The Analysis Of The Play "A Streetcar Named Desire" By Tennessee Williams

Biographical Information about the Author

Tennessee Williams was born in 1911 on March 26th in Columbus, Mississippi. He went to the University of Missouri for journalism. He wrote the play A Streetcar Named Desire right out of college in New Orleans where he lived. As a child Williams was a middle child who was raised by his mother, which lead to an unstable relationship with his father. Genre and Characteristics of the Genre: Southern Gothic, magical realism is shown throughout scenes in which Blanche imagines shadows on the wall, the creepy polka music that is played in her head, and the echoing voices.

Historical Information about the Period of Publication

A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in New Orleans during the 1940’s. It was also in the setting of the French Quarter and the play demonstrates the post-war tensions between men and women. BRIEF Plot Summary: In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche had lost her teaching position which caused her to move in with Stella, her sister. Stella's husband doesn’t like Blanche which caused them to fight a lot and later on it led to Stanley raping her. Soon after she starts to have a nervous breakdown. Emotion’s between Blanche and Stanley quickly escalate and during this time Stella is pregnant. She starts to spill her emotions with her sister in the beginning of the play, she's blinded by Stanley's sexuality and takes his side. At the climax of the play,. Blanche has a breakdown and is taken to a mental institution in the final scene.

Description of Author’s Style

Tennessee Williams uses several theatrical techniques which makes it hard to distinguish between reality and fantasy. Sample Passage that shows Author’s Style (include page # of where passage was found): “I don’t want realism, I want magic! [..] Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!”

Close Reading of the Passage

Major Characters (including a description of the character): Blanche Dubois: She was married to a young man named Allan, who committed suicide when she was very young. She isn’t a very truthful person. She is also Stella’s sister. Stanley Kowalski: He is Stella's husband. He works in a factory and Stella loves him very much, but he has trouble with anger issues. Stella Kowalski: She is married to stanley and is Blanche’s sister. She and Stanley fell in love when she moved to New Orleans from Mississippi and is pregnant during the course of the play. Harold Mitchell: He is one of Stanley's friends from the factory and starts a romance with Blanche, but soon after breaks up with her after discovering her past. He also lives with his mother who isn’t doing too well.

Minor Characters (including a description of the character)

Eunice Hubbell: Eunice is the upstairs neighbor in the Elysian Fields house. She is married to Steve and they have a toxic relationship. She helps Stella when she leaves Stanley after the poker night fight and also helps Stella when Blanche is eventually in the mental institution. Steve Hubbell: He is Eunice's husband and a lot of fighting goes on between them He is also Stanley's poker buddie who is present during the first big game and the final scene. Negro Woman: She lives in the same Elysian Fields area as Stanley and Stella and meets Blanche in the beginning of the play when she arrives looking for her sister. Mexican Woman: She enters the play at specific times, forcing Blanche to remember her dead family. Pablo Gonzales: He is one of Stanley's poker buddies. Nurse/Matron: The Nurse arrives in the last scene to take Blanche away to a mental institution. She is very strict and harsh. Doctor: The Doctor also arrives in the last scene to take Blanche away to a mental institution.

Setting (place and time)

New Orleans, 1940’s Significance of the Opening Scene (why did the book start here?): Significance of the Closing Scene (why did the book end here?): The ending scene is to show irony and how it’s cruel and tragic. Blanche, one of the characters gets shipped off to a mental institution because she can’t deal with reality and retreats into illusion, but at the same time Stella, another character is doing the same thing by ignoring her sister’s story about Stanley.

Major Symbols/Images/Motifs and what they Represent

Tennessee Williams used light and dark as symbols of reality and illusion, a theme throughout the play, which Blanche struggles with. Upon Blanche’s first arrival to visit her sister, Stella gives Blanche a compliment on her looks and Blanche exclaims, “God love you for a liar! Daylight never exposed so total a ruin”. She says this because she would rather be lied to about her looks than hear the truth that she may not look her best. Related Works for Discussion: Importance of Being Earnest, because they both have to do with escaping reality.