A Streetcar Named Desire

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A Streetcar Named Desire

• Tennessee Williams

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Characters in Streetcar contrasted with Sweet
bird.

• What corrupts/ unites / divides characters?
• What flaws, strengths, endearing characteristics,
  neuroses, influences external/internal are
  significant to the action?

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Characters in Streetcar contrasted with Sweet
bird.

• Exile / outcast?
• Society backdrops, ghosts, gender
  roles/expectations, morality, corruption.

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American Dream

• American Dream get-rich-quick, succeed, Nothing
  Succeeds like success, owed something from
  society?

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Setting and society

• What events shape the characters psyche,
  personality, motivation?

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Reality and illusion

• How do we create three dimensional characters
  from stereotypes and stock figures?

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Melodrama

• Plots centred on a moralist conflict in which the
  main characters were archetypes of good versus
  evil

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Melodrama

• In melodrama emotions, actions and scenarios are
  simplified and exaggerated, contrived and 'wild
  and woolly' as well as implausible. The
  characters lack depth and are often stock
  characters, such as the 'damsel in distress'
  rescued from the clutches of an unspeakably evil
  tyrant by a dashing young man.

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Melodrama or Tragedy?

• melodrama,  in Western theatre, sentimental drama
  with an improbable plot that concerns the
  vicissitudes suffered by the virtuous at the
  hands of the villainous but ends happily with
  virtue triumphant. Featuring stock characters
  such as the noble hero, the long-suffering
  heroine, and the cold-blooded villain, the
  melodrama focuses not on character development
  but on sensational incidents and spectacular
  staging. In music, melodrama signifies lines
  spoken to a musical accompaniment.
• The melodramatic stage play is generally regarded
  as having developed in France as a result of the
  impact of Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Pygmalion

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Contrasting voices Finding examples from text

• Sophistication words used to confuse and
  belittle
• Eloquence poetry, music, arts
• Deception past, present future
• Intelligence -
• Harshness
• Menace
• Aggression
• Violence
• SURVIVAL

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Introduction

• A Streetcar Named Desire is a captivating play
  by Tennessee Williams, which tells the story of a
  delicate, romantic and emotional woman named
  Blanche Du Bois. Blanche comes to stay with her
  sister Stella and her husband Stanley, after she
  loses the ancestral home, Belle Reve. Blanches
  fragile state of mind and loss of grip on reality
  becomes gradually apparent throughout the play,
  which runs alongside the animalistic nature of
  the love between Stella and Stanley. The
  relationship between Stanley and Blanche
  deteriorates as quickly as Blanches emotional
  state, and results in Stanley taking full
  physical control of her and raping her.
• There are many motifs, themes and contrasts,
  which recur frequently throughout A Streetcar
  Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, which help
  to craft the plays structure. These things are
  important in emphasizing the characters
  conflicting personalities and emotional states,
  as well as presenting the true motives behind the
  actions of the characters.

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Themes, Motifs and Contrasts in A Streetcar
Named Desire The Relationship between Exterior
and Interior

• The relationship between exterior and interior in
  A Streetcar Named Desire is important in
  suggesting the boundaries of reality and fantasy.
• The set consists of two rooms in the apartment of
  Stanley and Stella, but the street and outside
  world are always visible. The apartment is not a
  secure, self-contained unit, which allows
  Blanches fantasies to flourish, but a place that
  is unable to stop the blunt reality from entering
  in. This idea is clearly apparent just before
  Stanley rapes Blanche, as the back wall becomes
  transparent the act itself is juxtaposed with
  the struggles on the street, emphasizing the
  harsh reality and suffering.

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Themes, Motifs and Contrasts in A Streetcar
Named Desire The Relationship between Sex and
Death

• In A Streetcar Named Desire, the character
  Blanche often associates sex with death.
• At the very beginning of the play, Blanche says
  that she begins her journey to the apartment by
  taking a streetcar named Desire, and then takes a
  streetcar named Cemeteries before finally
  arriving at a street called Elysian Fields (which
  is the land of the dead in Greek mythology). This
  journey she takes represents her life her
  pursuit of her sexual desires lead to her demise
  and ultimately the death of her reality, as she
  is rejected completely from society.
• In Blanches experience, sex inevitably leads to
  death not only for herself, but also for others.
  She is repeatedly haunted with memories of her
  ancestors deaths, which she puts down to their
  epic fornications. Her husbands suicide was
  the result of Blanches disapproval of his
  homosexuality. The idea presented in the play
  could be that desire, in the form of unrestricted
  promiscuity, leads to unwanted departures and
  fatal conclusions.

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Themes, Motifs and Contrasts in A Streetcar
Named Desire Light and Dark Motifs

• The motifs of light and dark in A Streetcar
  Named Desire are used to reveal depth and motive
  in the play. In the sixth scene of the play,
  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 other men.
• Whenever she can, Blanche avoids light. She
  refuses to go on dates with Mitch in the day or
  in well-lit places because she is afraid he will
  see her fading beauty. She also covers the
  exposed light bulb in the apartment with a paper
  lantern to make it dimmer. Her intolerance to
  light and craving for dim light and darkness
  could represent the deterioration of her
  emotional state, and also suggests her loss of
  control of reality.

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Themes, Motifs and Contrasts in A Streetcar
Named Desire The Use of Music and Sound

• The use of music and sound in A Streetcar Named
  Desire helps to create atmosphere and give the
  audience a deeper understanding of the
  characters.
• Whenever a roaring train is heard in the play,
  Stanley is not far behind. The motif of a train
  could represent the destructive, powerful nature
  of Stanley, which the audience is always aware of
  before Blanche. Blanche is associated with the
  motif of a moth, which when contrasted with the
  motif of a train creates a devastating image.
• The Varsouviana Polka tune which is heard in
  Blanches head at various moments of the play
  takes her back to the memory of her husbands
  suicide. This piece of music was playing at the
  dance she and her husband went to, and was still
  playing when her husband ran outside and shot
  himself. Blanche tells Mitch that the music does
  not stop in her head until she hears the sound of
  a gunshot. The Varsouviana polka could represent
  the loss of Blanches innocence, and contributes
  to the decline of her mental state and her losing
  her grip on reality.
• Themes, motifs and contrasts add depth and
  interest to A Streetcar Named Desire, and are
  vital to the structure of the play. Analysis can
  only stretch so far, and it is well worth reading
  the play or watching it to experience the story
  yourself.