Themes of “A Streetcar
Named Desire”
by
Tennessee Williams
What William says
about this play
“the ravishment of the tender, the
sensitive, the delicate, by the
savage and brutal forces of modern
society”
Historical context As a Southerner, he
was more affected by the events of the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) than WW2. Following their defeat by the Northern states, the South suffered economically during and after the Civil War.
Source :Wikipedia
Tennessee Williams• Born on March 26, 1911
Columbus, Mississippi and Died onFebruary 24, 1983 New York City
• Influenced by Anton Chekhov, D. H. Lawrence, August Strindberg and Hart Crane
Source:www.casarotto.co.
uk
THEMES
Exterior & interior,
fragility , Vulnerability
“I draw every character
out of my very multiple split personality. My
heroines always express
the climate of my interior
world at the time in which
those characters were
created.”(William)
Source:
deathdeconstructed.blog
spot.com
Street Car Named
Desire Title comes from Street
car that runs along
desire street.
There are two New orleans neighborhood
- “Desire and
Cemeteries”
Source:
imaginepittsburgh.com
Street car Named
DesireWritten by Tennessee Williams
Characters
Blanche DuBois
Stella Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski
Harold Mitchell
Date premiered December 3, 1947
Place premieredEthel Barrymore Theatre
New York City, New York
Original language English
Stanley KowalskiAge: 25
Origin:
Polish Descent
Marital Status:
Married
Occupation:
Factory Worker
Hobbies:
Bowling, Poker, Drinking
Blanche Dubois Symbolic Meaning: Star
Age: 25
Hometown:
Laurel, Mississippi
Marital Status:
Married
Occupation:
Housewife
Escapism
William’s wrote:
“an escape from a world
of reality in which [he] felt
acutely uncomfortable”.
Drugs and Alcohol as an
escape.
Souce:www.dreamstime.
com
Appearance and
RealityShakespearean motif:
“All that glitters is not
gold”
A common saying that :
“Appearances are often
deceptive”
Sex and the death,
Blanche- True Blanche
Source:english12aphaml
et.weebly.com
Role of menIn this play, masculinity means:
Aggression
Control,
Physical dominance
Violence
Role of women
“Some of Blanche’s difficulties
can be traced to the narrow
roles open to females during
that period”
(Spampinato, 291).
Role of women contd
• Women in the Old South had a social and symbolic role, were expected to be passive and chaste. This world could not give Blanche what she needed (see scene 5) and so she tried to marry into the ‘light and culture’, but on doing so, she discovers that there is corruption and deceit behind the façade.
Light and dark motifs In the sixth scene, Blanche reveals to Mitch that
loving her husband was like having the world revealed in “bright, vivid light”. Since his death,
she wants darkness and has only experienced dim
light during her sexual affairs with others.
Marriage or… A name for:
- hero-worship,
-aggression
- -difference between husband and wife.
Source:www.awamisiasa
t.com
Marriage, Sex for
commitment or safety? While discussing sexual exploits with Mitch
,Blanche said thus:
'What do you want?'
'What I been missing all summer.'
'Then marry me, Mitch!'
Sex as a literal DeathIn this drama sex
leads to hardships,
aggression ,Literal
death, violence and
Hardships.
www.withoutend.org
Desire
Sex &desire for men, if not found Blanche creates
them
Blanche came to town on street car named
“Desire”
Stanley can not control his desires and …
Stella learns the truth but stays with Stanley as she
love and desires him
Loneliness and
haunting thoughts “Yes, I had many intimacies with
strangers. After the death of Allan,
intimacies with strangers were all I
seemed able to fill my empty heart with…
I think it was panic, just panic, that drove
me from one to another, hunting for some
protection” (Williams, A Streetcar…).
Old and New world
• Stanley represents the American Dream that all men are born equal and can succeed equally, whilst Blanche represents the old world, where class and race are still important issues
Cigarbrief.com
William’s Love for
Southern
“I write out of love for the South … once a way of life that I am just able to remember – not a society based on money … I write about the South because I think the war
between romanticism and the hostility to it is very sharp there.”
Class, sect, cast
• Stanley and Blanche are opposed
• Advised Mitch , not to marry Blanche • Ticket as a birthday gift.
Alcoholism and
Delusions of Drandeur Drugs and Alchohol
effects conscience.
Delusion of Grandure is
a type of desease in which one thinks of him
or herself as some one
higher than the other.
Journey from desire to
deathLAUREL
Belle ReveNEW ORLEANSFrench Quarter
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HAVING AN EAR
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