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A Streetcar Named Desire Essay

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Recommended: Themes in the play a streetcar named desire

A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams and first performed in 1947, is a powerful and enduring play that explores themes of desire, reality, and the human condition. The play centers around the character of Blanche DuBois, a former schoolteacher who comes to stay with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley in New Orleans. Blanche is a complex and troubled character who is struggling to come to terms with her past and present.

One of the major themes of the play is the contrast between Blanche's delicate, refined demeanor and Stanley's raw, animalistic nature. Blanche represents the old South, with its genteel manners and social hierarchies, while Stanley represents the new South, with its rough edges and working-class attitudes. The two …show more content…

Williams uses the metaphor of the streetcar named Desire to symbolize the characters' longing for something that they can never fully attain. Blanche is desperately searching for a connection to her past, and for a sense of self-worth, while Stanley is driven by a desire for control and power. The play explores the destructive nature of unfulfilled desire, and the ways in which it can lead to self-destruction.

The play also touches on the theme of reality versus illusion. Blanche is constantly trying to escape from reality and create a new world for herself, but her illusions are ultimately shattered by Stanley's brutal honesty. Williams uses symbolism and metaphor to show the characters' struggles with the truth, and the ways in which they try to avoid it.

Finally, A Streetcar Named Desire is a powerful exploration of the human condition. Williams explores the characters' deepest fears, desires, and insecurities, and shows how they are all ultimately connected. Through its powerful performances and evocative writing, the play continues to resonate with audiences today, making it one of the most enduring and important works of American

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Williams uses the expressionist technique “The ‘Varsouviana’ is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” to parallel Blanche’s inner mind and depicts Blanche’s deranged mental state after Stella’s betrayal. The imagery ‘Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes’ highlights her mental turbulence and the stage directions ‘mysterious voices behind walls, as if reverberated through a canyon of rock…the echo sounds in threatening whispers’ heightens tension, positioning the audience to witness the overwhelming fear and exaggeration of her senses, further emphasising the detrimental impact Stella’s decision made. The Streetcar Named Desire also examines the influence that a person’s social standing can have. Stanley’s statement in scene 2 ‘The Kowalskis and Dubois have different notions’ indicates their social upbringing has influenced the way they think, hence disrupting their connection and loyalty towards one another. The use of their family name is metonymic for their ancestry and social standing, addressing the barriers derived from a social hierarchy which have affected their relationship.

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The 1947 play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams tells the story of the sweet, polite, but willfully oblivious Blanche DuBois’ difficult relationship with her rough & tough brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. When Blanche loses the family plantation, she travels to the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, to visit and temporarily live with her sister, Stella. Blanche is in her thirties and, with no money, she has nowhere else to go. Problems arise between Stanley and Blanche when Blanche begins a series of lies and half-truths, and belittles Stanley, labeling him as “common” and “barbaric”. Things escalate between the two because of Stanley’s drunken rage taken out on Stella, but also because Stanley begins to become suspicious and aware of Blanche’s many lies and cover-ups.

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