A Streetcar Named Desire Analysis
As readers begin to follow Blanche Dubois into the deep heart of Louisiana, A Streetcar Named Desire introduces Blanche’s sister’s world in none other than New Orleans. There, southern charm, precious couples, chummy friendships, and unbreakable family ties become apparent immediately, yet under the surface, more than just a hint of dark, buried social issues overflow. As Blanche’s experience with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley progresses, readers come face-to-face with sugar coated portrayals of domestic violence, alcoholism, and rape. As A Streetcar Named Desire appears throughout American high schools, administrators and school boards must debate whether they should ban this dicey play or not. Despite the fact that some high school audiences may be able to handle the mature motifs seen throughout the play, schools should ban A Streetcar Named Desire from curriculums due to the insubstantial depictions of these serious social issues. One reoccurring motif throughout A Streetcar Named Desire is domestic violence. The marriage between Stanley Kowalski and Stella Dubois continuously display this motif for the duration of the play. From his first introduction, Stanley gives off an intimidating and devious presence. Through the third scene of the play, as his character continues to develop, Stanley creates quite a few issues through his drunkenness, including the main issue of hitting his wife, Stella. Following their altercation, Stella flees to her neighbor’s
Self Preservation In Night By Elie Wiesel
1480 Words | 6 PagesA while after she got settled in, Blanche witnessed Stanley physically abusing her sister, Stella, and then started secretly rebuking Stanley to Stella. She saw their relationship as unhealthy and tried everything that she could to destroy it. After overhearing Blanche telling Stella to get rid of him, Stanley begins to steadily contemplate his revenge. He had made it his personal goal to dig deeper into her past and he found pretty much all the information that he needed in order to get rid of her. In order to preserve his relationship with his wife, Stanley came up with an amazingly credible plan to permanently get rid of
A Streetcar Named Desire Conflict Essay
783 Words | 4 PagesIn 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,
A Streetcar Named Desire Marriage Analysis
978 Words | 4 PagesExamining Marriage in Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee William’s 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in Elysian Fields, New Orleans, and portrays the marital situation of this time. This play illustrates conflict over the marriage of Stella and Stanley. This marriage can be seen as strict, and controlling but also full of lust.
Insecurity In A Streetcar Named Desire
1085 Words | 5 PagesThe play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is about an emotionally unstable lady named Blanche. She moves in with her youngest sister and her husband because the landlord took the land away from Blanche because they could not pay for it anymore. After being their for a while Blanche starts remembering her horrible past which is something she was trying to do in the first place. The husband of Stella, Stanley Kowalski was also someone that made Blanche’s life miserable for complicating everything and harassing her in every possible way. Death is one of the most symbolic terms in this play.
Relationships In A Streetcar Named Desire
1371 Words | 6 PagesWilliams uses the expressionist technique “The ‘Varsouviana’ is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” to parallel Blanche’s inner mind and depicts Blanche’s deranged mental state after Stella’s betrayal. The imagery ‘Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes’ highlights her mental turbulence and the stage directions ‘mysterious voices behind walls, as if reverberated through a canyon of rock…the echo sounds in threatening whispers’ heightens tension, positioning the audience to witness the overwhelming fear and exaggeration of her senses, further emphasising the detrimental impact Stella’s decision made. The Streetcar Named Desire also examines the influence that a person’s social standing can have. Stanley’s statement in scene 2 ‘The Kowalskis and Dubois have different notions’ indicates their social upbringing has influenced the way they think, hence disrupting their connection and loyalty towards one another. The use of their family name is metonymic for their ancestry and social standing, addressing the barriers derived from a social hierarchy which have affected their relationship.
A Streetcar Named Desire Controversy
413 Words | 2 PagesAfter having been performed at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in 1946, A Streetcar Named Desire brought about much controversy. At first it seemed that much of the controversy stemmed from the unpleasantness with which the subject was presented, such as the vulgar, unprecedented topics acted out on stage. George Jean Nathan, an original critic of the play, touched upon the vulgar manner of the drama, calling it “The Glands Menagerie.” (Bak, “Criticism on a Streetcar Named Desire”) Perhaps the more pressing reason as to why this play was received controversially, however, is a result of its cynical nature.
A Streetcar Named Desire Past And Present Analysis
1547 Words | 7 PagesTennessee 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.
Death In A Streetcar Named Desire
718 Words | 3 PagesHe desires a normal life with Stella, without Blanche in the picture. As told in A Streetcar Named Desire--Psychoanalytic Perspectives, “After exposing all of Blanches shameful secrets and destroying her plans to marry Mitch, Stanley completes her violation and subjugation by raping her, which drives her to insanity” (A Streetcar Named Desire--Psychoanalytic Perspectives, Silvio). Stanley desires a normal life without Blanche so bad, that he completely broke her to get it. Stanley also wants to be desired.
Stella Kowalski's Sexuality In A Streetcar Named Desire
741 Words | 3 PagesThe sexual dynamic between Stella and Stanley is what allows their marriage to be sustained. Stella’s attraction to Stanley overrides many of Stanley’s
Violence And Power In A Streetcar Named Desire
652 Words | 3 PagesIt also highlights Stella’s submissive nature, and how she conforms to the sexist societal expectations of a helpless and fragile woman. Although the surrounding male characters disregard Stanley’s abuse, the audience is repulsed by it and identifies it as morally wrong. This shows how Williams is criticising the acceptance of this abusive behaviour in society, using Stella’s dilemma as a victim to plea for a change. Stanley is even abusive when displaying his
Theme Of Dominance In A Streetcar Named Desire
698 Words | 3 PagesAs soon as Blanche steps into the Kowalski household and meets Stanley, it is evident that her appearance is a threat to his superiority. Both characters attempt to establish dominance through their control over Stella, a minor character who exists mainly to deepen the contrast between Blanche and Stanley. In scene four, Blanche advises Stella to leave her abusive husband and attempts to influence her by saying “I have a plan for us both, to get us both—out!” (69).
Foreshadowing In A Streetcar Named Desire
757 Words | 4 PagesStella accepts her willingly, however, Stanley begins to hear rumors. Blanche starts to date one of Stanley’s friends, Mitch, but when Stanley informs him about her past, Mitch basically tells her
Stereotypes In A Streetcar Named Desire
1245 Words | 5 PagesThe play takes place in the 1950s in New Orleans containing a diverse population. However, is race discriminated against, those who go against classifed gender roles are often discriminated and have trouble finding their way in society. Although gender equality has
Society In A Streetcar Named Desire
847 Words | 4 Pages“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a very elegant film in which the Southern gothic culture is demonstrated profoundly. Tennessee Williams uses the characters in the play to bring about a sense of how corrupt society truly was in the 1940’s in the South. The 1940’s was marked by an immense amount of violence, alcoholism, and poverty. Women at the time were treated as objects rather than people. Throughout the play Tennessee Williams relates the aspects of Southern society to the characters in the play.
A Streetcar Named Desire Literary Analysis
1697 Words | 7 PagesStanley continues to impose his reality onto Blanche, which causes her more anxiety relying more and more on herself to create more of an illusion by creating an admirer for herself, saying that she ended it with Mitch because she does not deserve “deliberate cruelty”, and crating this alter ego for herself as being pure. While Stella is in the hospital, he and Blanche are left alone for the night as she continues bragging about her admiration coming from Sheep Hunt Leigh and how she just got a wire from him. Stanley catches her in her life, finally tearing apart Blanche's illusions. Although Stanley has been a threat to her through his suspicion and empowering masculinity over her, the last scene is where he finally takes final control over her, or symbolically where reality has a final triumph over her illusions. While catching her in the midst of her lies she reveals to Blanche that “[he’s] been on to [Blanche] from the start!”
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