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Explore the presentation of desire in A Streetcar Named Desire. You must…
Explore the presentation of desire in A Streetcar Named Desire. You must relate your discussion to relevant contextual factors
Form
Plastic theatre - Williams own term "a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are" Williams (Production notes The Glass Menagerie)
The Varsouviana - Blanche's desire
to escape the past conveyed to the audience as something that penetrates her head constantly driving her insane.
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Creating the feeling for the audience of chaos through use of sound. This contrasts to typical depictions through the sole use of characters and dialogue.
Symbolism - Light is a symbol to expose Blanches inability to accept that she is ageing. It illuminates her desire to remain young which essentially causes her to decline into insanity as she cannot accept truth
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Realism
Realism - Stella : she represents women who are allowed to have desires because they revolve around their husband.
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Structure
Each scene ends on a point of tension which emphasises whichever desire was emphasised within this scene.
Blanche is introduced in an incongruous manner which foreshadows her inability to adapt to the new America. This is the first inclusion of her in the play which characterises her identity throughout the play
'Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light' pg 3 .The audience are aware that she is set up to fail, her appearance, actions and physicality are all depicted as being vulnerable. It is ambiguous as to whether she is innocent or weak, allowing the reader to understand that these qualities are intertwined and are innate to her. This is a caricature of overt feminine qualities which are depicted in a negative way.
Steve acts as the mouthpiece for William's view of society by closing the play 'This game is seven-card stud' pg124
Williams wanted to call it 'The Poker Game'. The point of poker is to bluff in order to hide your poor hand and then when this hand is revealed you lose. Stanley is skilled at poker and is able to call Blanche's bluff which ultimately leads to her downfall. The structure of the play depicts a poker game where Blanche was dealt a bad hand as she is a woman and therefore cannot carry out her own desires without the judgement of society.
Important quotes
'What you are talking about is brutal desire–just–Desire!–the name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter.'
Her attitude shows that she has experienced desire that was brutal. It was all consuming and damaging and therefore she can only view it as a negative. This is a comment about desire in general as an explanation for Blanche's behavior.
Stella: Haven't you ever ridden on that streetcar? Blanche: It brought me here. - Where I'm not wanted and where I'm ashamed to be...
'They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at -Elysian Fields!' pg 4
This quote foreshadows the events of the play. The streetcar is representative of how Blanche originally chose to follow her desires and then ultimately lost control of the predestined 'streetcar' destination which is the resting ground for heroes which signifies her as a tragic hero.
Characters
Blanche
Her conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire
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Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin, silks, costume jewelry, etc: she calls attention to her body and her femininity through her carefully cultivated appearance.
Blanche nearly attacks the Young Man with her aggressive sexuality, flirting heavily with him and kissing him.
To Blanche, perhaps motivated by her discovery that her first husband was in fact homosexual, losing her desirability is akin to losing her identity and her reason to live.
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Context
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Quote from Williams, 1946 (whilst living in New Orleans)
Their indistinguishable progress up and down Royal Street struck me as having symbolic bearing of a broad nature on the life in the Vieux Carre – and everywhere else for that matter
The power of sexual desire is the engine propelling A Streetcar Named Desire: all of the characters are driven by “that rattle-trap street-car” in various ways.
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