I. Vocabulary Effeminate- Adjective -(of a man) Having or showing characteristics regarded as typical of a woman; unmanly. (Pg 114) Repertoire- Noun - A stock of plays, dances, or pieces that a company or a performer knows or is prepared to perform. (Pg 130) Malarkey-
Hannah Syed March 8, 2017 Gemini English 101 Literary Analysis Essay Fading Beauty A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams, is a complex apologue of conflicted characters and themes. It is set during the 1940s in New Orleans, Louisiana. The characters including Stella, Stanley and Blanche struggle to cooperate and act as symbols of opposing class and power.
In life, what an individual believes will make them happy will affect their actions and decisions. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams explores the many ways individuals compromise their lives through the lies they tell themselves and the poor choices that go along with it. In this modern drama, main characters Stella and Blanche make mistakes that negatively affect their pursuit of happiness. One of the most influential voices we hear in our decision making is our own.
In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the main characters, Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, share a great dislike and distrust towards one another, ultimately becoming the basis for the story’s conflict. Their common contemption stems from their contrasting personalities and backgrounds, their incompatibility of being able to function under the same environment, and inability to adapt to the situations they find themselves in. Although Blanche detests Stanley and the manner in which he behaves in, she realises that he is a necessary part for Stella’s life in New Orleans, an environment that greatly differs from the southern aristocracy that Stella and Blanche once lived in. Blanche expresses this idea by stating, “Oh,
Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Williams, 1947) It is based in New Orleans a new cosmopolitan city which is poor but has raffish charm. The past is representing old south in America 1900’s and present is representing new America post world war 2 in 1940’s. Past and present are intertwined throughout the play in the characters Stanley, Blanche, Stella and mitch. Gender roles show that males are the dominant and rule the house which Stanley is prime example as he brings home food and we learn of one time when he got cross and he smashed the light bulbs.
Tennessee Williams is acclaimed for his ability to create multi faced characters such as Blanche Dubois in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire. She comes to New Orleans after losing everything including her job, money, and her family’s plantation Belle Reve, to live with her sister Stella. During her time there she causes many conflicts with Stella’s husband Stanley and tries to get involved with the people there, all while judging them for their place in society, although she is imperfect too. Through her, Williams has created a complex character. She is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her own fantasies throughout the entirety of the play.
The Role of Fantasy and Purpose in Individuals “I don’t want realism, I want magic”- Blanche DuBois (Williams 145). In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams presents readers with the acute presence of fantasy in individuals’ lives. Every character fabricates fantasies in his life to gloss over his struggles and forget each other 's flaws. A Streetcar Named Desire evaluates individual’s use of fantasy as a crutch to avoid the hard truths and give purpose to an empty life. Blanche DuBois, the protagonist of the story, uses fantasy to cope with her world crumbling around her.
Theme Essay As time goes on, it’s said that people will grow more mature, but there are situations in where this is not true. Sometimes people who are immature and very cruel know how to have double faces and seem mature. An example of a character like this is Blanche from the book “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. This play is taken in the 1940’s in New Orlean.
Discuss in detail Williams’ dramatic portrayal of desire and its significance within the play, paying particular attention to the end of scene 1 (“I, I, I” to [Her head falls on her arms]) In the extract, newly-introduced Blanche estranges Stella by accusing her of, through confessing, losing “Belle Reve”, then a hyper-sexual introduction of Blanche’s parallel: Stanley, follows. Desire is used as a dramatic tool in this scene, by having it emphasise and bring about tension between Stanley and Blanche through appearances, actions and classifications, as well as showing the entwining between desire and death. The desire between the two is prominent in this scene, emphasised by Stanley’s introduction implicating him as an archetype of primal
Before the war, society was one which valued aristocracy and high morals, however, the war brought much reform. Now, these values and morals were not as important as they once were. Williams was against the conservative way of life because he did not agree with its beliefs and practices, and instead wanted to live an alternative lifestyle. Because of this, he wrote, “A Streetcar Named Desire,” to show how the old society was dead and a new one was emerging which brought new views towards once disgraceful ways of life. He does this through the use of characters, places, and music embedded in stage directions.
A Streetcar Named Desire Literary Analysis The late 1940’s were characterized by the emergence out of World War II that led to a dependence on the idea of The American Dream, which meant men were working harder to achieve a more comforting lifestyle and opportunity while women were still fighting the oppression of caused by unequal representation. This idealistic dream is illustrated throughout Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”, which has a rigid dichotomy between illusion and reality revealed throughout multiple characters and their dysfunctional lives that are a direct result between fantasy and actuality. Illusion is taken advantage of as an alternative to the unfair circumstances that the characters in “A Streetcar Named
Aspiration can make you break a human soul. In the play “ A Streetcar name Desire “, it is a form that Blanche’s aspiration has broken her in the beginning of the play. Her mental breakdown was bound to happen toward the end of the play due to the previous behavior as well as the behavior of the other characters toward her, “ A Streetcar name Desire ” features a graduated descent into madness brought about my loss depression, financial, ruin, and the cruelty of others at first this so called madness is just an attempt. When the play begins, it talks about Blanche is already a person struggling with her life. Blanche’s family money and home are gone, her husband did suicide years earlier, and she is a big fan of having sex ( “ I don’t want
A Streetcar named Desire written by American playwright Tennessee Williams is a Marxist play that depicts the socio economic status of the characters and people living during that time. The play was written in 1947, two years after the second world war. The historical time leading up to the Second World War known as the Interwar period from 1918-1939 was an era classified with economical difficulties for a majority of American citizens. After the new economic system based upon capital emerged succeeding the Industrial Revolution, the United States saw a massive prosperity in the early twentieth century only to be demolished by the stock market crash of 1929 also known as Black Tuesday (source). These unsuccessful stock markets were one of the signs that showed that the new system, which depended on an extensive labor force and an open and unregulated market, was not as reliable as previously thought, this period was known as the Depression.
Blanche and Stella grew up on a plantation called Belle Reve, representing the Old South. The Old South had a sense of romanticism, focusing mainly on appearances. Blanche is a genuine Southern Belle. Throughout the play, Blanche makes it a point to look her best at all times. Stanley exasperatedly says, “What’s this here?
The works A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka depict characters struggling against expectations and societal norms, with Blanche and Gregor as symbols of isolation and social oppression. Through a comparative analysis of their gender roles, literary techniques, and themes, it becomes clear that both works use their respective literary lenses of Feminist, Psychoanalytic, and Marxist theories to expose the damaging effects of norms and societal pressures on individuals, ultimately emphasizing the need for freedom and self-realization from oppressive systems. One of the most notable differences between the original text of A Streetcar Named Desire and the 1951 film adaptation is how the setting
