Topic: Drama Literacy Analysis of William's A Streetcar Named Desire Audience: College-level English readers Introduction Possible ideas for the introduction: William transports us into the lives of two families, the Kowalski and DuBois, where the boundaries between truth and illusion blur and the human psyche fragility are laid bare. In this play, the unraveling of Blanche DuBois is witnessed. DuBois desperately searches for solace, leading her to a treacherous path. Through skillful characterization and poetic language, William brings to life a clash between harsh reality and fantasy while exploring the decay of a post-war Southern society. William uses compelling themes and relevance that captivate the audience provoking contemplation into human nature. Thesis …show more content…
The contrast between Blanche's idealized vision and her situation's harsh reality. Main point: The unraveling of Blanche DuBois's fragile psyche Examples/Details/Explanations: The play depicts Blanche's mental health decline and her eventual descent into madness. The traumatic events haunt her, like the loss of her husband through suicide and the failure of Belle Reve. Blanche heavily relies on alcohol and fantasy as a way of coping. Main point: The exploration of societal decay in the post-war South. Examples/Details/Explanations: New Orleans city has been portrayed as a city that is decaying, showing how the southern aristocracy has declined. The DuBois family represents fading aristocracy and their struggle to maintain social standing. The contrast between the old-world values of Blanche and Stella and the emerging urban culture of Stanley and his friends Main point: Enduring relevance of the play Examples/Details/Explanations: The play captures the human condition and sheds light on universal struggles and
A Streetcar Named Desire “A Streetcar Named Desire” is a symbolic and mythical play by Tennessee Williams. The author’s successful play focuses on social matter and the everyday life of the characters. The characters in this play include Blanche DuBois, who travels on a streetcar named desire to visit her sister, Stella, in New Orleans. Through the play, several unusual acts happen such as the violence towards women, male dominance and a tense relationship occurs between Blanche and her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Also Blanche realizes her sister’s attachment and affection towards her husband who has a rough and harsh character throughout the story.
In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the main characters, Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, share a great dislike and distrust towards one another, ultimately becoming the basis for the story’s conflict. Their common contemption stems from their contrasting personalities and backgrounds, their incompatibility of being able to function under the same environment, and inability to adapt to the situations they find themselves in. Although Blanche detests Stanley and the manner in which he behaves in, she realises that he is a necessary part for Stella’s life in New Orleans, an environment that greatly differs from the southern aristocracy that Stella and Blanche once lived in. Blanche expresses this idea by stating, “Oh,
The characters I will be focusing on are Blanche and Stella. I will be working on the similarities and differences between Blanche and Stella. I will be using references from the story A Streetcar Named desire. Blanche Dubois in my opinion Is the main character of the play. Although Stella also plays A major role in the story.
Since the temptation of Eve in the garden of Eden, humans have always been at war with desire and temptation. In Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois lives as a result of her desires. Williams uses symbolism, allegory and juxtaposition to show that desire is a fatal flaw. He believes that humans are constantly battling against desire, and the decisions they make in relation to that battle are what dictates their fate. Instead of suppressing desires and sexuality, one must face them with honesty.
With that comes the rise in drug use, both medical and recreational, as people become desperate and will do anything necessary to escape their lives, their reality, the holes they have dug themselves. Blanche DuBois, the main character in A Streetcar Named Desire, is the prime example of this predicament that has existed across generations, resulting to alcohol and the falsifying of her life story in order to escape the real world and instead live in her imagination. She managed to push her mind too far, creating a false persona that began to take over, disfiguring her ability to distinguish what was real and fake, pulling her down into a pit of permanent aberration. The author creatively establishes this theme of madness as a disconnect between reality and fantasy through a use of symbolism, allusion, and a tone that evokes sympathy towards the main character, even in times where the opposite is more
In a Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams utilizes characterization to focus on the theme of desire. The personality flaws of the three main characters, Stanely, Blanche, and Stella, all reflect how they let their desires drive them to their eventual downfalls. Williams provides the reader with colorful images of each character allowing us insight into how their past has led them to a life of deception, domination, and inability to see reality. In the beginning of the play we are introduced to Blanche DuBois; she is the sister to Stella.
In this tragic drama, we follow Blanche who comes to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans, Louisiana. Blanche is a woman who is mentally ill and has a lot of mental problems she suffers from such as post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder. Blanche’s American Dream consists of being rich and beautiful and living a high class lifestyle, when in reality she is not any of those things. Blanche will not stop at anything until she achieves her dream even if that means causing herself and those around her suffering. Shown in this quote said by Blanche in the play, “I don't want realism.
In the beginning of the play, Blanche and New Orleans are anticipated as totally incongruous together. The reason why this controversy is created between Stellas sister and New Orleans, is that Blanche comes from Belle Reve, a completely different city, and she is not used to the life in the place where Stella has settled down, as she is described as a highbrow person, from an elevated social class who is well refined and very delicate. Her character is also noticed from the fluffy bodice clothes and the white gloves that she is wearing, as well as the cultural language that Blanche uses to communicate with the others. On the other hand, New Orleans is a small city, with old white painted houses with rickety stairs, with an atmosphere of decay, full of bars where the loud disturbing sound of the tinny piano is heard, and people that behave differently from what Blanche expected.
Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Williams, 1947) It is based in New Orleans a new cosmopolitan city which is poor but has raffish charm. The past is representing old south in America 1900’s and present is representing new America post world war 2 in 1940’s. Past and present are intertwined throughout the play in the characters Stanley, Blanche, Stella and mitch. Gender roles show that males are the dominant and rule the house which Stanley is prime example as he brings home food and we learn of one time when he got cross and he smashed the light bulbs.
In the book Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Tennessee Williams did accomplish in making Blanche Dubois, the most sympathetic character in the story. To witnessing her husband in bed with another man, from losing her job and house to being raped by her sister’s husband can make one feel sensitive and compassionate towards others experiences, like Blanche Dubois. The other characters experiences cannot measure to the same trauma Blanche Dubois has went through and that correlates to making her appear to be the most sympathetic character the story. The readers feel the way they do because of Blanche Dubois’s story.
That is one way the theme can be related to the text, but another interpretation is how Blanche appears to be sane. In reality, she has trauma related mental problems that become apparent throughout the text. The author tries to portray the character’s lives different then what is actually going on in their private lives. Symbolism is used in the play by Blanche’s “fancy and expensive” items. These possessions from Blanche’s perspective look new and expensive, but they actually are worn out and cheap from the outsider’s view.
Blanche flees a failed company and a failed marriage in attempt to find refuge in her sister’s home. Through her whirlwind of emotions, the reader can see Blanche desires youth and beauty above all else, or so the readers think. In reality, she uses darkness to hide the true story of her past. In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Williams uses the motif of light to reveal Blanche’s habit of living in a fantasy world until the light illuminates her reality. Blanche uses darkness to block her past from onlookers as to shape her image.
A Streetcar Named Desire Literary Analysis The late 1940’s were characterized by the emergence out of World War II that led to a dependence on the idea of The American Dream, which meant men were working harder to achieve a more comforting lifestyle and opportunity while women were still fighting the oppression of caused by unequal representation. This idealistic dream is illustrated throughout Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”, which has a rigid dichotomy between illusion and reality revealed throughout multiple characters and their dysfunctional lives that are a direct result between fantasy and actuality. Illusion is taken advantage of as an alternative to the unfair circumstances that the characters in “A Streetcar Named
Tennessee Williams is acclaimed for his ability to create multi faced characters such as Blanche Dubois in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire. She comes to New Orleans after losing everything including her job, money, and her family’s plantation Belle Reve, to live with her sister Stella. During her time there she causes many conflicts with Stella’s husband Stanley and tries to get involved with the people there, all while judging them for their place in society, although she is imperfect too. Through her, Williams has created a complex character. She is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her own fantasies throughout the entirety of the play.
The chronological structure also makes the audience aware of Blanche’s spiral into a destruction which is tragic and inevitable. The plot of the play is advanced