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Analysis of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on October 13, 2020 • ( 0 )

Tennessee Williams ‘s (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983) A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), is generally regarded as his best. Initial reaction was mixed, but there would be little argument now that it is one of the most powerful plays in the modern theater. Like The Glass Menagerie , it concerns, primarily, a man and two women and a “gentleman caller.” As in The Glass Menagerie , one of the women is very much aware of the contrast between the present and her southern-aristocratic past; one woman (Stella) is practical if not always adequately aware, while the other (Blanche) lives partly in a dream world and teeters on the brink of psychosis; the gentleman caller could perhaps save the latter were circumstances somewhat different; and the play’s single set is a slum apartment. It is located in Elysian Fields, a section of the French Quarter of New Orleans. The action takes place in the downstairs two-room apartment rented by the Kowalskis.

Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter in the 1951 adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire

Stella Kowalski relaxes in a shabby armchair in the bedroom of the small apartment. She eats chocolates and reads a movie magazine. Stella’s husband, Stanley Kowalski, enters, carrying a package of meat dripping with blood and yelling for his wife. Stanley tosses the meat to Stella, who catches it in a surprised reaction. Stanley leaves to go bowling with his friends, and Stella decides to tag along. She hurriedly primps in the living room mirror, quickly closes the apartment door behind her, and says hello to Eunice Hubbell and a Negro Woman who are sitting on the landing. As she exits, the two women laugh about Stanley’s lack of manners.

Blanche DuBois enters. She is carrying a small suitcase and a piece of paper. She is a fading Southern belle, whose appearance suggests she is going to a garden party, but her search for her sister, Stella, has landed her in the slums of the French Quarter. Eunice notices the confused Blanche, and she asks whether she is lost. Blanche explains that she was instructed to take a streetcar named Desire to Elysian Fields via a streetcar called Cemetery. Eunice informs her that she is indeed in the right place. Eunice lets her into the Kowalskis’ apartment to wait for Stella while the Negro Woman fetches Stella from the bowling alley. Blanche has arrived unannounced, and she is shocked to discover Stella living in such a dismal place.

Blanche searches for a drink, and Stella enters. The two sisters are ecstatic to be reunited. Blanche speaks excitedly, overwhelming Stella with criticism of the apartment. Stella is speechless and hurt by these remarks, and she notices that Blanche is shaking and anxious. Stella is concerned by her sister’s behavior, and she attempts to calm her nerves by offering her a drink. Blanche urges Stella to explain why she is living in such depressing conditions. Blanche says she has taken a leave of absence from her high school teaching job. She says that she is having a difficult time and needed a break. Blanche mentions the weight Stella has gained, and she compliments her on her appearance; however, Stella knows that her sister is being critical. Blanche demands that Stella stand so she can fully analyze the size of her hips, her less than perfect haircut. She asks Stella about having a maid, but the Kowalskis’ apartment only consists of two rooms. Blanche is horrified by this news. She pours another drink to curb her intolerance of the place. Blanche has been lonely; she feels her sister abandoned her when she left Mississippi and their father died. Blanche admits that she is not well. Stella insists that her sister stay at the apartment, and she directs her to a folding bed. She insists that Stanley will not mind the lack of privacy, as he is Polish. Stella advises her sister that Stanley is unlike the Southern gentlemen they knew back in Laurel, Mississippi. She confesses he is ill mannered, but she is madly in love with him.

Blanche confesses that she has lost Belle Reve, the family plantation. Blanche expresses her resentment of her sister because she was “in bed with [her] Polack” while Blanche scraped and clawed to hold on to Belle Reve. Stella is very upset to know that they have lost their homestead. Blanche bitterly blames the foreclosure on the many deaths in the family. Blanche is plagued with guilt, as well as being hopelessly adrift, and she projects her feelings of loss onto Stella, who runs into the bathroom to escape her sister’s wrath.

Stanley returns home. He shouts to his friends, Steve Hubbell and Mitch (Harold Mitchell), from the stairwell. Blanche speaks to him before he notices her presence. Stanley is cordial to her and asks for Stella, who has locked herself away in the bathroom. He offers Blanche another shot of whiskey, noticing that the bottle has already been sampled. Blanche declines the offer, stating that she rarely drinks. Her obvious dishonesty spurs Stanley to ask some very personal questions regarding her past, namely, about her husband. He sheds his sweaty shirt to find relief in the summer heat and welcomes her to stay with them. Upset by his meddlesome inquiries, Blanche replies that her young husband is dead. She grows nauseous discussing this subject and has to sit down to regain her composure.

Around six o’clock the following evening, Blanche and Stella plan to have dinner out and see a movie while Stanley and his friends have a poker night in the apartment. While Blanche readies herself in the bathroom, Stella tells Stanley that Belle Reve has been lost. She also warns him not to mention that she is pregnant because Blanche is already so unstable. Stanley is most concerned with the loss of the estate. He suspects Blanche sold the plantation and kept all of the profits for herself. Referring to the Napoleonic Code, Stanley wants to know whether he has been swindled. To find proof of the foreclosure he rummages through Blanche’s trunk. Appraising the furs and jewelry she has, he urges Stella to acknowledge that Blanche has deceived her. Stella fears the looming confrontation, so she escapes to the porch.

When Blanche emerges from her hot bath and realizes that Stella is not around, she flirts with Stanley as a means of winning him over; however, he is interested only in the profits from Belle Reve. When Stanley accuses Blanche of selling the plantation and keeping all of the money, she insists that she has never cheated anyone in her life. She says, “I know I fib a good deal. After all, a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important, I tell the truth.” Stanley rifles through the trunk again, searching for documents that will prove Blanche is lying. Stanley discovers yellowing letters held together by aging ribbons, and he withholds these visibly precious items until she pulls two manila envelopes from her belongings. Blanche says that his touch has contaminated her cherished love letters. She tells Stanley that this paperwork is all that is left of the plantation, and he continues berating her by demanding to know how she could allow the foreclosure to happen. Blanche recoils with anger and retorts that the plantation has been lost by generations of negligent men who “exchanged the land for their epic fornications.” Stanley intends to have the documents read by a lawyer friend, and Blanche invites him to do so. Now that Stanley has been proved wrong, he justifies his concern with the fact that Stella is pregnant. This is a happy digression for Blanche, who is genuinely excited by this information. When Stella returns, Blanche expresses her joy about the baby. She brags that she handled Stanley and even flirted with him. The two sisters leave as Stanley’s friends arrive for their poker night.

Later that night in the Kowalski apartment, Stanley and his friends are still drinking and playing cards. Stella and Blanche return at 2:30 A.M., and Stanley asks them to visit Eunice until the game is over. When Stella does not comply, Stanley slaps her backside as a means of countering her disobedience in front of his friends. Blanche is intrigued by Mitch, who is uninterested in the poker game because he is worried about his ailing mother. Blanche is immediately attracted to his sensitivity. The two introduce themselves. Mitch offers her a cigarette, showing her the inscription on his cigarette case. She immediately recognizes it as the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Mitch explains the case is from a former girlfriend who died. Mitch’s story of his former lover resonates with Blanche’s own sense of loss of her young husband, Allan Grey. She tells Mitch, “Sorrow makes for sincerity,” and continues, “Show me a person that hasn’t known sorrow and I’ll show you a superficial person.” She asks Mitch to cover the naked lightbulb with a Chinese lantern she recently purchased.

Stanley grows more inebriated and increasingly irritated by the music Blanche is playing. He crosses the room, rips the radio from the wall, and throws it out of the window. He hits Stella when she tries to stop him. Humiliated and stunned, Stella runs into the kitchen area and orders Stanley’s friends to leave. Stanley chases and attacks Stella. Blanche begs Mitch to stop him, and the men restrain Stanley on the sofa. Blanche whisks Stella to Eunice’s apartment upstairs while the men attempt to sober Stanley. After a cold shower, he stumbles out of the bathroom, goes out onto the porch, and yells up to Stella. He continues to shout for Stella, who descends the stairs and returns to him. Stanley falls to his knees, pressing his head against her legs. Kissing passionately, the couple retreat to their bedroom. Blanche runs down after Stella. When she discovers them making love, she is angered by her sister’s weakness. Mitch calls out to Blanche. They share another cigarette. Blanche is thankful for Mitch’s kindness.

Early the next morning, Blanche returns to the Kowalski apartment after spending the night at Eunice and Steve’s apartment. When she realizes Stella is alone, she hugs her with nervous concern. Stella, on the other hand, is cheerful and content. Stella blames liquor and poker for Stanley’s behavior. She explains to her sister that she gets a thrill from her husband’s extreme actions. Blanche is infuriated. She says Stella has married a “madman.” While Blanche devises an escape plan for them, Stella tidies the apartment. Stella says she is happy with Stanley. Blanche is still bewildered by Stella’s cool resignation.

Blanche remembers an old beau, Shep Huntleigh, whom she plans to call on for their escape, but Stella does not want to be rescued. Blanche compares Stanley to an ape. During this conversation, Stanley has returned unnoticed. He has heard everything that has been said. All of Blanche’s persuading has been in vain: When Stella sees Stanley, she runs over and jumps into his arms.

Blanche has been living at the Kowalskis’ apartment for three months. While she finishes writing a letter to Shep about imaginary cocktail parties she has been attending, Stanley enters. He slams drawers and creates noise to express his irritation by Blanche’s presence. To provoke Stanley, she asks him his astrological sign. He remarks that he is a Capricorn (the goat) and Blanche replies she is Virgo, the sign of the virgin. Stanley laughs and asks her about a man by the last name of Shaw who claims to have spent an evening with Blanche at the Flamingo Hotel. Blanche adamantly denies this accusation, but her face registers panic and alarm. Stanley is victorious and exits to go bowling.

Analysis of Tennessee Williams’s The Glass Menagerie

Blanche becomes hysterical. She asks Stella whether she has heard rumors about her, but Stella gracefully denounces gossip. Blanche confesses that she did not maintain a good reputation when she was losing Belle Reve. She admits her fears of being a “soft” person, of needing people too much, and of her fading beauty. Blanche fears she will not be able to “turn the trick” much longer because she is visibly aging. She also confesses that she lied about her age to Mitch because she wants him to fall in love with her. Blanche has presented an illusion of herself as a prim and proper woman to Mitch. Stella is accustomed to Blanche’s nervous tirades, and she pays little attention to what her sister is actually saying. Stella comforts her by pouring her a drink. A young boy stops by the apartment selling newspapers. On his way out, Blanche calls him back inside and kisses him. Blanche chastises herself for putting “her hands” on the boy. He leaves and Mitch arrives with a bouquet of roses for her.

Later that night, Blanche and Mitch return from a disappointing date. Blanche blames herself for the dull evening. Mitch asks whether he may kiss her good night, and she consents but says their actions can go no further because she is a single woman. Stanley and Stella are not home, so Blanche invites Mitch in for a nightcap. Blanche plays the coquette while Mitch perspires with desire for her. While she searches for a bottle of whiskey, Blanche asks Mitch in French whether he would like to sleep with her. She comments that it is a good thing Mitch does not understand French. She encourages him to take off his coat, but he is embarrassed by his sweatiness. Blanche asserts that he is just a healthy man.

When Mitch suggests that the four of them go out together sometime, Blanche makes it clear that Stanley hates her. She asks whether Stanley has said anything derogatory about her. Mitch replies that he does not understand how Stanley could behave so rudely to her. Blanche says she plans to leave as soon as Stella has the baby.

Mitch asks Blanche her age, and Blanche refuses to answer. He explains that he asks because he has been with his mother talking about her. Blanche presumes Mitch will be very lonely when his mother dies. She explains that she knows this sort of loneliness firsthand because her one true love has passed away. She tells Mitch about Allan’s tenderness and sensitivity and says that she never understood him until she discovered he was having an affair with an older man. Blanche explains that Allan needed her to help him, but she could not see what was happening until it was too late. She confronted him while they were drunk at a dance at Moon Lake Casino. Her words provoked him to run to the edge of the lake and commit suicide. She can still hear the polka music that was playing during the time. Blanche cannot forgive herself for condemning Allan’s desires and pushing him to such drastic measures. She compares her love for Allan to a“blinding light.” Mitch answers that they are both lonely, and they both need someone. The polka tune that continually plays in Blanche’s mind ceases. Mitch and Blanche embrace with thoughts of marriage.

Several weeks later, Stanley arrives home after a day of work to find the apartment decorated for Blanche’s birthday party. He is disgruntled to know that Blanche is taking a hot bath, making the apartment even hotter and increasingly unbearable. Stanley proudly announces to Stella that he has found out the real story behind her sister’s extended visit. She was fired from her teaching job because she had an indecent relationship with a 17-year-old boy and set up residency at the Flamingo Hotel, which she was then forced to leave because of her sexual excesses. She has become the laughingstock of Laurel, Mississippi. Stella is profoundly stunned by this information, and she tries to defend Blanche by explaining the tragic situation with Allan. Stanley informs Stella that he felt it was his duty to warn his friend about Blanche. Blanche calls for a towel and notices a strained expression on Stella’s face, but Stella assures her nothing is wrong. Stella is fraught with worry about what will happen to Blanche now that Mitch is likely to abandon her. Stanley implies that Mitch may not be through with Blanche, but he certainly will not marry her. He remarks that he bought Blanche a bus ticket back to Laurel. Stanley yells for Blanche to get out of the bathroom so that he can use it. Sensing something is wrong, Blanche cautiously enters the room.

Nearly one hour passes. Stella, Stanley, and Blanche are eating dinner. Blanche is trying to ignore the empty chair where Mitch would be sitting. Blanche tries to lighten the mood of the party by telling a joke, but no one finds it funny. Stella says Stanley is “too busy making a pig of himself.” She instructs him to wash up and help her clean the table. Stanley flies into a rage, sweeping the table’s contents to the floor, and declares that he is the king in his home. When Stanley leaves the table and goes out onto the porch, Blanche begs Stella to tell her what is going on. Blanche calls Mitch’s home while Stella chastises her husband for passing rumors to Mitch. Stanley presents the bus ticket to Blanche. She runs into the bedroom crying. Stella yells at Stanley for being so terrible to Blanche. Stanley reminds his wife that she loves his commonness, especially at night in their bedroom. As he shouts for Blanche, Stella doubles over with pain. She is rushed to the hospital.

Later that evening, Blanche sits alone in the darkness of the apartment drinking liquor. Mitch enters wearing his work uniform. Although he is dirty and unshaven, she admits that she is happy to see him, as his presence stops the polka music that otherwise persistently plays in her mind. She searches for more liquor to serve him, but he declines drinking Stanley’s liquor. Mitch inquires why Blanche keeps the apartment so dark and insists on seeing him only at night. He wants to turn on the light, but Blanche begs him to allow the magic (illusions) to continue. When he wrenches the lantern off the lightbulb, Blanche’s aged face is revealed. He proceeds to tell her what he has heard about her promiscuous life in Laurel. Blanche immediately pleads that after Allan and the loss of Belle Reve, she could only find relief from the pain in the arms of strangers. A vendor is heard outside selling flowers for the dead. This sparks Blanche to talk about all of the deaths in her life. She says she was “played out” when she finally landed in New Orleans. She found solace and love with Mitch, believing that she could possibly find happiness and rest. Mitch embraces her, and she pleads for marriage. Mitch says she is unsuitable. He pulls her hair and demands the physical intimacy she has denied him all summer. Blanche orders him to leave, and when he does not, she runs to the window and shouts, “Fire!” This action prompts Mitch to leave.

A few hours later, Blanche is still alone and drinking heavily. She is wearing an old gown and a rhinestone tiara. Stanley enters carrying liquor. He informs Blanche that Stella will not have the baby before the morning, so he has come home. Blanche is nervous about being in the apartment alone with Stanley all night. Stanley laughs at her and questions her attire. Blanche announces that she has received a telegram from Shep Huntleigh, inviting her on a cruise to the Caribbean. Stanley retreats to the bedroom and collects the red silk pajamas he wore on his wedding night. When he returns, Blanche says that Mitch came by begging for forgiveness, but she simply could not forgive his cruelty. Stanley angrily denounces her lies. Blanche rushes to the telephone and pleads with the operator to connect her with Shep Huntleigh. When she puts down the phone, Stanley corners her. Blanche retreats to the bedroom, where she smashes a bottle to use as a weapon against him. Stanley lunges at her, grabs the bottle, and gathers Blanche in his arms. She fights him, but he overpowers her, stating that they have had this date with each other from the moment she arrived.

Several weeks later, Stella cries as she packs Blanche’s belongings. Eunice holds the baby while Stanley and his friends play poker. Stella wonders whether she is doing the right thing in sending her sister to the state institution. Eunice responds that if Stella wants to save her marriage, she must believe that Stanley did not rape her sister. Blanche enters from the bathroom with a “hysterical vivacity.” She asks whether Shep has called while she dresses. The doorbell sounds and a doctor and attendant enter to collect Blanche. Blanche wants to leave the apartment, but she does not want to be seen by Mitch, Stanley, and the other men. When she sees that the man at the door is not Shep, she tries to run back into the apartment. Stanley blocks her way. He cruelly tells her that all she has left in this apartment is the paper lantern hanging over the lightbulb. He tears it down and hands it to her. Blanche screams, and Stella rushes to the porch, where Eunice comforts her. The doctor and attendant wrestle Blanche to the ground to restrain her.

Mitch attacks Stanley, blaming him for Blanche’s condition. The men fight and their friends pull them apart. Blanche is helped to her feet. The doctor helps her to the door and she says that she has “always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Stella is heartbroken by the scene. She sobs while the doctor escorts Blanche out of the apartment. Stanley consoles Stella by fondling her breasts. Steve announces the next round of poker.

When asked about the meaning of A Streetcar Named Desire ,Williams responded, “the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society” (Haskell, 230). All the characters in Streetcar have been ravished by life to some degree. Although Stanley clearly functions as the most damaging force against Blanche, he, too, has also been forced to grow up too quickly as he spent his youth as a soldier serving in World War II. Reintegration into a mundane, peaceful world does not keep him fulfilled. He is moody and restless, and his animalistic tendencies are challenged by the overly refined Blanche.

Stella is a submissive character, placed in the middle of a war between gentrified society, represented by Blanche, and the rugged, practical world of the working class personified by Stanley. In war there are the victors and the vanquished. Blanche ultimately suffers the most damaging defeat, being institutionalized, while Stanley continues to brutalize his way through life.

In the opening scene of the play, Stanley appears carrying a package of bloody meat, which immediately establishes his primitive nature. In stark contrast, Blanche enters the scene wearing white. Williams compares her to a moth, symbolically stressing her fragility, purity, and virtue. Her pristine attire serves as an effective camouflage for her sordid past. As Chance Wayne (in Sweet Bird of Youth), Sebastian Venable (in Suddenly Last Summer), and Lot (in Kingdom of Earth, or the Seven Descents of Myrtle) do, by wearing white, Blanche uses her clothing to disguise her “degenerate” selfperception. Her name, which is French, literally means “white of the woods.” Out of her unlucky and desperate wilderness, Blanche enters the Kowalski apartment a transformed, mothlike creature of nature, recast as a virginal character. Although she has been a prostitute, Blanche prefers to believe in her renewed chasteness. She lives in a world of illusion and believes that her sexual encounters with strangers never constituted love; therefore, she never forfeited any aspect of her true self.

As has Karen Stone in The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone , Blanche has an aversion to being viewed in bright light that will reveal her true age. As early as the first scene, she asks Stella to turn off the overhead light. Blanche is most comfortable in the warm glow of a lamp that allows her to play the part of the innocent coquette completely. She lies about her age when she courts Mitch and avoids spending time with him in daylight. When Mitch returns in the final meeting with her, he insists on tearing the lantern off the overhead light so that he may finally have a good look at her. When Blanche asks why he wants the glare of bright light, he says he is just being realistic. Blanche replies:

I don’t want realism. I want—magic! . . . Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth. And if that’s a sin, then let me be damned for it! Don’t turn the light on!

Of course, Stanley has informed him that she has been lying about everything. However, her mothlike, youthful facade is not just used to fool Mitch; it is an integral part of who she is. Blanche wishes she could actually be what she pretends to be. She resigns from reality because it has been too harsh. The “magic” in which she chooses to dwell is her only means of survival, as her suffering has been so great. She fears that looking her age will further discredit her in a world that has already discarded her.

Blanche also drinks heavily, while pretending to adhere to a Southern gender code that restricts well-bred women from drinking in company or in public. This is another aspect of playing the innocent coquette. Late in the play, Mitch informs Blanche that Stanley has talked about how much of his liquor she has consumed, and she realizes that her subterfuge has failed.

Although it is a means of comfort and relief, alcohol has long been a source of shame and regret for Blanche. She particularly regrets her drunken criticism of Allan because she did not mean the words that drove him to take his own life. Leonard Berkman suggests:

It is not the existence of Allan’s homosexuality that signals the failure of Blanche’s marriage; it is, rather, that Blanche must uncover this information by accident, that Blanche is incapable of responding compassionately to this information, that in short there never existed a marriage between them in which Allan could come to her in full trust and explicit needs. (“The Tragic Downfall of Blanche DuBois,” 2)

Blanche responded to Allan’s sexuality with a sense of wounded pride, and as Brick in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF does to his friend Skipper, she spends the rest of her life regretting that she did not love and accept him. Blanche responded too harshly. She loved Allan and truly believed in their marriage; however, she lived in a romantic world of delusion until she witnessed a real moment when Allan was having sex with another man, which completely shattered the illusion. As Blanche explains to Mitch:

[Allan] was in the quicksand clutching at me— but I wasn’t holding him out, I was slipping in with him! I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anything except I loved him unendurably but without being able to help him or help myself.

In this instance, it was Blanche who was cruelly responsible for the ravishment (or abuse) of one that was “tender, sensitive, and delicate.”

Allan Grey’s suicide scene is reminiscent of the final scene in The Seagull by Anton Chekhov. When Konstantin can no longer endure his life and the knowledge that he must live without the love he desires, he is drawn to the lake (like a seagull) and shoots himself. Konstantin and Allan are tragically similar characters, who are gravely misunderstood by those around them. Williams was enamored of Chekhov’s characters, finding them dynamically flawed and powerfully present. Chekhov’s dramaturgical influence is inherent in Streetcar , as the psychological reality of the characters creates the dramatic tension and fuels the action to an unavoidable conclusion.

Blanche tells the story of her homosexual husband to Mitch, who could very easily assume that Blanche and Allan’s marriage was never consummated. Even through her tragically truthful tales Blanche continues to create the illusion that she is prim and virginal. This makes the news of her promiscuous past more shocking and insulting to Mitch, who has respected her wish to abstain from sexual intimacy. Blanche presents the person she would like to be: naive, proper, and respectable. Blanche has found an Allan substitute in Mitch. She longs to have an opportunity to re-create that marriage and have a second chance to make up for her cruel past actions. Mitch is the answer as his sensitivity stops the haunting polka music in her mind (i.e., the painful memories of Allan’s death).

Throughout the play, Blanche frequently takes long hot baths in the sweltering heat of a New Orleans summer. This symbolic act of baptism absolves her of her past sins and cleanses her body in preparation for her husband-to-be. She repeatedly purifies her body in water, and in her mind, by each ritual bathing, she creates more distance from the sullied strangers she encountered at the Flamingo Hotel in Laurel. In moments of desperation and self-doubt, Blanche bathes. This repeated action greatly annoys Stanley.

Stanley and Blanche are archenemies because they possess antithetical personalities, and each lays claim to Stella. Whereas Stanley respects complete honesty, Blanche delights in experiencing the world through rose-colored glasses. She spends much of her time rejecting the harshness of life, and Stanley is always there to make her acknowledge the truth. Blanche enjoys the protocol of the Old South; she is nostalgic about the tradition of Southern life, whereas Stanley hates sentimentality. In his production notebook, Elia Kazan writes of Blanche:

Her problem has to do with her tradition. Her notion of what a woman should be. She is stuck with this “ideal.” It is her. It is her ego. Unless she lives by it, she cannot live; in fact her whole life has been for nothing. (Kazan, 22)

Blanche defines her existence according to the traditions of the Old South. She is completely immersed in that world, whereas Stanley symbolizes the new or modern world that is obliterating that former way of living.

Early in the play these two characters clash over the subject of Belle Reve. It is Blanche’s lost, beautiful dream, rich with family heritage and pride; Stanley is interested only in the property’s material or monetary real estate value. He is happy in the loud, harsh, and dirty world of the Vieux Carré of New Orleans, whereas Blanche prefers finer accommodations, the bucolic setting of hundreds of acres of land and large white pillars on a grand veranda that provide lounging quarters out of the midday sun. Some critics see Blanche as Williams’s most representative character, as she has lost the stability of her ancestral home and is now in exile.

According to Kazan, Blanche’s emotional decline begins when she is stripped of her plantation:

The things about the “tradition” in the nineteenth century was that it worked then. It made a woman feel important with her own secure positions and functions, her own special worth. It also made a woman at that time one with her society. But today the tradition is an anachronism which simply does not function. It does not work. So while Blanche must believe it because it makes her special, because it makes her sticking by Belle Reve an act of heroism, rather than an absurd romanticism, still it does not work. . . . She’s a misfit, a liar, her “airs” alienate people, she must act superior to them which alienates them further. (Kazan, 22)

Blanche is one of Williams’s “lost souls,” those characters who are caught between an old and a new world. As are Amanda Wingfield (in The Glass Menagerie ) and Alma Winemiller (in Summer and Smoke ), who also delight in tradition, Blanche is lost in a modern, industrial society because in it she does not have a special position simply by virtue of being a Southern woman. Belle Reve is her identification or authentication as a person, and without it, she does not possess a self and therefore must rely on others to supply stability, security, and substance. Blanche only realizes that she is responsible for her own financial and social status when it is too late. Her “airs” are her tragic flaw in this new world, Stanley’s world, a world that has been changed through hardship and struggles associated with industry, war, and economic depression. Blanche becomes “a last dying relic . . . now adrift in our unfriendly day” (Miller, 23). Although this situation may make her more pitiable, it does not make her less offensive to her peers.

Blanche’s very vocal disapproval of Stanley serves to isolate her from Stella, the one sympathetic person in her life. Her critical opinion of the dismal apartment and of Stanley’s brutish demeanor creates a chasm in the sisters’ relationship, and her chances of familial bonding are sacrificed. Blanche demonstrates her racial prejudices when she calls Stanley a “Polack,” and her gradual, yet persistent provocations lead to her ultimate violation. This act of rape wounds Blanche to a point of no return. The culmination of Stanley’s victory over Blanche occurs when Stella refuses to believe that her sister has been assaulted. Stella sides with her husband as Blanche’s past and world of illusions (or dishonesty) serve to silence her in her most desperate moment.

Williams’s ability to “capture something of the complexity of the novel within the dramatic form, especially in the area of character probity and psychology” (Adler, 9), has set Streetcar apart and is the reason it merits its status not only as a modern classic, but s a watershed moment in U.S. theater history. Essentially, Williams created a new genre in the modern theater: a heightened naturalism that allows dreams (or nightmares) to coexist with reality.

DuBois, Blanche

Described in the opening scene as “mothlike,” Blanche is an aging Southern belle. She is refined, delicate, and steeped in the traditions of Southern gentry. She first appears wearing white, symbolizing her feigned purity and virtuous nature. Blanche is one of Williams’s dreamers, forfeiting reality for a magical or romantic approach to life. She is not concerned with truth, but rather “what ought to be the truth.”

When she was a young woman, Blanche married her true love, Allan Grey. He was tender and sensitive, different from the other men in her life. Although he was not “the least bit effeminate looking,” she learned of his homosexuality when she entered a room uninvited and found Allan having sex with an older male friend. Later that night, the three of them attended a dance at Moon Lake Casino. During this evening of heavy drinking, Blanche confronted Allan about his sexuality while a polka played and lovers danced around them. Devastated by Blanche’s disgust toward him, Allan ran off the dance floor. He found refuge at the edge of the nearby lake, where he shot himself. Blanche is forever haunted by the guilt she feels over Allan’s suicide. She cannot move beyond the loss of her husband, and in moments of desperation she still hears the polka waltz in her mind. She drinks whiskey to cope with her self-reproach, but the cruelty she displayed toward Allan forever torments her.

Blanche’s life continues on a downward spiral with the deaths of several other family members. She is obligated to nurse them, witnessing the slow, torturous deterioration of life. Blanche is forced to earn her living as a high school English teacher because her ancestral home, Belle Reve (which means “beautiful dream” in French), in Laurel, Mississippi, is in danger of foreclosure. Severely lonely and desperate, she finds consolation in the embrace of strange men. When she is fired from her teaching position because of a “morally unfit” liaison with a 17-year-old boy, her reputation is completely ruined. Belle Reve is foreclosed and she is forced to live in a seedy hotel called the Flamingo. Because of her practice of entertaining men at the Flamingo, she is eventually forced to leave that establishment as well.

Destitute and homeless, Blanche travels to New Orleans, taking a “streetcar named Desire” to the slums of Elysian Fields, where her sister, Stella Kowalski, lives with her brutish husband, Stanley Kowalski. She arrives unannounced at the crampedtwo-room apartment. She immediately rejects Stanley because of his unrefined behavior and crude, straightforward response to life. Her worst opinions of Stanley are justified when she witnesses the beatings Stella suffers at the hands of her husband. Blanche believes that “a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion,” and she clashes with Stanley, who is determined to catch Blanche in all of her lies. Her facade quickly positions her as Stanley’s prime enemy. He is sickened by her exaggerations and false prudishness. Despite her past, Blanche remains married to the ideals of purity, creating the illusion of what she “ought to be.”

Stanley triumphs over her when he finds out about her promiscuous past in Laurel. He destroys her only chance of comfort by relating her sordid past to Mitch (Harold Mitchell), her only and final marriage prospect. Stanley then rapes Blanche, presuming that she has had so many sexual encounters that one more will make no difference. After this act, a deed that Stella refuses to acknowledge, Blanche is wounded once and for all. She loses her grip on reality and finds consolation in a type of magical world that will not allow her to hurt anymore. This world places her at the mercy of “the kindness of strangers.” The strange men in her life are replaced by the medical staff of a mental institution.

Hubbell, Eunice

Eunice is the wife of Steve Hubbell. She and Steve are the upstairs neighbors of Stanley and Stella Kowalski. As do Stanley and Stella, Eunice and Steve have a volatile marital relationship. In many ways, the older couple (Eunice and Steve) mirror Stanley and Stella and offer a vision of what the young couple will be in the future. Eunice is a confidante to Stella, and Eunice eases the younger woman’s transition into a life of denial and compromise. When Stella’s sister, Blanche DuBois, accuses Stanley of rape, Eunice instructs Stella to disavow Blanche’s claims for the sake of her marriage, her child, and her own sanity.

Hubbell, Steve

Steve is the husband of Eunice Hubbell. He and Eunice are the upstairs neighbors of Stanley and Stella Kowalski. As do Stanley and Stella, Eunice and Steve have a volatile marital relationship. In many ways, the older couple (Eunice and Steve) mirror Stanley and Stella and offer a vision of what the young couple will be in the future.

Kowalski, Stanley

He is a strong, brutish man of Polish descent. Stanley is a former soldier, who fought during World War II and who now lives in the mundane world of factory work. He is cruelly honest. His pastimes include bowling, drinking, playing poker with his friends and having sex with his wife, Stella Kowalski. Stanley enjoys the comforts of Stella’s love. Although he is unrefined, loud, and quick-tempered, he possesses a simplicity which makes him desirable to Stella. There is also an animal attraction between Stanley and Stella, and their relationship is based not on communication but on physical attraction. In the stage directions of Streetcar , Williams describes him as a “gaudy seed bearer [who] sizes women up at a glance.”

Stanley revels in the fact that Stella is from an old aristocratic Southern family and that she has rejected upper-crust society to live with him in a tenement house in the slums of New Orleans. Stanley functions with very basic objectives. He is strongwilled and responds to adversity with violence.

When his sister-in-law, Blanche DuBois, moves in, Stanley feels threatened by her presence and her rejection of his way of life. He does not like to share what is his: his wife, his liquor, and his apartment. When he finds out that the DuBois plantation, Belle Reve, has been foreclosed, he immediately demands proof that Blanche did not sell it and keep the money. Stanley expects to share any profits, as he is Stella’s husband. Stella and Blanche are personally devastated by the loss of their ancestral home; Stanley is only concerned with the practical, monetary side of the situation. He has no way of comprehending the emotional loss of such a thing. In addition, Blanche’s large personality leaves little room for him to be the center of attention. The two engage in a power struggle that draws out the worst in Stanley’s personality. The tension created by Blanche’s presence provokes Stanley to beat Stella and to seek a way to ruin his sister-in-law.

He triumphs over Blanche after searching for the truth of her disreputable past. When he has gathered this ammunition, he informs Blanche’s only marriage prospect, Mitch (Harold Mitchell)of her sordid past. By this he is able to pierce the virginal facade that Blanche has used to manipulate and control. Stella defends her sister by explaining that she has had a tragic past and she is weak, but Stanley is interested only in survival of the fittest. He rapes Blanche and denies that he did to Stella. This is Stanley’s ultimate triumph. In the end, Blanche is taken to a mental institution while Stanley comforts his wife by fondling her breasts.

Kowalski, Stella

She is the wife of Stanley Kowalski and the sister of Blanche DuBois. Stella is a member of a very refined and dignified Southern family, who has chosen to cast off her social status in exchange for marriage to Stanley, a vulgar and often brutal simpleton. She is caught in the war between Stanley and Blanche, whose constant bickering and fighting leads to Stanley’s sexually assaulting Blanche. Stella refuses to believe that her husband would rape her sister. After her accusations of rape, Stella commits Blanche to a mental institution. As does her sister, Stella glosses over harsh reality to live in the world of illusions to cope with Stanley’s abhorrent behavior.

Mitchell, Harold (Mitch)

A middle-aged man whose dedication to his ailing mother leaves him lonely and troubled. Mitch falls in love with Blanche Dubois, a refined, yet fading Southern belle. They engage in a respectable courtship, and Blanche insists on delaying sexual relations until they are married. When Stanley Kowalski informs Mitch of Blanche’s sordid past as a prostitute, he is shocked and offended that she has made him wait for sexual intimacy.

FURTHER READING Adler, Thomas P. A Streetcar Named Desire: The Moth and The Lantern. Boston: Twayne, 1990. Berkman, Leonard. “The Tragic Downfall of Blanche DuBois,” Modern Drama 10, no. 2 (December 1967): 249–257. Kazan, Elia. “Notebook for A Streetcar Named Desire,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Jordan Y. Miller. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice- Hall, 1971, pp. 21–26. Shaw, Irwin. “Masterpiece,” in Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Jordan Y. Miller. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971, pp. 45–47. Sova, Dawn B. Forbidden Films: Censorship Histories of 125 Motion Pictures. New York: Facts On File, 2001.

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• Introduction, by J. Y. Miller.--Notebook for A streetcar named Desire, by E. Kazan.--Review of a tryout performance in Boston, by E. Hughes.--Streetcar named Desire sets season's high in acting, writing, by J. Chapman.--Streetcar named Desire is striking drama, by R. Watts, Jr.--"Streetcar" tragedy--Mr. Williams' report on life in New Orleans, by B. Atkinson.--O'Neill status won by author of "Streetcar", by H. Barnes.--The streetcar isn't drawn by Pegasus, by G. J. Nathan.--Review of Streetcar named Desire, by J. W. Krutch.--Southern discomfort, by J. M. Brown.--Masterpiece, by I. Shaw.--Miss Vivien Leigh, by H. Hobson.--Laughter dans le tramway, by R. MacColl.--Williams' feminine characters, by D. da Ponte.--A trio of Tennessee Williams' heroines: the psychology of prostitution, by P. Weissman.--Tennessee Williams and the tragedy of sensitivity, by J. T. von Szeliski.--The innocence of Tennessee Williams, by M. Magid.--A streetcar named Desire--Neitzsche descending, by J. N. Riddell.--Most famous of streetcars, by W. D. Sievers.--The southern gentlewoman, by S. Falk.--Tennessee Williams: Streetcar to glory, by C. W. E. Bigsby.--Selected bibliography (p. 116-119)

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Blanche Dubois: An Antihero

Lauren Seigle (WR 100, Paper 2)

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Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire presents an ambiguous moral puzzle to readers. Critics and audiences alike harbor vastly torn opinions concerning Blanche’s role in the play, which range from praising her as a fallen angel victimized by her surroundings to damning her as a deranged harlot. Critic Kathleen Margaret Lant claims that Williams prohibits Blanche from the realm of tragic protagonist as a result of his own culturally ingrained misogyny, using her victimization as an intentional stab at womanhood. At another end of the spectrum, critic Anca Vlasopolos interprets Blanche’s downfall as a demonstration of Williams’s sympathy for her circumstances and a condemnation of the society that destroys her. Despite such strong convictions, debate still exists over Williams’s intentions in the weaving of Blanche Dubois’ tale and the purpose of the play’s moral ambiguity. Throughout the play, Williams’s sympathies lie with Blanche; this sympathy proves Williams is not misogynistic but rather condemns the environment that has brought about Blanche’s tragic circumstances.

Sympathy for Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire is garnered in large part from the obvious trauma she has experienced due to the loss of her beloved husband, Allan Grey. Ironically, this aspect of the play is also one that critics and readers frequently use to demonize Blanche and disprove her role as a sympathetic character. Arguments arise that attempt to lessen the traces of author and reader sympathy in Blanche’s widowhood; critics claim Williams believes Blanche behaved hatefully toward her husband or failed him in some manner, leading to the death she now laments. Kathleen Margaret Lant claims that “Williams does consider Blanche guilty for not saving her husband from his homosexuality . . . and for not showing more womanly support and compassion for the young man . . .” (233). Lant posits that Blanche had a responsibility as a wife to somehow rescue her husband from his own sexuality, and Williams condemns her lack of calm understanding when confronted with a threat to her own happy marriage. However, this claim contrasts with the trauma that the death has caused Blanche, and the implications that the overpowering love she felt for Allan Grey may have been the last true emotion to which she allowed herself to succumb. She refers to her “empty heart” (146) and sadly mentions, “I loved someone too, and the person I loved I lost” (113). Blanche is visibly heartbroken by her loss, which intentionally evokes pity from the reader.

Evidence also abounds that the traumatic loss of her husband was a driving force for the downward spiral that leads Blanche to Stella’s doorstep. The scandalous events that drive Blanche to her ultimate defeat do not begin until after Allan’s death, and she even admits, “After the death of Allan—intimacies with strangers was 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” (146). Williams implies that Blanche is not inherently impious; the disintegration of the loving marriage she once clung to dissipates her naïve, youthful innocence and leads her to a sordid path. Blanche’s heartbreak following her first love causes her to descend into the degeneration that becomes her ruin, a fact which lends empathetic justification and a sorrowful light to her actions.

Another situation in which Williams shows sympathy toward Blanche is her most dramatic victimization in the play: her rape. This scene requires careful analysis in order for one to understand that Stanley’s rape of Blanche is indeed an antagonistic victimization and not Williams’s misogynistic idea of poetic justice, as many critics argue. Lant claims in her article that “Williams goes to great lengths to obscure the fact that rape is a political crime . . . making this seem a crime of passion and desire rather than one of violence, cruelty, and revenge . . .” (235). She insists Williams “harbors false notions about rape” and believes Blanche is “a loud-mouthed, flirtatious whore who really asked for what she got” (236). According to Lant, Williams condemns Blanche even as a rape victim and utilizes her as a symbol of justice, a promiscuous woman who essentially brought her victimization on herself.

However, this argument is in complete dissonance with the obvious signs of Blanche’s noncompliance in the rape and utterly ignores Williams’s vilification of Stanley throughout the play. Critic Anca Vlasopolos states the drive to prove Blanche, or any human victim for that matter, compliant in her victimization is simply the byproduct of “an arsenal of psychoanalysis” and points out that “The ‘inhuman voices’ and ‘lurid reflections’ on the walls link the victimization of Blanche in scenes 10 and 11 [in which Blanche is unwillingly seized by the doctors] in a way that dismisses Blanche’s complicity in the rape . . .” (165). Indeed, the “inhuman voices” and “lurid reflections” that Vlasopolos mentions are described by Williams during the rape scene as “grotesque” and “menacing” (159), an effect particularly unsettling in conjunction with Blanche’s protests of “I warn you, don’t, I’m in danger!” (161). The dark, sinister mood of the rape scene disproves the argument that Blanche is in any way compliant with Stanley’s violation, discouraging the notion that Williams approves of the rape or intends the audience to view the rape as Blanche’s just desserts.

In addition to Blanche’s evident noncompliance, Williams’s vilification of Stanley throughout the entire play draws a clear distinction between victim and villain in the rape scene. Upon Stanley’s first appearance, Williams describes how “[h]e seizes women up at a glance . . . crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them,” and in the next line Blanche not coincidentally “draw[s] involuntarily back from his stare” (25). This significant exchange sets the mood for the tension between Blanche and Stanley that continues throughout the play. Several times Blanche regards Stanley with a “look of panic” (127) or a “frightened look” (135), subtle stage directions that further Stanley’s dark portrayal and foreshadow his victimization of Blanche. The fact that Stanley is characterized as lecherous and Blanche merely as mentally weak and insecure reflects where Williams’s sympathies lie; it does not imply that Blanche brings on Stanley’s womanizing cruelty but rather that any woman could become his prey. Williams establishes Blanche’s role as Stanley’s victim far earlier on in the play than his physical domination of her, and Stanley’s menacing characterization implies that Blanche’s flawed character does not give her singular potential to fall victim to him.

In A Streetcar Named Desire ’s final scene, Williams makes his sympathetic tone toward Blanche tangible by exploiting her vulnerability before the indifference of the people and society that surrounds her. In addition to the iconic comment “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (178), Blanche’s vulnerability is also illuminated through stage directions such as “ a look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience shows on her face ” (167) and “ She turns her face to [the doctor] and stares at him with desperate pleading ” (177–8). Blanche’s vulnerability leaves her sharply exposed before the cold unresponsiveness of the people who witness her defeat and represent the society in which she has been immersed: the men’s poker game resumes abruptly after her dramatic exit, Blanche’s own sister Stella returns her pleas delivered in a “ frightening whisper ” by staring blankly back at her in a “ moment of silence ” (174), and Eunice simply responds to her claim of rape with, “Don’t ever believe it. Life has got to go on” (166). The other characters in the play, representative of the era’s misogynistic society, choose to disregard Blanche’s plight in accordance with what society expects. Blanche has fallen victim to the brutality of male dominance, yet even the women around her turn a blind eye to her suffering in order to avoid any disruption of their everyday lives.

Lant and Vlasopolos hold different interpretations of this final indifference toward Blanche. Lant claims that A Streetcar Named Desire ’s ending “dehumanizes Blanche, undercuts her tragic situation, and renders her . . . a maddened hysteric with no place in a well-ordered society” (230). According to Lant, Williams portrays Blanche as a stain on a virtuous, morally correct society. However, Williams’s negative descriptions of the chaotic, domestic abuse-ridden households that the Kowalskis and their neighbors inhabit hardly portray them as examples of a “well-ordered society” (Lant 230). Hence, Williams intends Blanche’s ousting to be a criticism of the surroundings that oust her rather than her as a reject.

Vlasopolos mentions, “The fact that audiences feel ambivalent about Blanche is not the problem Williams raises; the problem is rather the audience’s pragmatic shrug at the end of the play” (168). Vlasopolos explains that the permeating air of indifference surrounding Blanche’s final rejection is precisely the issue that Williams wishes to criticize. He utilizes the key characters of the play, who silently watch the doctors force Blanche away to an unknown fate, to represent the cold, misogynistic society in which she has been immersed and from which she is now ultimately rejected. Williams uses the juxtaposition of Blanche’s vulnerability with the indifference of the participants in her destruction to demonstrate further sympathy for her and direct criticism toward her surroundings.

One can easily deduce Williams’s sympathy toward Blanche throughout the play and even in the circumstances of her downfall, which gives greater insight into both Williams’s perceptions of her role as a character and his own views. Although at first glance Blanche’s checkered sexual past and addiction to the attention of men seem to safely secure her a pigeonhole in a womanizing society, in reality her experiences have only broken down her weak spirit and driven her to her downfall. Because of Williams’s sympathy, Blanche becomes a tragic protagonist in A Streetcar Named Desire and transforms the play into a sort of allegory: Williams uses her plight to criticize the social circumstances that have both shaped her flawed persona and led to her demise. This social commentary leaves Williams’s motivations in question: as a homosexual male, why exactly is Williams so sympathetic toward Blanche? One possibility is that Williams’s homosexuality in a heavily masculine society rendered him naturally sympathetic toward the plight of women, with whom he probably identified more than with the archetypical male of the era. Another explanation is that, as a homosexual, Williams criticized heterosexuality itself, condemning the sexuality that turns Blanche into a victim, Stanley into a monster, and the rest of the characters into puppets on socio-cultural strings. Although Williams’s personal motives are debatable, the story he creates with Blanche Dubois presents a clearly sympathetic portrait of a woman downtrodden by a misogynistic world.

Works Cited

Lant, Kathleen Margaret. “A Streetcar Named Misogyny.” Violence in Drama . Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1991. 225–238. Print.

Vlasopolos, Anca. “Authorizing History: Victimization in A Streetcar Named Desire .” Feminist Rereadings of Modern American Drama . Ed. June Schlueter. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1989. 149–169. Print.

Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire . New York: New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2004. Print.

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A Streetcar Named Desire: A Critical Analysis

In A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) when gay men and feminists claim there is evidence in the film that Stanley rapes Blanche they are as hysterical as Blanche.

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The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

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Themes related to homosexuality and the homosexual experience are interwoven in many layers throughout Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. This research paper analyzes contemporary commentary on homosexuality from the 1940s and ‘50s, Blanche’s experiences with light and perception, and moments of homosociality between the male poker players, to interpret how the homosexual experience is represented and exposed on stage through the two main characters in the play, Blanche and Stanley. Williams uses a heteronormative context to portray the homosexual experience, thus mirroring the way gay men had to navigate life in the closet while presenting to the public a façade that mimicked that of the hetero-norm. Ultimately, Williams uses illusions to make a comment on the greater society’s attitudes towards homosexuals. Homosexuals were forced to present themselves in illusory manners to be accepted within society; they had to navigate the world inside and outside “the closet”. Thus...

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Objectification theory, sexual objectification of women, and female self-objectification are new trends in gender studies. When a woman is observed only through her body parts, i.e. as an instrument, she is believed to be sexually objectified. Likewise, when a woman exploits her sexuality, either through wearing revealing clothing or displaying lustful behavior, she is engaged in self-objectification. This paper focuses its attention on the female characters in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire based on the female objectification theory. It examines Blanche's past and present behavior and argues that Blanche has undergone sexual objectification and consequently self-objectification. She unconsciously suffers from psychological repercussions resulting from her objectification, namely, her drinking problem and her immersion in a false sense of reality. Furthermore, this paper narrows its scope of analysis down to Stanley's character as an agent of violence and women subordination and examines his relationship with women objectification.

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In the appropriately titled A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois’s lust infested lifestyle, and her promiscuous behavior led to a tragic fall. A once pure hearted girl from the Old South aristocracy of Louisiana takes refuge in her sister’s home in New Orleans, where she meets her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Tennessee Williams introduces themes such abjection, desire and gender roles and the challenge of survival in a changing world. In what follows, is an exploration of key events that led to her nervous breakdown, drawing back on psychoanalysis to elaborate on how Blanche’s traumatic life experiences negates the shell that encompasses her morbid livelihood.

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This article examines the language of clothes in Elia Kazan's 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire, focusing on the outfits of the main character, Blanche DuBois, portrayed by Vivien Leigh. Represented in contrast to the garments worn by other characters and especially her nemesis, Stanley Kowalski, Blanche's clothes express complex messages with regard to social class and cultural identity, which feed into broader midcentury controversies around fashion in America, the performativity of clothing and its potential uses as a passing device. Another line of enquiry concerns the differences between Tennessee Williams' descriptions of Blanche's appearance in the play and their realization on screen, the “translation” of the playwright’s remarks into cinematic images, and the resulting visual narratives, which give weight to specific readings of the plot. Finally, the article approaches the image of Blanche as a reflexive commentary on the nature of film and a critique of Hollywood glamor. By emphasizing the constructedness of Blanche’s appearance: her “dressing for the part,” the use of setting, lighting and even music to enhance her social performance, the film questions its own artifice, while Vivien Leigh simultaneously embodies and deconstructs the image of blonde femininity, which dominated the cinema of the era.

When A Streetcar Named Desire opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater on 3 December 1947, it stirred up controversy overnight. The play met with rave reviews in the following morning’s papers, like that from Brooks Atkinson who called it “a quietly woven study of intangibles” and Tennessee Williams “a genuinely poetic playwright whose knowledge of people is honest and thorough” [First Night, 42]. In the days ahead, Joseph Wood Krutch in Nation, Kappo Phelan in Commonweal, John Chapman in the New York Daily News, John Mason Brown in The Saturday Review, and Irwin Shaw in The New Republic all sounded similar praise for Williams and for Streetcar. The play was not impervious to negative reviews, however, as Thomas Adler points out in his monograph The Moth and the Lantern,

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The social transition: the fall of the bourgeois and the rise of a new social order that took place in America after the Second World War is portrayed in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947).

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A Streetcar Named Desire is a famous play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1984. He is highly praised and eulogized for its delicate construction, refined writing, vivid characters and provoking thoughts. It mainly deals with the conflicts between two symbolic characters, Blanche DuBois—a fading gentlewoman of the Old South-and Stanley Kowalski, an industrial, urban immigrant with unrefined characteristics. In particular, Blanche, as the representative of delicate and fragile southern female images, has been the focus of discussion. This paper analyzes this typical controversial heroine from the perspective of feminism in terms of social culture, economic factor and women's psychology to find out the main factors for her destruction. Résumé: Un Tramway Nommé Désir est une célèbre pièce écrite par le dramaturge américain Tennessee Williams, pour lequel il a reçu le Prix Pulitzer pour le Drame en 1984. Il est très apprécié et louangé pour sa construction délicate, son écriture raffinée, ses personnages vivants et d'inspirer la réflexion. Il traite essentiellement les conflits entre les deux personnages symboliques, Blanche Dubois-une dame fanée de vieux Sud-et Stanley Kowalski, un immigrant urbain industriel avec la caractéristique non raffinée. En particulier, Blanche, comme le représentant de l'image des femmes du sud délicat et fragile, était le point focal de la discussion. Ce document analyse cette héroïne typique controversée du point de vue du féminisme en termes de culture sociale, facteur économique et psychologie des femmes à connaître les facteurs principaux de sa destruction. Mots-Clés: désir, féminisme, culture sociale, facteur économique, psychologie des femmes

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Literary Criticism of "A Streetcar Named Desire"

• SarahLMaguire
• Categories : Literature study guides and chapter summaries
• Tags : Homework help & study guides

Delusions of Grandeur and Happiness

Tennessee Williams’ famous play of 1947 revolves around the iconic, tragicomic character of Blanche DuBois, a washed-up Southern Belle and disgraced high school teacher, who finds herself staying with her sister Stella and her uncouth husband Stanley Kowalski, in a seedy tenement in New Orleans. The tragedy and the bitter comedy of Blanche’s character lie in her disconnection from reality. The grandiosity and glamour with which Blanche surrounds herself, with her costume jewelry, her fine clothes and improbable stories are at odds with the fact that, despite her distaste, she has to put up with her sister’s squalid apartment and brutish husband, because she has no other option; having lost her estate, her job, her reputation and her youthful beauty. Since the suicide of her beloved husband, who killed himself after she discovered he was gay, Blanche has been in terrified, alcoholic flight from reality.

There is a contrasting tragedy in Blanche’s clear-eyed perception of Stella’s abusive marriage. On one level, her dislike of Stella’s husband Stanley is rooted in snobbery and prejudice; Stanley is a working class man of Polish origin and of little education (though by no means stupid). Blanche expresses her contempt for him for these reasons. It is also the case that Stanley tyrannizes over his wife, treats her disrespectfully in front of his friends and beats her when he is drunk. It is Blanche who seems sane and Stella who appears deluded, when, the morning after his violent assault on Stella, Blanche implores her to escape him, only to meet with Stella’s insistence that all is well. At the dark climax of the play, Stella quashes a lingering doubt, by insisting to her neighbor Eunice that she simply can’t afford to believe Blanche’s allegation of rape against Stanley, as that would be the end of their marriage; instead she must accept that her sister is mad.

Madness and Silence

The trope of madness as used by Williams in “Streetcar,” as well as other works, is explored by Jacqueline O’Connor in her article “Babbling Lunatics: Language and Madness.” O’Connor represents Blanche as one of a number of protagonists whose voices are silenced by the accusation of madness when they insist on speaking truths that the world is not prepared to hear. In the painful final scene, when the doctor and nurse come to take Blanche away, the previously grandiloquently vocal Blanche falls progressively silent.

Blanche can be compared to Catherine, the heroine of “Suddenly Last Summer,” who is institutionalized and threatened with lobotomy for insisting on repeating the unsavory truth about her Cousin Sebastian’s death. It is however the web of fantasy and concealment which Blanche had previously spun about herself and which Stanley had ruthlessly exposed which made it easier for Stella to believe that Blanche’s account of being raped by her husband was a final lie too far.

The unacceptable nature of the truth spoken by Blanche is confirmed by the reception of the work, as well as within the play itself. In ““Tiger-Tiger!” Blanche’s Rape on Screen,” Nancy M. Tischler describes the contemporary controversy that surrounded the rape of Blanche and the resulting doubts that the Hollywood film would get past the censor. Playwright Lillian Hellman was drafted in to suggest amendments to the script that would make the play more acceptable. Her proposed solutions included making the rape, in fact, a product of Blanche’s diseased imagination. Like Stella, the American audience was presumed to find it easier to dismiss Blanche as a lying madwoman, a malign disrupter of a poor but respectable home, than to confront the scenario that a man might rape his sister-in-law and get away with it.

Williams himself adamantly refused to have the rape written out, insisting that it was central to the meaning of the play, which was about “the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society.”

Blanche DuBois and the Role of the Southern Belle

The “Southern belle” is a part that Blanche famously plays with stubborn gentility; oblivious to the incongruity of the role, both in terms of her immediate environment — a working class tenement in 1940s New Orleans — and to her personal reality as a middle aged, penniless alcoholic, who has been dismissed from school teaching for an inappropriate relationship with a minor. In her role as a “belle,” Blanche requires the protection and chivalry of those around her, an expectation that she will be waited on and maintained, without being expected to contribute, other than by the grace of her presence. The role also carries with it an expectation of sexual purity, on the part of the belle, a quality that the compulsively promiscuous Blanche mimics for the benefit of her guileless suitor Mitch, though, despite her habitual self-delusion, she cannot help wryly sending herself up in the role, lewdly propositioning him in French, knowing he will not understand.

In the literary criticism ““Fifty Percent Illusion” The Mask of the Southern Belle in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Portrait of a Madonna,” George Hovis describes the role of Southern Belle as both a mask and a prison, within which upper class Southern white women negotiated their unequal position, simultaneously demanding respect, while exuding a reassuring passivity and purity. He also points out that, while Blanche’s sister Stella has given up the role of a belle, she has not exchanged it for one of equality, but instead accepts being treated without courtesy or basic respect by her husband. Masks and fantasy are Blanche’s undoing, but they are also testament to her refusal to accept a life lived without grace, such as that to which she leaves Stella and Stanley.

Works Cited

Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York, 1947

Tishler, Nancy. M. ““Tiger-Tiger!”: Blanche’s Rape on Screen,” in Magical Muse: Millennial Essays on Tennessee Williams . Ed. Ralph F. Voss, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 2002

O’Connor, Jacqueline. “Babbling Lunatics: Language and Madness,” in Bloom’s Modern Critical Views . Ed. Harold Bloom, New York, 2007

Hovis, George. “Fifty Percent Illusion” The Mask of the Southern Belle in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Portrait of a Madonna," in Bloom’s Modern Critical Views . Ed. Harold Bloom, New York, 2007

A Streetcar Named Desire: Language and Imagery

Understanding language and imagery.

• “A Streetcar Named Desire” is celebrated for its rich language and vivid imagery which helps communicate the tensions, themes and personalities of the characters.
• Tennessee Williams cleverly uses various literary devices such as symbolism, metaphors, and figurative language to add layers of interpretation to the play.
• Understanding this can enhance one’s appreciation of the depth of portrayal and insightfulness of the play.
• The streetcar itself is a powerful symbol, reflecting the path that Blanche has taken in her life. Its name - ‘Desire’ - represents her past promiscuity while ‘Cemeteries’, its final destination, could represent the end of Blanche’s life as she knows it.
• Light and Darkness : Blanche’s constant need to hide her age and her past is emphasized through the frequent mentions of light, shadows and darkness. Light represents reality, which Blanche fears, while darkness stands for illusion and secrecy.
• The paper lantern she puts over the bulb is another symbol representing her attempts to mask and soften the harsh truth of her life.

Metaphors and Figurative Language

• Animalistic Imagery : Williams frequently uses animal metaphors particularly to describe Stanley’s behaviour, emphasizing his primal, raw, and physical nature.
• Floral Imagery : Blanche is often associated with flowers, signifying her frailty, delicacy and transient beauty.
• Tarantula Arms : This metaphor underscores Stanley’s predatory nature against Blanche’s delicate vulnerability.

Significant Quotes

• “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!” – Blanche’s arrival sets up the symbolic trajectory of her character through the play.
• “I can hardly stand it when he is away for the night” - Stella’s description of Stanley uses sensual, passionate language that demonstrates their carnal relationship.
• Stanley’s description of Blanche as “the Queen of the Nile setting in state” is heavily saturated with sarcasm , highlighting his sneering contempt for her pretentious airs.

Key Themes Highlighted Through Language and Imagery

• Illusion vs. reality : The deceptive nature of Blanche’s character and her desire to escape the reality of her past are amplified through symbolic use of light and darkness.
• Animalistic Desire : Stanley’s raw and primitive character is emphasized through repeated use of animal metaphors.
• Decay and death : The journey of the streetcar and its final destination, the decay of Blanche’s beauty and former life, all point towards the pervading theme of decay and death.

Studying the Use of Language and Imagery

• An understanding of Williams’ use of language and imagery adds depth to the character analyis, offering insights into their motivations, conflicts, and complex personalities.
• Attention to these details will provide a richer analysis in your critical essay, supporting your interpretations and arguments with textual evidence.

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Twentieth century interpretations of A streetcar named Desire; a collection of critical essays

• Introduction, by J. Y. Miller.
• Notebook for A streetcar named Desire, by E. Kazan.
• Review of a tryout performance in Boston, by E. Hughes.
• Streetcar named Desire sets season's high in acting, writing, by J. Chapman.
• Streetcar named Desire is striking drama, by R. Watts, Jr.
• "Streetcar" tragedy
• Mr. Williams' report on life in New Orleans, by B. Atkinson.
• O'Neill status won by author of "Streetcar", by H. Barnes.
• The streetcar isn't drawn by Pegasus, by G. J. Nathan.
• Review of Streetcar named Desire, by J. W. Krutch.
• Southern discomfort, by J. M. Brown.
• Masterpiece, by I. Shaw.
• Miss Vivien Leigh, by H. Hobson.
• Laughter dans le tramway, by R. MacColl.
• Williams' feminine characters, by D. da Ponte.
• A trio of Tennessee Williams' heroines: the psychology of prostitution, by P. Weissman.
• Tennessee Williams and the tragedy of sensitivity, by J. T. von Szeliski.
• The innocence of Tennessee Williams, by M. Magid.
• A streetcar named Desire
• Neitzsche descending, by J. N. Riddell.
• Most famous of streetcars, by W. D. Sievers.
• The southern gentlewoman, by S. Falk.
• Tennessee Williams: Streetcar to glory, by C. W. E. Bigsby.
• Selected bibliography (p. 116-119)

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• A streetcar named Desire Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 PS3545.I524 S8 1982
• Confronting Tennessee Williams's A streetcar named Desire : essays in critical pluralism PS3545.I524 S8 1993
• Twentieth century interpretations of A streetcar named Desire; a collection of critical essays Miller, Jordan Yale, 1919-2008 PS3545.I524 S82 1971
• Williams : A streetcar named desire Kolin, Philip C. PS3545.I524 S824 2000
• Suddenly last summer Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983 PS3545.I524 S87

A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams

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A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

The symbolism of cleanliness in a streetcar named desire anonymous college, a streetcar named desire.

The play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams has many formal qualities that make it stand out as one of the most prominent works of its genre in the twentieth century – its rich symbolism being the one that stands out most. Throughout...

Examining How Marital Conflict is Used in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Anonymous 12th Grade

‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is set in New Orleans in the late 1940’s, just two years after World War Two ended; resulting in the setting and context of the play being rich in history and culture, as New Orleans often is. It was seen as a melting...

Violence as a Driving Force and Theme in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’’ Anonymous 12th Grade

Throughout ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Williams presents violence as a multifaceted and complex issue that manifests itself almost constantly in varying guises. However, despite acknowledging that violence is almost certainly the central theme of...

The Importance of Power in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Anonymous 12th Grade

Power is essential theme not just throughout Tennessee Williams’ oeuvre, but the canon of Western literature as a whole. As such, Williams presents power through his characterization of Stanley throughout ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ in order to...

Maddening Music: An Analysis of Polka Music Symbolism in A Streetcar Named Desire Ally Schrieber College

Unlike novelists, playwrights can use visual and auditory effects to emphasize certain aspects of the storyline. Tennessee Williams’, A Streetcar Named Desire, utilizes music to portray an internal conflict taking place within Blanche DuBois....

Chekhov's Influence on the Work of Tennessee Williams Dawn Burgess

The shape of American drama has been molded throughout the years by the advances of numerous craftsmen. Many contemporary playwrights herald the work of Anton Chekhov as some of the most influential to modern drama. Tennessee Williams has often...

Morality and Immorality (The Picture of Dorian Gray and A Streetcar Named Desire) Nataniel Lessnick

The measure of a manâs character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.

Thomas Babington

Morality is the very foundation of goodness and the pillar of righteousness. Immorality, however, is the threshold towards conspicuous...

Traditionalism versus Defiance in a Streetcar Named Desire Jonathan Rick

The themes of Tennessee Williams's Streetcar Named Desire follow Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: the emotional struggle for supremacy between two characters who sym - bolize historical forces, between fantasy and reality, between the Old...

Comparing Social and Ethnic Tensions in A Streetcar Named Desire and Blues for Mister Charlie Anonymous

A Streetcar Named Desire and Blues for Mister Charlie are both concerned to a large extent with tensions between different ethnic groups and, since in both plays the ethnicity of each group defines its social position, different social groups as...

The Wolf's Jaws: Brutality and Abandonment in A Streetcare Named Desire Anthony Anderson

"A Streetcar Named Desire" is a story of damaged people. Blanche DuBois, a repressed and sexually warped Southern belle, seeks either atonement or reassurance; she wants someone to help lift the burden of her guilt for her twisted sexuality....

Establishing the Potential for Tragedy in A Streetcar Named Desire Charlie James Watson 11th Grade

The tragedy in A Streetcar Named Desire can be interpreted through the medium of not just watching it, but reading it. Williams achieves this through the use of stage directions written in poetic prose, which create imagery with likeness to a...

The Relationship of Blanche and Stella To the Dramatic Effect of 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Ethan J Smith 12th Grade

Since the focal theme of “A Streetcar Named Desire” is that of integration and adaptation, the relationship between Blanche and Stella is important and its function evident: Williams establishes a contrast between them. For example, when Stella...

Blanche's Character in A Streetcar Named Desire Jennifer Wei College

In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the nature of theatricality, “magic,” and “realism,” all stem from the tragic character, Blanche DuBois. Blanche is both a theatricalizing and self-theatricalizing woman. She lies to herself...

Portrayal of Blanche Dubois in Scene 6 Isabelle Agerbak 11th Grade

The protagonist of A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois, is a fallen southern Belle whose troubled life results in the deterioration of her mental health. She has just returned from a date with Mitch and their conversation turns to her past....

Illusion vs. Reality in A Streetcar Named Desire Aleah Butler-Jones 11th Grade

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” This timeless saying embodies the ability of imagery to convey multiple messages and themes in an overarching structure. Through detailed nuance, the playwright Tennessee Williams utilizes the imagery found...

Blanche’s Flaws and Her Ultimate Downfall Amy Wesson 11th Grade

In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, despite Blanche Dubois’ desire to start fresh in New Orleans, her condescending nature, inability to act appropriately on her desires, and denial of reality all lead to her downfall. Blanche...

How Events of The Past Lead to Isolation In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'Mrs Dalloway' Anonymous 12th Grade

In both the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and the novel ‘Mrs Dalloway,’ the protagonists are primarily isolated within society by the consequences of their pasts. While Williams and Woolf use the past to evoke both nostalgia for a better time...

Disguised Homosexuality in A Streetcar Named Desire Anonymous College

A Streetcar Named Desire is at its surface, an undoubtedly heterosexual play. Allan Grey, its unseen gay character, makes homosexuality a seemingly marginal topic within the play. But a deeper reading of the text suggests the opposite. Tennessee...

The Portrayals of Sexuality in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire Anonymous College

After seeing a play such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or A Streetcar Named Desire , a viewer may be hard pressed to remember that there was once a time in Western culture when the revealing of a woman’s bare foot proved entirely scandalous. What was...

Staging and Dramatic Tension in A Streetcar Named Desire Anonymous College

Tennessee Williams uses a variety of techniques to produce a strong sense of dramatic tension throughout A Streetcar Named Desire , as he mainly focuses on the interactions between characters to create an edgy mood. For example, Williams’...

Strong First Impression: Stanley Kowalski's Power and Masculinity Anonymous College

Throughout scenes 1 and 2 of A Streetcar Named Desire , playwright Tennessee Williams presents Stanley as extremely powerful and authoritative through the use of dialogue as well as stage directions. The audience immediately learns how strong...

The Theme of Entrapment in The Duchess of Malfi and A Streetcar Named Desire. Anonymous 11th Grade

Both Webster in ‘The Duchess of Malfi,’ a Jacobean revenge tragedy, and Williams in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ a 20th century modern-domestic tragedy, use entrapment as a pivotal focus for chief dramatic moments. The playwrights especially focus...

Similarities in New and Old Southern Literature Erica Cutamora Camstra College

Karen Russell’s modern Southern novel, Swamplandia! is informed by various works of Southern Literature through different time periods. It is through the use of themes and motifs specific to literature of the American South that Swamplandia! gets...

Blanche, Mitch, and A Streetcar Named Desire Anonymous 12th Grade

In the 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the relationship between Blanche and Mitch is a key subplot in the tale of Blanche’s descent into madness and isolation. Whilst Williams initially presents Mitch as the answer to all...

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A Marxist Criticism of a Streetcar Named Desire

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After seeing a play such as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or A Streetcar Named Desire, a viewer may be hard pressed to remember that there was once a time in Western culture when the revealing of a woman’s bare foot proved [...]

Stanley Kowalski stumbles home drunkenly to his upstairs apartment. He sees his pregnant and glowing wife Stella preparing him dinner. Without explanation, he feels an uncontrollable rage of emotions. Stella is confused and [...]

The climax of Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire occurs in “Scene Ten,” when Stanley ultimately rapes Blanche, his sister-in-law. Many audiences and readers have debated whether or not this act was premeditated or [...]

In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the nature of theatricality, “magic,” and “realism,” all stem from the tragic character, Blanche DuBois. Blanche is both a theatricalizing and self-theatricalizing woman. [...]

A Streetcar Named Desire is at its surface, an undoubtedly heterosexual play. Allan Grey, its unseen gay character, makes homosexuality a seemingly marginal topic within the play. But a deeper reading of the text suggests [...]

When looking at A Streetcar Named Desire – a tragedy, after all – it is traditionally required that there should be a selected antagonist, a ‘villain’ so to speak. Stanley Kowalski, you could argue, is that ‘villain’. It is [...]

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