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How Does Williams Use Diction In A Streetcar Named Desire

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This passage has been extracted from Act I Scene I of Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire. In this extraction, Blanche sees and interacts with her younger sister, Stella, for the first time in many years. Upon this reunification, Blanche is forced to take in the discrepancies between her fantasy expectation of what their reunion will be like and the reality of how her baby sister looks, acts, and lives. As Blanche dwells on how different the Dubois’ plantation Belle Reve is compared to Stella’s current social status and living conditions, Blanche’s unadulterated character is easily scrutinized. Williams utilizes diction and foreshadowing to depict the two sisters’ rather awkward reunion on the street of Elysian Fields. Throughout …show more content…

For instance, prior to Stella getting a single sentence into the conversation, Blanche commands that she “turn that over-light off [because she] won’t be looked at in this merciless glare” (Line 5-6). As the play progresses, Blanche’s opposition to lights foreshadows the audience’s eventual discovery of her ex-husband’s suicide. Subsequent to the revelation that Blanche’s ex-husband committed suicide partially due to her drastic statement that he disgusts her, the light in her life eternally died out. Additionally, her preference of dim lights plays into her utter insecurity and fear of her peers viewing her as anything less than perfect. Moreover, Blanche insists that Stella does not look at her “till [she’s] bathed and rested”, which ensures that Blanche is looking her best possible (Line 5). The supplementary fixation with being cleansed and freshly washed is significant, as it foreshadows Blanche’s overall desire to remain pure, despite her adulterated past. Unfortunately, no matter how many baths Blanche participates in, her surfeit of mistakes and wrongdoings will forever plague her and diminish the infinitesimal amount of sanity she has

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But don’t look at me..” and “Open your pretty mouth and talk while I look around for some liquor”. 6) Identify two examples of Blanche’s deception in this scene. What does this reveal about her character? One example is that Blanche try to seem alright

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In contrast, Blanche, besides conducting her conversation subtly and indirectly, also enjoys refinement such as “art, poetry, and music” (83). She shields the lamp with paper lanterns and sprays the house with perfume, both refinements intolerable to Stanley, who tears them down at the last

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It is what is haunting Blanche’s life, it is what has made her mentally unstable. Throughout the play, she has been hiding her past from people so she looks like

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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.

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Paper Lantern representing Manipulation- Blanche avoids bright lighting to avoid showing her wrinkles since he believes that she’s “past her prime”. As a result, she utilizes a paper lantern to shield the bright light in Stanley and Stella’s apartment. When she places the lantern over the light, she develops the illusion that she is young by hiding her wrinkles, making her feel like she 's more desirable. Alongside her wrinkles, Blanche is also using the light to symbolically hide her herself and her past.

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Of course, this seems innocent, except when she continues to make the claim that, “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action” (54). Blanche links together the light bulb with rudeness and vulgarity. She compares the two different things such as light, which is an indicator for innocence, and vulgar actions, which then she proves she has an extreme distaste for lighting. Presumably, Blanche believes her beauty is like the light, as she shows this when she frantically explains to Stella about how awful it was living back in Laurel, “I never was hard or sell-sufficient enough. When people are soft--soft people have got to shimmer and glow--they've got to put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings, and put a-- paper lantern over the light....

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There are several ways you could say Tennessee William uses the motifs of light and shadow throughout the play “A Streetcar Named Desire”. One of the most obvious is how both are used to convey the difference between reality and the fantasy world some characters seem trapped in. Reality is represented by light, under it nothing can be hidden. Whereas staying in the shadows allow one to hide parts of themselves they wish to keep secret and create a false sense of reality, a fantasy of who they want to be. Williams also uses light to develop the character of Blanche, who struggles with her past and aging body.

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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,

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“The Great Gatsby” and “A Streetcar Named Desire” both focus on the common theme of pursuing goals and living the American Dream. As well as leaving behind the past and “turn a new leaf”. The main characters in each story, Blanche and Gatsby, both have dreams of wealth and great living.

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