From amateur theatre to professional broadway and in movies, A Streetcar Named Desire has been performed throughout all types of production. For several people, A Streetcar Name Desire will always be considered close to their hearts due to a single production in particular that struck them deeply. However, the image individuals visualize while reading the script version of a play can differ greatly in comparison to a live or filmed production. Thus, the following will be a personal interpretation of how Benedict Andrews’s 2014 production changed or portrayed the meaning of the original written script of Tennessee Williams 's A Streetcar Named Desire differently than perhaps how readers may have read the play. Within Benedict Andrews’s production, …show more content…
For A Streetcar Named Desire, that issue is Blanch. Immediately when Blanch arrives on set it is possible to see how different she looks in comparison to the other characters. Blanch, in comparison to Stella, is much older in appearance yet still has a similar if not thinner body figure. Blanch also appears as an older washed out version of the infamous Marilyn Monroe with her short blonde curly hair and old Hollywood style of clothing. By representing Blanch as this type of old Hollywood doll and lover Benedict Andrews has immediately set her up as being a heartbreaker and a lady who flirts too much with too many men. Blanch in a sense becomes the idol of lust and want just through her striking physical similarities to Marilyn Monroe. Thus for Benedict Andrews’s audience, it becomes more feasible to excuse Stanley of his deplorable actions towards Blanch. That is because Stanley, being an attractive American dreamboat, has done nothing more but act upon his masculine desires or aggression. Through the use of casting Benedict Andrews’s production creates the interpretation that Blanch, a harlot, deserved the troubles that Stanley, a hunk of a man, brought down upon her. All Blanch’s issues in this production can be tied to her visual appearance, from Mitch leaving Blanch to the rape. By casting people who are attractive to society and those who …show more content…
For example, Blanch is seen as wearing fancy, high-quality dresses that present her as a person of materialistic taste for the upper-class life. In Comparison Stella appears wearing common everyday clothing that does not appear to be brand new or of high value. Stella’s style of clothing presents her character as the common everyday girl who everyone knows. Stella, unlike Blanch, blends into the world of the play. Similar can be stated about Stanley and his clothing. Stanley appears numerous times in casual or work styled clothing that paints him as a working class man doing his part in society, again like Stella he blends into the world of the play. By having characters represent their social status through their clothing it is possible to see that Blanch appearing wealthier and robust with materialistic treasure is the upper class who clashes with the lower class members of the play. Thus creating a battle of the social classes where the upper class, Blanch, is the villain due to her ability to appear better off than the lower class, Stella, and Stanley. Benedict Andrews’s production through the means of costume design altered the way the audience views the characters as being either the antagonist or the
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.
Delicate Blanche, virile Stanley. Dynamic Maggie, impotent Brick. Williams' protagonists are distinctly different in temperament. In "A Streetcar Named Desire" Blanche exemplifies the stereotypical old south: educated, genteel, obsolete. Stanley is the new south: primitive, crude, ambitious. Blanche, a fading beauty, uses her sugary charm and soft southern ways to attract men. In comparison, Stanley "sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications" to "determine the way he smiles at them" (Williams, Street 29). Course and deliberately aggressive, he is a "survivor of the stone age" (Williams, Street 72). Despite their differences they both possess a raw sensuality. In their first confrontation, Blanche's thick display of charm angers and attracts Stanley. He wants her to be truthful and "lay her cards on the table" but simultaneously would "get ideas" about Blanche if she wasn't Stella's sister (Williams, Street 40-41). Their relationship overflows with sexual tension as they battle for Stella. Stanley, the new south, defeats Blanche, the old south. After destroying her chance for security, his sexual assault erases her last traces of sanity.
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.”
The writer, Tennesse Williams uses symbolism and imagery to help convey the idea that Blanche is deceptive, egotistical and seductive. We can clearly discover how deceptive Blanche is by the symbolism that Williams uses throughout the play. One can note how Blanche continually wears white dresses or a red kimono when she is being especially flirtatious, so that she makes people think that she is innocent and pure. In Scene Five Blanche's white dress, a symbol of purity is stained which is symbolic of the fact that Blanche if far from being pure. Blanche's world hinges on illusion and deception as can be seen when Blanche pours her heart out to Stella in scene five, "soft people... have got to be seductive... make a little - temporary magic". Blanche feels that she must trick and deceive in order to survive in a world where she is "fading now!" and her looks are leaving her. We are introduced to Blanche as a "delicate beauty" that "must avoid strong light". Williams, portrays Blanche as an uncertain character who hides behind the veneer of outer beauty and who when is placed under the spotlight, fails to live up to the person she would like people to think that she is. Williams also provides strong imagery of her as a moth, as she is dressed in white clothes and is fluttering. This imagery of Blanche as a moth is further emphasised when Blanche herself later states, "put on soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings and glow".
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.
The moment their eyes first meet, there seems to be an immediate attraction between Blanche and Mitch, causing them to take a “certain interest” in one another. After their first close encounter while the poker game is taking place, Blanche notices that Mitch is not like Stanley and the others. Telling Stella, “That one seems—superior to the others…I thought he had a sort of sensitive look” (Williams 52), Blanche takes interest in Mitch’s perceived sensitivity, and is immediately attracted
According to the play in the starting and ending, Kazan choose to emphasize his treatment towards the "A Streetcar Named Desire" on how the film version is black and white, which it shows how the director didn't display the "lurid" colors in the play. However, Kazan uses different lighting effects to achieve a different atmosphere in the play. Blanche is never shown in the direct spotlight, which is a signal to the main theme of the book of fantasy and delusion. Blanche does not allow others to discover her true age or her looks instead she is always in a partly darkened spot whenever she is in the play. In this case this would refer as foreshadow towards the end and while giving Stanley's an reaction on Blanche. Some of the more important
Superficial is the first impression that Blanche gives when she enters the play. Consumed by appearance and face value, she is unable to see that Stella’s new lifestyle is not as horrid as she imagines. In comparison to Belle Reve, it is true that these New Orleans slums may not meet Dubois standards, but Blanche is unable to see beyond the way things appear in order to realize that Stella’s world does not revolve around material items. This flaw is intertwined with her vanity and her need keep up appearances. On the surface, Blanche appears to be snobbish and conceited.
...think that the play is about desire between people and the different ways they can express it, which the title, A Streetcar Named Desire, informs us. Blanche came to town on a streetcar because she was ostracized in her old home as a result of her desires. Blanche had a desire for sex in general to cope with her divorce and the loss of her family; she just needed to feel loved. Stanley expressed his hidden desire for Blanche by being cruel to her through the whole story, and then having sex with her. Mitch showed his desire for Blanche by asking her to marry him. Stella had a desire for Stanley’s love and for Blanche’s well being. The play is a display of the drama involved in families, and it shows that sometimes people have to make decisions and choose one relationship over another. In Stella’s case, she chose her relationship with Stanley over her sister.
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.
but he also includes real-life public opinions from the past (some of which are contemporary.) These opinions were likely to raise controversies on issues such as prejudice, social gender expectations and men and women's roles in society. There have been numerous occasions when symbolism has taken place in A Streetcar Named 'Desire.' Firstly, Stanley is insulted several times by Blanche (his sister-in-law) Stella (his beloved wife) and other residents of the 'Quarter'.
Stanley (Stella's husband) represents a theme of realism in the play; he is shown as a primitive, masculine character that is irresistible to Stella and on some levels even to his "opponent" Stella's sister Blanche.
she was told "to take a streetcar named Desire, and then to transfer to one
The characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, most notably Blanche, demonstrates the quality of “being misplaced” and “being torn away from out chosen image of what and who we are” throughout the entirety of the play.
From the moment Stanley and Blanche met the contrast between the two characters was apparent, Stanley even points out ‘The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions’ (S2:pg.135*). Williams uses the dramatic device of colors to symbolize a distinction between Stanley and Blanche; Stanley wears vivid colors ‘roughly dressed in blue denim’(S1:pg.116*) representing his masculinity and authority he possesses in the Kowalski household, before Blanche arrived, in contrast to Blanche who ‘is daintily dressed in a white suit’ (S1:pg.117*) representing purity and femininity. Blanche wears white at the beginning of the play thinking she will be able to hide her impure behaviour but Stanley saw right her act and knew she would be a threat to his marriage with Stella. The reason being is that Blanche constantly criticizes Stanley making derogatory comments about him calling him a ‘common’ and ‘bestial’(S4:pg.163*) along with conde...