STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE

Tennessee Williams

EXPLORING THEMES

Analyse the passage given to you regarding each theme.

Identify and analyse a SECOND passage which also highlights the same theme.

CHANCE, RISK, DECEIT

Opening of scene 3 – pg 24-25 – poker game

Scene 11, pg 82 – Stanley talks of luck “you know what luck is…”

TRUTH VERSUS ILLUSION

Scene 9 – pg 73 – illusion of big spider “…my victims..” – black widow / tarantula

VIOLENCE & CRUELTY

Scene 3 pg 31 – Stanley smashes the radio / then hits Stella

PRIMITIVE VS CIVILISED

Scene 2 pg 20 – Blanche tells Stanley he is primitive

DESIRE AND PASSION

Scene 4, pg 40 – Stella and Blanche discuss the streetcar

Scene 8, pg73 – “intimacy with strangers was all ….”

LONELINESS

Scene 3, pg 25 Mitch says you are all married but I’ll be alone when she goes…

Opening scene, Blanche arrives alone…

THE PAST

Scene 6 pg, 56 Blanche opens up to Mitch “he was just a boy….”

Blanche’s death speech

Stella says to Stanley “you didn’t know her”.. When she was a child.

Blanche opens up to Mitch about her past…

DEATH

Scene 11, pg 85 – the death at sea speech by Blanche

THE SOUTH

Scene 4, pg 41 – Blanche puts down Stanley saying “there has been some progress since then…” – talking to Stella

SURVIVAL

Scene 5, pg 45 – Blanche says to Stella – I was never hard or self sufficient enough …

MADNESS

Scene 8, pg 69 – Blanche whispers to herself…. Speaking Spanish…

Scene 10 and 11…

LOVE AND ROMANCE

Scene 3, pg33-34 – contrasts the kind of ideal romance Blanche wants – Stanley and Stella’s love is visceral / physical / passionate / dysfunctional? Blanche wants romance, fantasy… “magic”…

EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN

Scene 3 pg31 – Stanley goes after Stella

Pg 26 – women excluded from poker night…

MARRIAGE

Scene 6 pg 56 Blanche tells Mitch about her marriage to Alan..

POWER AND CONFLICT

Scene 8 pg 65 – Stanley shows power –throws his plate, “I am the king around here”…

DISAPPOINTMENT

Scene 11 pg 86 Blanche disappointed the doctor is not Shep Huntleigh

Stella is disappointed at the end. So is Mitch…

CONSTRUCT YOUR OWN PASSAGE-BASED ESSAY

QUESTIONS

With close reference to this passage, discuss how Williams’ uses dramatic techniques to present his ideas on _____[insert own theme].

SCENE ___[insert own scene]

__________[insert own extract]_______

Which words in this topic are ‘instructional’ words?

What are other names for ‘dramatic techniques’?

• EVALUATING

• What does this show about the author’s attitude, in your opinion.

• CREATING• In what ways would or could

reader’s respond to these ideas

• ANALYSING• What dramatic

and literary devices are used in the text

• UNDERSTANDING• Key idea, meaning, message

in the text

Themeexplore

d

Presented

throughtechniq

ues

Author’s

attitude

Reader’s

response