A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

746 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Relationship blanche and stella a streetcar named desire

It is the complexity of the main characters and their interactions that make A Streetcar Named Desire such a successful and challenging play.

The play A Streetcar Named Desire made playwright Tennessee William's name and has deservedly since had over half a century of success. This remarkable success can be credited to the intricate characters and their interactions with each other.
Sisters, Stella and Blanche have had an enjoyable upbringing on the family plantation, "Belle Reve". As the name suggests Stella and Blanche's time at "Belle Reve" was near perfect. Like all things perfect it had to come to an end. While Stella did the logical thing and left the 'beautiful dream' and married Stan, Blanche hung on to it unable to move on and face reality. Blanche comes to Stella in an unbalanced state of mind in need of her sister's aid. The impression is given that this isn't the first time Stella has been there to help Blanche through a time of trouble. As much as she needs her help and as much as she respects her, Blanche strongly disapproves of her sister's new life. Stella tolerates Blanche's continual criticism of her husband, home and friends very well. From this and many other incidents throughout the play we see what a tolerant and adaptable person Stella is.
Stan and Stella's relationship is far from ideal. Stan is a violent man. On occasions he hits Stella, but comes after her to satisfy his sexual needs. This is not to say that Stella is unhappy in her marriage to Stan. She has adapted to the way of life in "Elysian Fields" where it's accepted that women have arguments with their husbands and as a result are hit by them. Eunice and Steve have a similar relationship it is normal. Despite their violent relationship Stella relies on Stan as much as he does on her. Stella really does need Stan and the security he provides, especially with a baby on the way. Even if she weren't expecting a child Stella would have a lot of trouble leaving Stan. She admits to Blanche that, "I can hardly stand it when he is away for a night…and when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby".
From the moment Blanche first came to stay at Stella and Stan's home she posed a threat to Stan. He was used to being the only one Stella cared for, the one who ruled her.

Show More
Related

  • A Streetcar Named Desire Research Paper

    1119 Words  | 3 Pages

    Or, as Mary Ann Corrigan later puts it [as does Judith J. Thompson, 38], the Blanche-Stanley struggle is purely an external dramatization of what is going on inside Blanche’s head: “the external events of the play, while actually occurring, serve as a metaphor for Blanche’s internal conflict” [Corrigan, 392]. Critics who share Sharp’s and Corrigan’s views feel that Streetcar is essentially a psychological drama about Blanche’s internal struggle with herself.”

    Read More

  • Stanley Kowalski’s Violence in A Streetcar Named Desire

    2008 Words  | 5 Pages

    As Stanley continues torturing Blanche and draws Stella and Mitch away from her, Blanche’s sanity slowly dwindles. Even though she lied throughout the play, her dishonesty becomes more noticeable and irrational due to Stanley's torment about her horrible past. After dealing with the deaths of her whole family, she loses Belle Reve, the estate on which her and her sister grew up. This is too much for Blanche to handle causing her moral vision to be blurred by “her desperate need to be with someone, with ancestors for models who indulged in “epic fornications” with impunity, [Blanche] moves through the world filling the void in her life with lust” (Kataria 2). She also loses a young husband who killed himself after she found out he was gay when she caught him with another man. After that traumatic experience she needed “a cosy nook to squirm herself into because ...

    Read More

  • A Streetcar Named Desire Abusive Quotes

    803 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire is a overly dramatic play that concludes in a remarkable manner. The play takes off by introducing Stanley and Stella, a married couple whom live in New Orleans. They have a two-sided relationship, very loving but abusive. Then suddenly Blanche shows up, Stella’s sister, and informs Stella that their home in Belle Reve was lost. A few days later, Blanche meets and becomes attracted to Mitch, a friend of Stanley. Blanche sees Stanley as an abusive husband and contrasts him to Mitch. Blanche immediately begins to develop deep emotions for Mitch because he is very romantic and a gentleman. Blanche begins to talk to Stella because she does not want her sister to be abused.

    Read More

  • A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

    862 Words  | 2 Pages

    This got Stanley very angry and violent . For this reason he got up and began attacking Stella. Here is a passage from that scene: ' Men: Take it easy, Stanley, easy fellow,--Let's all--. Stella: You lay your hands on me and I'll—'(57) This just proves what I was saying about one of Stanley's moods. His violence and the fact that he looses control of his actions is one characteristic which I didn't particularly like at all about Stanley. Here's another passage in Scene 10 that really show's how mean Stanley really is. This scene depicts when Stanley gets into a fight with Blanche. The scene concludes on a sour note when Blanche breaks a bottle top on the table and try's to hurt Stanley . Stanley says: 'Oh! S...

    Read More

  • Blanche Dubois: Histrionic Personality Disorder

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    Blanche’s developmental history or character development points to her diagnosis. Blanche comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella after being fired from her job as a schoolteacher due to having an inappropriate affair with a teenage student. When she arrives to see her sister, she is consumed with insecurities regarding her appearance and is condescending to her sister’s humble lifestyle. Stella’s husband Stanley immediately has distrust and dislike for Blanche and treats her

    Read More

  • Character Conflict in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire

    572 Words  | 2 Pages

    Character Conflict in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a play wrought with intertwining conflicts between characters. A drama written in eleven scenes, the play takes place in New Orleans over a nine-month period. The atmosphere is noisy, with pianos playing in the distance from bars in town.

    Read More

  • Use of Symbols and Colors in Tennessee Williams' Street Car Named Desire

    989 Words  | 2 Pages

    Written in 1947, A Streetcar Named Desire has always been considered one of Tennessee William’s most successful plays. One way for this can be found is the way Williams makes major use of symbols and colours as a dramatic technique.

    Read More

  • Comparsion of Tennessee Williams´ A Streetcar Named Desire the Play or Movie

    1012 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tennessee Williams wrote a play named A Streetcar Named Desire which eventually became Pulitzer Prize winner for drama in 1948. This play was first staged on December 3rd 1947 in New York. A Streetcar Named Desire which was second play produced by Williams went on to become a huge success just like his first play named The Glass Menagerie. Streetcar helped Williams in cementing his position as one of the most proficient and respected playwrights existing in contemporary theater (Kolin 1993). For Tennessee Williams this play proved to be his first work which was translated and produced as a movie by Elia Kazan. Owing to high intensity emotional plot and subtle yet powerful acting by its lead cast ensured that the movie became a blockbuster.

    Read More

  • Blanche Dubois: A Tragic Hero

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    Her rendezvous just added to her problems and dirtied her reputation.... ... middle of paper ... ... Stanley was angry when Blanche told Stella that she did not like him, but he never gave her a chance. Stanley despised her from the beginning.

    Read More

  • Destiny in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

    849 Words  | 2 Pages

    Blanche grew up living on a plantation in Laurel, Mississippi which is why she considers herself a Southern Belle, despite the changing environment around her. Her life at Belle Reve does not fulfill the dreams that once encircled the wealthy plantation. Instead, Blanche finds herself assuming the responsibilities for the “epic fornications” of her families past lives, along with the financial debt that comes with owning the house. This isn’t the only thing Blanche has been left to take care of though. She is also left to simultaneously pay for the funerals of her relatives, and after being unable to reimburse her debts, Blanche eventually succumbed to the loss of her cherished land. In addition to the loss of Belle Reve, she is also impacted by the lifelong guilt coming from the fact that she made a cruel r...

    Read More

  • The Desires in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

    738 Words  | 2 Pages

    Stella represents an important part in this drama by providing a contrast to how life can change people when they go down different paths. In Contrast to her sister, Stella is bound to love. Although she fell in love with a primitive, common man, she most definitely loves him. Stella desires only to make Stanley happy and live a beautiful life together. She wants to find peace between her sister and her husband yet instead she finds conflict afflicting her on both sides. Blanche uses her dilutions and tries to sway Stella away from Stanley yet Stella takes all these slanders and belittles them. Stella does this because she loves Stanley and since she is pregnant with his baby.

    Read More

  • The Gender Struggle in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

    1937 Words  | 4 Pages

    After two world wars, the balance of power between the genders in America had completely shifted. Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a harsh, yet powerful play that exposes the reality of the gender struggle. Williams illustrates society’s changing attitudes towards masculinity and femininity through his eloquent use of dramatic devices such as characterization, dialogue, setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing.

    Read More

  • The Characters of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century. Most of his plays take us to the southern states and show a confused society. In his works he exposes the degeneration of human feelings and relationships. His heroes suffer from broken families and they do not find their place in the society. They tend to be lonely and afraid of much that surrounds them. Among the major themes of his plays are racism, sexism, homophobia and realistic settings filled with loneliness and pain.1 Tennessee Williams characters showed us extremes of human brutality and sexual behavior.2  One of his most popular dramas was written in 1947, and it is called A Streetcar Named Desire.

    Read More

  • Theme Of Tragedy In A Streetcar Named Desire

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    This gradual fall and loss of her sense of reality is truly tragic. Blanche is a person largely driven by the part of her that wants to be liked and be accepted. She cares greatly about how she is viewed and how she looks which is seen throughout the play. Even at the end when she’s living almost completely in the imaginations of her mind she asks Stella and Eunice how she looks before being taken away to an insane asylum. Tennessee Williams, the author of the play, uses all the conflict between Blanche and others, specifically Stanley, to show that fantasy is unable to overcome reality. Stanley and Blanche are both the epitomes of fantasy and reality. Stanley is a man focused on sexual drive, work, and fighting. He is exhibited as animalistic and strongly driven by his desires which is shown when he says, “Be comfortable. That's my motto up where I come from.” Stanley loves and searches after reality which is why he is so set on breaking down the facade he sees in Blanche. Blanche on the other hand is running from her reality and her past. Her fantasy of being high class and chaste is the exact opposite of her reality which is why she wants a life like that so badly. She wants marriage and stability, two things she was jealous of Stella having after arriving in New Orleans. Her fantasy she was building in her new life is shattered when Stanley is able to learn of her past and bring reality crashing down on her. Williams

    Read More

  • A Streetcar Named Desire: Sympathy for Blanche

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    The arts stir emotion in audiences. Whether it is hate or humor, compassion or confusion, passion or pity, an artist's goal is to construct a particular feeling in an individual. Tennessee Williams is no different. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the audience is confronted with a blend of many unique emotions, perhaps the strongest being sympathy. Blanch Dubois is presented as the sympathetic character in Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire as she battles mental anguish, depression, failure and disaster.

    Read More

More about A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

Open Document