thesis for a streetcar named desire

Thesis Ideas for "A Streetcar Named Desire"

The Symbolism and Imagery in "London" by William Blake

Death, sexuality, delusion and societal expectations create a dynamic rife with tension and power transfers in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Tennessee Williams' play tells the story of Blanche DuBois, an intelligent, fragile woman who moves in with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski after being expelled from her own community. Due to Williams' literary expertise and the bulk of existing scholarship the play inspired, it would be an excellent subject for a thesis in English or theater.

Power and Mental Illness

Blanche becomes gradually more immersed in her fantasy world as the play progresses, eventually claiming that her millionaire lover will whisk her away from New Orleans. Her circumstances exacerbate the condition, as it peaks in the aftermath of her rape by Stanley. Her brother-in-law exerts his authority by institutionalizing her, though as a rapist and abuser he is hardly the picture of mental health. A thesis on this topic would explore the ways in which Williams depicts the interplay of authority and delusion, specifically with regard to Blanche and Stanley.

A Place of Her Own

Blanche and Stella come from a wealthy family, and Blanche is deteriorating in part because she has lost so much of her status along with her ancestral property. Her sense of being displaced and dependent haunt her throughout the play; she is even willing to settle for the somewhat foolish Mitch to secure a home of her own. Conversely, Stella ran away from their home and seems unaffected by its loss, whereas the blue-collar characters who populate the play were born with no expectation of property. A thesis regarding the senses of place and status would explore the economic and immigration history of the postbellum South, as well as the psychology of ownership and belonging.

Diverting From the Norm

By Blanche's account, she found her husband Allan Grey in the embrace of another man, then later expressed disgust at a party. Grey committed suicide to spare himself further humiliation, whereas his young widow was left distraught with guilt, her innocence destroyed. Like Grey, Blanche would endure social stigma. In her case, she was turned away from an apartment for her numerous sexual liaisons and fired from a teaching post due to an affair with a student. "Streetcar" provides an abundance of material for a thesis regarding human sexuality, including Blanche's history as well as the somewhat primitive carnality expressed by Stanley and Stella.

The Pervasiveness of Death

Blanche arrives at Stella and Stanley's home in the Elysian Fields by riding two streetcars, one named "Desire" and one named "Cemeteries." Other references to death include a woman selling flowers for the Day of the Dead, the death of Allan Grey and Blanche's discussion of funerals. Some scholars believe these serve as harbingers of Blanche's death, but they may also indicate her spiritual death, as she is alive at the play's close. A thesis on this topic would explore these symbols and any relevant scholarship associated with them.

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• Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire; Philip K. Kolin
• Theater Journal: Authorizing History -- Victimization in a Streetcar Named Desire

Since 2003, Momi Awana's writing has been featured in "The Hawaii Independent," "Tradewinds" and "Eternal Portraits." She served as a communications specialist at the Hawaii State Legislature and currently teaches writing classes at her library. Awana holds a Master of Arts in English from University of Hawaii, Mānoa.

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Essays on A Streetcar Named Desire

Choosing the right essay topic is crucial for your success in college. Your creativity and personal interests play a significant role in the selection process. This webpage aims to provide you with a variety of A Streetcar Named Desire essay topics to inspire your writing and help you excel in your academic pursuits.

Essay Types and Topics

Argumentative.

• The role of gender in A Streetcar Named Desire
• The impact of societal norms on the characters' behaviors

Paragraph Example:

In Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, the portrayal of gender dynamics is a central theme that sheds light on the power struggles and societal expectations faced by the characters. This essay aims to explore the significance of gender in the play and its influence on the characters' decisions and relationships.

Through a close examination of the gender dynamics in A Streetcar Named Desire, this essay has highlighted the complexities of societal norms and their impact on individual lives. The characters' struggles serve as a reflection of the broader societal challenges, prompting us to reconsider our perceptions of gender roles and expectations.

Compare and Contrast

• The parallels between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski
• The contrasting symbols of light and darkness in the play

Descriptive

• The vivid imagery of New Orleans in the play
• The sensory experiences portrayed in A Streetcar Named Desire
• An argument for Blanche's mental state and its impact on her actions
• The case for the significance of the play's setting in shaping the characters
• Reimagining a key scene from a different character's perspective
• A personal reflection on the themes of illusion and reality in the play

Engagement and Creativity

As you explore these essay topics, remember to engage your critical thinking skills and bring your unique perspective to your writing. A Streetcar Named Desire offers a rich tapestry of themes and characters, providing ample opportunities for creative exploration in your essays.

Educational Value

Each essay type presents a valuable opportunity for you to develop different skills. Argumentative essays can refine your analytical thinking, while descriptive essays can enhance your ability to paint vivid pictures with words. Persuasive essays help you hone your persuasive writing skills, and narrative essays allow you to practice storytelling and narrative techniques.

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An Examination of The Character of Blanche in a Streetcar Named Desire

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The Concealed Homosexuality in a Streetcar Named Desire

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December 3, 1947, Tennessee Williams

Play; Southern Gothic

The French Quarter and Downtown New Orleans

Blanche DuBois, Stella Kowalski, Stanley Kowalski, Harold "Mitch" Mitchell

1. Vlasopolos, A. (1986). Authorizing History: Victimization in" A Streetcar Named Desire". Theatre Journal, 38(3), 322-338. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3208047) 2. Corrigan, M. A. (1976). Realism and Theatricalism in A Streetcar Named Desire. Modern Drama, 19(4), 385-396. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/497088/summary) 3. Quirino, L. (1983). The Cards Indicate a Voyage on'A Streetcar Named Desire'. Contemporary Literary Criticism, 30. (https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1100001571&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00913421&p=LitRC&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E8abc495e) 4. Corrigan, M. A. (2019). Realism and Theatricalism in A Streetcar Named Desire. In Essays on Modern American Drama (pp. 27-38). University of Toronto Press. (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.3138/9781487577803-004/html?lang=de) 5. Van Duyvenbode, R. (2001). Darkness Made Visible: Miscegenation, Masquerade and the Signified Racial Other in Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll and A Streetcar Named Desire. Journal of American Studies, 35(2), 203-215. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/abs/darkness-made-visible-miscegenation-masquerade-and-the-signified-racial-other-in-tennessee-williams-baby-doll-and-a-streetcar-named-desire/B73C386D2422793FB8DC00E0B79B7331) 6. Cahir, L. C. (1994). The Artful Rerouting of A Streetcar Named Desire. Literature/Film Quarterly, 22(2), 72. (https://www.proquest.com/openview/7040761d75f7fd8f9bf37a2f719a28a4/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=5938) 7. Silvio, J. R. (2002). A Streetcar Named Desire—Psychoanalytic Perspectives. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, 30(1), 135-144. (https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jaap.30.1.135.21985) 8. Griffies, W. S. (2007). A streetcar named desire and tennessee Williams' object‐relational conflicts. International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 4(2), 110-127. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aps.127) 9. Shackelford, D. (2000). Is There a Gay Man in This Text?: Subverting the Closet in A Streetcar Named Desire. In Literature and Homosexuality (pp. 135-159). Brill. (https://brill.com/display/book/9789004483460/B9789004483460_s010.xml)

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A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee williams, ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

A Streetcar Named Desire: Introduction

A streetcar named desire: plot summary, a streetcar named desire: detailed summary & analysis, a streetcar named desire: themes, a streetcar named desire: quotes, a streetcar named desire: characters, a streetcar named desire: symbols, a streetcar named desire: theme wheel, brief biography of tennessee williams.

Historical Context of A Streetcar Named Desire

Other books related to a streetcar named desire.

• Full Title: A Streetcar Named Desire
• When Written: 1946-7
• Where Written: New York, Los Angeles, and New Orleans
• When Published: Broadway premiere December 3, 1947
• Literary Period: Dramatic naturalism
• Genre: Psychological drama
• Setting: New Orleans, LA
• Climax: Stanley’s rape of Blanche at the end of Scene Ten
• Antagonist: Stanley Kowalski

Extra Credit for A Streetcar Named Desire

That Rattle-trap Streetcar Named Desire. The Desire streetcar line operated in New Orleans from 1920 to 1948, going through the French Quarter to its final stop on Desire Street.

Streetcar on the silver screen. The original 1947 Broadway production of Streetcar shot Marlon Brando, who played Stanley Kowalski, to stardom. Brando’s legendary performance cemented the actor’s status as a sex symbol of the stage and screen. Elia Kazan, who directed both the original Broadway production and the 1951 film adaptation, used the Stanislavski method-acting system, which focuses on realism and natural characters instead of melodrama. The Stanislavski system asks actors to use their memories to help give the characters real emotions. Brando based his depiction of Stanley on the boxer Rocky Graziano, going to his gym to study his movements and mannerisms. Largely due to Brando’s Stanley and Vivian Leigh’s iconic Blanche, Kazan’s film has become a cultural touchstone, particularly Brando’s famous bellowing of “STELL-LAHHHHH!”

Oh, Streetcar! In an episode of The Simpsons , the characters stage a musical version of A Streetcar Named Desire called Oh, Streetcar! Mild-mannered Ned Flanders as Stanley gives the famous “STELLA” yell, singing, “Can’t you hear me yell-a? You’re putting me through hell-a!”

A Streetcar Named Desire

Introduction to a streetcar named desire.

A Streetcar Named Desire was written by the great American playwright, Tennessee Williams . It was first played on the stage on Broadway in 1947 after which it became Williams’s representative play . It is also considered one of the best plays of the last century and was performed and adapted into several other plays across the globe. The play presents the story of Blanche DuBois, a beauty from the South, who goes through tough times in her life after she sells her mansion and goes to live in a tiny apartment in New Orleans with her sister.

Summary of A Streetcar Named Desire

The play presents the story of two sisters; one is a teacher living in the town of Laurel in Mississippi, while Stella Kowalski, her elder sister is living in a rented yet shabby apartment in New Orleans. Blanche DuBois who is a teacher comes to New Orleans to live with her sister after she loses her inherited property. She rather expresses shock at the neglected condition of the apartment, which is nothing compared to their ancestral mansion, Belle Reve. Following that she also mentions her long teaching leave due to a nervous breakdown. Despite expressing outrage at the apartment’s condition, Blanche knows that she must adjust as she can’t afford to stay in a hotel, causing resentment and quarrel in the apartment. Stanley Kowalski rather dislikes her for her fake snobbery, making Stella pleased but simultaneously harboring ill will against Blanche, suspecting her of ditching them from the family legacy. To clarify her position, she tells that she has lost the property due to her financial debauchery and alcoholism.

On the other hand, Stella is seen as a victim of sexual desire by Stanley, her husband. He also hosts parties at home where his friend, Mitch falls for Blanche. When Stanley sees this, he storms into the bedroom to discourage their meeting. Stanley also finds a reason to physically abuse Stella. The game comes to an end after both sisters go to Eunice’s, the neighboring apartment. However, when Stanley cries for Stella, she instantly forgives and returns, embracing him passionately. Brooding over this matching mismatch, Blanche asks her sister to leave her husband, and meet Shep Huntleigh, a millionaire, inviting laughter from Stella. However, when they are engaged in feminine conversation, Stanley eavesdrops, causing alarm in Stanley’s mind on knowing about her past.

Meanwhile, Blanche even flirts with the newspaper boy once as she can’t afford to pay for it. On the same day, she goes with Mitch on a date. Both of them tell each other their sides of the story and commit to loving each other despite past issues. Around after a month, Stella is going to celebrate Blanche’s birthday, inviting Mitch as well. In bitterness, Stanley tells about Blanche’s past troubles as well as the reason for her job loss. Mitch deliberately misses her birthday, after knowing about her affairs. And Stanley brings a one-way back ticket, asking her to leave yet Stella’s imminent delivery of the baby prevents the issue temporarily. After a while, when Stella and Stanley leave, Mitch arrives and after both of them have discussed their issue, Mitch finally decides not to marry her due to her promiscuity. Yet he tries to make love to her. Blanche who felt betrayed raises an alarm and makes Mitch leave. Meanwhile, Stanley also arrives, finding Blanche alone and drunk. He insults her, teases her about the imaginary millionaire, Shep Huntleigh, and ravishes her.

That incident makes Blanche lose her sense of reality. Stella refuses to believe her claim that Stanley had abused her. Thus, she suffers from hysteria after which a doctor arrives to take her to the asylum, leaving Stella mourning for her sister’s insanity and Stanley comforting. Mitch to feels sorry and helpless.

Major Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire

• Fantasy : The play shows the theme of fantasy as Blanche DuBois lives in the world of fantasy. She thinks that she belongs to an elite class having a great mansion once in the recent past. She does not want to face the reality of losing her mansion and that the world does not accept a carefree and pretentious woman, even if she is not unkind toward anyone. Her illusion further gets complicated when she is dating Mitch but is ravished by Stanley, her brother-in-law. Stella, her sister, is a realist but still lives in her fantasy while ignoring the domestic and sexual abuse by her husband Stanely. However, contrary to both the sisters, Stanley is a realist who manipulates circumstances as well as people for his own interests.
• Dependence: The play demonstrates the theme of dependence and independence through Blanche DuBois and Stella Stanley, her sister with whom she comes to live in the messy apartment. Although Stella also suffers due to her husband’s unruly and untrustworthy behavior, she depends on him, a man, who is supposed to provide her home and comfort. On the other hand, Blanche has lost her home and her independence after losing her job due to her promiscuous behavior and nervous breakdown. Therefore, her dependence on Stella and Stanley leads to her lunacy and ultimately to the lunatic asylum.
• Gender Conflict : The play shows the theme of gender conflict through Stanley and Blanche. When Blanche visits her sister’s apartment, she comes to blows with her brother-in-law, deriding their poverty and criticizing their poor lifestyle. He doesn’t like Blanche’s sudden personal attack and retaliates crudely to her verbal attacks and even resorts to ravishing her. He even goes as far as to provoke Mitch into leaving her. This gender conflict ensues as suddenly and fiercely as it has ended with Blanche being taken away to a lunatic asylum and Stella standing firm with her husband and her child.
• Conflict of Old and Modern South: The play puts the old world of the South having Belle Reve in conflict with the new world of reality where Stella is living with her husband Stanley in a small apartment. Blanche sees this world as compared to her mansion, Belle Reve where the family has passed the prime time. The fading civilization of the old South has taken away its interdependence, leaving Blanche free to do and face the consequences and then leave for the new world where even a brother-in-law is revengeful and retaliatory. Thus, she finds herself in a lunatic asylum instead of living with her sister.
• Desire: The play shows the theme of physical as well as the mental desire of the main character Blanche Dubois. In fact, the carnal desires become the motivation for her social mobility literally and symbolically. When she reaches her sister, her behavior toward her sister and her household is noticed by Stanley, her brother-in-law. He doesn’t like what he hears launches retaliatory accusations and even ravishes her to satisfy her promiscuous desire. In fact, her eviction from Belle Reve and school points to her unhealthy lifestyle of satisfying her carnal desires, leaving aside her mental and spiritual desires.
• Class Differences: The play shows the theme of class difference through the identity that each character is having. Blanche shows her identity as the southern beauty engaged in the aesthetic pleasures of having a sense of evaluating art and poetic writings. However, her class consciousness faces a huge shock at the Kowalskis’ when she visits them. She comes to know that Stella has started abandoning her claim to this lifestyle after sensing the reality. Then when she faces the reality after some time and the pragmatism of the people around her, including her sister, she comes to her senses but it is too late.
• Loneliness: The theme of isolation and loneliness can be seen mostly through Blanche’s life. She has lost her house, Belle Reve. She arrives in New Orleans to live with her sister after being abandoned by her relatives and her first husband’s death. This loneliness forces her to make bad choices . Her behavior does not match the time in which she is living. She is sent to the asylum for having mental issues after her abuse and failed relationships.

Major Characters A Streetcar Named Desire

• Blanche Dubois: Blanche Dubois is the main character. She is a very complicated central figure of the play who is haughty outwardly but highly vulnerable on the inside. A symbol of a decayed southern belle tradition, she has lost her Belle Reve, ancestral mansion, and her job. After moving to her sister’s place, she berates the conditions of her apartment as well as her lowly husband. She starts dating her husband’s friend, Mitch, who is also from a simple background. Blanche has already lost one husband to suicide. She tries hard to escape realities by living in illusions. Her brother-in-law tries to send her away and even abuses her. She is finally sent to a lunatic asylum after Stanley, her brother-in-law calls a doctor and a nurse.
• Stella Kowalski: Stella is young and pregnant by Stanley Kowalski at the start of the play. She’s also a realist who fears her life will be ruined in case she leaves her husband. Impulsive in nature, she fights with her sister but compromises with her husband after the abuse immediately. In fact, their husband-wife relationship is based on physical passions instead of an idealistic outlook, unlike her sister. Although her love for her sister stays, she does not accept her mentally poor state to continue and lets the doctor take her to asylum.
• Stanley Kowalski: Stanley is the antagonist and physically sturdy. He is not only passionate but also aggressive and cunning. He doesn’t want Blanche at his home. He attacks her physically and sexually and breaks her relationship with Mitch in revenge. Despite his controlling and dominant nature, he wastes most of his time playing with his friends and proves very calculated. He calls for the doctor to take his sister-in-law to an asylum on account of her mental illness while hiding his crime.
• Harold Mitchell : In the story, he is known as Mitch. Harold Mitchell appears tough but he is sympathetic. He feels the heavy impact of the death of his mother. Initially, Blanche succeeds in attracting him but later when he comes to know her past and refuses to marry her.
• Eunice Hubbell: Eunice is a very social person who intervenes in every fight when it seems easy to resolve. She helps Blanche and Stella when Stanley becomes uncontrolled. She encourages Stella to stay calm and cool to make her married life work. Her advice works, and Stella stays with her husband despite the domestic violence.
• Steve Hubbell: Steve is significant in the course of the novel as the owner of the building and Stanley’s friend. He takes part in his games of poker. The cool manner in which he continues playing when Blanche leaves for asylum exposes his real personality.
• Pablo Gonzales: Pablo seems significant as another player with Steve, Mitch, and Stanley and often cuts them short with his Spanish utterances.
• The Doctor: The doctor comes to take away Blanche who was abused and lost her sense of reality. After the initial method fails, he calms her down and takes her with him with the help of a nurse.
• The Nurse: The nurse is seen as an impassionate person as she pins down Blanche and wrestles with her to control her.
• A Mexican Lady: She comes to sell flowers and appears in the play when Blanche recounts her stories of how she has been expelled from the school and lost her home.

Writing Style of A Streetcar Named Desire

The writing style of Tennessee Williams in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, is direct but poetic. The dialogs expose the real nature of the character such as Blanche DuBois shows through her sarcastic character that she is a hollow lady and that she is hiding something. Similarly, some of the lines are very heavy in terms of meaning, showing the excessive stress Williams on the artificiality and impulsiveness of the female characters such as Blanche and Stella. However, in terms of sentence structure and phrases , Williams stays simple and to the point, yet becomes cumbersome when it comes to using figurative language where he uses the extended metaphors of the South with similes, irony , and sarcasm .

Analysis of the Literary Devices in A Streetcar Named Desire

• Action: The main action of the play comprises the arrival of Blanche DuBois to her sister’s apartment, her chagrin at their poverty, her ravishment by her brother-in-law, and the final arrival of the doctor to take her to asylum. The falling action occurs when Blanche faces expulsion after her sister plans to send her to the asylum after the violent attack. The rising action occurs when Stanley suspects her of expelling her sister from her inheritance.
• Anaphora : The play shows examples of anaphora such as, Now , then, let me look at you. But don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I’ve bathed and rested! And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare! (Scene-One) ii. No, now seriously, putting joking aside. Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t you write me, honey, why didn’t you let me know? (Scene-One) These examples show the repetitious use of “look at” and “why didn’t tell.”
• Allusion : The play shows good use of different allusions such as, i. You came to New Orleans and looked out for yourself! I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold it together! I’m not meaning this in any reproachful way, but all the burden descended on my shoulders. (Scene-One) ii. No, I have the misfortune of being an English instructor. I attempt to instill a bunch of bobby-soxers and drug-store Romeos with reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe! (Scene-Two) iii. I shall but love thee better—after—death!” Why, that’s from my favorite sonnet by Mrs. Browning! (Scene-Two) The first example shows the reference to a city, the second shows references to different authors, and the last one to a famous author, Mrs. Browning.
• Antagonist : It seems that as he is a violent person and also rapes a mentally destroyed sister-in-law, he is the real antagonist of the play.
• Conflict : The play shows the external conflict that is going on between Blanche and her sister on the one hand, and Blanche and her brother-in-law on the other hand.
• Characters: The play, A Streetcar Named Desire, shows both static as well as dynamic characters . The young girl, Stella, and her husband, Stanley, are dynamic characters as they show a considerable transformation in their behavior and conduct by the end of the play. However, all other characters are static as they do not show or witness any transformation such as Blanche, Mitch, the neighboring woman, or even Steve.
• Climax : The climax in the play occurs when Stanley rapes Blanche, taking advantage of her physical vulnerability and psychological weakness.
• Epigraph : The play shows the use of epigraphs in its initial pages such as i. And so it was I entered the broken world To trace the visionary company of hue, its voice An instant in the wind (I know not whither hurled) But not for long to hold each desperate choice. (From “The Broken Tower” by Hart Crane)
• Hyperbole : The play shows the examples of hyperboles such as, But what I am is a one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it, so don’t ever call me a Polack. (Scene-Seven) ii. I was common as dirt. (Scene-Seven) Both of these examples show exaggeration of being an American person and common as dirt, which is not possible.
• Imagery : A Streetcar Named Desire shows the use of imagery such as, But when the rooster catches sight of the farmer th’owing the corn he puts on the brakes and lets the hen get away and starts pecking corn. And the old farmer says, “Lord God, I hopes I never gits that hongry!” (Scene-One) ii. I simply couldn’t rise to the occasion. That was all. I don’t think I’ve ever tried so hard to be gay and made such a dismal mess of it. I get ten points for trying! —I did try. (Scene-Six) These two examples show images of feeling, sight, and movement.
• Metaphor : A Streetcar Named Desire shows good use of various metaphors such as, Why no. You are as fresh as a daisy. (Scene-Two) ii. Their literary heritage is not what most of them treasure above all else! But they’re sweet things! (Scene-Three) iii. He didn’t know what he was doing. . . . He was as good as a lamb when I came back and he’s really very, very ashamed of himself. (Scene-Four) These examples show that several things have been compared directly in the play such as the first one shows the lady compared to a flower, the second shows literature compared to sweet things, and the third shows the person compared to a lamb.
• Mood : The play, A Streetcar Named Desire, shows various moods; it starts with a carefree and jolly mood when Blanche arrives at her sister’s apartment and starts becoming tense, worrisome, and finally tragic when she goes to the asylum.
• Motif : Most important motifs of the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, are light, bathing and drunkenness.
• Personification : The play shows examples of personifications such as, Faded white stairs ascend to the entrances of both. (Scene-One) ii. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee. (Scene-One) iii. Its grey front stood out well from the background of a rookery, whose cawing tenants were now on the wing: they flew over the lawn and grounds to alight in a great meadow, from which these were separated by a sunk fence, and where an array of mighty old thorn trees , strong, knotty , and broad as oaks, at once explained the etymology of the mansion’s designation. (Chapter-XII) These examples show that the watches and the trees have feelings and lives of their own.
• Protagonist : Blanche DuBois is the protagonist of the play despite her being not able to stand up to the stature of a good person in most situations.
• Setting : The setting of the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, is in the Downtown of New Orleans city in the French Quarter area.
• Simile : The play shows good use of various similes such as, And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby. (Scene-One) ii. It’s a French name. It means woods and Blanche means white, so the two together mean white woods. Like an orchard in spring ! You can remember it by that. (Scene-Two) iii. Mitch is delighted and moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear. (Scene-Four) These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things.

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• Blanche’s Descent into Madness
• Blanche DuBois as a Tragic Heroine
• The New vs. the Old South in the Play
• Reality vs. Illusion in Williams’ Play
• The Tragic Downfall of Blanche DuBois
• Light vs. Darkness in A Streetcar Named Desire
• Stella and Blanche’s Struggle for Autonomy
• Stanley Kowalski as a Symbol of Masculinity
• Music and Sound in A Streetcar Named Desire
• How Social Status Shaped the Characters’ Lives in the Play
• Stanley and Blanche Relationship in A Streetcar Named Desire The “impurity” of Blanche’s past suggests the final of the play and it is a quite logical completion of the story.
• Blanche’s Lies in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams Laurel is the hometown of Blanche DuBois. The lies of Blanche DuBois were concocted to win male suitors.
• Tennessee Williams’ Play “A Streetcar Named Desire” Williams’ view towards the ideas of illusion and reality works to highlight the fact that reality will always overcome fantasy and the two cannot coexist peacefully, and while we cannot completely admire Stanley in his […]
• Vulnerability in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams The author manages to demonstrate the power of vulnerability and raw emotions through the play’s characters, which keeps the story full of tension and interesting dynamics.
• A Streetcar Named Desire A mentally stronger person, Stella is capable of surviving in the world that she and her husband live in and, more to the point, sacrificing the truth to preserve that world, even at the cost […]
• Female Characters in A Streetcar Named Desire & The Great Gatsby: Comparative It can be seen in the case of Stella and Daisy wherein in their pursuit of what they think is their “ideal” love, they are, in fact, pursuing nothing more than a false ideal that […]
• Costumes in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951) Film Although Blanche’s and Stanley’s clothes belong to the same time period and, therefore, allow the characters to coexist within the same reality and interact naturally, the differences in the details and the style serve more […]
• Blanche DuBois in Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” As DuBois is a female character, her tragedy is also to be seen as a result of her helplessness to transform her desires in a male-dominated world.
• “A Streetcar Named Desire” and Other Hollywood Films: The Effect of Negative Sexual Acts and Values on Society The two entities feed off each other in a dependent state of co-existence, in that, the occurrences in society form the basis of the plots and ideas of various films, while films offer entertainment, inspiration, […]
• A Streetcar Named Desire: The Passion of Blanche The very movement brings back the fleur of the England of the XVIII century, to “Southern-Gothic imp of Poe-etic perverse” with all its ideas of Gothic culture and the features that are due only to […]
• Social Norms in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams In Blanche’s opinion, beauty is the true value of a woman since it enables her to win recognition of men. The main tragedy of Blanche DuBois is that she was conditioned to act and behave […]
• Williams Tennessee’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” The fact that something wrong and evil will form part of Blanche’s life is depicted in the beginning of the work by the mysterious expressions that compound the descriptions of Elysian Fields.
• Mann’s “Death in Venice” and Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” Altogether Mann succeeds to convey his messages through the character of the boy, the artist, and the other objects in the story.
• Blanche in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Williams It is a perfect presentation of the two major characters Blanche DuBois whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly cover her alcoholism and illusions of greatness, and Stanley Kowalski, who is primitive, rough, and […]
• The Movies “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cyrano de Bergerac” The movie is as tensed as the play. The sound is also very good as the music creates the necessary atmosphere.
• Blanche Dubois’ Costume in “A Streetcar Named Desire” This is the shape of dress: a sleeveless sweetheart neckline, ruched bodice, with dropped basque waist and long multi-gored, multi-layered skirt falling from the hips, with translucent overlay. The color is a girlish pink, the […]
• Comparison: Death of a Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire In the Death of a Salesman, Willy, the protagonist, is lost in the illusion that the American dream is only achievable via superficial qualities of likeability and attractiveness.
• ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ Literature Comparison Stella is a devoted wife struggling to make her marriage work, even though her husband Stanley, subjects her to a lot of pain and suffering.
• A Streetcar Named Desire She is highly critical and snobbish when she regards the cramped up apartment that her sister and her husband lives in.
• Gender Struggle in Tennessee Williams “A Streetcar Named Desire” This observation is not merely the central idea of the play, but is an enhancement to the basic personality trait that goes along with the horrifying aftermath of the warfare, conducted in the name of […]
• The Conflict Between Stanley and Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• Alcoholism, Violence, Sexuality, and Happiness in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Two Different Worlds of Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Link Between Desire and Death in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Theatrical Set Design of “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Loneliness, Female vs. Male Thoughts and Ways in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Presentation of Masculinity and Femininity in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Ariel”
• Romantic Love as the Center of Conflict in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Realistic Fantasy of “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Interrelationship of Characters and Themes in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Themes of Illusion and Fantasy in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• Historical, Social, and Cultural Context of Tennessee Williams on “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Use of the Grotesque in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Blending of Tragic and Comic Elements in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Fusion of Eros and Thanatos in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Similarities and Differences in the Presentation of Female Characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Decline of the American Dream in “Great Gatsby” and “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Symbolic Interactions of the Characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Role of Family in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Importance and Danger of Illusions in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Uses of Colors an Lighting in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Dual Conflicts Between Civilization and Savagery, Old and New, Appearance and Reality in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Tragic Heroine Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Tragic Comedy of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• Self Deception and Silence in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Complexity of the Main Characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Use of Illusions as a Defense Mechanism Against the Real World and Inner Demons in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• Williams’ Use of Imagery and Symbolism in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• Deluded Fantasies About Love and Aspiration for Life in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Theme of Domestic Violence in “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Relationship of Blanche and Stella to the Dramatic Effect of “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Picture of a Southern Belle in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Gender Stereotypes in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Theme of Past and Present in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Themes of Death and Desire in Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”
• The Music’s Role in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Facing Reality Without Depending on Members of the Opposite Sex in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• The Skillful Use of Poetic Dialogue in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Prey and Predator in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams
• Powerless Women: A Comparison of “The Duchess of Malfi” and “A Streetcar Named Desire”

❓ A Streetcar Named Desire Essay Questions

• How Are the Themes of Reality and Illusion Presented in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Should Stella Leave Stanley in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams?
• How Does Williams Present Conflict Between Old and New in Scene Two of “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Do Women Seek Independence and Individualism in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Does Wolfing Mean in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Were Common Societal Expectations of Women in the Time When the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire” Was Written?
• Why Are Women Dependent on Men in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Can Stanley Be Named as the Ideal of American Masculinity in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Why Has an Abused Woman Stayed With Her Abuser in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Changes Were Made to the Play’s Plot for the Screen Adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1951?
• How Does Blanche Die in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• How Is the Theme of Class Difference Portrayed in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• How Is the Idea of Naturalism Presented in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Message Does the Writer Try to Convey in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• How Does the Past Influence the Present in the Novel “The Reader” and the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• How Is Marriage Represented in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Elements of Southern Fiction Are Presented in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Is the Overall Concept of “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Role Does Sexuality Play in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Why Are Blanche and Stella Attracted to Each Other Despite Their Conflicts in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Secrets From the Past Does Blanche Hide in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Literary Techniques Does Tennessee Williams Use to Enhance Themes in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Why Has Blanche Dubois Failed at the End of “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Is Unique About Tennessee Williams’ Word Choice in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• How Does Mitch’s Image Change in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by the End of the Play?
• What Is the Symbolic Meaning of the Shattered Mirror in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Why Does Blanche Try to Escape the Reality in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Ideas of Gender Issues Does Tennessee Williams Try to Convey to the Reader in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• What Role Does Fantasy Play in Blanche’s Life in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• How Do Alcohol and Drugs Influence the Main Characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire”?
• Blanche DuBois’ Fatal Flaws and Downfall In this essay, you can delve into Blanche’s character arc. Explore her vulnerabilities, delusions, and how her past experiences contribute to her tragic end.
• The Southern Belle Archetype in A Streetcar Named Desire Here, you can explore the Myth of Southern charm and fragility known as “Southern belle.” Examine Blanche’s portrayal as a Southern belle and how it reflects societal expectations regarding women during that time.
• Symbols of Truth and Deception in A Streetcar Named Desire In this essay, you can analyze the play’s recurring motif of light and darkness. How does it enhance the themes of illusion versus reality?
• A Streetcar Named Desire as a Critique of Masculinity and Patriarchy This literary analysis can explore how the character of Stanley Kowalski. Show how it embodies traditional masculinity. What are the implications of his dominance over the women characters?
• Blanche DuBois as a Femme Fatale This essay can discuss Blanche’s seductive power and the consequences of her manipulative behavior on the people around her. Prove your point with quotes from the play.
• The Southern Gothic Elements in A Streetcar Named Desire This interesting topic focuses on the Dark and Macabre Aspects of the play. Analyze the incorporation of Southern Gothic elements, such as decay, madness, and secrets.
• The Theme of Desire and Its Manifestation in the Play Here, you can compare and contrast the characters’ desires. For example, focus on Blanche’s desire for security and love, Stanley’s desire for control, and Stella’s desire for stability.
• Chicago (A-D)
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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'A streetcar named desire'

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Davis, Jordan. "Gender-Based Behavior in "A Streetcar Named Desire"." W&M ScholarWorks, 1994. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539625893.

Bauer, Christian. "Stereotypical Gender Roles and their Patriarchal Effects in A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för humaniora (HUM), 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-17170.

Maiman, Nichole Marie. ""Who wants real? I want magic!" musical madness in A streetcar named desire /." College Park, Md. : University of Maryland, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/1425.

Zúñiga, Hertz María del Pilar. "The glass menagerie and A streetcar named desire : Tennessee Williams and the confluence of experiences." Tesis, Universidad de Chile, 2013. http://www.repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/115664.

Cline, Gretchen Sarah. ""Madness, sexuality, and the dialectics of desire: Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire and William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying"." The Ohio State University, 1985. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1302706789.

Homan, Elizabeth A. "Cultural contexts and the American classical canon : contemporary approaches to performing Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 1997. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p9842537.

Borges, Guilherme Pereira Rodrigues. "Tradução e teatro : A Streetcar Named Desire, de Tennessee Williams, em múltiplas traduções para o português do Brasil." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UnB, 2017. http://repositorio.unb.br/handle/10482/24095.

Lee, Kenneth Oneal. "Plays of Tennessee Williams as opera: An analysis of the elements of Williams's dramatic style in Lee Hoiby's Summer and Smoke and André Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2003. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5536/.

Silveira, Gustavo Cardoso. "De A streetcar named desire a Um bonde chamado desejo: uma análise sob o enfoque da linguística sistêmico-funcional." Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, 2018. https://tede2.pucsp.br/handle/handle/21270.

Silva, Luciany Margarida da. "Character, language and translation : a linguistic study of character construction in a cinematic version of Williams' A Streetcar named Desire /." Florianópolis, SC, 1999. http://repositorio.ufsc.br/xmlui/handle/123456789/81105.

Goldstein, Emily R. "Reasons to be Desired." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/686.

Jarekvist, Anja. "The social construction of gender : A comparison of Tennessee Wiliam´s A Streetcar Named Desire and Eugene O´Neill´s Long Day´s Journey into Night." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Sektionen för lärarutbildning (LUT), 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-21784.

Weiss, Katherine, Stephen Bottoms, Philip Kolin, and Michael S. D. Hooper. "A Student Handbook to the Plays of Tennessee Williams: The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Sweet Bird of Youth." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2014. https://www.amzn.com/1472521862.

Lee, Kenneth Oneal. "Plays of Tennessee Williams as opera an analysis of the elements of Williams's dramatic style in Lee Hoiby's Summer and smoke and André Previn's A streetcar named Desire /." connect to online resource. Access restricted to the University of North Texas campus, 2003. http://www.library.unt.edu/theses/open/20033/lee%5Fkenneth%5Foneal/index.htm.

Lane, Michelle I. ""Why do hurt people hurt people?" A SERIES OF CASE STUDIES EXPLORING ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS IN DRAMATIC TEXTS AND ONSTAGE WITH TONI KOCHENSPARGER'S MILKWHITE." Ohio University Honors Tutorial College / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ouhonors1492704228702652.

Joseph, Robert Gordon. "Playing the Big Easy: A History of New Orleans in Film and Television." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1522601211962016.

Quant, Brenda D. "From the Back of a Bus Named Desire." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2015. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2118.

Chritaro, Gustavo Rocha 1978. "A Streetmusic Named Desire : Jazz e Cinema no exemplo de Alex North." [s.n.], 2015. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/285320.

GONCALVES, LUCIANA AFFONSO. "A CRY NAMED DESIRE: THE VOICE IN THE POLYPHONIC CREATION OF MARIO DE ANDRADE." PONTIFÍCIA UNIVERSIDADE CATÓLICA DO RIO DE JANEIRO, 2006. http://www.maxwell.vrac.puc-rio.br/Busca_etds.php?strSecao=resultado&nrSeq=9067@1.

Kotynski, Anne Elizabeth. "A Study Named Desire: How Global Versus Local Attentional Focus Priming Alter Approach Motivation for Desserts." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1467979803.

Özer-Chulliat, Sibel. ""Se mettre en scène" dans les adaptations contemporaines de textes classiques : un point tournant dans l'art de la mise en scène ?" Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016USPCA133.

Wang, Pei-Wen, and 王佩雯. "Desire and Death in Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, 2010. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44889972383540849109.

Chang, Yu-chi, and 張渝琪. "A Contextualized interpretation of A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, 1997. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/92423740606890858846.

Chen, Chun-Yu, and 陳俊佑. "“Crash of Streetcar Named Desire”,Scriptwriting and Performance." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/84565161669590579906.

Chen, Szu-chia, and 陳思嘉. "Normalization in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, 2000. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/07716302864137677139.

呂季青. "A Translation and Introduction of A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, 2004. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/33892955411328494662.

Chou, Mei-huei, and 周美慧. "Blanche's Attachment in A Streetcar Named Desire: A Zen Approach." Thesis, 1998. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/35275056495651806887.

Wang, Huiting, and 王惠亭. "An Analysis of the Use of Symbols in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire." Thesis, 2011. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/50121873008821372763.

賴榆樺. "Elia Kazans A Streetcar Named Desire and Woody Allens Blue Jasmine: a Comparative Analysis." Thesis, 2016. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/49970190534611369133.

Yu-ling, Hung. "Multiple Masquerades and Contradictory Female Images in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Summer and Smoke." 2005. http://www.cetd.com.tw/ec/thesisdetail.aspx?etdun=U0001-1407200510551300.

Hung, Yu-ling, and 洪毓羚. "Multiple Masquerades and Contradictory Female Images in Tennessee Williams'' The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Summer and Smoke." Thesis, 2005. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/45039599020817382707.

Luz, Svea Sophie Pahlke. "Reality and illusion in theatre - Blanche DuBois and her individual perception of life in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams." Master's thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10362/20280.

Rodrigues, Elisabeth Porto. "De A Streetcar Named Desire a Um Bonde Chamado Desejo : o percurso discursivo de apresentação da personagem Stanley Kowalski em duas traduções brasileiras." Master's thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10316/18165.

CHEN, LI-HUI, and 陳孋輝. "An Analysis of Tennessee William's "a Streetcar Named Desire", "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", and "Rose Tattoo" from the Perspective of Symbolism and Actantial Model." Thesis, 2018. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/tac4ua.

林建輝. "Dream on: The Desire Named Thriller." Thesis, 2009. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/39048221369086790091.

"A streetcar named death: Public mourning, funeral directors, and the modernization of the New Orleanian funeral." Tulane University, 2021.

"A cry named desire: the voice in the polyphonic creation of mario de andrade." Tese, MAXWELL, 2006. http://www.maxwell.lambda.ele.puc-rio.br/cgi-bin/db2www/PRG_0991.D2W/SHOW?Cont=9067:pt&Mat=&Sys=&Nr=&Fun=&CdLinPrg=pt.

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A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

Blanche Dubois, the protagonist in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire play seeks to reside with Stella Kowalski, her sister, but Stanley Kowalski, Stella’s husband, is against the idea. Blanche used to live at her parent’s home in Mississippi’s Laurel area but the mansion has been...

A Streetcar Named Desire In many modern day relationships between a man and a woman, there is usually a controlling figure that is dominant over the other. It may be women over man, man over women, or in what the true definition of a marriage is an equal partnership. In the play A Streetcar Named...

Tennessee Williams is known for his powerfully written psychological dramas. Most of his works are set in the southern United States and they usually portray neurotic people who are victims of their own passions, frustrations, and loneliness. The play represents the conflict between the sensitive...

The evidence of masculinity in scene three is shown through dialogue, stage direction and description of the surroundings. The introduction to the dramatic purpose of the poker party demonstrates Stanley's domination over his friends through the way in which he makes all the decisions about the...

2 084 words

Blanche Dubious, appropriately dressed in white, is first introduced as a symbol of innocence and chastity. Aristocratic, refined, and sensitive, this delicate beauty has a moth-like appearance. She has come to New Orleans to seek refuge at the home of her sister Stella and her coarse Polish...

A Streetcar Named Desire Summary Essay Reality vs. Illusion In Tennessee William's masterful play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the reader meets a middle ? aged woman by the name of Blanche DuBois. Blanche lives in her own faerie tale world, one of a young, beautiful debutante, surrounded by admirers...

In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the character of Blanche Dubois is a vivid example of the use of symbolism throughout the play. Blanche wants to view things in an unrealistic way. "I don't want realism. I want magic? I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them...

A Streetcar Named Desire In what way can A Streetcar Named Desire be seen as an exploration of"old" America versus the "new" America? In the play, Blanche represents old America and Stanley represents new America. Why Blanche represents old America is because of her way of thinking, lifestyle and...

1 717 words

'Symbols are nothing but the natural speech of drama? the purest language of plays. ' Once, quoted as having said this, Tennessee Williams has certainly used symbolism and colour extremely effectively in his play, ? A Streetcar Named Desire'. A moving story about fading Southern belle...

1 276 words

A Streetcar Named Desire Summary  And Comprehension scene 4 1)Stella tries to explain to Blanche her relationship with Stanley at the beginning of scene 4 and mentions that she was ? sort of thrilled' by his violence. I think by this she means that she is quite taken in by Stanley's display of...

The Desire to Justify Cruelty When do we overlook malicious behavior? Is our emotional appeal to like a person enough for us to look past deliberate cruelty? Bound up in the play A Streetcar Named Desire is the fundamental question of how the characters are dialectically cruel and the ways they...

1 238 words

A Streetcar Named Desire It is a rare occasion in the world of cinema that an author plays a part in his story's translation to film. One of the few given this opportunity was Tennessee Williams. In Elia Kazan's 1951 "big screen" adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams penned not only the...

Discuss the various ways the confidant or confidante functions in one of the following works. In the play, A Streetcar named Desire, Tennessee Williams depicts a conflict through his main character, Blanche Dubois. Blanche has a problem in believing that she is in a fantasy world. In this play one...

2 196 words

Critique of the movie ? A Streetcar Named Desire' A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) was a play by Tennessee Williams who also wrote the play The Glass Menagerie. It was a film of anger, loneliness, and shame. Every actor in the film made his or her own brilliant performance. The director was Elia...

‘A Streetcar named Desire,’ is an interesting play, by Tennessee Williams. The character 'Blanche DuBois' is created to evoke sympathy, as the story follows her tragic deterioration in the months she lived with her sister Stella, and brother-in-law Stanley. After reading the...

1 099 words

An analysis of some of the many symbols found in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams, with the help of psychoanalytical theory. Williams' expert use of these symbols helped him to convey the meaning of many characteristics of the protagonists in the play. Was Tennessee Williams a...

2 665 words

Within the play Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams, the lives and relationship of Blanche DuBois and Stella Kowalski are plotted out in a scene of events that depicts astute betrayal and out of the ordinary family matters. Based on the time period of this play, that being of the...

1 341 words

STANLEY. Hey, there! Stella, Baby! [Stella comes out on the first floor landing, a gentle young woman about twenty-five, and of a background obviously quite different from her husband’s. ] (13) This is the opening line from A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennesee Williams, one of many differences in...

1 375 words

Explore how Williams builds up to the inevitable rape of Blanche in Scene 10. Consider his use of setting, character and stage directions in your answer. Old and new, weak and aggressive, intellect and brute force: Blanche and Stanley. The battle between old and new America in the 1940’s was in...

1 321 words

In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, there are many examples where the characters are using illusions in an attempt to escape reality. The best example is found by looking to the main character. Blanche Dubois was a troubled woman who throughout the play lives her life in...

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'A Streetcar Named Desire' Themes

• M.A., Classics, Catholic University of Milan
• M.A., Journalism, New York University.
• B.A., Classics, Catholic University of Milan

A Streetcar Named Desire deals with themes commonly found in Tennessee Williams ’ work: madness, homosexuality, and the contrast between the Old and the New South.

Homosexuality

A gay man, Williams wrote the majority of his plays between the 1940s and the 1960s, and back then homosexuality was still rooted in shame, with homosexual people playing a continuous game of illusions. 

Part of Blanche’s downfall has to do with her husband’s homosexuality and being disgusted by it. “A degenerate,” who “wrote poetry,” was the way Stella described him. Blanche, in turn, referred to him as “the boy,” whom she describes as having “a nervousness, a softness, and tenderness which wasn’t like a man’s, although he wasn’t the least bit effeminate looking.” Even though he never appears on stage directly, she manages to evoke his presence quite effectively in describing him and his subsequent death.

Blanche may even be characterized as a gay, male too. Her last name, DuBois, if anglicized, is “DuBoys,” and her whole character hints at male homosexuality: she plays with illusion and false appearances, as symbolized by the lightbulb that she covers with a paper lantern. “A woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion,” she says. This ambiguity on Blanche’s part is further emphasized by Stanley, who, with his brutish demeanor, sees through her act. “Take a look at yourself in that worn-out Mardi Gras outfit, rented for fifty cents from some rag-picker! And with the crazy crown on! What queen do you think you are?” he tells her. The fact that he uses the word “queen” pointed critics such as John Clum (author of Acting Gay: Male Homosexuality in Modern Drama ) towards seeing Blanche as an alter ego of Williams himself, but in drag.

Journey Between Two Worlds

Blanche journeys between two opposite, but equally inhabitable worlds: Belle Reve, with its emphasis of manners and southern traditions but lost to creditors, and Elysian Fields, with its overt sexuality and “raffish charm”. Neither is ideal, but they are stops along a slow destructive trip for the fragile Blanche, who was undone by the death and mannered immorality of the beautiful dream of Belle Reve, and is heading toward complete destruction in the Quarter. 

She goes to her sister’s apartment looking for asylum, and, ironically, she ends up in an actual asylum upon completely unraveling after being raped by Stanley.

Light, Purity, and the Old South

When moving to the Quarter, Blanche tries to appropriate an imagery of purity, which, we soon learn is just a façade for her life of destitution. Her name, Blanche, means “white,” her astrological sign is Virgo, and she favors wearing white, which we see both in her first scene and in her climactic confrontation with Stanley. She adopts the affectation and mannerisms of a Southern belle, in the hopes of securing a man after her first husband committed suicide and she had resorted to seducing young men in a seedy hotel. 

In fact, when she starts dating Stanley’s friend Mitch, she feigns chastity. “He thinks I am prim and proper,” she tells her sister Stella. Stanley immediately sees through Blanche’s game of smoke and mirrors. “You should just know the line she’s been feeding to Mitch. He thought she had never been more than kissed by a fellow!” Stanley tells his wife. “But Sister Blanche is no lily! Ha-ha! Some lily she is!” 

Sexuality and Desire

The three main characters of A Streetcar Named Desire are sexual. Blanche’s sexuality is decaying and unstable, while Stella, on the other hand, responds to Stanley’s thrown meat of the first scene with a gasp and a giggle, which has clear sexual connotations. The sexual chemistry shared by the Kolwaskis is the foundation of their marriage. “But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark—that sort of make everything else seem—unimportant,” Stella tells Blanche. “What you are talking about is brutal desire—just-Desire!—the name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another,” her sister replies. 

And when Stella asks her whether she had ever ridden on that streetcar, Blanche answers with “It brought me here.—Where I’m not wanted and where I’m ashamed to be . . .” She is referring both to the streetcar that she boarded and to her promiscuity, which left her a pariah in Laurel, Mississippi.

Neither sister has a healthy approach towards sex. For Stella, the physical passion trumps the more daily concerns of domestic abuse; for Blanche, desire is “brutal” and has dire consequences for those who give into it. 

Tennessee Williams had a lifelong obsession with “madwomen,” possibly due to the fact that his beloved sister, Rose, was lobotomized in his absence and later institutionalized. The character of Blanche displays several symptoms of mental frailty and instability: she witnessed her late husband’s tragic death; she took to bedding “young men” in the aftermath, and we see her drink heavily throughout the entirety of the play. She also, quite vaguely, blames “nerves” for her having to take a leave of absence from her job as an English teacher.

Once in the Quarter, the web of deceptions Blanche spins in order to secure Mitch as a husband is yet another symptom of her insanity. Unable to accept her own reality, she openly says “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” However, what breaks her for good is the rape by Stanley, after which she is to be committed to a mental institution. 

Stanley appears to be quite perceptive, despite Blanche’s insisting that he’s a monkey. He tells his wife that back in Laurel, Blanche had come to be regarded “as not just different but down right loco—nuts.” 

Symbols: The Naked Lightbulb and the Paper Lantern

Blanche can’t stand to be looked at in harsh, direct light. When she first meets Mitch, she has him cover the bedroom light bulb with a colored paper lantern. “I can’t stand a naked lightbulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action,” she tells him, comparing her hatred for the naked lightbulb to her hatred towards rudeness, indecency, and profanity. By contrast, the shade softens the light and creates an atmosphere that is more comforting and calm, thus removing any harshness. For Blanche, putting the paper lantern over the light is not only a way of softening the mood and altering the appearance of the room of a place that she deems squalid, but also a way of altering her appearance and the way others view her.

Hence, the lightbulb symbolizes the naked truth, and the lantern symbolizes Blanche’s manipulation of the truth and its impact on the way others perceive her. 

• 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Overview
• 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Characters
• 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Quotes
• The Setting of 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
• 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Summary
• A Streetcar Named Desire: Act One, Scene One
• 'A Streetcar Named Desire' — Scene 11
• "A Streetcar Named Desire": The Rape Scene
• A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene Three
• Biography of Tennessee Williams, American Playwright
• 5 of the Best Plays Written by Tennessee Williams
• Banned Plays Through History
• Male Sexuality in Ancient Rome
• Definition and Examples of Negative Contractions
• Was Shakespeare Gay?
• Berengaria of Navarre: Queen Consort to Richard I

A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams

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A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

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

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

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Disguised Homosexuality in A Streetcar Named Desire Anonymous College

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A Streetcar Named Desire And The Glass Menagerie

Looking at the characters, settings and plot devices used in both A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, it’s clear that there are some similarities between the two plays. However, there are also some key differences that make each stand out as its own unique work.

Starting with the characters, Blanche Dubois from A Streetcar Named Desire is a very different figure than Tom Wingfield from The Glass Menagerie. Blanche is a Southern belle who is used to getting her own way, while Tom is an introverted young man who feels trapped by his home life.

Additionally, the setting of A Streetcar Named Desire is much more urban and gritty than the relatively isolated world of The Glass Menagerie. The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire also focuses on Blanche’s downward spiral, while The Glass Menagerie is more about Tom’s coming to terms with his own life and desires.

Despite these differences, there are still some similarities between A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie. Both plays deal with characters who are struggling to come to terms with their own lives and desires, and both use symbols and metaphors to explore the inner lives of their characters. Additionally, both A Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie were written in the 1940s, which was a time of great change and turmoil in the United States.

Tennessee William’s novels ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and ‘The Glass Menagerie,’ published in the late Thirties, depict a period of deprivation when the depression afflicted millions of people. Both plays utilized the traditional American family as a backdrop during the 1930s. There were several parallels between the plays, including personalities and events. Did Tennessee William write two different versions of the same play? Or did each play have a different significance beneath its veneer? We must begin by analyzing the characters before delving into the two plays.

Both Blanche and Amanda are single ladies, living in the past. They both long for their youth when they were beautiful and popular with gentlemen callers. They are also both disappointed with the men in their lives: Blanche’s husband committed suicide and Amanda’s husband abandoned his family. Blanche is a southern belle who uses her charm to try and seduce Stanley, while Amanda is a nagging mother who constantly tries to find a gentleman caller for her daughter Laura. Both characters are similar in that they are flawed women who live in a man’s world.

The main difference between Blanche and Amanda is their relationship with reality. Blanche is delusional and does not face reality, while Amanda is obsessed with reality and is very aware of her situation. Blanche tries to escape her problems by drinking and dreaming about the past, while Amanda tries to change her reality by finding a husband for Laura.

Another similarity between the two plays is that both Blanche and Amanda have a dysfunctional relationship with their respective family members. Blanche is estranged from her family because she had an affair with one of her husband’s students. Amanda is disappointed in her son Tom because he does not live up to her expectations. Both women are also trying to protect their younger female relatives: Blanche is trying to protect Stella from Stanley’s abuse and Amanda is trying to find a husband for Laura so she will not end up like her.

In Tennessee Williams’ Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, and Laura Wingfield in The Glass Menageries, the two women are very similar. Blanche and Laura are both living apart from other people in their own universe. Blanche lives in a world of illusions, whereas Laura resides in a world full of glass animals.

Blanche is motivated solely by the desire to seek for and indulge her wildest dreams and desires. Because she feels she murdered her spouse, Laura lives in her glass animal-filled environment only because of a sickness that causes her to have a minor physical deformity.

First and foremost, both Blanche and Laura have a dependency on men. For Laura, it is very evident that she is dependent on her father and later on Jim O’ Connor. She is extremely shy around men, which could be due to the fact that she was never really exposed to them. When Jim comes over, she gets so nervous that she drops her glass unicorn. She then proceeds to tell him that it is her “favourite”.

In other words, she is trying to show Jim that she is just like him, with regular interests. The only difference is that hers are hidden away in her room. Laura wants so badly to fit in and be like everyone else, that she is willing to change herself for the better. For example, when Jim tells her that she should not wear glasses, she immediately takes them off and proceeds to try and fix her hair. She does all of this in an attempt to please Jim and make him like her.

Blanche is also dependent on men, but for different reasons. Blanche uses men as a way to escape from her problems. She had an affair with a student while she was still married, which eventually led to her husband’s suicide. After that incident, she was never able to be with another man without having some sort of sexual encounter with them.

When Stanley first meets Blanche, he can see right through her. He knows that she is a liar and he knows that she is only looking for one thing: sex. Blanche is so vulnerable and fragile, that she can’t help but be drawn to Stanley. He is the complete opposite of what she is looking for, but she can’t resist him.

Secondly, Blanche and Laura are both very insecure women. This insecurity leads them to do some crazy things in order to fit in or to make themselves feel better about themselves. For example, Laura tries on different outfits with Jim to find the one that makes her look the prettiest.

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