A Streetcar Named Desire - Revision Notes for

OCR A Level English Literature

A Streetcar Named Desire

Scenes summary

Scene 1

Stella goes to watch Stanley and Mitch bowling

Blanche arrives at Elysian Fields and waits inside for her sister

Stella returns and they greet each other

Blanche talks about losing Belle Reve and the deaths of her family members

Stanley meets Blanche; there is an awkward tension as its clear that theyre very
different types of people

Blanche reveals her husband died when they were young

Scene 2

Blanche is bathing

Stanley demands to know what happened to Belle Reve

Stella attempts to defend Blanche

Stella leaves and Blanche finishes bathing

Stanley confronts Blanche, and Blanche attempts to flirt with Stanley

Stellas pregnancy is revealed

Scene 3

The poker night: Stanley and his friends play poker, and are drinking

Stella and Blanche returns from an evening out

Blanche meets Mitch

Stanley becomes violent with Stella

 Stella and Blanche retreat to the apartment upstairs

Stella returns to Stanley and they make love

Scene 4

Blanche and Stella discuss the previous night; Blanche is shocked at Stellas
acceptance of Stanleys behaviour

Blanche criticises Stanley

Stanley is secretly listening to Blanches criticism

Scene 5

Upstairs, Eunice and Steve fight

Stanley hints at the knowledge of Blanches promiscuous past

Blanche flirts with a young man who collects newspaper subscriptions

Mitch arrives and they go on their date

Scene 6

Blanche and Mitch come back from their date

They have a conversation that highlights their differences

Blanche tells the story of how her husband committed suicide after she discovered
him in bed with a man

Mitch comforts her and they discuss marriage

Scene 7

Months later; it is mid-September and Blanches birthday

Stanley reveals Blanches past to Stella

Blanche realises that there is a change in atmosphere

Scene 8

Stanley, Stella and Blanche celebrate the latters birthday with a meal; Mitch hadnt
arrived

Stanley becomes violent again, before presenting Blanche with a bus ticket back
home as a supposed birthday gift
 Stella complains at his cruelty, but then goes into labour

Stanley takes her to the hospital

Scene 9

Both Blanche and Mitch have been drinking

Mitch visits Blanche and tells her he knows about her past

Blanche tried to explain but he dismisses her and attempts to **** her

She shouts Fire! and he leaves

Scene 10

Blanche is in a drunken state; her mental instability is shown through her actions

Stanley returns home from the hospital and celebrates the birth of his child

Stanley uncovers Blanches true nature and proceeds to **** her

Scene 11

Stella packs Blanches suitcase; she does not believe the story of the ****

Blanche dresses in preparation for what she believes is a trip with an admirer

The Doctor and the Matron arrives

Both Stella and Mitch are distressed

Blanche is taken away

It is hinted at that Stanley has sex with Stella in an attempt to comfort her

Themes and Ideas

Domestic abuse

o shown between all the couple in the play Stella and Stanley, Eunice and Steve,
Blanche and Steve which implies that domestic abuse is common throughout all American
households

o reflects Williams upbringing and how his father was an alcoholic who beat his mother

o main critic: Susan Koprince, discussed domestic abuse in Streetcar

o Helene Deutsch, a Freudian psychologist, said abused women were masochists they
provoked the abuse and enjoyed it
o critics views changed over time; at first, no one remarked on it as it was accepted as
the norm

o Susan Koprince remarks that domestic violence in households was ignored until the
1970s

o modern readings finally declare that Stanley is not just a charming man prone to
violence

o Lenore Walkers book, The Battered Woman (1979) introduced the domestic violence
cycle tension building, acute incident, period of loving contrition this theory is reflected
in the play

o quotes:

[Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh.] I hate it when he does that in
front of people.

[Stanley charges after Stella.]

[There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out.]

Stanley: My baby dolls left me! [He breaks into sobs] I want my baby! Stell-ahhhhh!

Racism

o all the ethnic minorities had a lack of iden***y as if they dont contribute to society,
despite how all of them had service jobs

o Blanche shows how, despite the abolishment of slavery, there was still white superiority
and a racial difference: couldnt we get a coloured girl to do it?

o the poker group makes jokes about an ole n-word

in the production we watched, the racial slur was replaced by the word farmer shows
how views have changed over time

Homosexuality and homophobia

o Williams was homosexual and ashamed of it he was called a sissy

o many psychologists and psychiatrists considered homosexuality a mental illness in

1940s

o The American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a sociopathic personality

disturbance
o the only gay character, Allan Grey, doesnt appear for long is more of an omnipresent
character and part of someones backstory rather than an actual character

o J.M. Clum: invisible homosexuals [] in Williams plays [] always die a grotesque

death [] as a victim of rejection by those closest to them.

o Christopher Isherwood and others maintain that he hated being a homosexual and could
not accept those who came to terms with their sexual orientations

o John. S. Bak: Blanche betrays her loyalty to Allan by exposing his homosexuality, just
as Stanley does her promiscuity.

o Stella: this beautiful ad talented young man was a degenerate.

o Blanche: there was something different about the boy, unable to stop myself Id
suddenly said I know! I know! You disgust me

Sexism male dominance and female submission

o throughout the play, Stanley feels the needs to dominate over all the characters, including
Stella, Blanche and Mitch

o dominance and sex is linked for Stanley e.g he establishes dominance over Stella and
Blanche via sex

o Susan Koprince: [Stella] is essentially a submissive, self-deprecating wife who tolerates

and excuses her husbands behaviour

o Blanche and Stella both depend on men Blanche depends on strangers for
protection, Stella depends on Stanley financially (

o Blanche reclaims her sexuality yet is condemned for it, while Stanleys sexual prowess
is shown through the phrase male bird amongst hens yet due to the fact he is male, there
are no repercussions for him its encouraged as an aspect of masculinity

o in fact, he goes to the extent of ****** Blanche, yet there are still no repercussions for him
shows the patriarchal society they lived in, where males can forcefully destroy a females
sexuality

Sexual desire

o one of the main themes in the play, as shown using the word desire in the ***le

o desire led to the destruction of Blanche

they told me to take a streetcar named Desire, then transfer to one called Cemeteries
 Stella: Havent you ever ridden on that streetcar? Blanche: It brought me here. Where
Im not wanted and where Im ashamed to be

streetcar named desire symbolises the journey Blanche goes on based on desire (and
death)

death of Allan Grey death of her family members Blanche turned to casual sex with
strangers and alcohol for comfort had sex with schoolboy led to Elysian Fields with
Stella and Stanley Stanleys sexual assault admittance to a mental asylum

o Blanche and Stanley mirror in a certain way Blanche uses sex for comfort, Stanley
uses sex to assert his dominance

o Stella is attracted to Stanleys sexual prowess

Mental illness/ instability

o hinted at in scene one: I cant be alone! Because as you must have notice Im not
very well

o mental deterioration began when Allan Grey committed suicide, then continued during
the harrowing deaths at Belle Reve

o promiscuity and alcoholism also started, leading her to create her fantasy world

o her mind finally gives way when Mitch rejects her (youre not clean enough) and
attempts to **** her, followed by Stanley going through with the ****

o she finally retreats completely into her make-believe world as she is committed into a
mental ins***ution

o perhaps she sees the Doctor as Shep Huntleigh?

Characters

Blanch DuBois

o appearance:

costume/outfits white suit (scene 1) flowered print (scene 2) scarlet satin

robe (scene 9) soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown (scene 10) cool
yellow silk and a Della Robbia blue jacket, the blue of the robe in the old Madonna
pictures (scene 11)

initially tries to portray an image of being pure

 as play progresses, her true colours are revealed

outfit reflects mental breakdown, the fact that her lack of purity has been revealed,
foreshadows the impending sexual assault

last outfit is an attempt to revert to her state of living in her own world; also, religion
is alluded to for what seems to be the first time in the play

in general:

daintily dressed, delicate beauty sows fragility of her mental state, links to moth
simile and the fact that its a paper lantern diminishing the light its always been weak
and at risk of being torn

her appearance is incongruous to this setting highlights class difference and

superiority, shows that she doesnt belong, foreshadows the upcoming tension and clashing
with Stanley, Stella and Mitch

o personality:

fragility

uncertain manner

I was never hard enough

like a moth

o links to how she has to put on [] the colours of butterfly wings to be attractive to
men shows her artificiality

o ironic as moths are attracted to light and she isnt

Stella: she was always flighty!

vanity and/vs. insecurity

I was fishing for compliments acknowledges her vanity

I still have that awful vanity about my looks even now that [they] are slipping! [She
laughs nervously and glances at Stella for reassurance.]

o some may feel she is being vain and narcissistic

o other may feel sympathy for her after the reveal of her promiscuity she depended on
men yet believed that men lose interest quickly, (after all, nobody, nobody was as tender
and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her, and forced her to change. (Stella))
thus leading to the conclusion that she must sleep with them for protection, in spite of the
view that women shouldnt be sexually promiscuous

artificiality

she carefully replaces the bottle in an attempt to hide it shows alcoholism and
how she drinks to forgot about her depressing past, implies that she tries to hide aspects
about herself

I dont tell the truth. I tell what ought to be the truth. she is stuck in her own version
of reality, links to the theme of illusion

Mitch: Ive never had a real good look at you

her name means white woods which connotes purity and nature ironic due to
her artificiality

desire for youth

Im fading now! fear of growing old

attracted to young men

o Young man! Young, young, young, young man! repe***ion suggests her obsession
with youth and her attraction to the younger generation

o a seventeen-year-old boy shed gotten mixed up with

o Ive got to be good and keep my hands off children acknowledges the taboo nature
of her feelings, links to when she agrees she is morally unfit for her position

o cherry soda shows virginal status of the newspaper boy

o I will die with my hand in the hand of [] a very young [doctor]

o these feelings could be due to her husband dying young so now shes forever trapped
being attracted to young men similar to Lolita

superiority

racism

o couldnt we get a coloured girl to do it?

o Polack

classism

o dismisses Eunices gift of g****s: Are they washed?

o Well if youll forgive me hes common!

o Why didnt you let me know? [] Why, that you had to live in these conditions!

o What are you doing in a place like this?

o if Stanley if representative of the lower class on immigrant America, the she refers to
them as brutes, animals etc

o she is aware of social distinctions

mental instability

foreshadowed in scene 1: I cant be alone! [] Im not very well the monosyllabic

words are simple and portrays the lack of complex thought her brain can produce

Stella: stop this hysterical outburst

El pan de mais sin sal randomness and absurdity of this reflects her state of mind

mental instability shown throughout by her tendency to be frightened by simple things

like loud noises: [A cat screeches near the window. Blanche springs up.]

near to complete breakdown beginning of scene 10 where she is in a mood

of hysterical exhilaration and is dressed in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin
evening gown

after the sexual assault, she has had a complete mental breakdown and is admitted
into a mental hospital

sexual desire

streetcar named desire symbolises Blanches journey in desire that led to death
and misfortune (then transfer to one called Cemeteries)

scarlet satin robe shows how she is a sinful, sexually promiscuous woman

Yes I was flirting with your husband, Stella! shows how ignorant she is to how
people will react to her actions she is self-absorbed; sexual excitement has higher value
than sisterly love

flirts with young men right before going on a date hints at nymphomaniac tendencies,
shows recklessness and her urge to seek pleasure, however destructive

her sexual desire can occasionally be forceful in her desperation to feel attractive

o [The young man laughs uncomfortably]

o [Without waiting for him to accept, she crosses quickly to him and presses her lips to
his.]

Thats where I brought my victims!

o she views her partners as people to depend on for protection yet still sees herself as
better then them

Yes, I had many intimacies with strangers [] was all I seemed to fill my empty
heart with evokes mixed reactions from audience some will still dislike her for her
superficiality, some will be sympathetic

her reputation is stained ([the coke] foams over and spills Blanche: Right on my
pretty white skirt!); alternatively, the spill represents the guilt she feels after her husbands
blood was spilt by his suicide

desire for cleanliness, shown by her continuous bathing

has a fear of death but finally accepts it after dreaming about her ideal death

dependent on men, bases her worth off of them

vulnerability needs peoples protection, is sensitive about age due to hard knock
my vanitys been give.

in an illusion shown by use of figurative language and I dont want realism, wants
Magic!"

her status as a tragic character

last words: I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. -evokes sympathy
in the audience, makes us realise there has been very little kindness in her life

her quiet dignity at the end of scene 11 is in contrasts to her display of vanity ealier
in the same scene and throughout the whole play

hubris: the downfall of a great person by their pride or arrogance

o one may argue that her moral weakness and vanities led to her **** (although that is a
very old-fashioned view on the cause of **** modern audiences should know that **** is
the fault of the abuser, not the victim)

o ultimately, her moral weakness and vanities fall away from her during departure,
achieving the dignity of a tragic heroine

hamartia: a tragic flaw

o her artificiality/faade and make-believe fantasy world led to her being faced with harsh
reality (represented by the ****) which then caused her to permanently retreat in her world

peripeteia; reversal of fortune

o Stanley sexually assaulting her

Stanley Kowalski

o appearance:

costume/outfits

coloureds shirts [] as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours
shows his intense, base masculinity

blue denim work clothes highlights how he is of a lower class compared to Blanche

silk pyjamas I wore on my wedding night foreshadows the violent, sexual encounter

scene one stage directions description

strongly, compactly built

peak of their physical manhood

dominant, masculine sexuality

o power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens

o gaudy seed bearer

o he sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into
his mind and determining the way he smiles at them

animalistic semantic field (employed throughout the whole play)

o shown (in the play we watched) as wearing dog tags

o animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and at***udes

scene four Blanches description

acts like and animal, has animals habits

bestial

grunting, gnawing, hulking

bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle!
 ape-like

sub-human something not wuite to the stage of humanity yet!

o personality:

insecurity

lack of education

o ungrammatical speech

o I never was a very good English student

o thinks Blanches outfits are expensive whats rinestone? and is mocked for this
Dont be such an idiot, Stanley! (Stella)

class-conscious like Blanche

o I was common as dirt embarrassed/resentful of class

o I pulled you off them columns and how you loved it [] wasnt it all okay till she showed
up here?

o he feels threatened by/jealous of Blanche for trying to revert Stella into an upper-class
type person again, and influence her, thus he deals with this loss of control via sexual
dominance

male dominance

degrades women

o baby, doll, baby-doll

o you hens cut out that conversation in there!

o he sizes women up at a glance with sexual classifications

I am the king around here!

is generally hostile to women if they dont provide a (mostly sexual) purpose for him

the alpha male in the poker group

o Men (feebly): Take it easy, Stanley

o Im the team captain, aint I?

o treats friends badly yet they still show loyalty to him: they speak quietly and lovingly
to him

victim of masculine ideology? product of his environment?

sexual magnetism/dominance

has an intense masculinity

gaudy seed-bearer

expresses hostility to Blanche via **** his way of gaining control

Stella is attracted to him there are things that happen between a man and woman
in the dark that sort of make everything seem unimportant

even Blanche is attracted to him initially

o I like artists who paint strong, bold colours, primary colours, links to men at the peak
of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours

o may I have a drag on your cig?

o Yes I was flirting with your husband, Stella!

o what he may symbolise:

Williams abusive father

the new, industrialised, immigrant America tension with Old, Southern America
(Blanche)

male dominance

Stella Kowalski

o description:

of a background obviously quite different from her husbands

love/sexual attraction supersedes class difference

highlights how she doesnt care about class, unlike Blanche

a gentle young woman

blessed baby, messy child infantilisation, patronising

precious lamb
 contrasts Stanleys aggressive animalistic semantic field and Blanches comparisons
to bird and freedom

connotes innocence and naivety

cherub in choir connotes angelic characteristics, contrasts Blanche who is sinfully

promiscuous

baby doll objectified

o personality:

reserved nature

beautiful self-control

Id forgotten how quiet you were

o contrasts Blanches outgoing nature

o Stella replies, You never did give me a chance to say anything. So I just got in the habit
of being quiet around you.

facetious, hints at an independence of mind

overall, Stella is a fairly passive character in contrast to Blanche and Stanley

she is simply the link/the intermediary that brings them together (being Stanleys wife and
Blanches sister)

independence

youd better give me some money

this is my house and Ill talk as much as I want to!

dependency

Stanley doesnt give me a regular allowance, he likes to pay bills himself

lack of understanding of the Napoleonic Code my head is swimming!

submission

Blanche: I wont have you cleaning up for him! Stella: Then whos going to do it?

accepting of her role as housewife, represent American society accepting the

patriarchal society they lived in
 she became part of Stanleys life, remembering less and less of her old life, accepting
Stanleys standards; reading a book of coloured comics is symptomatic of this

caring for family

Blanche: Stella, youre crying! when she finds out Belle Reve was lost

Dont let them do that to her, dont let them hurt her! [sobs with inhuman abandon]
when Blanche is taken away

then again, she ends up choosing Stanley over Blanche does she place sexual
attraction and romantic love above sisterly affection and familial love?

Harold Mitchell (Mitch)

o awkward and clumsy

[glancing back at Blanche and coughing a little shyly.]

[embarrassed laugh]

[Mitch is delighted and moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear.]

o sensitivity

Blanche: I thought he had a sort of sensitive look.

I gotta sick mother. [] She says to go out, so I go, but I dont enjoy it. All the while I
keep wondering how she is. [] Ill be alone when she goes.

Relationships

o between Blanche and Stanley

he feels potentially threatened by her?

doesnt like Blanches influence on Stella its gonna be all right after she goes

feels as though sexual domination is the way to gain control over Blanche

he was looking through them d****s. (about Mitch) he doesnt like Mitch being
attracted to her

o on the contrary, Mitchs sexual attraction to her could prompt him to think shes desirable
as well, leading to the catastrophic events in scene 10

he is suspicious of her
 if you werent my wifes sister, Id get idea about you acts more like a pros***ute
than a schoolteacher

doesnt trust the fact that she apparently lost Belle Reve

in scene ten: not once did you pull the wool over this boys eyes!

sexual tension

may I have a drag on your cig?

yes I was flirting with your husband, Stella!

incompatibility and clashing personalities hinted at in the first scene, highlighted by the
short, blunt sentences: [He grins at Blanche. She tries unsuccessfully to smile back. There
is silence.]

almost immediate resentment

I dont go in for that stuff

I never was a good English student

the **** scene

maybe you wouldnt be bad to interfere with

lets have some rough house

weve had this date since the beginning!

sexual domination is his way of gaining control and punishing her

John S. Bak: Kazans direction heavily favoured making Stanley the victim of Blanches
onslaughts against his name, his heritage, his masculinity, and ultimately his family. (Some
audiences, it was reported, actually cheered during the **** scene of Kazans production.)

o between Blanche and Stella

they mother/look after each other

Blanche: baby, my baby sister

Blanche mothers her and patronises her blessed baby, you messy child, baby,

Stella ends up mothering Blanche at the end Stella is packing Blanches things
 Stella talks slowly and emphatically and Blanche says, I dont understand you
shows how they dont understand each others viewpoint and shows how theyre contrasting
personalities

ultimately, Stella chooses Stanley over Blanche

this is foreshadowed when Stella says, I dont listen to you when you are being
morbid!

o between Stella and Stanley

control

I am the king around here!

since when do you give me orders?

Dont ever talk that way to me!

domestic abuse

[There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out.] the acute incident in the cycle
of domestic abuse

[He falls on his knees on the steps and presses his face to her belly, curving a little
with maternity.] loving contrition; act of submission by going to a lower level than Stella
actual love and regret or manipulation?

sexuality

[His finger find the opening of her blouse.] only way he knows how to deal with
women, sexually

Its gonna be sweet when we can make noise in the night like we used to and get the
coloured lights going.- places high value on sex, metaphor of coloured lights is unusual
for his character (usually uses literal language, Blanche is the one using metaphorical
language), is he trying to be romantic in his bid to persuade Stella?

seems to be the main reason Stella is with him the overpowering physical passion

one could argue that she betrayed Blanche to continue her sex life with Stanley

does she like the violence and degradation?

o I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them coloured lights
going!

o He smashed all the light-bulbs with the heel of my slipper! I was sort of thrilled by it
o supports Helene Deutschs view that victims of abuse were masochists who provoked
their abuses as they found pleasure in the pain

victim of abuse

she is trapped in the cycle of abuse that was introduced by Lenore Walker tension
building, acute incident, loving contrition

it makes me so mad when he does that in front of people

Blanche: Youre so matter of fact about it, Stella. Stella: What other can I be?
represents how women simply had to accept abuse

Im not in anything I want to get out of Stockholm syndrome-like mentality

loyalty

Stella defends Stanleys abuse

o he was as good as a lamb when I came back

o it wasnt anything as serious as you seem to take it

o youre making much too much fuss about this

o I have told you I love him

chooses Stanley over Stella

o after Blanches description of him in scene four: [Stella has embraced him with both
arms, fiercely, and full in the view of Blanche.]

her actions show her choice, foreshadows the choice she makes after the ****

o I couldnt believe her story and go on living with Stanley

uses her to refer to Blanche and Stanleys name to refer to her husband shows her
choice through language

calls the **** a story thinks its simply a product of her imagination

couldnt suggests its a choice

doesnt object when Blanche rebukes her for being a messy child etc, but instantly
reacts to any adverse comment about her husband

o Blanche: Where were you. In bed with your Polack! Stella: Blanche! You be still!
Thats enough!
 Stella chooses Stanley at the end shows he doesnt have any consequences for
his actions

however, in the1951 film version, directed by Elia Kazan, Stella states Were not going
back in there again. Not this time. Were never going back. Never.

similarly, Stanleys poker buddies seem to turn against him

this was done to comply with censorship the punishment of the ****** was demanded
by the Hollywood moral code

however, this is simply an illusion once again, Stella is just upstairs, furthermore, a
single mother supporting herself wasnt as common as it is now part of the role of a woman
in 1940s America is depending on a male for financial support

also, it is unlikely that Stanleys poker buddies have permanently terminated the friendship
after all, they continued the relationship after witnessing Stanley violently attacking Stella
in scene 3

o between Blanche and Mitch

that one seems superior to the others, a natural gentleman

Blanche is superior to him

she creates a make-believe world for Mitch, where she is a demure, old-fashioned girl

Mitch: I like you to be exactly the way that you are, Blanche bursts into laughter

o she doesnt take him seriously

o knows that she is putting on an act

Blanche: Understand French? Mitch: [heavily]: Naw. Naw, I Blanche: (in French)
Will you sleep with me?

o Mitch is not as cultured as she, he seems to know he cant keep up with her, represented
by the interruption

o Blanche takes advantage of his lack of knowledge he is her victim

Blanche: I have old-fashioned ideals! [She rolls her eyes, knowing he cant see
her face.]

o her speech contrasts her actions

sees Mitch as her salvation Marry me, Mitch!

 he can provide the security of a marriage which can end her sexual promiscuity

however, its not guaranteed shell stop being sexually promiscuous since when shes
about to go on a date with him, she flirts with a young man (I want to kiss you just once
softly and sweetly on your mouth)

at the end, Mitch feels betrayed, attempts to **** her

Ive never had a real good look at you

I was a fool to believe you was straight

youre not clean enough to bring in a house with my mother

Mitch: Lies, lies, inside and out, all lies. Blanche: I didnt lie in my heart.

o between Stanley and Mitch

Stanley needs Mitchs admiration and respect he is unwilling to relinquish his hold on
him this jealously plays a part in Stanleys determination to expose Blanche and so regain
his domination of Mitch

contrasts Stanley vs Mitch

My clothesre stickin to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable? [He starts
to remove his shirt.] vs I better leave it on [] I am ashamed of the way I perspire.

He acts like an animal. vs Youre a natural gentleman.

Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women vs
Well fix you a sugar-*** Aw, lay off

similarities

both attempt to **** Blanche Mitch fails, Stanley succeeds

o Mitch [fumbling to embrace her]: [I want] what I been missing all summer.

o Stanley: [He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed.]

both tear the paper lantern

o Mitch: [He tears the paper lantern off the light-bulb. She utters a frightened gasp.]

o Stanley: [seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light-bulb, and extends it towards
her. She cries out as if the lantern was herself.]

Mitch is like Stanleys shadow; what he fails at, Stanley succeeds in after.
 Phillip C. Kolin: He gets Blanche to admit the truth but is unable to **** her, leaving the
job to the more manly Stanley.

Symbolism

light

o Chinese paper lantern hides the naked light bulb, dimming the light

o symbolises the faade she puts on to prevent people seeing her true self her age and
her fading beauty (I want to deceive him)

o paper indicates the fragility of her faade

o the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for
one moment since has there been any light stronger than this kitchen candle due
to the darkness in her life, she sought solitude in alcohol and men

o wind blows [candles] out and after that happens, electric light-bulbs go on and you see
too plainly shows how she doesnt like being faced with reality

o [He tears the paper lantern off the light-bulb. She utter a frightened gasp.] she is
genuinely terrified of her true self being revealed

o I dont want realism. [I want] magic! I dont tell the truth. I tell what ought to be the
truth. trapped in her fantasy world where everything is according to her rules

o [seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light-bulb and extending it towards her.
She cries out as if the lantern was herself.] reminiscent of the ****

o bright light = youthful sexual innocence

o dim light = sexual maturity and disillusionment

bathing

o I take hot baths for my nerves

o her sexual experiences and her experiences with death have led her to become a
hysterical woman

o she attempts to cleanse herself of guilt for her husbands suicide

o alternatively, she is trying to cleanse herself of her promiscuous past

o her bathing continues throughout the whole play theyre never-ending, highlighting the
redundancy of her constant bathing she can never forget her past

o ritual cleansing has a long history, going back to Pontius Pilate who took water and
washed his hands after the Jews demanded the death of Jesus (Matthew 26:24)

o she wants to be buried in a clean white sack at sea her obsession with cleanliness
links to death

o Stanley also turns to water to undo a misdeed when she showers after beating Stella:
The shower serves to soothe his violent temper; afterwards he leaves the bathroom feeling
remorseful and calls out longingly for his wife

alcohol

o both Blanche and Stanley drink for Stanley, its social (done at poker parties and to
celebrate the birth of his child) and for Blanche, its anti-social (shown by how he tries to
hide it)

o for Stanley, it leads to domestic violence but he is able to rebound from his drunken
escapades

o for Blanche, it supplements her departure from reality, each time contributing to her
complete descent into madness at the end

Varsouviana polka

o calls up and accompanies Blanches guilty memories of her husband

o silenced by the sound of a revolver shot

o only heard by Blanche (Mitch: what music?)

o represents Blanches loss of innocence

o shows her mental decline when she hears it Blanche panics and loses her grip on reality

Its only a paper moon

o Williams ironically juxtaposes Blanches fantastical understanding of herself with

Stanleys description of Blanches real nature

o it wouldnt be make-believe if you believed in me shows how Blanche believe lying

is the best approach to life

the streetcar
o symbolises Blanches journey from Desire to Cemeteries from sexual promiscuity to
the death of her mind/sexuality (put to an end by Stanleys ****)

the two symbols of America

o Blanche = the decadent old plantation culture rooted in the slavery system

o Stanley = the new America of immigrants urban, egalitarian, ruthless, vibrantly alive

Dramatic Techniques

Visual and Sound Effects

o Varsouviana Polka used when Blanche feels guilty and to represent her mental decline

o blue piano stands for the callous vitality of New Orleans

o in scene ten: [Lurid reflections appear on the walls around Blanche. The shadows are
of a grotesque and menacing form.] [The night is filled with inhuman voices like cries in a
jungle.] evokes tension and fear in the audience, represents Blanches state of mind

Context Tennessee Williams

name: Thomas Lanier Williams

th
birth: 26 March 1911, Columbus, Mississippi

parents: Cornelius Coffin Williams, Edwina Dakin

siblings: Rose (two years younger) and Dakin (eight years younger)

Cornelius was an alcoholic and abused his mother normalisation of abuse in

Williams childhood potentially led to domestic abuse between the couples in the play being
unnoteworthy by the critics until the 1970s

as a small child, Williams suffered from a case of diphtheria which nearly ended his
life, leaving him weak and virtually confined to his house during a period of recuperation
that lasted a year; at least in part as a result of his illness, he was less robust as a child
than his father wished

when they were older, Rose became mentally unstable and accused her father of
attacking her sexually this led to her mother agreeing to a pre-frontal lobotomy leaving
her incapacitated; this affected Williams and left him feeling guilty for the rest of his life

in New Orleans, he discovered his sexuality and became a practising homosexual

 after the end of a 14-year-long relationship with Frank Merlo, after which he died
of lung cancer, Williams became depressed and depended on drugs, leading to many
hospitalisation and commitments to mental health facilities
th
he died on 25 February, 1983, at age 71

he wrote in his will in 1972: "I, Thomas Lanier (Tennessee) Williams, being in sound
mind upon this subject, and having declared this wish repeatedly to my close friends-do
hereby state my desire to be buried at sea. More specifically, I wish to be buried at sea at
as close a possible point as the American poet Hart Crane died by choice in the sea; this
would be ascrnatible [sic], this geographic point, by the various books (biographical) upon
his life and death. I wish to be sewn up in a canvas sack and dropped overboard, as stated
above, as close as possible to where Hart Crane was given by himself to the great mother
of life which is the sea: the Caribbean, specifically, if that fits the geography of his death.
Otherwisewhereever fits it [sic]."

links between Williams life and A Streetcar Named Desire

o urge to seek pleasure, however destructive shown in Blanche

o guilt about Roses committal to a mental hospital shown in Stella

o the Southern background Williams writes out of love for the South, shown in Blanche

o fear of death Williams was affected by his near-fatal childhood illness and scared of
death from cancer (due to his grandmother dying from it) and Blanche faced the deaths of
many family members (Belle Reve was [the Grim Reapers] headquarters!); interestingly,
Blanches daydream of her death is similar to Williams will

o domestic abuse Williams father abused his mother, shown in the couples in the play

o homosexuality shown in Blanches husband, Allan Grey

Critics

Rod Horton and Herbert Edwards: suggest the South was crippled by a paralyzing
obsession with the largely imaginary glories of the past.

Michael Billington: the real test of any production of Williamss play is whether it
allows you to see each characters point of view. If Blanche is simply played as a cracked
Southern belle and Stanley as a coarse brute, the play descends into melodrama.
 Mary Ann Corrigan: Williams uses costuming, props, and lighting to convey the
emotional strength of his characters and to reinforce the dichotomy between Blanche and
Stanley.

Mary Ann Corrigan: Although Williams depicts both positive and negative personality
traits in Blanche and Stanley, his at***ude toward the two characters changes in the course
of the play. In the beginning Williams clearly favours Stanley by emphasising his wholesome
natural traits, while dwelling on Blanches artificiality.

Mary Ann Corrigan: Streetcar Named Desire doggedly cling[s] to an imaginative

vision of what life ought to be.

Jennings: In one of his most controversial interviews, he asserted: I can identify

completely with Blanche.

Williams: Kazan saw the main conflict in Streetcar as between Old South gentility
and a brutal new order.

Christopher Isherwood and others maintain that he hated being a homosexual and
could not accept those who came to terms with their sexual orientations

Modern readings finally declare Stanley is not just a charming man prone to violence

John S. Bak: Kazans direction heavily favoured making Stanley the victim of Blanches
onslaughts against his name, his heritage, his masculinity, and ultimately his family. (Some
audiences, it was reported, actually cheered during the **** scene of Kazans production.)

Phillip C. Kolin: Mitch is both Blanches victim and oppressor.

Phillip C. Kolin: He gets Blanche to admit the truth but is unable to **** her, leaving
the job to the more manly Stanley.

Nancy Tischner: "Williams wants the audience to believe that Stella is wrong in loving
Stanley but right in living with him."

Brooks Atkinson: (Blanche) is created on the stage as a distinct individual.

John Gassner: "Blanche, who needs every consideration, is thrust into a brute world
that gives her no consideration."

Joseph Wood Krutch - "the author's perceptions remain subtle and delicate and he is
amazingly aware of nuances even in situations where nuance might seem to be inevitably
obliterated by violence."

o Even when the most sensationalist and melodramatic moments of the play happen,
Williams can be seen to promote a deeper level of thinking. Such as ' cries in a jungle', the
violence towards Blanche is implied whilst also portraying Stanley as something primitive
and base.

Joseph Wood Krutch: "Blanche chooses the dead past and becomes a victim of
that impossible choice."

o By showing that Blanche is willing to die with the Old South as it is the only society that
she knows, the audience becomes sympathetic towards her plight. We recognise that the
movement of the apparent refinement and civilisation of the Old South is something that
Blanche knows she must do, ("maybe he's what we need to mix with our blood now that
we've lost Belle Reve.") however it just cannot seem possible for her to leave her ideals
behind.

Sievers characterised Mitchs psychological problem as that of a boy with an Oedipus

complex, wanting to escape his mother yet loyally worshipping her.

Susan Koprince: [Stella] is essentially a submissive, self-deprecating wife who

tolerates and excuses her husbands behaviour