A Streetcar Named Desire Analysis

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A Streetcar Named Desire was written by Tennessee Williams in 1947 and it is a play that takes place after the second World War in the South of the United States; New Orleans, Louisiana. The play ultimately explores on the conflict amongst Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski as they both have a connection to Stella Dubois. Blanche being her sister, and Stanley being her partner. This play is considered to be a tragedy. Twelfth Night was written by the World renowned William Shakespeare and it explores the story of siblings being separated after a tragic accident at sea. ‘Without character there can be no drama’ is the overall theme of this comparison as every character contributes to a story, causing drama to arise in one way or another. This piece will ultimately explore the similarities and differences between Viola from ‘Twelfth Night’ and Blanche from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Although Viola and Blanche come from two different books written by two different authors in different time periods, we can draw the conclusion that they both possess the theme of deception.

As previously explained in the first paragraph, a key theme that arises in both texts is ‘Deception’. Although deception is a noun, the verb of deception is ‘to deceive’ and the definition of deceive is “cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage.”. This is a very accurate way to describe both Viola and Blanche as they attempt to cause confusion amongst other characters about their personal characteristics. In ‘Twelfth Night’, Viola deceives the other characters into thinking that she is a man named Orsino, and she is convincing enough to do so. Viola was given the idea by the captain and she ends the ...

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...rself said “Deliberate cruelty is unforgivable, and the one thing of which I have never, ever been guilty of.’(Williams 93)She gets the better side of us and convinces us that she is different now, and that we should feel sympathetic towards her as she is driven into a state of mind that worries us as she has gone slightly mental.

Viola and Blanche both share characteristics that affect their function and importance to the play. In some ways their effects are similar, but in others they are slightly different. When analysing their effect on the plot, characters, and audience, we can see that a theme that arises from all three of those is deception. So from this we believe that Although Viola and Blanche come from two different books written by two different authors in different time periods, we can draw the conclusion that they both possess the theme of deception.

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