a streetcar named desire
protagonist
theme
key facts
scene 1
scene 2
scene 3
scene 4
scene 6
scene 5
scene 7
scene 8
sexual desire
fantasy and delusion
interior and exterior appearance
masculinity and physicality
femininity and dependence
Blanche
Stella
Stanley
Mitch
when she was 16, she married an effeminate young man who turned to be homosexual. He killed himself. Blanche is still haunted by his death.
She is not taking a leave from her school due to her nerves, but she has been fired for having an affair with her student.
Blanche loves Stella and tries to get her sister to escape New Orleans.
Blanche is repulsed by Stanley, yet finds herself almost hypnotically attracted by his physical power.
thirty years old, was a high school English teacher in Laurel, Mississippi until recently forced to leave her position
emotional center of the play
calm, reasonable foil to Blanche’s frenetic hysteria
soothing, feminine voice that counteracts Stanley’s violence
no desire to return to her past
Stella’s pregnancy underscores her commitment to her Kowalski future, not her DuBois past.
she is drawn into the magnetic pull of his powerful physical presence
scene 9
scene 10
scene 11
Tennesse Williams
click to edit
symbol
the streetcar
varsouviana polka
bathing
paper lantern and paper moon
alcohol and drunkenness
shadows
Stanley
Blanche
his masculinity becomes exaggerated
he grows increasingly physical, violent and brutal
he makes a show of drinking swaggering and openly pouring himself shots
hides her alcoholism
constantly claiming that she rarely drinks while secretly sneaking frequent shots
she uses drinking as an escape mechanism
refers not only to a real streetcar line in New Orleans
also refers to the power of desire as the driving force behind the characters' action
So desire is a controlling force ; when it takes over, characters must submit to its power and they are carried along to the end of the line
to soothe Blanche's nerves
escape from the sweaty apartment
Blanche retreats to the water to attempt to cleanse herself and forget reality
temporary respite, she can never escape the past
full of raw strength, ferocity, violent masculinity and animal magnetism
genteel and mannered than Stanley
Mitch ultimately driven away when he learns of her sordid past
still a man with physical desires
plays when B is reminded of her husband in specific
plays when she is particularly disturbed by the past in general
continues until some event in the real world distracts her
continues until a gunshot goes off in her memory
engine propelling the play
much of B's conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire