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A streetcar named desire what are the desires
The theme of desire in a streetcar named desire
The theme of desire in a streetcar named desire
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In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, desire leads to Blanche Dubois’ tragic downfall. Blanche’s desires led to her initiating a relationship with a far younger student. Once the affair is exposed, Blanche is sent away from Laurel, which is why she ends up taking the “street-car named Desire” to Elysian Fields (Williams 5). Once there, Blanche compulsively tries to deceive people into thinking she is attractive, youthful, and pure by formulating lies about herself. However, Stanley catches on to her falsities and exposes Blanche’s true self. Her flaws are revealed and her atrophy ensues. Blanche’s inability to overcome her desire for her student causes her to take Desire, the street-car, to Elysian Fields, where most of Blanche’s austerity occurs, so in both senses of the word, desire leads to Blanche’s downfall, and, ultimately, her mental break. …show more content…
In order to feel worthy, Blanche must feel wanted, so she welcomes adoration of any kind. Thus, Blanche desperately grasps onto the fact that she “excited some admiration” in her youth (Williams 38). Consequently, Blanche seeks the companionship of younger men, possibly to hold onto her golden years of “admiration.” She seduces one of her students and initiates an affair with him. After being caught and sent away from Laurel, Blanche finds herself on a streetcar named Desire to her sister Stella’s home in Elysian Fields. Once in Elysian Fields, it is obvious Blanche has not learned her lesson. Even though she admits that she has “got to be good - and keep my hands off children,” she flirts with a young man by touching his shoulders, telling him “You make my mouth water… Come here. I want to kiss you, just once softly and sweetly on your mouth!” (Williams 96). She then kisses him without waiting for his approval, proving that Blanche succumbs to her
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses the suicide of Blanche's husband to illuminate Blanche's insecurities and immoral behavior. When something terrible happens to someone, it often reveals who he or she truly is. Blanche falls victim to this behavior, and she fails to face her demons. This displays how the play links a character’s illogical choices and their inner struggles.
Identity in Contemporary American Drama – Between Reality and Illusion Tennessee Williams was one of the most important playwrights in the American literature. He is famous for works such as “The Glass Menagerie” (1944), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)”. As John S. Bak claims: “Streetcar remains the most intriguing and the most frequently analyzed of Williams’ plays.” In the lines that follow I am going to analyze how the identity of Blanche DuBois, the female character of his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, is shaped. Firstly, we learn from an interview he gave, that the character of Blanche has been inspired from a member of his family.
The dawn of the twentieth century beheld changes in almost every aspect of the day-to-day lives of women, from the domestic domain to the public. By the midpoint of the twentieth century, women 's activities and concerns had been recognized by the society in previously male-dominating world. The end of the nineteenth century saw tremendous growth in the suffrage movement in England and the United States, with women struggling to attain political equality. However, this was not to last however, and by the fifties men had reassumed their more dominant role in society. Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire around the time this reversal was occurring in American society. In this play male dominance is clear. Women are represented as
When discussing the notion that “Love can often lead to the creation of an ‘Outsider’." there are cases in our literary examples that would agree with the statement, and some that would not. Outsiders in Much Ado About Nothing, Pride and Prejudice and A Streetcar Named Desire are created by both love and other themes, whether it be class, power, disinterest or a scandal.
In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' we focus on three main characters. One of these characters is a lady called Blanche. As the play progresses, we gradually get to know more about Blanche and the type of person she really is in contrast to the type of person that she would like everybody else to think she is. Using four main mediums, symbolism and imagery, Blanche's action when by herself, Blanche's past and her dialogue with others such as Mitch, Stanley and the paperboy, we can draw a number of conclusions about Blanche until the end of Scene Five. Using the fore mentioned mediums we can deter that Blanche is deceptive, egotistical and seductive.
During early times men were regarded as superior to women. In Tennessee William’s play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Stanley Kowalski, the work’s imposing antagonist, thrives on power. He embodies the traits found in a world of old fashioned ideals where men were meant to be dominant figures. This is evident in Stanley’s relationship with Stella, his behavior towards Blanche, and his attitude towards women in general. He enjoys judging women and playing with their feelings as well.
2. What causes Mitch and Blanche to take a "certain interest" in one another? That is, what is the source of their immediate attraction? What seems to draw them together? What signs are already present to suggest that their relationship is doomed/problematic?
Everyone has experienced a situation in life where it's like a rug has been pulled out from under them. Well, T. Williams’ novel A Streetcar Named Desire portrays a similar situation of three unconventional characters whose reality is not the American Dream that they are striving for. Blanche, Stella, and Stanley approach life hoping for different outcomes in their lives. But what is the American Dream they were striving for? Simply put, by looking at the principles of America, the primary dream for everyone is to have a well-lived life. For some people this includes a family, success, happiness, independence, money, and love. If these are T. Williams’ constructs of the American Dream, then Stella and Stanley Kowalski may never find their
Throughout Tennessee Williams’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end. Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it.
Mental instability refers to mental health conditions that affects mood, behavior, and thinking. There are many disorders that affect these parts of people, In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche suffers from borderline personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This is a direct result from not being able to cope with stress and emotional pain, she would much rather cover it up than to solve the problem. She develops these disorders as a direct result of psychological trauma she experienced when she was younger. She finally cracks at the end of the play due to tension piling up on her. Throughout her life she has suffered, and has developed defense mechanisms to combat the pain resulting from all her problems.
This statement also emphasises much of Blanche’s own views on sorrow and explains how it has affected her life since she has made the comment from personal experience. To conclude, Tennessee Williams’ dramatic use of death and dying is an overarching theme in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ from which everything about Blanche’s character has formed from. Without the death of Allan, Blanche would not have resorted to prostitution and the brief affairs with strangers, also the deaths of her family have driven Blanche to Stella’s where she is “not wanted” and “ashamed to be”. Therefore these dramatic deaths have lead to the past which comes back to haunt
In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses the elements of symbolism and imagery to create an eerie mood that allows the reader to convey a more descriptive picture of the scene and understand the characters thoroughly. The actions and music involved in the play represent a much more intense meaning and contain symbolism with the use of music, liquor, and light which help the reader to identify the personality and emotions each character is experiencing throughout the play. With the visiting of Stella’s sister, Blanche, Williams uses certain actions taken by Blanche and music to show how she is now haunted from the death of her husband. In the beginning of the novel, the symbolism Williams uses in the opening scene gives the reader more knowledge and foreshadows the actions of the character.
Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire expresses the depths of how far people can stretch the word love. Beginning in Chicago, one main character Blanche--a poised woman-- leaves behind her lost estate, Belle Reve, and makes her way to stay with her sister Stella and her “animal” of a husband Stanley. Married at age sixteen and becoming a widow shortly after, Blanche suffers from emotional trauma which later causes her to make irrational decisions. From the start Stanley senses something “off” about Blanche, which causes tension between the three characters. Williams beautifully conveys internal conflict, foreshadowing, and situational irony to create a story on how easy it is for a marriage to become corrupt when the influence of a third
Written in 1947, by playwright Tennessee Williams, the play A Streetcar Named Desire opens in the 1940s in the well-known city of New Orleans. Readers are presented with the young couple Stan and Stella Kowalski who live below another young couple, Eunice and Steve. While Stan and Stella manage to maintain a relationship, it is abusive. Stella reunites with her alcoholic sister Blanche, after learning that the family plantation had been lost due to bankruptcy. Blanche, a widow often finds herself in difficult and unforeseen circumstances. Blanche’s poor choices and vulnerability leads to an affair with Stan’s poker buddy Mitch. Coinciding with his abusive nature, Stanley rapes Blanche. No one believes her until the very end, causing her to get sent away to a mental institution. While the play and film were smashing, each had their similarities overall, in regards to setting, plot, and characters while differences concerned narrative technique.
In Tennessee Williams’, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche represents the Old South while Stella and her husband Stanley represent the New South. Throughout the play, we see how Blanche of the rich plantation in Mississippi Belle Reve is the complete opposite of Stella’s husband Stanley. Blanche representing the Old South, is used to her lavished lifestyle of living with money, she is legitimate and is constantly asking about her appearance. She shows off her wealth and is very serious about her manners. While Stanley is vulgar and judges women based off of their looks, using his own perception to decide how he should smile at the woman. Blanche’s last name is Dubois, her name shows specifically why she is grouped under or represents the Old South. The Old South, which was racist, Blanche’s name and appearance segregates her faint idea that whites are greater than blacks. Stanley has an “animalistic” attitude and he is disturbing to Blanche. The Old South and New South are very similar but they also contrast each other in many ways.