarted: Maggie's announcement of her own pregnancy, even if it's a lie, takes the spotlight and leaves Mae flustered and without a comeback. Her journey shifts from self-assured schemer to a frustrated bystander, highlighting Williams's theme that raw desire and imagination—not just dutiful reproduction—hold the power in the room.
Connected characters
- Gooper Pollitt
Mae's husband and co-conspirator. The two operate as a unit, with Mae gathering intelligence and Gooper presenting their legal claims. Their partnership is efficient but loveless in tone — Williams frames them as a matched set of grasping pragmatists rather than a romantic couple.
- Maggie Pollitt ("The Cat")
Mae's chief rival and foil. Their antagonism is constant and personal: Mae taunts Maggie's childlessness while Maggie mocks Mae's brood and faded beauty-queen status. Maggie's climactic pregnancy announcement is aimed squarely at neutralizing Mae's greatest weapon.
- Big Daddy Pollitt
The prize Mae schemes to influence. Big Daddy barely tolerates her, preferring Brick, which fuels Mae's urgency to secure a legal document before he can act on his own wishes.
- Big Mama Pollitt
Mae miscalculates badly with Big Mama, presenting the inheritance document too soon and triggering Big Mama's fierce maternal protectiveness of Brick, turning a potential ally into an obstacle.
- Brick Pollitt
Mae views Brick as the primary threat to Gooper's inheritance. She monitors his drinking and emotional instability as evidence of his unfitness, and it is Mae who hints at the nature of Brick's relationship with Skipper to undermine him.
- Doctor Baugh
Mae and Gooper are privy to Big Daddy's true cancer diagnosis through Doctor Baugh before the rest of the family, giving them the informational edge that drives their premature inheritance play.
- Reverend Tooker
Mae cultivates Reverend Tooker as part of the respectable social front she and Gooper project — the dutiful, church-going couple contrasted against Brick's dissolution.