Streetcar Named Desire Essay

Playwright, Tennessee Williams, used his own suffering and cynical nature to create this play. Many of the characters’ personalities were created

The play’s tragic protagonist Blanche DuBois is a prime example of how a broken mental state can prohibit an individual’s ability to shape their own identity. Blanche’s past was filled with

The “white frame, weathered grey" and “faded white stairs" is representing what’s happening to Blanche and the people with the same foreign background as her. The “dim white building" could be representing the already fading old American Society, that’s a “peculiar tender blue" representing the new south. This indicates that the old southern American values are being restrained by the new southern American values. The impact between aristocracy and liberal class is obvious in this play taking the conclusion in consideration when old

Stanley takes advantage of Blanche using his assertion and Blanche’s vulnerability due to her mental state and high level of intoxication. After the attack, Blanche’s already diminished mental state continues to deteriorate, leading her into

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.

That is why he hates Blanche because she is not the same as the girls he has seen. He sees her as a threat in the sense that she will ruin the marriage between Stella and Stanley. However, he has feelings of self conscious and feels threatened because he feels like she can ruin him. He hates that Stella and Blanche were always wealthy and he feels as if they look down on him for being poor. He does not feeling submissive which is why he reacts harshly most of the time.

Stanley is a blunt, practical, and animalistic man who has no patience for subtleties and refinement. His animalistic character shows the moment he meets Blanche, when he, moving with “animalistic joy” (24), “sizes” Blanche up with “sexual classifications” and “crude image” in his mind (25). Under his stare, Blanche draws “involuntarily back” (25), a movement that foreshadows their later conflict and her subsequent demise. His practical and straightforward side shows when he interrogates Blanche about the sale of Belle Reve to make sure that his wife is not swindled. His straightforward, practical nature makes him “boom” out of impatience (46) and demands Blanche to cut straight to the point when she tries to talk in an indirect, subtle manner as befit a Southern gentlewoman.

From the loss of Belle Reve to Blanche’s dark past in the Hotel Flamingo, Stanley becomes verbally abusive towards Blanche in what he perceives to be deception. In response, Blanche becomes defensive as well as physically, mentally, and emotionally deteriorated by the abuse. Blanche and Stanley also are polar opposites, sharing very contrasting personalities and backgrounds. Stanley is shown to be barbaric and masculine, while Blanche tries to be elegant, feminine, and aristocratic. Stanley comes from a Polish immigrant descent, while Blanche is the definition of a Southern Belle.

In Scene 10, she deviously claims that she has just received a telegram from the millionaire, Steph Huntleigh, to explain why she is dressed up. At first, Stanley plays along, but once Blanche musters up the audacity to say that Mitch returned to their apartment seeking repentance, Stanley draws the line. He calls her out for her fictitious tales of her past, and states, “We’ve had this date from the start,” just before he maliciously rapes Blanche. Their natures root in primal, animalistic instincts, Stanley like a dirty hog, open and free concerning his sexuality, Blanche like a fox, sly and deceitful. Despite her incessant attempts to destroy her past, Blanche is unable to stop their sexual connection as she has had so many other men.

By taking a psychological approach to the characters, it is evident that they stand for more than just Southern Gothic characters trying to get by in the 40s. What is present and portrayed by the writer, Tennessee Williams, is that he uses similar ideologies as great Psychologist Sigmund Freud. Williams does this because of the diversity of the city of New Orleans and the ability it can shape and potentially adapt to the various lifestyles. The human psyche divided into three categories is present in the play as the main characters play each one: Stanley as id, Stella as ego, and Blanche as superego. Each character works as their own, but also in unison just as seen in

The Fight for Dominance In today’s society, gender norms convince men that unless they are able to control women, they are weak. Considered the inferior gender, women must find new ways to prove their own strength, whether it be through manipulation or their sexuality. The battle between the two continues as men strive to remain dominant, often by immoral means, and women attempt to gain the upper hand. In the screenplay, “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, the sexual tension and struggle for dominion between Blanche and Stanley is evident, and as the play continues, Blanche's promiscuity and Stanley's predatory nature foreshadow an inevitable confrontation.

During this time men brought in the money for the household, while the mother’s would stay at home and watch over the children of the family. With this came a sense of pride and authority for the men. Throughout the film Stanley continually abuses Blanche and even goes to the extreme of raping her. He depicts an animal-like man with no awareness of morals. When he gets angry he has no control of his reactions and results to physical violence.

he says: “not once did you pull any wool over this boy’s eyes!” Not only Stanley had broken her world of illusion, but also Mitch who is influenced by Stanley and destroys the protection of darkness by exposing her to the bright light. Stanley bringing up the past contributes to how Blanches ends up, alone and insane expressing the theme that what happened in the past determines the present, and illusion and fantasy directly correlate. Though reality triumphs over fantasy in A Streetcar Named Desire, when the truth comes colliding down on Blanche, she has no choice but to go insane ultimately avoiding the acceptance of

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 play, Blanche loses her family 's estate, and goes to stay with her sister Stella.  Stella lives with her husband Stanley.  From the start of the play, the audience begins to notice Blanche and Stanley’s contrasted personalities. Williams uses symbolism to allow his characters to represent something stronger than themselves. Past and present are intertwined in A Streetcar Named Desire through Blanche and Stanley; Blanche represents the past: the Old South, aristocracy, and former sensitivity, while Stanley represents the present: the New South, the industrial class, and modern straightforwardness.