Streetcar Booklet IB.doc.docx

 Victoria Shanghai AcademyInternational Baccalaureate DPEnglish A: LiteraturePart 3: A Streetcar Named Desire0372110A Note on Tennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier Williams III was born on March 26th 1911, in Columbus Mississippi. He changed his name to Tennessee Williams in 1939, as he believed that his name had sounded like that of an old-fashioned poet. He chose the name 'Tennessee' due to the strong roots his ancestors had established as early settlers in the state of Tennessee.He was the second child of three. His sister Rose, whom he was very close to, was two years older. His father, Cornelius Coffin (C C for short), was a forceful and short-tempered man, whilst his mother, Edwina Dakin, was a beautiful, sexually fastidious Southern belle, who lived on the verge of hysteria. She was later admitted to a psychiatric ward. With his parents being such role models, it is easy to see how he came to write plays that largely reflected their own behaviour.The character of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire was largely based on the character of his father, and Blanche was a similar character to that of his mother or his Aunt Belle. Many of his works feature the nostalgic myth of the 'Old South'. The themes of illusion and reality merge with the themes of the 'Old' and 'New' South. Many of his female characters were Southern belles, Amanda Wingfield (The Glass Menagerie), Alma Wine-Miller (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and Blanche DuBois (A Streetcar Named Desire).Williams was himself an idealist and lived his life never wanting to grow up. Consequently, he became very disillusioned throughout his childhood years. At the age of five, he suffered from diphtheria and Bright's disease. He was bedridden for two years as a consequence and completely lost the use of his legs. He only socialised with close members of his family during this time, as other children played games outside. Tennessee Williams became a child that remained solely dependent upon his close relatives. His new-found shyness and effeminacy overcame his previous boyish nature. At the age of 14, the time of his sister's puberty, he became even more withdrawn as he considered the changes in Rose's body to be a rejection of his company. The beginning of her adulthood signified the end of their close childhood companionship.Williams used his skills of writing as a means of escape from the harsh reality of the world in which he felt acutely uncomfortable. He was made the object of ridicule due to his effeminate nature (and homosexuality), and would rather sit alone in a room and read than play baseball with other neighbourhood youths.Success came late in life for Tennessee Williams as his early years were unsettled. He drifted around the country looking for work and a lifelong partner. He spent much of his life in a state of depression as his father's aggressive nature helped to strategically strip his mother's soul of any sanity she once had (much like Stanley does to Blanche, throughout Streetcar). Rose, his sister, had a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. She spent the remainder of her life in a sanatorium where a frontal lobotomy was performed upon her. Tennessee suffered from the shock of his sister's state of health; he never really recovered from the stress of it all.After finishing several successful plays, volumes of poetry, short stories, essays and an autobiography, in addition to several other minor works, Tennessee Williams died a lonely death in February 1983. He would have been 72 years old the following month. He choked upon a bottle top which had become lodged in his throat and which had cut off his airways. The rundown Manhattan motel in which he died was called Elysia, which was an appropriate place for him to spend his last few days as the author of Streetcar whose heroine disembarked a streetcar at Elysian Fields.Literary CareerFrom an early age, Williams enjoyed reading the works of Shakespeare, the English Romantics, the French symbolists, and some modern Americans. He also admired Baudelaire, a controversial figure, and had many friends who were involved in surrealist publications. He clung on to certain surrealist features, which manifest themselves throughout his works; an example is the merging of the actual and the dream. His style changed over his lifetime, and he moved from realistic and traditional plays to ones that were more abstract. He was influenced by the director Erwin Piscator, whose 'epic' theatre rejected realism. His later works were less popular and Williams began to lose critical acclaim.Although some of his early works were published, his first major success was achieved with the play The Battle of Angels in 1940. Williams had previously accomplished the publications of several volumes of poetry. However, despite his efforts he was not really a very successful poet. He also tried to be a painter, but again he had no real talent for the job. After his first successful play, he continued the trend to complete some popular works such as The Glass Menagerie (1945), A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), and Summer and Smoke (1948). Later work included Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959).Both have been shown in theatres in New York City and London. He won Pulitzer prizes for A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, as well as the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, a total of four times. Williams was very taken with the media of film, and he and his sister, Rose, would often go to watch the latest movies. During his career, he saw many of his plays transformed into films and also wrote script directly for the movies. From his interest in film, he tended to use musical background forenhancement of emotional scenes.Genre: A Streetcar Named Desire as a TragedyA Streetcar Named Desire can be regarded as a modern tragedy, drawing upon some of the traditional features of Aristotelian tragedy, whilst also bearing many similarities to nineteenth-century tragedies such as the works of Ibsen.What are the features of Aristotelian tragedy?In Aristotelian tragedy, the hero tends to be a person of high birth, such as a king. Their elevated social position means that the audience supposedly has more reason to pity their tragic fate as they are aware of how much they have lost.The tragic hero, while possessing a great deal of commendable qualities, possesses a tragic flaw (hamartia) which causes their downfallThe tragic hero is not fully in control of his fate, but is at the mercy of cosmic forces which ultimately determine his tragic destinyAs the tragic hero suffers, he begins to understand his own destiny and nature more clearly (anagnorisis)Towards the end of the play, the characters' powerful emotions are brought to the surface and 'purged' (catharsis) and eventually order is restored as the guilty are punishedQuestions and ActivitiesTo what extent does A Streetcar Named Desire follow the conventions of Aristotelian tragedy?How does Blanche's social status change during the course of the play and how does this affect the audience's feelings of sympathy towards her?Does Blanche have a tragic flaw? If so, what is it?To what extent do you think that Blanche's fate is determined by external forces beyond her control and to what extent is she responsible for the tragic outcome?Is there any evidence that Blanche begins to understand her own nature better by the end of the play?How is catharsis conveyed at the end of the play and to what extent is order restored?The Influence of Henrik IbsenThe Norwegian playwright, Ibsen, was a key figure of nineteenth-century realist drama. His plays, such as A Doll's House, had a great influence on American dramatists such as Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. Some of the features of Ibsen's plays include:A shift in the social status of the tragic hero or heroine. Ibsen focused not on the murders of kings and generals, but on the small scale tragedies and disappointments of ordinary people.In Ibsen's work, ordinary people become involved in a way of life they feel they haven't chosen and feel trapped by.Dramatic tension is created as Ibsen's characters have to confront their past mistakes and the self pretence they have created to enable them to cope with their lives is slowly eroded by events.Questions and ActivitiesLinks to A Streetcar Named Desire:Find evidence that Blanche's image is a pretence.What are the ways in which she is forced to confront her past and what is the effect of this on her mental state?A Streetcar Named Desire and FreudSigmund Freud is a well-known neurologist who coined the term 'psychoanalysis'. Freud's structural model of the psyche involves the id, which is the basic animal drive that acts according to the 'pleasure principle' (represented by Stanley), the ego, which is the conscious awareness that acts according to the 'reality principle (represented by Blanche), and the superego, which is a person's ego ideals (represented by Stella).According to Freud, each person has several defence mechanisms. Blanche displays all of these defence mechanisms throughout the play.Repression - The withdrawal from consciousness of an unwanted idea that is pushed into the unconscious part of the mind. Blanche denies her past and covers up the evidence as best she can.Reaction formation - The creation of an idea that is opposite to the feared unconscious impulse. Blanche asserts a new image for herself. When she first arrives she is dressed in white to suggest that she is sexually innocent.Projection - Unwanted feelings are attributed to another person. Blanche becomes attracted to Mitch for all the wrong reasons. She wants a companion; Mitch is in the right place at the right time.Regression - A return to forms of gratification belonging to earlier phases. Blanche seduces the 17 year old boy in Laurel. Later in the play, she seduces a young man from The Evening Star newspaper.Rationalisation - A reasonable explanation for the unusual behaviour. Blanche blames her promiscuity on the death of Allan and the other relatives at Belle Reve.Denial- The conscious refusal to perceive facts. It deprives the individual of the awareness to cope with external challenges. Blanche tries to hide the truth from everyone, even herself. By the end of the play, she is deeply delusional and believes all of the lies she has told (Shep Huntleigh).Questions and ActivitiesFind evidence of Blanche's repression.How does Blanche explain her behaviour? (Look at her speech to Stella in Act I and Scene V).American TheatreBackgroundThe word 'theatre' comes from the Greek word theatron which means 'place of seeing', and the word 'drama' comes from the Greek word drans which means 'to do'. American theatre had a long history, most probably beginning in a professional manner with the Lewis Hallam company in 1752. They introduced plays that were popular in England at the time, including Shakespeare's works. During the late part of the American Revolutionary War in the late part of the eighteenth-century, plays were banned in most states of America with laws having been passed in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.Nineteenth centuryThe nineteenth century saw a revival of Shakespeare's plays being performed on the American stage. The most popular plays were melodramas which staged a titanic battle between good and evil involving savage villains and faultless heroes and heroines. The theme of good triumphing over evil took to the foreground. At this time, audiences would hiss and boo the villain.At the end of the nineteenth-century! a fresh and serious kind of drama was introduced; this included the realistic drama of Ibsen and Strindberg and, later, the intellectual plays of George Bernard Shaw. The Russian writer, Anton Chekov, had a huge influence on Tennessee Williams, as he broke away from 'fourth-wall' realism to scrutinize the decline of the old aristocratic class in Russia.Twentieth centuryIn the early days of the twentieth century ideas relating to the condition of man were being transformed and influenced by Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud. The impact of World War I also had a bearing on the theatre since illusions had been shattered and the population was becoming more cynical. Plays began to take on social roles identifying with immigrants and those who were unemployed and providing an escape from reality.After World War II, theatre changed again. Playwrights such as Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller became world-famous, and musicals such as West Side Story became popular. Broadway became the heart of New York’s theatre district and was the core stage for musicals. The developing American South was becoming the centre of literary activity by the 1930s, and A Streetcar Named Desire, performed in 1947 emphasises a decline in social values within the South.Tennessee Williams on Stage and ScreenWilliams used the production form of the 'American method' for plays such as A Streetcar Named Desire. He attempts to stage an image of true human experience, working his way into the darkest, most unspeakable corners of the human mind. He often portrayed the raw American consciousness through language, which he used as a tool for artificially portraying realism.Staging and Acting ConventionsIn his plays, he uses music, dance and mime, and incorporates elements of American culture with paintings, architecture and cinema. In order to fulfil the demands of the plays, a versatile company of actors is needed. A Streetcar Named Desire is somewhat less demanding in these elements than plays such as The Purification, but still a piano player and those who are confident in the speaking of poetry are needed. Other plays require a choir, dancers and pantomimists. Like Blanche DuBois, Williams began to reject realism within his works. This was a part of a conception which he called 'plastic theatre', with which he wanted to replace the type of theatre that exhausted realistic conventions.Theatre and CinemaOn screen, Williams aimed to present his works with emotional poignancy. In his production notes for The Glass Menagerie (p. x), he describes the purpose of bringing language to life by creating a poetic image:Each scene contains a particular point (or several) which is structurally the most important. In an episodic play, such as this, the basic structure or narrative line may be obscured from the audience; the effect may seem fragmentary rather than architectural ... The legend or image upon the screen will strengthen the effect of what is merely allusion in the writing and allow the primary point to be made more simply and lightly than if the entire responsibility were on the spoken lines. Aside from this structural value, I think the screen will have a definitive emotional appeal, less definable but just as important.He suggests a new kind of theatrical language which is full of signs that speak to the audience. It is often discussed amongst critics whether the text of a play was written to be read, or to be performed. Williams here differentiates between the effect that written language and visual spectacle might have on an audience, and distinguishes between cinema and theatre: he believes that by symbolising the written allusion through an image, this image will be 'strengthened'. The 'spoken line' is thus enforced by the visual aspects by which it is accompanied.LightingThe lighting in Williams' plays is not realistic, but rather a reflection on the characters' mental state of mind or mood of the scene. He described his lighting as a 'plastic' tool to aid the static qualities of his plays. This idea of the 'plastic', once again, suggests an artificial aspect to the play, with a function that does not respond to realism. The lighting in A Streetcar Named Desire is 'plastic' in this sense because it makes visible the contents of Blanche's decaying mind, and is used to represent reality and fantasy.Cast of CharactersCharacterSummaryBlanche DuBoisThe protagonist of the play. She arrives in New Orleans to seek help from Stella Kowalski, her sister, and is bullied by her sister's husband Stanley.Stella KowalskiBlanche's younger sister. She is married to Stanley Kowalski and is pregnant during the play. After she has her baby, she agrees to have her sister sent to a mental institution.Stanley KowalskiStella's aggressive and sexually charged husband. He is suspicious of Blanche, and exposes her sordid history before raping her.Harold Mitchell (Mitch)One of Stanley's friends. He takes part in poker and bowling, although he is more concerned about his sick mother. He falls for Blanche and then turns her away when he learns from Stanley about her sad past.Eunice HubbleStella and Stanley's neighbour and landlady. Eunice and her husband Steve represent the average working-class couple in New Orleans, living in poor conditions in an abusive marriage. The characters of Eunice and Steve are used to provide a parallel to Stanley and Stella and what their relationship might end up like in years to come. When Stella is unsure whether or not to believe Blanche, Eunice reinforces that in order for life to go on, she has no choice but to believe Stanley.Steve HubbleEunice's husband and one of Stanley's poker friends. He is also a physically fit male, who labours in order to make money.Pablo GonzalesStanley's poker friend. Since Pablo is Hispanic, he represents the intermingling of cultures that New Orleans boasts in the first stage direction of the play.Negro Woman (Colored Woman)In Scene I the Negro Woman is talking to Eunice and makes a joke about Stanley's sexuality. In Scene X, Blanche sees her stealing the prostitute's bag from the pavement. She is a part of the 'intermingling of races' in the old part of town.DoctorThe doctor appears at the end to take Blanche to the mental institution. Since he treats Blanche with respect and kindness, he represents the strangers that Blanche turns to for help.NurseThe nurse accompanies the doctor. She treats Blanche harshly and uses force to detain her.Young manThe young man who comes to collect for The Evening Star. He is a reminder, for Blanche, of her dead young husband, and has the purpose of providing a moment in which Blanche can admit to the audience her unhealthy obsession with young boys.Mexican WomanA woman who sells flowers for the dead. Her function in the play is as a reminder of the theme of death. After her appearance, Blanche begins to talk to Mitch about the various deaths that she has had to cope with during her life.Tamale VendorProvides the general loud background noise of New Orleans. He highlights the lively and sexual city by calling out 'RED HOT!'Allan GreyThe young man that Blanche married when she was young. After Blanche discovered him in bed with another man, she expressed her disgust in him which led to his committing suicide. Although Allan never appears on stage, since he is dead, he is constantly present in Blanche's thoughts, and with his death that she began to spiral down into madness and guilt. Allan's memory, as well as its negative associations, is represented by the Polka music. Mitch's motherA character that never appears on stage, and yet is constantly present in Mitch's thoughts. She provides the reason for Mitch's urgent need to find a suitable woman to 'settle down' with.Shep HuntleighAn old boyfriend of Blanche's. He is associated with the theme of fantasy and illusion as Blanche begins to believe that he will save her from her present tragic condition by taking her on a Caribbean cruise. ShawA supply man at Stanley's workplace. He is the source of information regarding Blanche's past as he regularly travels through Laurel. ProstituteThe attack on the prostitute in scene 10, foreshadows Stanley's rape of Blanche. The prostitute is also representative of theme of sexuality that pervades the play. Drunken manIt is a drunken man who attempts to attack the prostitute. This drunken character also represents a part of Blanche's character. Since Scene X is a scene of horrid reality for Blanche, she is now made to face the various elements that make up her personality. PolicemanHe breaks up the attack of the prostitute. He represents the unsafe nature of New Orleans.Sailor / ManThese characters make up part of the social scene of New Orleans and establish the sexual atmosphere of the environment of Elysian Fields.Scene AnalysisScene OneThe first scene introduces several themes that will dominate the play. Quite early on we are made aware of Blanche's craving for drink. We also realise that her drinking does not go unnoticed either by her sister or by her brother-in-law - his remark 'Liquor goes fast in hot weather' (p. 14) indicates this. In a play the point is stressed by repetitive action while in a novel it might be made by the authorial voice.Also manifest is Blanche's awareness of social distinctions, which shows itself in the offhand manner in which she accepts both Eunice's and her neighbour's acts of kindness. To Blanche these are services naturally expected of her social inferiors. Her attitude towards these two women prepares us for her condemnation of Stella's way of life, and, implicitly, of her husband.Another aspect of her character revealed in this scene is her vanity and her need of flattery. There is pathos in this: Blanche is afraid of growing old and losing her looks, and needs flattery to banish her terrors. Appealing in her vulnerability she is nevertheless very much the older sister, treating Stella as a child and expecting her to run errands.Our attention is drawn immediately to Blanche - the greater part of the scene is devoted to building up her character by showing her actions and her reactions to the other characters.Stanley of course also makes an impact: though we do not see much of him in this scene, Tennessee Williams sketches a portrait of him in stage directions that stress the sexual magnetism of this 'gaudy seed-bearer' (p. 14), explaining Stella's infatuation. This sketch of Stanley's personality is, of course, withheld from the audience, who will rely on the actor to convey the full force of Stanley's personality.But what of Stella herself? How much do we learn about her beyond what we learn from her words and actions? Her part in the play is by no means insignificant, yet the introductory stage directions offer no description beyond 'a gentle young woman' (p. 4). The spectators will see the actress on the stage but the readers of the play must use their imagination and start to piece together a picture of Stella.Two themes introduced in Scene 1 cannot be fully appreciated by those who read the play rather than attending a performance. The 'blue piano' and the 'polka' are heard now, and will be heard repeatedly throughout the play. In the stage directions, Williams tells us that the blue piano symbolises this part of New Orleans, but its use as a dramatic device is not consistent. By contrast, the second motif, the polka that Blanche alone can hear (as well as the theatre audience, of course) has considerable dramatic weight; it recalls the last time she danced with her husband, moments before his suicide. The use of a musical motif to alert the audience to a significant fact (here the suicide of Blanche's husband and her guilty feelings about it) is unusual, particularly as it is used not only to create an atmosphere (as the blue piano does to some extent) but also to stress an important aspect of the plot and of Blanche's character. The stage directions offer no explanation, and both the audience and the reader will come to realise the significance of the polka only gradually, the whole story being told in Scene 6. The readers have only Williams' descriptions of the music to guide them, yet perhaps the presence of stage directions stresses its importance more. The audience in a theatre, concentrating on the action, may not pay much attention to background music. After all, we are all used to music in films, and have perhaps learnt to disregard it, though it may still affect our feelings about what we are watching.There is another way in which the readers benefit from the stage directions. Tennessee Williams' directions are evocative, precise in their use of imagery, and inevitably stand in contrast to the language used by most of the characters on the stage, with the exception of Blanche and Stella. They serve to underline the uneducated speech of most of the people on the stage. By contrast, Blanche's quotation from Edgar Allan Poe's poem 'Ulalume' reminds us that she is a teacher of English and hints at her cultured background.The stage directions also draw our attention to the two main characters of the play. Compare the description of Blanche, unsuitably dressed as for a garden party, her white suit in some soft material and her fluttering manner suggesting a moth, and the description of Stanley as a 'gaudy seed-bearer', proudly aware of his masculinity. Again the stage directions offer help to the reader as much as to the director and cast.Scene 2In this scene Stanley's antagonism to Blanche grows, as do his suspicions about her. Both the motive and the means for her destruction are now becoming clear, as the playwright prepares the ground for the inevitable calamity. Stanley's hostility is rooted in his sharp awareness of the class differences between himself and Blanche (and by implication his wife as well), and his instinctive reaction is to pull her down to his level. The sexual implications are obvious: his sexuality is his means of domination. Later on, in Scene 8, he says this to Stella quite explicitly: 'I pulled you down off them columns [of Belle Reve] and how you loved it'.This class antagonism is intensified by Stanley's suspicions that he has been cheated by the smart-talking Blanche. When he pulls out all Blanche's clothes and jewellery he betrays his ignorance of the true value of the articles. Again he is at a loss and his resentment grows because his wife mocks him. Williams has divided the scene into two parts: first we have Stella instructing her husband how to treat the highly-strung visitor, and telling him of the loss of Belle Reve. Already resentful, Stanley explodes in anger at being swindled, and grows angrier still when his wife laughs at him for overestimating the value of Blanche's wardrobe.When Stella rushes off angrily, the second part of the scene begins with Blanche making an appearance in her red robe. Blind to Stanley's rage she postures flirtatiously. Her manner is such that it arouses Stanley's suspicions in another direction. He is experienced and shrewd enough to sense that his sister-in-law's provocative behaviour is more fitting for a prostitute than for a schoolteacher. He now begins to wonder about her past: 'If I didn't know that you was my wife's sister I'd get ideas about you!'.This then might be seen as the main function of the scene - to set the tragedy in motion. The warning signals would be picked up easily by the audience in the theatre, especially in the second half, with Stanley's smouldering rage set against Blanche's misguided playfulness. The readers of the play are guided by Williams' stage directions and the printed text of the dialogues - and their own imagination.A new motif is introduced in this scene and will recur again and again: Blanche's passion for taking long baths. On a purely practical level, this habit is obviously very irritating to the other occupants of the apartment and will increase the tension significantly. As so often with Tennessee Williams, however, there is a symbolic aspect to this obsessive habit. It is used to symbolise Blanche's yearning for purification from guilt for her husband's death, and for her many sexual peccadilloes. If in the course of the play, the motif strikes us as repetitive and intrusive, it should be remembered that in the continuing action of the play on the stage it will not force itself on the audience's attention to the same extent. By contrast, the blue piano, which can stand for the spirit of the French quarter of New Orleans or more generally for vitality and pleasure, can also signal a change to a lower key in the mood of the scene. Providing a musical background with no specific message, it remains neutral: 'theperpetual "blue piano”’.There are ambiguities in this scene: why is Blanche frightened by the tamale vendor's cry 'Red hots! Red hots!' (p. 23)? And what does she mean by the reference to the Gospels, 'The blind are leading the blind!' (p. 24)? In the theatre, in a menacing atmosphere created by the first conflict between Blanche and Stanley, the audience will accept Blanche's despairing cry unquestioningly. When reading the play, while unable to arrive at a clear interpretation of the last part of this scene, we still identify Blanche's terror and can accept the approach of a catastrophe.Scene 3In this scene the relations between the main characters are clarified further. The stage directions deserve our attention for the vivid description of the poker game, especially Williams' reference to a Van Gogh painting of a similar scene. It underlines the significance of the visual elements, of light and of hard primary colours, in this scene, linking them to the harsh masculinity of the men.The dramatic purpose of the poker party is to demonstrate Stanley's domination over his friends through the way in which he makes all the decisions about the game. The scene shows their devotion to him through their tender handling of him when he is drunk.Particularly important for the plot is the relationship between Mitch and Stanley. That the latter is jealous of Mitch's interest in Blanche is made clear by his calling Mitch back to the poker game and particularly by the fact that he is watching Mitch: (He was looking through them drapes' (p. 28) - at Blanche. The sequence of cause and effect may be traced also in Stanley's drunken rage when he hits Stella. That she returns to him that same night is further proof of the strength of her passion, in which his violent behaviour is part of the attraction. Blanche's hysterical determination to take Stella away from her husband (which continues into the next scene) is not forgotten or forgiven by Stanley, and makes him all the more determined to be rid of the unwelcome visitor. The animosity between the two, with its sexual undertones brought into play by Blanche's flirtatious behaviour, foreshadows the shocking climax that will destroy Blanche's sanity.In this scene we also learn more about Blanche: her vanity betrays her into the foolish lie about Stella's age, and into the equally foolish claim that she has come in order to help out as her sister has not been well. We also notice curious inconsistencies in her behaviour. Blanche's seductive posturing, half-undressed in the gap between the curtains to the bedroom, will be remembered when Stanley reveals her promiscuous past (Scene 7). To her such behaviour is instinctive when there are men around. Her behaviour underlines the contradictions in her character, the genteel Southern lady who expects men to stand up when she comes in and who cannot bear a rude remark or a vulgar action, and the cheap seductress.Another light on Blanche's character is thrown by the purchase of a Chinese lantern to put over the light bulb. It will play a part in Mitch's disillusionment with her in Scene 9, but it may also be seen as a symbol of Blanche's refusal to face the ugly reality of her life.Her conversation with Mitch at the close of the scene emphasises the class differences between them, and draws our attention to the effort he is making to overcome them. The artificiality of Blanche's words stresses her awareness of the cultural gap between them and her desperate determination to attract Mitch. Remember her words 'I need kindness now' (p. 34); moving in their honesty, they will be recalled in the last scene when she says to the doctor: 'I have always depended on the kindness of strangers'. The words are the author's appeal on Blanche's behalf for the audience to understand and pity her. Scene 4Though this scene seems at first to provide an interval of calm, the tensions quickly build up. Blanche fails to understand Stella's passionate relationship with her husband. It seems that with all her sexual experience (about which we learn in Scene 7) Blanche has never experienced true passion. When Blanche speaks of the 'rattletrapstreet-car' of desire, Stella asks her bluntly whether she has ever ridden in it. Blanche's reply 'It brought me here' can mean simply that the streetcar to Desire brought her to her sister's house,but equally it is a metaphor for the sexual desire that has ruined her life and brought her to New Orleans to live on her sister's charity.Yet below the surface the sisters do understand one another; they both know that they are speaking of sexual passion. Yet while Stella's passion for her husband endures, Blanche's affairs have been brief, lasting only 'when the devil is in [her]' (p. 40). Stella has no patience with Blanche's hysterical plans, and her irritation shows in her dry ironical comments. She starts to resent her sister's disapproval and harsh criticism of Stanley. Will this play a part in her decision in the last scene?As well as telling us more about the sisters, the scene also has a dramatic function. Having overheard Blanche's melodramatic condemnation of himself as a brute, an ape-man, Stanley now has even more reason to dislike Blanche and to wish to find a way of getting rid of her. His triumphant grin at the close of the scene promises ill for Blanche.In spite of its brevity, this scene succeeds in several respects. It illuminates the two sisters' attitudes to passion, stressing the basic difference between them, regardless of common background and the social values they were brought up on. This difference will affect Stella's decision about her sister's fate at the end of the play.Stanley's overhearing Blanche's condemnation of him (a time honoured dramatic device) strengthens his dislike of her and gives him good reason to try to get rid of her.Also, Blanche's hysteria (for instance, in her attempt to telephone her old beau Shep) casts doubt on her sanity. This again is sure to influence Stella's readiness to have her sister committed to a mental hospital.Scene 5A threatening undertone runs through this scene. It opens with a violent row between Eunice and Steve, which is followed by a hostile interchange between Stanley and Blanche. It is clear that Stanley has discovered something about Blanche's past and that she is frightened.In hesitant tones, Blanche talks to Stella about her attempts to gain the protection of men friends. Her description of her efforts to attract and hold men, dressing in the soft colours of butterfly wings, recalls her moth-like first appearance in Elysian Fields. We are reminded of her fragility and vulnerability, and of her justified fears of losing her beauty. She is aware that she is growing older and feels she must prevent men from seeing this. Her use of the metaphor of the paper lantern is a deliberate pointer back to her conversation with Mitch in Scene 3 - 'I can't stand a naked light bulb' – and also forward to Mitch's contemptuous tearing off of the Chinese lantern in Scene 9 (an action repeated by Stanley in Scene 11).Blanche's confession to Stella about her fears for the future and her hopes of finding safety with Mitch is harrowing because she now admits, however indirectly, her past liaisons and recognises that they were just a way of asserting her existence.There is a sense of foreboding in this scene as Blanche cries over the stain on her white shirt - is it a symbol of lost innocence or a reminder of her husband's bloody end? We become aware of the inevitability of disaster because we now know that she will always go astray, propelled by sexual greed as well as by an instinctive rejection of the dull security she professes to need. The point is driven home by her flirtation with the young collector for a local newspaper, particularly by what she says to him. The innuendo of'You make my mouth water' (p. 49) and the open confession of past misdeeds in 'keep my hands off children' (p. 49) tell us quite clearly what was the scandal in Laurel that put an end to Blanche's teaching career and drove her away. The throbbing of the blue music and the distant thunder in the last part of this scene speak perhaps of sexual passion too.Tennessee Williams uses the brief episode with the young man to show the contradictions in Blanche's character. She is desperate to marry Mitch, yet she is ready to risk her future in this flirtatious episode. Is it an urge to self-destruction? Or is it that she has no real desire for the safety of married life because in her heart she cannot commit herself to a permanent relationship with one man? The moth will flutter and not settle down. Tennessee Williams clearly intends to arouse doubts about Blanche, hence this curious episode, which puts at risk the material and emotional security she desires. Dramatically this episode does more than make us doubt Blanche's real desires. For most readers - or spectators - there is now no possibility of a happy ending for this woman. The question now remains only when and how the blow will fall.Scene 6The opening mood of this scene is downbeat and depressing; the evening out has been a failure, and both Mitch and Blanche know it, and are dispirited by their inadequacies.While Mitch apologises for his dullness, Blanche's reaction is to be feverishly gay, pretending to the incomprehending Mitch that they are in a cafe on the Left Bank in Paris. Her desperate attempt is of course doomed to failure, and stresses her inability to understand other people, isolated as she is in the world of her imagination.Her play-acting is a prelude to a dramatic change of mood when she and Mitch talk seriously. It has another purpose as well: to stress her need for make-believe situations which make it possible for her to bear her blighted life. Indeed it might be said that Blanche is almost incapable of facing reality - not only its uglier aspects, but its humdrum ordinary demands as well. She sees Mitch as her salvation, but could she bear the life of the wife of a factory worker?There are moments in this scene that hint at Blanche's unwillingness to go on with the play-acting inherent in her relationship with Mitch. While pretending to be in a Paris cafe she bluntly offers to sleep with him, certain that he does not understand French. Again, when speaking to him of her old-fashioned ideas about women's behaviour, she rolls her eyes self-mockingly, knowing that he cannot see her face.On both these occasions she risks being found out by Mitch. As in the episode with the young man in the preceding scene she recklessly endangers her hard-won position with Mitch, as if in her heart she wished to make sure that for her there never would be the dull safety of marriage. And yet at the close of the scene her humble gratitude is sincere. It puzzles us yet engages our sympathy.Also worth noting here is the significance of Blanche's incoherent musing about Stanley's dislike of her. Incomprehensible to Mitch, her half-spoken conjecture is that Stanley's dislike of her might be a kind of perverse sexual attraction. Her knowledge of men, gained in all those one-night stands in Laurel, is obvious here though never comprehended by the simple Mitch.As well as casting light on her past, her speculation foreshadows her fatal encounter with Stanley in Scene 10. The rape that will drive her into her fantasy world for good is foretold here and its motive defined accurately, as will be acknowledged by Stanley in the later scene - 'We've had this date with each other from the beginning!'.The dramatic device of forewarning the spectators or readers of what is going to happen is used here only obliquely. It might pass unnoticed in a stage performance of the play, but will be picked up by students of the printed text who have the leisure to give the words their full weight. The low-key mood of this scene is underlined by the absence of the blue piano. The polka music, on the other hand, plays an important part in Blanche's revelations about her husband's suicide and the reasons for it. The polka has been heard before as an oblique reference to Blanche's past (Scene 1), but only now do we realise its full meaning. In order for the music to be dramatically effective, we must remember that Blanche alone (along with the audience) can hear the polka music and the shot.Scene 7This is a short scene full of dramatic contrasts. The cheerful mood of pleasant anticipation (Blanche singing in her bath; Stella arranging the birthday table) is shattered when the triumphant Stanley comes in with the full details of Blanche's past. His convincing account of Blanche's shocking behaviour is constantly contrasted with her sentimental song offstage.The full dramatic impact of the scene relies not on the details of Blanche's past, shocking as they are, but on her ignorance of what is happening outside the bathroom. Stanley's earlier remark, 'It's not my soul I'm worried about!' has not alerted Blanche to the approaching danger. It seems that Stella's criticism of Stanley's behaviour towards Blanche is justified; and that Blanche has become accustomed to his hostility and ignores it. Her bathing, on one level a metaphor for her yearning to be rid of her past, provides an opportunity in this scene to contrast Stanley's revelations with her ignorance of them. Her blithe singing in the bath, almost within earshot of Stanley's account, plays an important part in raising the tension.Scene 8This is a disjointed scene, with changes of mood from embarrassment to violence, to a pathetic attempt at normality, to Stanley's brutality, ending with Stella's abrupt departure for the hospital. For Stella and Stanley the focus now shifts away from Blanche's distress.Of course, the explanation for his behaviour towards Blanche which Stella has been demanding is now forgotten (and from her words in the last scene of the play will never be asked for); indirectly Stanley has already answered her when he reminds her of their lovemaking, impossible while Blanche is sharing their tiny apartment. Justifying himself, he reminds Stella of the passionate climaxes - 'them coloured lights' - and incidentally throws a light on the nature of their relationship. He brought Stella down from her high social position to his own level, and the humiliation was part of the pleasure for her: ' I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it'.Does Tennessee Williams use the start of Stella's labour to resolve a difficult situation in the plot? There is certainly an abrupt change of mood, a movement away fromBlanche, yet she reclaims our attention in the last moments of the scene. Whether she realises fully her present position or not, she seems different, whispering the repetitive Spanish words in a dazed manner which perhaps foreshadows her descent into unreality.Of course Stella's labour pains also serve another purpose in the plot. Her departure to the hospital leaves Blanche alone in the apartment for the next two scenes, with tragic results. In this short scene we sense the mounting tension while the characters on the stage (and the audience) wait for the final blow to fall on Blanche when she is presented with the ticket to Laurel. We may notice, incidentally, that it is not possible to experience the same tense expectation while reading the play; the pauses and silences on the stage are inevitably absent as the reader's eye moves down the page.The background blue music from the neighbouring bar plays a much less important part in this scene, and fades out altogether in its latter half, making way for the Varsouviana polka. The polka is heard softly when Blanche is presented with her bus ticket, and louder and more insistently at the end of the scene when she emerges from the bathroom into the empty room. In this scene the polka is not so much a reminder of Blanche's dead husband as a general note of disaster.Scene 9The scene is effective as melodrama as Mitch's hostility and Blanche's half-hearted protestations lead up to the violent ending of an attempted rape.On another level, we witness here, symbolised by the tearing off of the paper lantern (itself an act of violence) the stripping of Blanche's pretensions, which reveals the core of honesty in her thought. She knows that she has been lying, but she knows also that her lies are a truthful attempt to present people with the reality they wish for. Though Mitch is incapable of grasping this, she says 'I didn't lie in my heart', 'I tell what ought to be truth'. Once Mitch has shown her, by his brutal attempt, that he cannot understand, there remains only one way for her: oblivion through drink.In this scene the Varsouviana music is heard repeatedly, and Blanche admits her awareness of it as an insistent reminder of her husband's suicide, always coming to a stop with the sound of a shot. Here the polka stops with Mitch's attempt to rape her, and is replaced after his flight with the melancholy sound of the blue piano.There is also a visual reminder of death in the figure of the Mexican seller of flowers for the dead, whose cry of 'FLares para Los muertos' accompanies Blanche's harrowing, incoherent description of the deaths at Belle Reve. This scene also merits attention for the insight it offers into Blanche's character. For the first time we are given some insights into Blanche's behaviour at Laurel. She admits her lies, but she also tells unequivocally the truth about herself. As the next two scenes unfold, we shall see that when her fantasies meet with incomprehension and brutality, she turns for good to her world of make-believe; as Blanche herself says: 'I don't want realism'.Scene 10For Williams this scene was the dramatic climax of the play. In Scene 10 he uses every means available to him to create an atmosphere of menace.There is a nightmare quality to this harrowing scene. The opening stage directions, describing Blanche's 'soiled and crumpled' evening gown and her 'scuffed silver slippers' at once introduce a sordid note. As she talks of her imaginary admirers, we become aware that her grasp of reality is slipping. When she breaks her mirror angrily after seeing her worn face in it, we remember the old superstition that breaking a mirror brings bad luck. We are warned that a calamity is approaching.When Stanley returns, half-drunk, there is a moment when he seems to make a friendly gesture towards Blanche, but her instant refusal restores the animosity between them. He does not understand Blanche's biblical allusion 'casting my pearls before swine' and as he takes it as a personal insult, his fury grows.As Blanche carries on with her fabrications, Stanley turns on her, cruelly destroying all her pretensions. Her terror takes on a visible form as 'grotesque and menacing' shapes close in around her, mirrored by ugly scenes of violence in the street outside the apartment.Crazy with terror, Blanche tries to telephone for help, but her incoherent message is cut short by Stanley's reappearance in his gaudy wedding-night pyjamas. His use of the phrase 'interfere with you', with its sexual undertones, focuses on what is to follow. Blanche's terror rouses Stanley to take her by force. The inevitability of it, hinted at by their earlier encounters, is here made plain by his last spoken words in this scene: 'We've had this date with each other from the beginning!'. In a way, Stanley is right: the tension between them was always sexual to some extent. Blanche was aware of his coarse masculinity, and her provocative behaviour was her response to it.The use of the blue piano is effective in creating a threatening atmosphere, intensified by the deafening roar of the locomotive. The representation of evil can be seen in the 'inhuman voices like cries in a jungle' and sinuous shadows on the walls round Blanche.Williams' careful stage directions here indicate that he was anxious to achieve a shocking visual and sound impact in keeping with the shocking spectacle of a man breaking all the taboos and raping his sister-in-law while his wife is giving birth to his child.Scene 11This scene, maintains a subdued mood. The arrangement of the play into eleven short scenes enables the audience to accept the transition from the tragic climax of Scene 10 to the everyday activities of packing, bathing, cardplaying, and discussing clothes and accessories.At the same time, these actions and conversations by their very similarity to the earlier scenes emphasise the difference. Stella has been crying, and the poker-players (except Stanley) have lost their boisterous good humour. More significantly still, they rise in an act of courtesy when Blanche passes through the room. The paper lantern, which Mitch tore off the light bulb, is torn off again by Stanley and again Blanche cries out as if in physical pain. His action might be seen as a symbolic replay of the rape.Blanche's daydream of a voyage ends in her picturing her death from eating an unwashed grape, and her burial at sea 'in a clean white sack' (p. 85) - again revealing her obsession with cleanliness. The Varsouviana polka is heard through most of the scene, a constant reminder of the early tragedy in Blanche's life. There are visual reminders of the nightmare distortions of Scene 10, as well as echoes of the jungle-like cries, as Stanley's presence brings back the memory of the rape.While recalling earlier, often melodramatic scenes, the mood here remains subdued, up to the moment of dreadful panic when Blanche abandons her daydream and faces an incomprehensible harsh reality. Like Blanche, the audience is kept in the dark about what is going to happen. Only gradually do we come to understand that Blanche is going to be committed to a mental hospital. The doctor's courtesy calms Blanche and restores the subdued tone of the scene. In this calm atmosphere, Blanche goes out on the doctor's arm, a curiously dignified figure. As she says to him, 'I have always depended on the kindness of strangers', her words recall her thanking Mitch at the end of Scene 3: 'I need kindness now'; and we now realise the poignant truth that there has been very little kindness in Blanche's life.Her quiet dignity is in contrast to her display of vanity and her fussing over her appearance earlier in the same scene. Ancient Greek tragedy demanded for its main theme the downfall of a great person through his/her own pride and arrogance (hubris). The opposite is the case here: Blanche Dubois's vanities and moral weaknesses fall away from her in the moment of departure and she achieves the dignity of a tragic heroine. The effect is to diminish the others in the drama: the sobbing, guilt-stricken Stella, begging for reassurance; the blustering, bullying Stanley; the weak, ineffectual Mitch.The last scene contains elements of melodrama - Blanche's ignorance of her fate, her panic at hearing Stanley's voice, her struggle with the matron - but the overall effect is muted. The effect of the trivia of Blanche's wardrobe and her costume jewellery is to heighten the dramatic tension. Here again Williams shows the instinct of a dramatist: he creates an ominous quiet to be broken all the more effectively by Blanche's last desperate attempt to escape, and restored again in her dignified departure.Stanley's lovemaking to Stella at the end shows to the audience how she has bartered her sister for sexual gratification, and the bargain is now complete.CharacterisationBlanche DuBoisTo begin with, the characters appearing in Scene 1 are dismissed with only brief description (if any) of their appearance. When Blanche appears, however, she is described in more detail - not only her clothes, but also the impression she gives of delicacy and vulnerability.As we read on, her appearance becomes ever clearer and so does her character. Her appearance - slim figure, a face of delicate, fading beauty - is described in the stage directions, and the readers also gather further information about her from the other characters' comments. (Indeed she demands flattering comments from her sister, from the reluctant Stanley and from Eunice.)Her complex, contradictory character also becomes clear. Very early in the play we become aware of her class snobbery (in her dismissal of the black neighbour's kindness and of Eunice's company) and we shall be reminded of it again in the last scene when she rudely dismisses Eunice's gift of grapes with her obsessional concern about cleanliness.We also learn that she is a heavy drinker. The reasons for her craving for alcohol are implied as we learn about her guilt for her husband's suicide and about her promiscuity. Alcohol offers temporary amnesia and reassurance. Equally, her passion for taking long baths should be taken as a symbol of her yearning to wash away her guilt. (Of course, it has a dramatic function as well, her long absences in the bathroom enabling the other characters to speak of matters that are not for her ears.)Stanley gives us the full details of her past later on, but her cheap seductive manner noted by him with astonishment in Scene 2 and again in Scene 3 is an early warning. As she so primly insists on her respectability to Mitch in Scene 6, readers will inevitably recall her flirting with Stanley earlier, as well as the episode with the young man in Scene 5. Here her character is revealed through her actions, leaving the readers to draw their own conclusions.The readers - and the audience in the theatre - will be struck by the inconsistencies in her behaviour: her cultural pretensions are designed to impress people with her superiority, and stand in contrast to her genuine love of poetry. She is wilfully ignorant of the causes of the loss of Belle Reve, yet she understands that the root cause was the profligacy of her family, their cavalier attitude to money. These inconsistencies contribute to make her character less predictable and more fully human.In her conversation with her sister in Scene 4, Blanche admits obliquely that she knows about sexual desire - 'when the devil is in you' - but it seems that she has never experienced true passion in which love and sexual desire play equal parts. Her incomprehension of real passion is total and will play a part in alienating her sister. The full strength of Stella's love for her husband is shown in the last scene, when she will have her sister committed to a mental hospital, rather than believe the truth about the rape. Passion like this is beyond Blanche's imagining, and it may be that she is too absorbed in herself ever to surrender herself. Self-absorption also explains her inability to understand the effects of her behaviour. After the row with Stanley in Scene 2, she reassures her sister that she 'handled it nicely', yet this is the very point at which Stanleybegins to be suspicious about his sister-in-Iaw's past history.Blanche may hide her alcoholism behind her euphemisms but she does recognise some of her weaknesses - 'I've got to be good and keep my hands off children' (Scene 5). The weakness that she never does admit, and may not be aware of, is the reckless streak in her, which makes her risk her chance of security, in the episode with the young man in Scene 5 and, repeatedly, when entertaining Mitch in Scene 6.Significantly she never speaks of this except when telling herself to be good: her actions on the stage alone speak here. Perhaps this is because she herself is uncertain about her motives for such behaviour. The readers too can only speculate, and it is arguable that the uncertainty about some aspects of Blanche's character may well contribute to making her a believable human being.StanleyWilliams does not build up Stanley Kowalski's character in exactly the same way as that of Blanche. There is little physical description of him: 'of medium height ... strongly, compactly built' (Scene 1). Instead Williams concentrates on the impact Stanley has on those around him. His intense masculinity, his awareness of his sexual magnetism are at the core of his personality, and other aspects of it spring from this pride in his sexual magnetism, his ability to attract and satisfy women. Williams has a striking phrase for him: 'the gaudy seed-bearer' (p. 14), the cock of the walk. His gaudy bowling shirt and his wedding-night pyjamas are his plumage. He is at ease with the men round him, confident of his own superiority to them. He bullies them and they respond with loyalty and affection. For women he has nothing but contempt, seeing them as easy game. His basic contempt for women may be gathered from the way he addresses the sisters during the poker game in Scene 3: 'You hens cut out that conversation in there!'. He abuses his friends as well, but they respond with loyalty and even affection.Stanley's machismo and his need to dominate, so blatantly shown during the poker party in Scene 3, are the aspects of this character stressed throughout the play, perhaps in order to make the rape more credible.Stanley's ungrammatical speech betrays his lack of education, but he is shrewd, sensing quite early in his acquaintance with Blanche that her behaviour is sometimes quite out of keeping with the character of a Southern lady. He is quite as acutely class-conscious as Blanche herself. Having married a gentlewoman, he is resentful of the differences in outlook and manner between himself and his wife, and knows that pulling her down to his level is part of his sexual attraction for her. Conflict is therefore inevitable between him and Blanche, who is trying to make Stella revert to the past of Belle Reve. It is equally inevitable, given Stanley's awareness of his masculinity and his contempt for women, that he should seek to express his hostility to Blanche through sexual domination.The way the play has been constructed, with the rape as the climax in the penultimate scene, and the last scene centred on Blanche's tragic fate, influences our perception of Stanley. In spite of his blustering bravado, he is a sadly diminished figure in that last scene. Blanche fears him still, yet she goes out without a backward glance at either her sister or her brother-in-law. We leave Stanley as he tries to re-establish his domination over his wife in the only way he knows, by making love to her.Our altered perception of Stanley in the last scene may be seen as a testimony to the dramatist's skill. Though his character is unchanged, we see him differently, as do perhaps the others in the play. Their actions and reactions continue to occupy our thoughts beyond the confines of the play. Such speculations, which go beyond the time and place of the play, are surely proof of the spectators' or readers' emotional involvement, and may be seen as the highest compliment they can pay to the dramatist.StellaWe are not given much direct information about Stella's appearance or character. The stage directions describe her as 'a gentle young woman... of a background obviously quite different from her husband's' (Scene 1). We learn a little more about her from the characters' comments, especially Blanche's. She remarks on Stella's quiet, reserved manner. Stella's reply that she never had much of a chance to talk with her sister around, though, hints at an independence of mind. A certain dry, sarcastic note may be heard as she speaks, but her sister never notices it. Blanche treats her like a child, a 'blessed baby', ordering her to stand up (Scene 1, p. 8), rebuking her for her untidiness. Stella makes no objection to this, but it is noticeable that any adverse comment on her husband brings an instant protest.Stella's silent manner is her response to what is of no importance to her. It is obvious, even without her passionate declaration in Scene 4, that she is deeply in love with her husband, and this love is the cornerstone of her existence. We need to be convinced of her devotion to her husband if we are to accept as believable her complicity in Blanche's committal. To do otherwise, to accept that her sister is sane, would mean accepting also Blanche's accusation of Stanley. If the choice lies between her sister and her husband, there is no question whom she will choose.Stella does care for her family: she is distressed when she hears of the loss of Belle Reve; she weeps when Blanche accuses her of indifference to the fate of her family; and she weeps bitterly when Blanche is taken to the mental hospital. Her 'luxurious' sobbing(Scene 11) will not change anything; though as Williams' choice of adjective implies, this is an indulgence peripheral to her decision.Based upon an overpowering physical passion, Stella's surrender to Stanley is almost total: she has accepted his world and its values. She has chosen to become part of Stanley's life, perhaps gradually remembering less and less of her early life, and accepting her husband's standards (her reading a comic in bed is symptomatic of this), becoming more and more like him.MitchIn the interplay of characters in A Streetcar Named Desire Mitch too has a part to play. Shy, clumsy, slow-thinking, he acts as a foil to the shrewd, loud, domineering Stanley, as well as to the poetry loving, fanciful Blanche with her cultural aspirations. His role is to offer Blanche the promise of a safe haven, to spur Stanley indirectly to find out about Blanche's past in order to protect his old buddy. Also, as Williams hints in Scene 3, Mitch's interest in Blanche encourages Stanley to think of her as sexually desirable, yet another factor in the catastrophic events of Scene 10.Mitch matters to Stanley: Stanley needs his admiration and respect and is unwilling to relinquish his hold on him. This jealousy pays a part in Stanley's determination to expose Blanche and so regain his domination of Mitch. That he is to be seen as Stanley's shadow is shown in his tearing of the paper lantern, and in his half-hearted attempt at raping Blanche. Both these actions are repeated by Stanley, the successfully accomplished rape actually later the same night. The harshness of his action shocks like a rape, and ironically his own half-hearted attempt at raping Blanche fails, and his hero Stanley carries out the act the same night. We are given no physical description of Mitch in the stage directions. The only details of his appearance - tall, 'a heavy build' (Scene 6), perspiring easily - are given by himself in Scene 6, as part of his laborious attempt at conversation. Like his physical appearance, his character is never fully described by the others. The depiction of Mitch's character depends almost entirely on our reactions to his behaviour.Though perhaps not 'a natural gentleman', as Blanche describes him in Scene 6, he seems gentler, kinder than the others. He is devoted to his ailing mother, and therefore the butt of Stanley's jokes. He is dull-witted and incapable of understanding Blanche's explanation of her past behaviour. He clings to the facts he had checked out and, hardly surprisingly perhaps, rejects her with contempt.ThemesViolenceThe play takes place at a time of social change. Old systems have been replaced by the new, and traditional values have become outdated. This would have naturally caused a stir in society, as many people would have been opposed to the new ideas (like Blanche), whilst others would have been more comfortable with the decline of the past and the movement to the future (like Stanley and Stella). The social conflict is a theme reflected throughout the play, in the characters themselves as well as their attitudes and actions.In the first scene, Stanley yells for Stella as he 'heaves' a 'red-stained package' at her, which paints a picture of the physical exchange that takes place between the couple. This physicality is reinforced by the Negro Woman who jokes, 'catch what?' referring to a sexually-transmitted disease. The physical, however, turns into violence during Scene III when Stanley 'tosses' the radio out of the window and then hits Stella. Before the blow takes place, Stella shouts, 'You lay your hands on me and I’ll -', which indicates that she knows what to expect and therefore has experienced such an incident before.These Stanley-like figures in Williams' life terrified him, but at the same time excited him. Similarly, Stella tells Blanche that on her wedding night with Stanley he took the heel of her shoe and 'smashed all the light-bulbs' in the house in a passionate but violent act. Stella claims that she was 'thrilled' by this violence. Steve and Eunice seem to be of the same frame of mind as they fight in the flat upstairs. Their subplot of perpetual fights and violent arguments parallels Stanley's and Stella's world of violence in the flat downstairs; this violence thus becomes a part of New Orleans's 'raffish charm' (Scene I).When Stanley rapes Blanche, he performs his cruellest act of violence in the play, equalled only by his beating of Stella. Now that he has exposed Blanche's sordid past, he effectively destroys her by raping her. Stanley is only interested in his own pleasure and comfort, and feels empowered when he takes physical control of others. Blanche, however, is only able to express violence through language. When she tells Stella how hard she worked for Belle Reve before she lost it, she uses violent terms such as 'bled', 'fought' and 'died'. Although not physically violent this conversation is verbally violent, which highlights the difference between Blanche's and Stanley's opposing backgrounds.Loneliness and IdentityLoneliness, and the desire for a home, is a theme with which Williams could identify. Throughout his life, he was confronted with situations that drove him back into himself; he felt unwelcome by his father when returning home and alienated when faced with the compliments from friends and family that accompanied his success. For Blanche, the home defines the person; her attachment to Belle Reve is more of an attachment to her past and her social standards. The loss of this home, which was the centre of her person, is ultimately the loss of her identity and world. She now finds herself amidst a barrage of noises which she is not used to: 'A cat screeches near the window. BLANCHE springs up', and in a world she cannot fit in with, and in which she is not wanted. She arbitrarily attempts to reassert the values of the Old South, placing elegant Chinese lanterns over crude, naked light bulbs, but ultimately this light - the new truth - is too strong to remaincovered.When Blanche tells Stella that she lost Belle Reve, she accuses Stella of abandoning her and leaving her to cope with the 'burden' alone. It is apparent that she feels neglected and unwanted by her sister and that she now has nowhere else to turn. In fact, Blanche has turned to several strangers before she arrives in Elysian Fields, which demonstrates her alienation from Stella. In Scene I, Blanche says to Stella, 'You're all I've got in the world, and you're not glad to see me!' This immediately highlights her loneliness and her feeling of being unwelcome in her sister's home. She continues, 'I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can't be alone!' She wants and needs to be near her sister, and cannot live alone in a hotel. This initial cry is not as overt throughout the rest of the play; however, Blanche's need for companionship is evident in all of her relationships.Blanche writes letters to Shep Huntleigh, her college sweetheart, and tells him that she has been attending various forms of entertainment, such as 'teas, cocktails, and luncheons' (Scene V). She makes up these facts about herself to verify the facade she presents to everyone, whilst simultaneously covering up her loneliness. In Blanche's 'make-believe' world of friends, to which Shep belongs, she can avoid the implications of her loneliness. Yet, in her attempt to avert attention away from her solitude, she rather emphasises her tragic situation.Mitch is the only one of the four poker players who is not married. He intimates that he is lonely, since all he has is his sick mother who 'worries because [Mitch] is not settled' (Scene VI). The implication from this is that when his mother dies, he will be left alone. After Blanche tells Mitch her devastating story about Allan, Mitch says, 'You need somebody. And I need somebody, too. Could it be - you and me, Blanche?' Mitch comforts Blanche by telling her that he is also alone; what his comment highlights is the basic human need for companionship. Mitch understands Blanche's feelings of loneliness, and finds a practical solution to both of their problems.Stanley relies on Stella for companionship; he ‘breaks into sobs’ when she leaves him to go upstairs to Eunice in Scene Ill: ‘my baby doll’s left me!’ As a result he ends up howling Stella/s name echoing the cliched lonely howl of a wolf. When Stella returns to Stanley’s arms Blanche once again is left alone on the steps of the house. Mitch arrives and offers her cigarettes and company. She tells him how much she needs kindness. The kindness that she refers to is a saviour for her loneliness; thus when the doctor treats her with kindness in the final scene, Blanche, no longer feeling alone, leaves the house calmly.Opposing BackgroundsBlanche and Stanley are from two very different backgrounds. Blanche is connected to the Old South that represents aristocracy, wealth and hypocrisy. Stanley represents the New South that is involved in new industry attitudes and a more modern society. Stanley relies on the future in the same way in which Blanche clings desperately to the past. Blanche arrives in New Orleans expecting a house similar to the one in which she and Stella live as children. She is described as ‘incongruous’ as she enters ‘looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district; the way that she is dressed reflects on her wealthy upbringing and expectations within society. As she steps into the home of her sister and brother-in-law Blanche believes that she is stepping into the lower class and she thus wears an expression of ‘shocked disbelief’.Stella tells Blanche about Stanley’s friends and says that ‘Stanley’s the only one of his crowd that’s likely to get anywhere’. When Blanche tells Stella that she cannot see the ‘stamp of genius’ on Stanley’s forehead Stella jokes that ‘It isn’t on his forehead’. This is an allusion to Stanley’s sexual and physical ability, which, instead of intellect (forehead), is the reason that he will get far. Stella and Blanche were raised on a plantation with money and society, having been educated: here intellect is power. Blanche thus speaks of music, art and literature. Stanley and his friends, however, were poor and uneducated and so it is physical labour which brings power. In this physical world the man proves himself superior by taking part in activities such as bowling and poker. As the classes are pushed together in the same world a clash seems inevitable. This contrasting lifestyle stems from distinctly different backgrounds. When Blanche and Stanley meet, their opposing backgrounds and their different lifestyles are obvious. Stanley is sweaty, dirty and rude while Blanche is perfumed, well dressed and soft spoken. Blanche illustrates her low opinion of Stanley through a descriptive image of him as a ‘caveman’. She finds his background to be common, violent and uneducated. Both characters know that they are different and they torment each other in the belief that they are superior to the other.The background of Stanley and his friends is evident during the poker game. The men curse, drink beer and act violently; as Stanley says, 'nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whisky'. Mitch is the only one who displays some grace and courtesy, and when he declares, 'I'm out', what he really means is that he is the odd one out. Blanche notices his distinction from the rest of the group and tells him the origin of her name and talks of her French roots. She presents herself as having an excellent pedigree and a strongly-educated background. Mitch is in awe of her grace and image, which is in contrast with the presentation of the poker players in the next room. Mitch and Blanche are aware of their different backgrounds: Mitch talks about mundane things and Blanche speaks of education and foreign languages. Despite this, they still enjoy one another's company and want to spend more time together. They share one thing that transcends class and background -loneliness.Blanche tries to make her birthday dinner more of a traditional dinner party, where guests entertain one another with amusing stories. Stanley treats the dinner with little sense of occasion. Stanley eats his dinner as he would on any other night. Stella reinforces Blanche's efforts when she states that Stanley's manners are somewhat lacking. Stanley reminds Stella of their opposing backgrounds, yet does not present it through the negative view that Blanche sees: 'You showed me a snapshot of the place with columns. I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them coloured lights going!' He believes that he saved Stella from an uptight, refined background and brought her to a new and colourful, better world. Between them, he argues, they have managed to make a successful life together, despite her background.Blanche exits the house as she entered. She walks through the common poker game in a very refined, proper way. She tells them not to get up, and leaves. They continue to play poker. The opposing ways of life are evident in this final scene of the play. The poker players are still drunk; Stella is classy and concerned for her sister; Mitch stares at the table; and Stanley tries to woo his wife back to their previous ways. All the different upbringings, including those of the doctor and nurse, are mixed into this scene, representing a modern society. Blanche's world is completely destroyed. Gentility is dead, replaced by a struggle for survival. Blanche is a victim of the clash.Lies and HonestyThe theme of honesty and lies is intertwined with reality and illusion. Stanley represents reality and Blanche represents illusion; each of these qualities is a part of their opposing backgrounds. The fact that A Streetcar Named Desire is a play indicates that it is a perception of reality created by Tennessee Williams, and not reality itself. It is difficult to separate reality from a perception of reality; occasionally, the two tend to blur into one. Reality and truth are often represented as light. Deception is represented as darkness, just as the phrase 'kept in the dark' means that an element of truth has been withheld.The play is set in an economically deprived area of New Orleans. There is an atmosphere of decay, and the people have learnt to survive on the money that they have. There is an earthy feel to the city; people accept things the way that they are. The sad 'Blues music' that fills the air reflects the reality of life and the difficulties it brings with it. The 'Blue Piano' 'expresses the spirit of life which goes on here'. Blanche's delicate physical appearance suggests that she is 'dainty', wealthy and moral. She arrives dressed in white to suggest innocence, to cover up the fact that she is far from pure herself; her clothes look expensive but they are not: they are part of the image she portrays of herself. This is the first evidence of the illusions and fabrications that she creates of herself. She is already slipping into a vortex of lies, and this is reinforced immediately when she hides the fact that she is more than a little fond of a drink: 'Your sister hasn't turned into a drunkard.' We are told that her clothes suggest 'a moth', which indicates that Blanche, like a moth, has been drawn to the light of hard reality.Blanche admits that she fibs a lot and believes it to be part of womanhood. She reveals some vague details about her sexual misdemeanours, such as in Scene VII when she says, 'It's my first time in my entire experience with men, and I've had a good deal of all sorts [...]’. At this point in the play, Blanche is vaguely aware that Stanley and Stella know about her sexually active history. Blanche can be very honest at times, but she is also deeply delusional at other times, depending on what suits her needs at the time, and whether there is a certainty that anyone can find out the truth.However, she adds that when a matter is important she does not lie and would never swindle her family: 'What is in the back of that little boy's mind of yours? That I am absconding with something, attempting some kind of treachery on my sister?' Blanche throws out these rhetorical questions at Stanley, holding firm to her stance that she would not 'swindle' Stella. In Scene V, Stanley mentions a man called Shaw and a place from Blanche's past, so that he can test her honesty. Blanche tells Stanley that she has not met the man before and would also never be seen in a hotel like 'The Flamingo'. However, she is nervous and does know the things that Stanley has mentioned, which implies that she is lying. Stanley knows the truth and so does Blanche.Blanche once again admits that she tells lies, to Stella, laughing at herself 'for being such a liar' (Scene V) as she writes a letter to Shep Huntleigh. The amount of lies that she tells in the letter show that she is a practised liar, and that her being in contact with Shep is dubious. Blanche sees these little falsifications to be harmless white lies that simply complement her and boost her self-confidence. It is for this reason that Blanche says of Mitch, 'I want to deceive him enough to make him - want me'. Blanche clearly feels as though, in the harsh light of reality, she is unlovable; her lies give her a mask of confidence, and allow her to avoid 'realism' in favour of 'magic' (Scene XIII). She tells the truth about her own lying up-front, acknowledging her small faults, even though she refuses to be seen in the merciless glare of reality.In Scene VII, Stanley tells Stella all of the dirty details of Blanche's past. Stella claims they are lies: 'I don't believe all of those stories and I think your supply-man was mean and rotten to tell them'. By Stella's refusal to accept the truth, she feeds Blanche's delusions; in the same way, she feeds her own delusions when she does not accept the truth about Stanley's rape of Blanche. Stanley tries to show that Blanche is a liar, as he has believed from the first mention of the loss of Belle Reve. Eventually, Stella reveals that she knows that Blanche is not entirely truthful and then makes excuses for her by saying that her lies are a result of abuse: 'Nobody was as tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her and forced her to change.' Ironically, this perception about the power of abuse applies to Stella too. Stella chooses not to believe that Stanley sexually attacked Blanche so that she can resume her pattern of life with Stanley and their newly born baby. It is easy for Stella to seemingly dismiss Blanche as a liar, bearing in mind the amount of times Blanche has lied throughout the time she has stayed with them.Desire and FateThe theme that dominates the play is contained in its arresting and memorable title. There really was a streetcar in New Orleans that carried the word 'Desire' as its destination, and another that went to 'Cemeteries'. Blanche's journey, first to Desire and then to Cemeteries, sums up her life, driven by a sexual passion and finally ending up in the 'living death' of the asylum.A streetcar running unswervingly along the rails to its destination could be seen as a symbol of the inexorability of fate. To Tennessee Williams, however, the streetcar's destination, 'Desire', carried a more specific meaning. Not just an undefined fatal force, it symbolised a particularly destructive power, that of sexual passion. In Scene 4, when the sisters speak of sexual desire, Blanche uses the same image of 'that rattle-trap street-car'. Stella ripostes, 'Haven't you ever ridden on that street-car?' and 'It brought me here' is Blanche's bitter reply. Talking in metaphors, they both know what they are talking about - and so did the author himself. The quotation from the fifth stanza of Hart Crane's poem 'The Broken Tower', which Williams uses as the epigraph to A Streetcar Named Desire, sums up the misery of promiscuity both for Blanche and for the dramatist himself: 'not for long to hold each desperate choice'.When Blanche longs for Mitch to marry her, she is not seeking a permanent sexual relationship but the material security of a home of her own: 'The poor man's Paradise - is a little peace' (Scene 9).To be driven by desire, Williams seems to be saying, is self destructive, yet the victims, whether of one overpowering passion or of the thrill of a string of promiscuous encounters, are carried along helplessly, unable to escape. Blanche's fate is foreordained, and the playwright stresses this in the streetcar image. Her encounter with the young man just before Mitch's arrival (Scene 5) and her reckless acting out of a French prostitute's invitation (Scene 6) are a part of her nature, seeming to ensure that she will not become the contented housewife she hopes to be.The force of desire drives Stella too, who has abandoned herself and her integrity - to her passion for Stanley. What the final destination of her streetcar ride might be is not shown – except perhaps in Eunice.Curiously, there is another, similar symbol of fate in this play. In Scenes 4, 6 and 10 Williams introduces a roaring locomotive at a dramatic moment (Blanche's condemnation of Stanley in Scene 4; her description of her husband's suicide in Scene 6; and just before the rape in Scene 10). SexualitySexuality is a theme that cannot easily be separated from the themes of violence and opposing backgrounds. Blanche and Stanley are both sexual manipulators, who use their sexuality to get what they want from other people in the play. Blanche mixes flirtation, nonsense, sincerity and desperation in her speech with Stanley, Mitch and the young boy. She does not know how to communicate with men in any other way, since she believes that her only real worth lies in her sexual capacity. Stanley, we are told in the stage direction of Scene I, has had 'pleasure with women' at the' centre of his life' since 'earliest manhood'. He often 'sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications' with 'crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them'. This description paints him as a robustly promiscuous character, who believes that he is in some sense superior to women. The first time that Stanley and Blanche meet, we are told that Blanche draws 'involuntarily back from his stare'. This highlights, from the outset, an awareness of sexuality between the two characters.Blanche's sexual weakness is exposed at the end of Scene V, when Blanche meets the young man who is collecting for The Evening Star. She seduces him before planting a kiss on his lips and sending him away. When she states, 'It would be nice to keep you, but I've got to be good and keep my hands off children', it is shown how she views young boys as a prize or a possession. She does not wait for him to accept the offer of her kiss as 'she crosses quickly to him and presses her lips to his'. This is a demonstration of her sexual dominance. This sexual dominance, however, quickly turns into a battle of the sexes, as Stanley constantly attempts to assert his own sexual dominance over the women in the play. Eventually, Stanley will win the battle as he rapes Blanche. During Scene X, Stanley calls Blanche 'Queen of the Nile' (a pun on queen of denial) and he has previously asserted himself as 'the King of the house'. Kings and queens are usually couples (and therefore have sexual intercourse with each other). He thus states that they have had this date with each other from the start, indicating that the rape was inevitable, and the 'geyser of foam' from the bottle of beer is a sexual image, which foreshadows Stanley's rape. Blanche has used her feminine sexuality to manipulate men throughout the play. Stanley uses her sexuality to destroy her.At the beginning of the play, Blanche arrives dressed in a dainty white outfit, which suggests that she is a lady, and is therefore sexually pure and innocent. The way in which she dresses covers her from the past, from which she is trying to escape. It is for this reason that she feels fresh and rejuvenated after her long baths throughout the play: she is washing away her sordid past. Williams plays with colours in the play, and the colour white is used when Blanche is either deluding others, or herself. When she flirts with Mitch, for example, she flaunts her feminine sexuality, yet pretends to make herself pure and innocent: "It's a French name, it means White Woods. Like an orchard in the spring!" Blanche does not see Mitch in a sexual light, seeming to want companionship over passion. In Scene IX, however, she is dressed in a 'scarlet satin robe'; this is a direct contrast to the way that she was dressed upon her arrival in New Orleans. The colour of the robe is more in line with the bold colours of clothing that Stanley would wear.Stella and Stanley's passion is evident at the end of Scene Ill. Stanley is screaming for Stella to return; she is angry with him for hitting her but she returns to him, walking slowly with sexual tension. As they come together with 'low animal moans', Stella's 'eyes go blind with tenderness'. Both characters let their basic human urges and instincts take precedence. In Scene IV, Blanche is incredulous when she discovers that Stella slept with Stanley the night of their fight. Stella is beaming from her evening and admits that she is thrilled by Stanley's sexual violence. The way that Stella seems to be narcotised indicates the sexual power that Stanley has over her. The two sisters appear to hold opposing views on the issue of sexuality, despite Blanche's past. When Stella is angry with Stanley for mistreating Blanche, he reminds her how amazing the nights were before Blanche arrived, and uses his sexuality as a mechanism of communication. As Blanche is taken away, Stella runs after her in tears. Stanley tries to comfort Stella by unbuttoning her blouse. This conclusion to the play shows how deeply their relationship is based on sexuality.Sexuality is also a point of embarrassment within the play. Blanche is embarrassed of her promiscuous past, and when she tells the story of Allan's death, she does not involve their youthful sexuality. Instead, she tells Mitch about his homosexuality. She found him with another man in bed and told him how disgusted she was with his actions; his embarrassment or acceptance of his homosexual tendencies caused him to commit suicide. Allan's homosexuality was the 'streetcar named Desire' that he took before reaching his death, in the same way that Blanche's sordid, sexual past is the very thing that brings her to her mental death.DeathIn Williams' mind, the streetcar to Desire was linked with another going to Cemeteries. This fortuitous link was to him a logical sequence, with early death the outcome of a life driven by passion. In the play Blanche remembers vividly the ghastly deaths that she had to witness at Belle Reve, as her elderly relations died one by one, with no one to nurse them except herself. Her memories of that time are with her always: first Stella (Scene 1) and then Mitch (Scene 6) are made to listen to her recollections. She gives enough gruesome detail to make the impact of death felt - there is the dying woman so swollen by disease that her body could not be fitted into a coffin, but had to be 'burned like rubbish' (Scene 1); and the 'blood-stained pillow-slips' (Scene 10) which Blanche had to change because there were no longer any servants. It is not by chance that Blanche dreams of being buried 'at sea sewn up in a clean white sack' (Scene 11). Her romanticising instinct recoils from the reality of death, but the obsessive thought of death is there always.The significant death that is ever present in Blanche's mind is the suicide of her young husband, for which she knows herself to be responsible. Signalled by the music of the Varsouviana polka, which she danced with her husband on the night of his death, the events of that night play in her mind like a film, always ending with the shot that killed him. The audience hear all this - and the readers have the stage directions - yet in a curious variant of the aside, the other players on the stage hear nothing. Their inability to participate in this tragedy makes Blanche's memories peculiarly private and contributes to her isolation.The reminders of death throughout the play culminate in the symbolic figure of the Mexican seller of flowers for the dead (Scene 9). This figure plays a similar part to the grotesque shadows surrounding Blanche in Scene 10. The realism of the earlier scenes is abandoned in order to give these symbolic figures the prominence that Tennessee Williams gave them in his own mind. No longer the Grim Reaper on the doorstep of Belle Reve, but an old woman whispering insidiously, death was present in Williams' own mind quite as much as in his play.MadnessBlanche's fear of madness is first hinted at in Scene 1: 'I can't be alone! Because - as you must have noticed - I'm - not very well ... '. Never stable even as a girl, she was shattered by the circumstances of her husband's death and by the part she played in it. The harrowing deaths at Belle Reve with which she evidently had to cope on her own, also took their toll. By this time she had begun her descent into promiscuity and alcoholism. Stella's remark that Blanche's behaviour caused distress at home (Scene 7) indicates that Blanche's deterioration began earlier, while her parents were still alive. As her promiscuity increased and she drank more, she began to create her fantasy world of adoring, respectful admirers, of romantic songs and fun parties.It seems doubtful whether she was ever entirely successful in creating this dream world: the memories of her husband's suicide are never entirely absent from her thoughts. As the sound of the polka grows louder in her mind, the revolver shot puts a temporary end to it. She comes to wait for the sound of the shot to relieve her of the nightmare, if only temporarily. It seems that she has learned to live with this, as she remarks to Mitch in a matter-of-fact way, 'There now, the shot! It always stops after that!' (Scene 9,). In a way, this practical way of dealing with a nightmare is truly terrifying, as she accommodates the terrors into her daily life. Stanley's revelations of Blanche's past (which force her to confront it), Mitch's rejection of her as a liar who is 'not clean enough' (Scene 10), his contemptuous attempt at raping her, and finally Stanley's violation of her - all these brutal acts break her and her mind gives way. She retreats from the unbearable reality into her make-believe world, making her committal to an institution possible, even inevitable.Like the other major themes of the play - desire, fate and death madness too was Williams' obsession. He was afraid that he might go mad because of his sister Rose, whose strange behaviour had long been a source of anxiety to her parents (the anxieties of the family over Blanche at Belle Reve echo this). Rose experienced violent sexual fantasies and made accusations against her father. To avoid scandal, Rose's parents had her committed to a mental hospital and consented to a pre-frontal lobotomy (standard practice at the time). Rose calmed down as a result, but was left with no memories, no mind. The effect on Tennessee Williams was shattering. Not only did he feel guilty because, being absent from home, he did nothing to prevent the operation, but he also feared that Rose's mental illness might be hereditary and that he too might lose his sanity. He certainly did have some sort of mental breakdown in his early twenties, which contributed to his anxieties later on.Symbols and MotifsA motif is a conspicuous recurring element, such as a type of incident, a device, a reference, or verbal formula, which appears frequently in works of literature that help inform and develop its major themes. A symbol is a word, place, character, or object that means something beyond what it is on a literal level i.e. used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.Symbols associated with BlancheThe mothIn Scene I, Blanche is compared by Williams to a moth in the stage directions. This image suggests Blanche's emotional fragility and faded beauty. It also implies that, just as moths are drawn fatally to a flame, Blanche is attracted but ultimately destroyed by love and desire.The streetcarsBlanche rides on the 'streetcar named Desire' and on one named 'Cemeteries' in order to get to Stella's home in Elysian Fields. This could have many possible meanings. It undoubtedly represents the fusion between desire and death in Blanche's story. It links to the idea that Blanche took refuge in her romantic relationships as a way of making herself feel young and alive after caring for her dying relatives at Belle Reve. It also suggests, however, that it is exactly this desire which will cause her downfall.Elysian FieldsThe name of Stella's and Stanley's home in New Orleans has important symbolic connotations for Blanche. It was the name given by Greek mystics from sixth century BC onwards to the happy resting place of spirits and can be seen as heavily ironic as Blanche fails to find the safe haven she hoped for in Stella's home.Belle ReveThe name of the plantation which used to be the DuBois home but which was later lost means 'beautiful dream'. It suggests, perhaps, that due to her privileged, old-fashioned upbringing, Blanche's life has been removed from the harsh realities of the modern world, but that with her loss of wealth, this fantasy must end.The paper lanternThe paper lantern which Blanche uses to dim the bright light bulb in the Kowalski home can be linked to the theme of fantasy and illusion. Firstly, it is used by Blanche to prevent others looking at her too closely, thus creating the illusion of youth and illustrating her fear of aging and mortality. Secondly, it can be seen as a symbol for her more general desire to escape from reality by inhabiting a fantasy world which she can control. In Scene IX, hurt by her deceit regarding her past, Mitch tears the lantern off the light bulb, suggesting the breakdown of Blanche's self-pretence.Shep HuntleighShep Huntleigh is Blanche's old boyfriend from college. He can also be associated with the theme of fantasy and illusion as she begins to believe that he will save her from her present tragic condition by taking her on a Caribbean cruise. This story, which seems to begin as a way of Blanche trying to protect herself from humiliation at Stanley's hands, becomes a reality in Blanche's mind after the rape, suggesting her mental breakdown.The bathsStanley constantly complains about Blanche's long baths, drawing the audience's attention to them. Whilst these baths have an important dramatic function as they allow the audience to hear Stanley and Stella talking alone about Blanche, they also symbolise Blanche's need to purge herself of her sinful past and her desire to retire into her own private fantasy world.The love letters and poems from AllanThe love letters and poems from Blanche's young husband who committed suicide after being unable to cope with his homosexuality symbolise Blanche's previous self which was destroyed by subsequent traumas. They remind the audience that the Blanche of the past was a romantic, innocent girl whose desire to love and be loved were frustrated and these frustrations eventually led to her promiscuity.Her alcoholismBlanche's alcoholism can be linked to her desire to escape the present. She tries to disguise her drinking as this is in conflict with her image of Southern ladylike gentility, but as the play goes on, her facade crumbles and her drinking becomes more prominent.Light Throughout the play, Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in front of her suitor, Mitch. She also refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids light in order to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanche’s past. She is haunted by the ghosts of what she has lost—her first love, her purpose in life, her dignity, and the genteel society (real or imagined) of her ancestors.Blanche covers the exposed lightbulb in the Kowalski apartment with a Chinese paper lantern, and she refuses to go on dates with Mitch during the daytime or to well-lit locations. Mitch points out Blanche’s avoidance of light in Scene Nine, when he confronts her with the stories Stanley has told him of her past. Mitch then forces Blanche to stand under the direct light. When he tells her that he doesn’t mind her age, just her deceitfulness, Blanche responds by saying that she doesn’t mean any harm. She believes that magic, rather than reality, represents life as it ought to be. Blanche’s inability to tolerate light means that her grasp on reality is also nearing its end.In Scene Six, Blanche tells Mitch that being in love with her husband, Allan Grey, was like having the world revealed in bright, vivid light. Since Allan’s suicide, Blanche says, the bright light has been missing. Through all of Blanche’s inconsequential sexual affairs with other men, she has experienced only dim light. Bright light, therefore, represents Blanche’s youthful sexual innocence, while poor light represents her sexual maturity and disillusionment.Shadows and Cries As Blanche and Stanley begin to quarrel in Scene Ten, various oddly shaped shadows begin to appear on the wall behind her. Discordant noises and jungle cries also occur as Blanche begins to descend into madness. All of these effects combine to dramatize Blanche’s final breakdown and departure from reality in the face of Stanley’s physical threat. When she loses her sanity in her final struggle against Stanley, Blanche retreats entirely into her own world. Whereas she originally colors her perception of reality according to her wishes, at this point in the play she ignores reality altogether.The Varsouviana Polka The Varsouviana is the polka tune to which Blanche and her young husband, Allen Grey, were dancing when she last saw him alive. Earlier that day, she had walked in on him in bed with an older male friend. The three of them then went out dancing together, pretending that nothing had happened. In the middle of the Varsouviana, Blanche turned to Allen and told him that he “disgusted” her. He ran away and shot himself in the head.The polka music plays at various points in A Streetcar Named Desire, when Blanche is feeling remorse for Allen’s death. The first time we hear it is in Scene One, when Stanley meets Blanche and asks her about her husband. Its second appearance occurs when Blanche tells Mitch the story of Allen Grey. From this point on, the polka plays increasingly often, and it always drives Blanche to distraction. She tells Mitch that it ends only after she hears the sound of a gunshot in her head.The polka and the moment it evokes represent Blanche’s loss of innocence. The suicide of the young husband Blanche loved dearly was the event that triggered her mental decline. Since then, Blanche hears the Varsouviana whenever she panics and loses her grip on reality.“It’s Only a Paper Moon” In Scene Seven, Blanche sings this popular ballad while she bathes. The song’s lyrics describe the way love turns the world into a “phony” fantasy. The speaker in the song says that if both lovers believe in their imagined reality, then it’s no longer “make-believe.” These lyrics sum up Blanche’s approach to life. She believes that her fibbing is only her means of enjoying a better way of life and is therefore essentially harmless.As Blanche sits in the tub singing “It’s Only a Paper Moon,” Stanley tells Stella the details of Blanche’s sexually corrupt past. Williams ironically juxtaposes Blanche’s fantastical understanding of herself with Stanley’s description of Blanche’s real nature. In reality, Blanche is a sham who feigns propriety and sexual modesty. Once Mitch learns the truth about Blanche, he can no longer believe in Blanche’s tricks and lies.Symbols and motifs relating to StanleyMeatThe audience's first introduction to Stanley is in the first scene of the play as he 'heaves a package' of meat to Stella. This action portrays him as masculine, highly physical, almost a caricature of the hunter-gatherer. These features make him sexually attractive to Stella but are intimidating to Blanche.Caveman‘Stanley Kowalski - survivor of the Stone Age! Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle!’ (Scene IV)Blanche's description of Stanley after the events of the poker night can be linked to the symbol of meat. Both of these images relate to the theme of the conflict between the civilised and the primitive, embodied by Blanche and Stanley respectively in the play. Blanche views men like Stanley as regressive as he reduces life to its simplest needs and pleasures and sees no value in the advancements of civilisation such as art and culture. Life with a man such as Stanley, she intimates to Stella, must therefore be degrading. Ironically, although Blanche refers to Stanley using this image of the primitive stone-age survivor, he is presented by Williams as the face of the 'New American', suggesting that it is Blanche's Old Southern values which will become outmoded in the aggressive modern age.Colour imagery/ artistic imageryStanley is associated with strong primary colours throughout the play. For example, in Scene Ill,Stanley and the other poker players are described as 'at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as primary colours'. These colours can suggest a number of things about his character, for example that he is overpowering and has a simplistic perspective of life and other people.Symbols and motifs relating to StellaThe babyThe baby represents the fact that Stella's life has been moving further and further from Belle Reve and the experiences she once shared with Blanche. This is why, initially, Stella hides her pregnancy from Blanche, aware that her sister desires Stella's attention and protection for herself. The baby's birth at the end of the play cements Stella's need to remain loyal to Stanley even after the rape of her sister as her life becomes tied to her new family.The 'coloured lights' and the 'narcotised' 'Eastern idol'These are images and symbols used to describe the pleasure Stella gains from her sexual relationship with Stanley. She is described as 'narcotised' the morning after the tumultuous events of the poker night (Scene IV) and Stanley uses the image of the 'coloured lights' in Scene IX to remain Stella of the passion they shared before Blanche's arrival. Both these images create the sense that Stella is almost dazzled by her passion for Stanley, to the point that it overtakes her reason and allows her to forgive all his inadequacies.The cokesBlanche is constantly asking Stella to get her cokes. This action captures the dynamic of the relationship between the two sisters for the largest part of the play, as Stella endeavours to keep Blanche under the illusion that nothing important has changed since their days at Belle Reve. It highlights the effort that Stella is willing to invest in keeping others happy.The birthday partyThe birthday party that Stella throws for Blanche in Scene IX is the climax of the pretence that Stella has developed surrounding her sister. In many other works of literature, birthday parties have been used to aid a tragic climax as they can provide the contrast between a character's expectations of happiness with the reality of their disappointment. In Scene IX, Stella organises a birthday meal for Blanche despite knowing that Mitch has found out about her sister's past and is planning to abandon her. The fact that Stella creates this pretence could suggest either her kindness or her cowardice.Symbols and motifs relating to MitchThe cigarette caseWhen Mitch first meets Blanche in Scene Ill, he shows her the cigarette case he was given by a girl he loved and who died. This story behind the case reflects Mitch's romantic and sensitive nature, which are qualities attractive to Blanche. It provides a bond between them as they have both lost someone they loved and are now vulnerable. However, it could also portray Mitch's idealisation of women and relationships which makes him unable to cope with the reality of Blanche's promiscuous past.The Rosenkavalier‘Look who's coming! My Rosenkavalier! Bow to me first! Now present them.’ (Scene V)As Mitch brings roses to Blanche at the beginning of their date, she jokingly describes him as the romantic hero of a Strauss opera. The image of the Rosenkavalier symbolises the romantic hero which Blanche desires and Mitch, the traditionalist, wants to be.The plaster statuette of Mae West‘Mitch is stolid but depressed. They have probably been out to the amusement park on Lake Pontchartrain, for Mitch is bearing, upside down, a plaster statuette of Mae West, the sort of prize won at shooting galleries and carnival games of chance.’ (Scene VI).The statuette symbolises the difference between Mitch's and Blanche's social backgrounds which would have always stood between them. There is a vast contrast between the working-class culture of poker and amusement parks which Mitch belongs to and the high culture of art and poetry which Blanche appreciates. The fact that Mitch is holding the statuette 'upside down' suggests that he is sadly aware that any of his triumphs or achievements would be despised by the cultured Blanche.The cleft in the rock‘I thanked God for you, because you seemed to be gentle - a cleft in the rock of the world that I could hide in!’(Scene IX)After Mitch finds out about Blanche's relationships with other men, she explains her feelings for him and the hopes that she had for a future together. Blanche's description of the world as a 'rock' highlights the hardships she has endured and her desire to be protected by Mitch.The clash of cultures in A Streetcar Named DesireWILLIAMS’S A Streetcar Named Desire first opened in November 1947. The United States was re -evaluating its national identity in the wake of two world wars, wars which had seen many Americans forced to return to their countries of origin, and consequently to explore their cultural roots. There was, perhaps, a need to reconcile the division in America between the sup-porters of interventionism and of isolationism which had grown up around the Second World War. America had survived the war, but victory in the Pacific had been sealed using atomic bombs, wiping out 100,000 lives. One of America’s allies in the war, Russia, was soon perceived as the enemy; just as one ‘evil empire’ was destroyed, another had sprung up.At the same time, the stark realities of industrial America had been exposed in the 1930s by the all-pervading Depression. This provoked many citizens to contemplate the grandeur and faded elegance of previous American cultures: there was widespread nostalgia for the glamour that America had lost.The Group Theatre, which recognised Williams’s talent with a special award for American Blues (a collection of one-act plays), was founded in 1931 to encourage playwrights who were prepared to discuss the social and political issues racking the USA. It was in this context that A Streetcar Named Desire emerged. Williams uses the characters of Blanche DuBois, a faded Southern belle, and Stanley Kowalski, a blue-collar worker of Polish descent, to articulate some of the questions which America was beginning to address.Southern rootsThe 1940s saw a profound if ambivalent interest in the traditions of the Deep South. Mid-twentieth-century urban Americans may have hankered after its aura of chivalry and romance: yet some aspects of Southern life, such as a past rooted in slavery and bigotry, were unsettling to a liberal America confronting the extreme manifestation of racial prejudice in Nazi -occupied Europe. Hern (1984) notes that:Morality was satisfied by the knowledge that this privileged brilliance was doomed to defeat in the Civil War and would then present an image of decorative decay .It is in this mould that Williams presents his heroine Blanche DuBois. Like many other American writers of the time, such as William Faulkner, Williams portrays the Deep South as flawed. He uses the character of Blanche to criticise the hypocrisy and self-delusion of the Deep South, but this is tempered with a certain sympathy for its plight. It was particularly apt that Vivien Leigh, who was cast as Blanche in Ella Kazan’s film of A Streetcar Named Desire, was also the heroine of Gone with the Wind, the film that encapsulated the Deep South’s charm and appeal for many.Blanche DuBois does not abandon her back-ground when she comes to New Orleans to visit her sister Stella, now married to and pregnant by Stanley. She appears proud of her aristocratic values, boast-ing that the DuBois’ ‘first American ancestors were French Huguenots’. Her ancestral home was Belle Reve, French for ‘beautiful dream’. Just as America was founded on beautiful dreams, Blanche is a product of the rich customs and manners of the landed settlers of the Deep South. Blanche still lives in a fan-tasy world of ‘high society’: picking up a photograph of Stanley she wistfully enquires if he is ‘an officer’. Much to Stanley’s irritation, she still expects a show of outdated courtesy in the city, with Stella serving up her cokes (as Stanley crudely puts it) ‘to her Majesty in the tub’.As part of the Deep South, and therefore as a remnant of an almost semi-feudal society, Blanche Stanley lives by a code of fierce loyalty: he appears to be unreconciled to urban America. When protects his friend Mitch, whom Blanche has almost Mitch reels off the advantages of his ‘light -weight alpaca’ coat, Blanche’s distant ‘Ohs’ seem to reveal her disinclination towards matters of domestic importance. Blanche protests in Scene IV that she cannot use the Kowalskis’ dial phone. Perhaps she is too absorbed in the past to come to terms with what constitutes modern living. Her references to ‘Mr. Edgar Allen Poe’ seem to tell us more than the fact that she once taught literature in a school. Poe’s short stories often dealt with macabre, Gothic themes: one of these, The Fall of the House of Usher, is acutely pertinent to Blanche’s fall from grace. In it, ‘the Usher race’, forever resident at the country mansion, have (the narrator suggests) been warped by the ‘comfortless, antique and tat-tered’ surroundings, and the last two surviving Ushers are racked by ‘a settled apathy, a gradual wasting away of the person’. Blanche’s name means ‘white woods’, intimating a physical connection to the plantation at Belle Reve (and perhaps the ‘white trunks of decayed trees’ of the House of Usher). She was similarly tied to the family’s ancestral home, where she ‘stayed and struggled’ while her sister Stella left for the city. As we shall see, it is this insularism, this inability to adapt and grow and progress, which is slowly gnawing away at both the DuBois and the Ushers. By implication this is the stagnation that is contributing to the decline of the Deep South.A ‘man of the city ‘Stanley Kowaiski represents the urban dweller in modern America. We first encounter him wearing ‘blue denim work clothes’, displaying his ties to indus-trialism. He is proud to be ‘one hundred per cent American’, far removed from Blanche’s delicate con-cerns over her own lineage. Also unlike Blanche, who draws upon Poe and America’s rich literary history, Stanley boldly quotes Huey Long -’Every Man is a King!’ As governor of Louisiana in 1928, Long abused his powers for personal gain. Stanley’s role model is a symbol of this emerging, aggressive America.Stanley is equally self-serving. He possessively tells Stella that under the Napoleonic Code ‘what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband’. Yet he also embodies many traits attractive to an American audience searching for a distinct national identity. He revels in and celebrates his expressions of masculinity:Mitch is a buddy of mine. We were in the same outfit together -Two-forty-first Engineers. We work in the same plant and now on the same bowling team.Stanley lives by a code of fierce loyalty: he protects his friend Mitch, whom Blanche has almost succeeded in seducing into marriage, by telling him the truth about her promiscuous past.Yet Stanley’s masculinity also verges on the brutal, even the atavistic. He uses crude, primitive speech (unlike Blanche’s eloquent and articulate sentences) and with short, brusque ejaculations, ‘Catch!’ and ‘Meat!’, he fits into the role of the hunter -gatherer. An unmannered beast, Stanley thinks nothing of tossing ‘some watermelon rinds to the floor’. Like a beast, he thrives on his own exuded sexuality. In one respect, Stanley represents the male libido and the associated Dionysian impulses. His star sign is ‘Capricorn - the Goat!’, with its links to animal lust. Williams ironically hints at his limitations: ‘the centre of his life has been pleasure with women’.The origins of their conflict Clearly, Stanley comes from a world that is gradually superseding Blanche’s. Stanley ‘don’t want no ifs, ands, or buts’, whereas Blanche, who ‘can’t stand a naked light bulb’, shies away from naked human behaviour. Part of the antagonism between Stanley and Blanche is based on his inability to differentiate between illusion and reality. He is violently opposed to Blanche’s playful deception, symbolised in the ‘adorable little coloured paper lantern’ she has Mitch put over the light bulb in her room. Stanley ‘seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light bulb’ - his reality triumphing over her illusion. The friction between the two, jostling for power and influence, is expressed through the battle for Stella’s heart. Stanley resents Stella’s privileged background -his sexual desire may be seen as his need to triumph over the old world. He has satisfied himself by drag-ging Stella down to his own social level:I was as common as dirt. You showed me the snapshot of the place with the columns. I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them coloured lights going !By forcing Stella to acknowledge that, like himself, she is driven by sexual urges, he validates his own moral code and justifies his own actions. Stella is compelled by her libido to follow Stanley, to the extent that she can ignore everything except their love -making. As she confesses to Blanche, ‘there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark - that sort of make everything else seem -unimportant’.Blanche seeks to lever Stella away from Stanley by reminding Stella of their family’s higher status, and how New Orleans represents a descent on the social ladder: ‘What are you doing in a place like this?’ In one of her most repellent postures, she displays all the prejudices and the excesses of the South. She implores Stella not to ‘hang back with the brutes’. Blanche sees Stanley as being potentially useful only in revitalising impotent aristocratic stock - ‘maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost Belle Reve’.Stella is unimpressed; all Blanche can offer her is a return to the younger sister’s infantile, subservient role. Stella makes it clear when she embraces Stanley fiercely, and full in the view of BLANCHE’, that she needs a future for both herself and her unborn child, and thus she places her allegiances wholly with Stanley and his values.However, Blanche has succeeded in planting doubts in Stella’s mind about Stanley’s conduct. Stella begins to berate Stanley’s table manners: ‘Your face and your fingers are disgustingly greasy. Go and wash up and then help me clear the table.’ Stella’s indifference to Stanley’s sexual advances in the play’s climactic scene seems to hint that Blanche has made Stella confront (and reject?) her husband’s bes-tial nature.Stanley’s responseStanley feels threatened by Blanche’s attack on his authority. He is described as a ‘richly feathered male bird’. His reaction to Blanche’s intrusion, trying to lead Stella away from him (as she does literally in Scene 3), is that of a territorial animal, desperately defending its lair. He responds in two ways: by physical rejection and moral disapproval. Stanley first tries to remove Blanche’s disruptive presence, buying her a ‘Ticket! Back to Laurel! On the Greyhound!’ and declaring: ‘She’s not stayin’ here.’ Investigating her past of sordid sexual encounters, he concludes: ‘... so much for her being a refined and particular type of girl.’ Blanche becomes increasingly agitated and defensive at the power he so ostentatiously wields, questioning Mitch with ‘Has he talked to you about me?’ Eventually, Stanley succeeds in shattering Blanche’s veneer; he discloses evidence to Mitch of her unseemly past in Laurel, and Mitch declares that he does not want to marry her any more. This is the first step in Stanley’s destruc-tion of Blanche.A resolution? Stanley’s rape of Blanche in Scene 10 instigates her final decline into insanity. The rape is heralded by ‘the roar of an approaching locomotive’ - phallic, modern, loud, and industrial. Blanche’s terrifying experience comes partly from her violation at the hands of this new world. ‘We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!’ claims Stanley, who, according to Hem (1984) sees the event as predetermined, as if by mutual consent, like the inevitable and proper mating of animals’. By showing Blanche that his lust is stronger than her affected deportment, Stanley demonstrates that his value system is stronger than hers. Blanche contributes to this by allowing her composure to slip, responding to Stanley with aggression (‘I could twist the broken end [of this bottle] in your face!’) which he understands and can easily render impotent, as he does by carrying ‘her inert figure ... to the bed’ .The play’s climax points to the decay and deteri-oration of the Deep South way of life. Belle Reve is ‘lost’. All that survives of it is (as Blanche says ironi-cally) ‘this bunch of old papers in [Stanley’s] big, capable hands’; and Blanche’s dream of Deep South gentility has similarly disappeared. She herself will be destroyed unless she can reconcile herself to modern American values. Rather than face such a harsh reality, and unprepared to abandon her bond with a dying culture, she retreats into a comfortable fantasy world, surrounded by ‘a group of spectral admirers’. Stella survives. Is the play’s final message ‘adapt or perish’?References and further reading Bigsby, C. (1982-5) A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama, Vol. 2,Cambridge University Press .Hern, P. (1984) Commentary to ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Methuen Drama.Williams, T. (1962) A Streetcar Named Desire edited byE. M. Browne, Penguin. ................
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