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Dramatic methods in a streetcar named desire
Dramatic methods in a streetcar named desire
Streetcar named desire analysis the image
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The play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is about an emotionally unstable lady named Blanche. She moves in with her youngest sister and her husband because the landlord took the land away from Blanche because they could not pay for it anymore. After being their for a while Blanche starts remembering her horrible past which is something she was trying to do in the first place. The husband of Stella, Stanley Kowalski was also someone that made Blanche’s life miserable for complicating everything and harassing her in every possible way. Death is one of the most symbolic terms in this play.
Examining Marriage in Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee William’s 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in Elysian Fields, New Orleans, and portrays the marital situation of this time. This play illustrates conflict over the marriage of Stella and Stanley. This marriage can be seen as strict, and controlling but also full of lust.
Strength, lack of emotion, aggression, and confidence are some of the traits society has assigned to men. The play A Streetcar Named Desire uses its lead character to support and portray these traits. The play takes place in the late 1940’s, a time when men and masculinity played a significant role in both households and society. Stanley Kowalski, the leading male, displays the timely masculine qualities while also showing what affect masculinity can have on those around him. Stanley is strong willed and very opinionated, allowing him to treat both men and women in a disrespectful way.
Blanche has the most power in Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Her manipulative ways place her high above Stanley or any other powerful character in the book, because each time another character uses force as a means of power, she seamlessly redirects the focus to something within her own powers. Blanche’s power revolves around sex, both the gender and the physical action. She uses her feminine role as a means to deceive others and to get what she desires. Sex is what Blanche wants to be seen as, and it is her way of controlling men around her.
In “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Tennessee Williams suggests that a woman's sexuality is defined and restricted by stereotypical gender roles. Throughout the play, both Blanche and Stella depend on their male companions for their sustenance, self-image, and sexual desires: “When he is away for a week I nearly go wild… And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby”. Adopting the typical housewife role, Stella proves to be fully reliant on her husband to such a strong extent to where she even jeopardizes her safety while being with him. When Blanche advises Stella that her life could be better without her physically abusive husband, Stella chooses to rely on a man instead of her sister, explaining that “there are a few things that happen
After having been performed at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in 1946, A Streetcar Named Desire brought about much controversy. At first it seemed that much of the controversy stemmed from the unpleasantness with which the subject was presented, such as the vulgar, unprecedented topics acted out on stage. George Jean Nathan, an original critic of the play, touched upon the vulgar manner of the drama, calling it “The Glands Menagerie.” (Bak, “Criticism on a Streetcar Named Desire”) Perhaps the more pressing reason as to why this play was received controversially, however, is a result of its cynical nature.
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.
Elia Kazan’s view on social class, the difference between poor and rich, is revealed in his 1951 greatest American film: A Streetcar Named Desire analyzes characteristics of lower and upper classes and how it affects the relationship between wealthy and underprivileged people. The use of the rich language in the play indicates the upper class versus the use of the street language that demonstrates uneducated people who work at the factories. While the rich people dress nicely and wear expensive accessories, the lower-class people wear dirty, ripped clothes that are made from cheap fabrics. Kazan uses repetitions, strands, and binaries to point out class and status issues in the film and to show “fame/shame” culture (Gandal 6). From the very first scene, where Blancher DuBois, a woman representing the upper class, appears, until the very last fragment of the movie, lower and upper classes are separated and unequaled.
A streetcar named desire was written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, in purpose to show the “declining of the upper class and the domination of the bourgeois middle class in the U.S.A. where the south agriculture class could not compete with the industrialization.” Blanche Dubois the protagonist of our story, a southern beauty that is trapped by the restrictive laws of her society. But she broke them, and eventually put herself in a state, where she had no job and no house. So she had to go to her sister, Stella and live with her and her sister’s husband, Stanley. While staying there, she created a façade for her to hide her flaws and kept acting as a lady, where she is anything but that.
The themes of violence and power in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ hold an important role in the criticism of 1940s American society. Conflicts perpetuated by violence and power, such as abusive relationships and violent oppression are projected through the characters within the play. Williams uses these conflicts to highlight his criticisms of faltering values and social norms, from the perspective of an individual constrained by the expectations of a strict, Southern society. To begin with, there is an indefinite violence between men and women within ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Stanley Kowalski, a focal character, is the epitome of male dominance and primitive aggression.
The Fight for Dominance In today’s society, gender norms convince men that unless they are able to control women, they are weak. Considered the inferior gender, women must find new ways to prove their own strength, whether it be through manipulation or their sexuality. The battle between the two continues as men strive to remain dominant, often by immoral means, and women attempt to gain the upper hand. In the screenplay, “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, the sexual tension and struggle for dominion between Blanche and Stanley is evident, and as the play continues, Blanche's promiscuity and Stanley's predatory nature foreshadow an inevitable confrontation.
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.
William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire presents a variety of perspectives on relationships, especially addressing the idea that bonds which aren’t bound by trust, loyalty and lust in an even balance will inevitably fail. Tennessee Williams uses the interaction between his characters, predominantly Blanche, Mitch, Stella and Stanley; to express a variety of ideas regarding relationships. These connections can be witnessed in scenes 2, 3, 6 and 11, through the use of stage directions, dialogue and expressionism to display different perspectives of character interaction. Trust acts as the foundation to any relationship, establishing a strong link between individuals and without it, the connection will eventually disintegrate.
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.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a very elegant film in which the Southern gothic culture is demonstrated profoundly. Tennessee Williams uses the characters in the play to bring about a sense of how corrupt society truly was in the 1940’s in the South. The 1940’s was marked by an immense amount of violence, alcoholism, and poverty. Women at the time were treated as objects rather than people. Throughout the play Tennessee Williams relates the aspects of Southern society to the characters in the play.
