A Streetcar Named Desire
Context
Characters ❤
Blanche 🦋
Stellaaah 💥
Allan Grey 💀
Stanley ⚠
Linking William's personal life to Streetcar
New Orleans
Mitch 🚫
Williams was a homosexual, alike to Blanche's husband Allan Grey.
William's suffered from depression and resorted to heavy drinking, like Blanche
A city in Louisiana, southern state of the USA.
Known as a place with lots of music, particularly jazz and gambling (shown by the poker games Stanley plays and the whole structure of Streetcar, being like one big poker game).
Blanche’s refined tastes, including her dislike of vulgarity, reflect the values of the old South.
Wealthy Southern families, likely to have adhered to slavery, losing their money was highly romanticised in forms of literature and cinema. Blanche's family would have probably been built on slavery.
From the beginning of the play, Blanche has already gone through desire and has lost her estate along with her family fortune and her job.
She is an aging Southern Belle, who is trapped in the past - Old South rather than adapting and accepting reality - New South
Blanch depends on male sexual admiration to boost her self-esteem - hence why she keeps up a front when she enters New Orleans.
Williams identifies with Blanche in the sense that she represents everything beautiful and delicate about society - Literature, fantasy and the arts. Her delicacy is shown by the moth 🦋 motif - she wears very airy light weight clothing and flutters about carelessly saying senseless things.
Stanley is the antagonist for modern readers and a potential hero for 1940s audience
Represents the New South with his animalistic physical vigor in his love for work, fighting and of sex.
America
He is however from a Polish descent, and demonstrates an insecurity regarding being called 'Polack' instead of American.
The USA prided itself on opening its arms to immigrants from all over the world, including Poland, but Blanche still calls Stanley a ‘Polack’. 🇦🇹
Stanley feels he is an all-american shown by the fact he he thinks America is 'the greatest country on earth'.
He believes that the defunct social hierarchy Blanche still believes in has disappeared - which he is correct.
He is a down-to-earth character, almost ape like. He lacks ideals and imagination unlike Blanche and represents the future of America.
Old south vs New south
The Old South reveals values of aristocracy and romantic ideals. Aristocrats are people of noble birth and hereditary titles, people of high class. Prior to the American civil war, the south was an agricultural, slavery-reliant economy/society. AKA Antebellum South. Blanche represents the Old Southern values, as this was a place filled with southern belles such as herself and old American idyllic ways which she still holds onto.
The New South is all about 'survival of the fittest' instead of inheritance of money and power. Stanley represents the new south with his economic pragmatism and as an American with polish ancestry he represents the new values of America.
His brutish and degenerate behaviour, first seen when he beats his wife and is clearly shown when he rapes his sister-in-law
The play ends with him having no remorse for his actions and depicting a family man, opening the blouse of his wife whilst she holds their baby
This representation is wrong, if we consider the rape of Blanche, therefore ironically calls in to question society's decision in to ostracize Blanche.
Williams favours the ideals of the Old South, but knows that the future is Stanley's generation - New South.
Williams uses this play to help question society's choice in heading into a animalistic future and disregarding the beauty of the arts.
A foil for Stanley - Mitch is clumsy, shy at times. This contrasts to Stanley who is loud, dominant and vulgar.
Blanche loves fantasy and magic, she doesn't like realism. This is shown due to how Blanche tries to hide in the darkness, avoids the light by having a paper lantern which symbolises her insecurities and helps darken the room, so she doesn't feel as 'exposed'. Blanche doesn't like the light 💡 because it exposes those insecurities and the realism of the world, which she doesn't want to accept.
Blanche is like a moth in that she is frail in appearance and makes senseless nervous gestures.
Stella, Blanche's sister, has a very different background to her hsuband Stanley. She is passioante for Stanley and alike to Blanche, has a strong sexuality.
Themes
Conflict - male vs female 👫 -
Light 💡 - Blnache hates the lights, it exposes her and realism. 'I can't stand a naked light bulb'
Desire and fate ❤ - Stanley and Stella's relationship is built on desire, list for one another. Stanley reminisces about how he used to 'get the coloured lights going'. His desire for Stella is interrupted by Blanche being there, provoking a desire to get rid of Blanche -'wasn't it all okay till she showed here?'
Blanche's streetcar at the beginning is literally called Desire...
Blanche had a sexual reputation
Blanche's desire for romantic idyllic life
Insanity ⁉ - Blanche's dislike for realism, wanting to live ina fantasy world.
Death ☠ - Blanche changes from a Street car named Desire to one called Cemeteries. The image of death is shown right from the beginning, meaning it is inescapable for Blanche.
Death of Allan Grey
Death of Belle Reve and Old South - This is all shows that her old life is decaying/dying and she must move on.
Leaves Blanche for Stanley - unforgivable situation for modern readers but understandable as Stella's only security in life is her financial state with Stanley and home
Soft spot for his mother, therefore for Blanche he is also gentleman like the Southern gentleman that she would've liked - Shep Huntleigh and Allan Grey
His death was the turning point for Blanche, she wanted to be loved and desired by men
she needs the admiration from men to feel some self-worth.