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Similarities of a streetcar named desire and the great gadsby
Key themes in streetcar named desire
Key themes in streetcar named desire
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The portrayal of individuals in the grip of dreams and illusions is a major theme in both 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and 'The Great Gatsby'. While the texts explore the nature of dreams and illusions predominately through the characters of Blanche in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Gatsby in 'The Great Gatsby', in a more metaphorical interpretation this reading can be extended to include many of the other characters appearing in the texts of Tennessee Williams and F. Scott Fitzgerald, notably Stella and Stanley in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' and Tom and Daisy in 'The Great Gatsby'. Furthermore, the embodiment of dreams and illusions appears in many different symbols throughout the texts, from the 'paper lantern' in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' …show more content…
Any spiritual aspect of the American Dream has been 'lost, almost immediately, overpowered by greed and a lust for money and possessions' the 'wonderland has been turned into a wasteland'. Fitzgerald offers the reader a physical representation of this wasteland in the 'valley of ashes'. The vibrant, vivid colours of life in New York have been replaced with the repetitive 'grey' that 'veil[s] everything in the vicinity'. Where 'the only thing that grows is death' as the 'ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens' and, void of any true spirituality, 'Dr T. J. Eckleburg' looms over the scene like a quasi-God, cementing the worship of materialism. In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' the American Dream is again displayed as a corrupting influence. Blanche represents the Old South, her name being redolent of her aristocratic background and is therefore in contrast to Stanley Kowalski, a Polish immigrant, who represents the new generation of Americans who come from poverty and are able to make something of themselves in the land of opportunity, like Gatsby. 'A Streetcar Named Desire' 'stages the death of an older America order'embodying the cultural and social changes happening in America at the time. Blanche has followed 'desire' which has led her to Stanley and Stella's apartment, a place 'where [she is] ashamed to be', yet the American Dream highlights desire as something to be pursued and coveted. In this way, Blanche is an innocent figure that has been corrupted by the materialistic American society, which has caused her to value herself by her looks and possessions. She tells Stella 'It isn't enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And I - I'm fading now!'. Without her looks Blanche has nothing to offer in the new America that is 'fuelled
All stories have the same blueprint structure with the same type of ending whether it be good triumphs over evil, rags to riches, the voyage and the return, tragedy, or rebirth. The thing that sets these stories apart is the message they intend to in our minds. “ The power of a story to shift and show itself to anew is part of what attracts people to it, at different ages, in different moods, with different concerns” (Auxier 7). These messages are given by the characters in the story that all have their own reasoning but in the end have one meaning behind it. Some messages give specified personal messages rather than a broad stated such as the stories The Wizard of Oz and The Great Gatsby. Blinded by the ignorance of desires, the characters
Comparing A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof In the game of life, a man is given the option to bluff, raise, or fold. He is dealt a hand created by the consequences of his choices or by outside forces beyond his control. It is a never ending cycle: choices made create more choices. Using diverse, complex characters simmering with passion and often a contradiction within themselves, Tennessee Williams examines the link between past and present created by man's choices in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. "
In the novel The Great Gatsby and the play A Streetcar Named Desire the main characters James Gatsby and Blanche Dubois have a lengthy search for love. Both characters go about their search in similar and different ways. The characters choose illusion over reality, but the way in which they go about it differs. Also in an attempt to impress, both characters try and “buy” love by using material possessions to attract people to them. Although Gatsby and Blanche devote a lot of their lives to finding true love, their searching leaves them unsuccessful.
“Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” (T.S. Eliot) By constructing a comparative discussion, say to what extent you consider this to be useful in understanding The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire.
Desire shapes characters by blinding them to their real goals and the real truth and replacing them with false approximations of the truth and of their dreams. For Stella and Myrtle, desire blinds them to the violence of Stanley and Tom and replaces the truth with a false one of a perfect relationship. Desire causes Blanche to go insane by forcing her from one hopeless relationship to the next. In Gatsby, desire blinds him to his illegal actions and replaces his goal of a better life with Daisy. The Great Gatsby and “A Streetcar Named Desire” illustrate how desire can be ambiguous; desire can provide a dream that can bring great wealth, or it can blind, replace, and destroy.
A Streetcar Named Desire and The Great Gatsby are two of the most renowned pieces of American literature arising from the twentieth century. Written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, chronicles the life of Blanche Dubois, a confused and conflicted Southern belle fumbling through a life of misfortune and into a troubling relationship with her aggressive brother-in law. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, follows mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby’s passionately obsessive pursuit of rekindling his love with the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, as told by his neighbour and friend Nick Carraway. Although the two protagonists appear to bear no resemblance
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, display the customs and beliefs of past society. Both novels project the idea of wealth and high-class but also accentuate the search for love. Fitzgerald emphasizes the harm in devoting one’s life to achieving wealth for the one he loves, as Gatsby believes in order to win over Daisy he must acquire a great deal of money. Austen displays the importance of love over looks and money. She details the happiness Elizabeth is able to receive once she marries the guy who has similar wit and sarcasm. Although the novels were written a century apart, Pride and Prejudice and The Great Gatsby encompass similar ideologies, along with people and beliefs, of the time.
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 Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois symbolizes the failure of the grandiose American Dream.
One of the first major themes of this book is the constant battle between fantasy and reality. Blanche explains to Mitch that she fibs because she refuses to accept the hand fate has dealt her. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make life appear as it should be rather than as it is. Stanley, a practical man firmly grounded in the physical world, disdains Blanche’s fabrications and does everything he can to unravel them. The relationship between Blanche and Stanley is a struggle between appearances and reality. It propels the play’s plot and creates an overarching tension. Ultimately, Blanche’s attempts to rejuvenate her life and to save Stella from a life with Stanley fail. One of the main ways the author dramatizes fantasy’s inability to overcome reality is through an explorati...
Our lives are consumed by the past. The past of what we once did, what we once accomplished, and what we once could call our own. As we look back on these past memories we seldom realize the impact these events have on our present lives. The loss of a past love mars are future relationships, the loss of our family influences the choices we make today, and the loss of our dignity can confuse the life we live in the present. These losses or deaths require healing from which you need to recover. The effects of not healing can cause devastation as apparent in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. The theme of A Streetcar Named Desire is death. We encounter this idea first with the death of Blanche and Stella's relationship as sisters. Blanche and Stella had a life together once in Bel Reve and when Stella decided to move on in her life and leave, Blanche never could forgive her. This apparent in the scene when Blanche first arrives in New Orleans and meets Stella at the bowling alley. Stella and Blanche sit down for a drink and we immediately see Blanche's animosity towards Stella. Blanche blames Stella for abandoning her at Bel Reve, leaving Blanche to handle the division of the estate after their parents die. As result of Stella's lack of support, we see Blanche become dependent on alcohol and lose her mental state. Blanche comes to be a a terrible reck through out the play as we learn of the details of her life at Bel Reve. Her loss of the entire estate and her struggle to get through an affair with a seventeen year old student. This baggage that Blanche carries on her shoulders nips at Stella through out eventually causing the demise of her relationship. As Blanche's visit goes on with Stella, the nips become too great and with the help of Stanley, Stella has Blanche committed to a mental hospital, thus symbolizing the death of the realtionship they once had. The next death we encounter in the film is the death of Stella and Stanley's marriage. Our first view of Stanley is of an eccentric man, but decent husband who cares deeply for his wife. However, as as Blanche's visit wears on, we come to see the true Stanley, violent and abusive.
In the play, “Antigone” by Sophocles, and the play, A Streetcar Named Desire”, by Tennessee Williams, there is a direct connection between these two playwrights which can be recognized by an analytical reader. These playwrights are connected through the words of the characters they placed in their plays. Each of the characters had a specific role in conveying the theme of their plays. Another point which helps illustrate the connection between the two playwrights Sophocles and Tennessee Williams is that the ideas they present in their play are similar to each other.
Both William Shakespeare 's Othello and Tennessee William 's A Streetcar Named Desire are both theatre productions. Othello was written in 1603 and contains themes of betrayal and loyalty, whilst Streetcar was written in 1947 and both contain themes of social standing. Streetcar was intended to be received by an educated adult audience, whereas Othello was intended to be watched by a mixture of educated and uneducated adults. Both pieces possess a serious narrative tone, and were intended to entertain an audience whilst presenting the author 's themes and ideas.
The first principle character in this play is Blanche DuBois. She is a neurotic nymphomaniac that is on her way to meet her younger sister Stella in the Elysian Fields. Blanche takes two 2 streetcars, one named Desire, the other Cemeteries to get to her little sisters dwelling. Blanche, Stella and Stanley all desire something in this drama. Blanche desired a world without pain, without suffering, in order to stop the mental distress that she had already obtained. She desires a fairy tale story about a rich man coming and sweeping her off her feet and they ride away on a beautiful oceanic voyage. The most interesting part of Blanche is that through her unstable thinking she has come to believe the things she imagines. Her flashy sense of style and imagination hide the truly tragic story about her past. Blanche lost Belle Reve but, moreover, she lost the ones she loved in the battle. The horror lied not only in the many funerals but also in the silence and the constant mourning after. One cant imagine how it must feel to lose the ones they love and hold dear but to stay afterwards and mourn the loss of the many is unbearable. Blanche has had a streak of horrible luck. Her husband killing himself after she exposed her knowledge about his homosexuality, her advances on young men that led to her exile and finally her alcoholism that drew her life to pieces contemplated this sorrow that we could not help but feel for Blanche throughout the drama. Blanche’s desire to escape from this situation is fulfilled when she is taken away to the insane asylum. There she will have peace when in the real world she only faced pain.
Blanche uses her fantasies as a shield; and her desires as her motivation to survive. Her fading beauty being her only asset and chance of finding stability. Stella’s relationship with Stanley also emphasis the theme Williams created in this book. They’re only bond is physical desire and nothing at all intellectual or deep rooted. Tennessee Williams exemplifies that their relationship which only springs from desire doesn’t make it any weaker. He also creates a social dichotomy of the relationship between death and desire.