...Orlando Davies-Vannelli Tennessee Williams maintained that he couldn't write any story unless, "there is at least one character in it for whom I have a physical dewire." In the light of this comment, discuss the role of desire in the play. There are many moments in the play 'A Streetcar Named Desire' where Blanche DuBois and desire are inextricably linked. Indeed, she arrives in Elysian Fields after taking a streetcar named desire. One critic has said that the journey which Blanche takes to get to her sisters apartment on a streetcar named Desire and and then changing to a streetcar named Cemetries reflects her overall journey through life. For example, in her youth she rode on her desires and during as well as after the play takes place, she changes to a morbid route, described as "Cemetries". In some sense, her quest for desire was as short lived as her tram ride. Another moment where the idea of desire is evident is when Stanley tells Stella that "I (he) am the king around here, so don't forget it." which reflecs his desire to have power and control over everyone in his 'domain'. This is one moment in the play where Stanley's true controlling ideas are shown to the audience. Through Stanley, Williams presents us with the idea that he is one who has achieved his desrie of being unnapposed in his society. An example of this is at the end of the play where Stanley isn't held accountable for a crime he has committed (the rape of Blanche) and his life goes back to how it was...
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...In A Streetcar Named Desire the word animal has changed drastically. Throughout the play Blanche calls and describes Stanley as an Animal. As the play progressed Blanche became more and more disgusted with Stanley. In the beginning Blanche walks in with Stella as Stanley and his friends are playing poker and says “Drunk-drunk animal-thing you! All of you please go home! If any of you have one spark of decency in you.” This description of an animal is very weak compared to the others. She calls him an animal because he is drunk, saying whatever he wants and being very rude. It then escalates to Blanche saying “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one!” Blanche is now completely disgusted with Stanley. Everything he does is like an animal, eat, walk, talk, etc. Later on in the play Blanche even goes further and describes him as uncivilized. Blanche says “Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by, and there he is-Stanley Kowalski-survivor of the Stone Age!” This is a very powerful quote. It shows how Blanche has changed her opinion on Stanley and the meaning of the word animal. The word animal has gone from a word used to describe a drunken fool to an uncivilized animal. Towards the end of the play Stanley says “well he’s not going to marry her. Maybe he was, but he’s not going to jump in a tank with a school of sharks-now!” Stanley is talking to Stella about why Mitch didn’t show up for Blanche. He is talking...
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...Characters Blanche DeBois: * Around the age of 30 * from Mississippi, an aging southern belle(panics about her fading beauty) * lost Belle Reve(DeBpis family home) and her young husband(gay, she announced her disgust at his homosexuality suicide marks the end of Blanche’s sexual innocence) * drinking problem * Stella’s older sister * moves into the Kowalski home in New Orleans * destitute * has had many lovers (strong sexual urges) self-esteem depends on many for happiness * avoids reality(snobbery hide her poverty and indignity) * throughout the play her self-image and sanity crumble End: Stanley rapes her(destroys rest of mental and sexual esteem) and commits her to an asylum Stella Kowalski: * Around the age of 25 * Blanche’s younger sister * Mild character * Married to Stanley Kowalski (robust sexual relationship violent and renewing) and pregnant * Torn between her sister and her husband (stands by Stanley in the end) Stanley Kowalski: * Stella’s husband * Working-class * Example of vital force * Loyal to friends (Steve, Pablo, Mitch), passionate to Stella, cruel to Blanche * Polish ancestry( represents new heterogeneous America Blanche doesn’t belong to them, she is from an old social hierachy) * Fought in WW2 * Wishes to destroy Blanche’s social life * Beats his wife and rapes Blanche (BUT no remorse and still the proud family man) * Doesn’t like Blanche because...
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...------------------------------------------------- Analysis of Major Characters Blanche DuBois When the play begins, Blanche is already a fallen woman in society’s eyes. Her family fortune and estate are gone, she lost her young husband to suicide years earlier, and she is a social pariah due to her indiscrete sexual behavior. She also has a bad drinking problem, which she covers up poorly. Behind her veneer of social snobbery and sexual propriety, Blanche is an insecure, dislocated individual. She is an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. Her manner is dainty and frail, and she sports a wardrobe of showy but cheap evening clothes. Stanley quickly sees through Blanche’s act and seeks out information about her past. In the Kowalski household, Blanche pretends to be a woman who has never known indignity. Her false propriety is not simply snobbery, however; it constitutes a calculated attempt to make herself appear attractive to new male suitors. Blanche depends on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem, which means that she has often succumbed to passion. By marrying, Blanche hopes to escape poverty and the bad reputation that haunts her. But because the chivalric Southern gentleman savior and caretaker (represented by Shep Huntleigh) she hopes will rescue her is extinct, Blanche is left with no realistic possibility of future happiness. As Blanche sees it, Mitch is her only chance for contentment, even though he...
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...Blanche DuBois arrives to visit her sister, Mrs. Stella Kowalski, who lives in the French Quarter of New Orleans. She is shocked by the disreputable looks of the place. While a neighbor goes to find Stella, Blanche looks around the apartment for a drink. When her sister comes, Blanche quite frankly criticizes the place. She explains that she has come for a visit because her nerves are shattered from teaching. Noticing that the apartment has only two rooms, she has qualms about staying but she tells Stella that she can't stand being alone. She explains to Stella that their old ancestral home, Belle Reve, has been lost. While Stella goes to the bathroom, Stanley, her husband, enters and meets Blanche. He questions her about her past and especially about her earlier marriage, which upsets Blanche to the point that she feels sick. The following night Stella and Blanche plan to have dinner out and go to a movie while Stanley plays poker with his friends. But before they leave, Stanley wants to know how Belle Reve was lost. Blanche tries to explain and gives him all the papers and documents pertaining to the place. Later that night when Blanche and Stella return from their movie, the men are still playing poker. Blanche meets Mitch, one of Stanley's friends, who seems to be more sensitive than the others. While Mitch is in the second room talking to Blanche, Stanley becomes angry over a series of incidents, especially when Blanche turns on the radio. He throws the radio out the window...
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...[Insert hook] In the Pulitzer Prize - winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, the author uses many literary criticisms, such as feminism, marxism, and psychoanalytical, to enhance the importance of each character's actions in order to create a masterpiece that consumes you instantly. Feminism is the most prominent literary criticism within A Streetcar Named Desire. Patriarchy is seen repeatedly in almost all of the interactions Stanley has with his wife Stella and her sister Blanche. In scene two of the play Stella doesn’t want Blanche around when Stanley has his poker night so she tells Stanley, “I'm taking Blanche to Galatoire's for supper and then to a show, because it's your pok'r night.” (Williams 32) and he replies, “How about my supper, huh? I'm not going to no Galatoire's for supper!” (Williams 32) to her. This portrays feminism because Stella knows that Blanche would call...
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...Many plays and books have been adapted into a movie. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, is one of the plays who have been made into a movie. It takes place in the 1940s in New Orleans. The main character in the movie is Blanche DuBois, a women with a questionable behavior. In A streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois is described in detail through symbolism by drunkenness, light, and music. Drunkenness is one of the most obvious symbolisms in the movie. It represents escape for Blanche when things go wrong or she feels uncomfortable. When she firsts arrives to New Orleans, she finds herself at a bowling alley, and orders drinks so she can explain where she believes she has been. The same thing occurred when Mitch confronts Blanche...
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...Where is the Light? Tennessee Williams uses light, and the absence of light in A Streetcar Named Desire to show the relationship between truths and hidden realities. The role of the absence of light is best seen in the relationship between Mitch and Blanche and how Blanche shies away from light in order to hide her age from Mitch, and in a more subtle attempt to hide her past and the reality of what actually happened in Laurel. The most literal “hiding” that occurs is Blanche’s hiding of her real age; she refuses to let Mitch see her in full light as she does not want him to know that she is older than she says she is, by hiding in the shadows she hopes to hide her wrinkles and her fading youth from Mitch. Her not allowing Mitch to see her in full light also plays a more meaningful role in the text, she is hiding her past from him, the details of her previous marriage and the fact that her first husband was homosexual and killed himself because of how she reacted to that fact. She is also hiding her history of being banished from the town due to her scandalous escapades at the Flamingo Hotel; she attempts to portray herself as a very well mannered, upstanding women....
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...A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is about a woman named Blanche, who is fading, fragile and desperate woman. Completely destitute, Blanche travels to New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella, and her sister’s husband, Stanley. Although she is very unhappy there, Blanche stays with her family despite the unusual and abusive relationship between Stella and Stanley. When Stanley discovers Blanche’s secret of having lost the family estate and then later providing many men with sexual favors, he attempts to send her back to where she came from. Stella goes into labor soon after, forcing other issues aside. When Stanley comes back from the hospital, but before Stella has the baby, he and a very drunk Blanche are left alone at the...
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...I wonder what the driving force is within Stella’s marriage to Stanley Kowalski. Stella Kowalski abandons her aristocratic upbringings to live in unholy matrimony with Stanley Kowalski in the slums of New Orleans. Perhaps Stella’s lack of independence from her pampered past is the driving force within her marriage because Stella cannot survive the real world without Stanley. On the other hand, Stella and Stanley’s marriage could simply be built on a foundation of sexual desire. Their sexual relationship with one another is the most important aspect of the Kowalski’s relationship. The fact that Stella has declared her attraction to Stanley’s sexual aggression and the knowledge that Stanley’s violent aggression undertones sexuality leads the readers to believe that the latter statement suits the Kowalski’s marriage best. Therefore, it can be reasoned that the driving force within Stella’s marriage to Stanley Kowlaski is not Stella’s dependence upon her husband, but rather Stella and Stanley’s carnal desire for one another....
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...domination, which gives a symbol that Blanche should be wary of. d. Climax (Crisis/turning point): - Meanwhile later in the play, Stella goes into Labor. She and Stanley departs for the hospital, leaving Blanche alone in the house. Blanches uses this opportunity to drown herself in alcohol to help the feeling of dejected… Blanche turns to alcohol to numb the unforgiving feelings of loneliness and despair. She used alcoholism to “...blot out the ugliness of her life”. Whiskey seems to be the only thing that is constant in her life and she uses it as a crutch to avoid the circumstances of her reality (pushing her boundaries of her never-ending fantasies.) Simple yet straightforward appoarch of the climax- ...... The climax of A Streetcar Named Desire occurs, according to both definitions, when Stanley rapes Blanche while she is in this state of trance. This brutal act marks the completion of her mental deterioration, pushing her over the edge from sanity to...
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...Censorship in A Streetcar Named Desire Author of A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams - stated that his plays are “Pleas for the understanding of delicate people”. A Streetcar Named Desire explores dysfunctional relationships and conflicts that arise in the breakdown. The 1930’s production code forced Kazan - director of A Streetcar Named Desire - to change the original text. The censors of the Breen Office forced Kazan to omit the film’s raw and candid portrayal of human behavior and relationships. Because the Breen Office controlled of the film industry, it definitely took away the audience’s understanding of the characters and their relationships especially in Stella’s descending of the staircase, dialogue between Blanche and Stella,...
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...The overshadowing theme of wealth depicts how the setting influenced the characters and the playwrights context. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the Dubois family came from a very wealthy aristocrat family but after many generations, the money ran out. The day after Blanche encountered Stanley’s anger episode, she went looking for Stella because she went back to him even after he beat her. Stella wakes up the next day as if nothing has happened while Blanche is planning all sorts of ways to leave. In the middle of her speech, Stella says, “I know how it helps your morale just having a little pocket-money on you” (Williams 4.79). Although money cannot buy you happiness, in this play, it seems like money can buy Blanche some confidence. She loves...
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...Colors represent one's actions. In A Streetcar Named Desire, red represents Stanley's actions while white represents the opposite of Blanche's actions. Stanley Kowalski is represented by the color red, which symbolizes rage, anger, and power. Stanley is playing poker and he is already been drinking an alcohol beverage. Stella calls him a "drunk- animal thing" which then triggers Stanley because he isn't used to being called that and he sees himself as the man of the house and to be called that sparks his anger. Stanley "charges after Stella" he takes her down and begins to punch her as if she was a man. Stella is already pregnant with his baby at this point, this all happened because he was drunk at the time and his anger caused him to...
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...Act 1, Scene 3 Questions 1. Describe the visual image Williams creates in the stage directions. A: The image created is one of ‘course and direct primary colors’. This primarily indicates that Stanley and his men are involved in a game of poker and no one else is allowed to play. Stanley is in charge and everyone must play by his rules. 2. How does Mitch stand out from the other men? A: Mitch stands out from the other men because he is more sensitive than the other men. For example, he wants to go home so that he could check on his mother. He explains that she is sick and frail, but this gesture shows that he is concerned and dependent on his mother. Mitch does a good job of resisting the insults that are thrown at him. 3. How does Stanley treat Stella? A: Stanley treats Stella in a very egotistical manner. He is very controlling of Stella. For example, Stella asked when the poker game would end and Stanley said that it would end once the boys felt like it. This is an example of Stanley acting in charge and controlling other people. 4. How does Blanche behave with Mitch? What is she looking for? A: Blanche behaves well with Mitch and connects with Mitch on a personal level. They have both experienced grief in their life and are able to share their feelings about grief. Blanche is looking for someone who has these feelings that she could talk to. 5. Examine the symbolism of the red paper shade over the bare light bulb. A: The...
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