Themes of “A Streetcar

Named Desire”

by

Tennessee Williams

What William says

about this play

“the ravishment of the tender, the

sensitive, the delicate, by the

savage and brutal forces of modern

society”

Historical context As a Southerner, he

was more affected by the events of the American Civil War (1861 – 1865) than WW2. Following their defeat by the Northern states, the South suffered economically during and after the Civil War.

Source :Wikipedia

Tennessee Williams• Born on March 26, 1911

Columbus, Mississippi and Died onFebruary 24, 1983 New York City

• Influenced by Anton Chekhov, D. H. Lawrence, August Strindberg and Hart Crane

Source:www.casarotto.co.

uk

THEMES

Exterior & interior,

fragility , Vulnerability

“I draw every character

out of my very multiple split personality. My

heroines always express

the climate of my interior

world at the time in which

those characters were

created.”(William)

Source:

deathdeconstructed.blog

spot.com

Street Car Named

Desire Title comes from Street

car that runs along

desire street.

There are two New orleans neighborhood

- “Desire and

Cemeteries”

Source:

imaginepittsburgh.com

Street car Named

DesireWritten by Tennessee Williams

Characters

Blanche DuBois

Stella Kowalski

Stanley Kowalski

Harold Mitchell

Date premiered December 3, 1947

Place premieredEthel Barrymore Theatre

New York City, New York

Original language English

Stanley KowalskiAge: 25

Origin:

Polish Descent

Marital Status:

Married

Occupation:

Factory Worker

Hobbies:

Bowling, Poker, Drinking

Blanche Dubois Symbolic Meaning: Star

Age: 25

Hometown:

Laurel, Mississippi

Marital Status:

Married

Occupation:

Housewife

Escapism

William’s wrote:

“an escape from a world

of reality in which [he] felt

acutely uncomfortable”.

Drugs and Alcohol as an

escape.

Souce:www.dreamstime.

com

Appearance and

RealityShakespearean motif:

“All that glitters is not

gold”

A common saying that :

“Appearances are often

deceptive”

Sex and the death,

Blanche- True Blanche

Source:english12aphaml

et.weebly.com

Role of menIn this play, masculinity means:

Aggression

Control,

Physical dominance

Violence

Role of women

“Some of Blanche’s difficulties

can be traced to the narrow

roles open to females during

that period”

(Spampinato, 291).

Role of women contd

• Women in the Old South had a social and symbolic role, were expected to be passive and chaste. This world could not give Blanche what she needed (see scene 5) and so she tried to marry into the ‘light and culture’, but on doing so, she discovers that there is corruption and deceit behind the façade.

Light and dark motifs In the sixth scene, Blanche reveals to Mitch that

loving her husband was like having the world revealed in “bright, vivid light”. Since his death,

she wants darkness and has only experienced dim

light during her sexual affairs with others.

Marriage or… A name for:

- hero-worship,

-aggression

- -difference between husband and wife.

Source:www.awamisiasa

t.com

Marriage, Sex for

commitment or safety? While discussing sexual exploits with Mitch

,Blanche said thus:

'What do you want?'

'What I been missing all summer.'

'Then marry me, Mitch!'

Sex as a literal DeathIn this drama sex

leads to hardships,

aggression ,Literal

death, violence and

Hardships.

www.withoutend.org

Desire

Sex &desire for men, if not found Blanche creates

them

Blanche came to town on street car named

“Desire”

Stanley can not control his desires and …

Stella learns the truth but stays with Stanley as she

love and desires him

Loneliness and

haunting thoughts “Yes, I had many intimacies with

strangers. After the death of Allan,

intimacies with strangers were all I

seemed able to fill my empty heart with…

I think it was panic, just panic, that drove

me from one to another, hunting for some

protection” (Williams, A Streetcar…).

Old and New world

• Stanley represents the American Dream that all men are born equal and can succeed equally, whilst Blanche represents the old world, where class and race are still important issues

Cigarbrief.com

William’s Love for

Southern

“I write out of love for the South … once a way of life that I am just able to remember – not a society based on money … I write about the South because I think the war

between romanticism and the hostility to it is very sharp there.”

Class, sect, cast

• Stanley and Blanche are opposed

• Advised Mitch , not to marry Blanche • Ticket as a birthday gift.

Alcoholism and

Delusions of Drandeur Drugs and Alchohol

effects conscience.

Delusion of Grandure is

a type of desease in which one thinks of him

or herself as some one

higher than the other.

Journey from desire to

deathLAUREL

Belle ReveNEW ORLEANSFrench Quarter

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