Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire is a pessimistic work that is the “culmination of a view of life in which evil, or at least undiminished insensitivity, conquers throughout no matter what the protagonistic forces do”(Szeliski 69). In other words, sensitive individuals all meet a similar fate-crushed under the heels of those who lack sensitivity.
This play is about Blanche DuBois; therefore, the main themes of the drama concern her directly. In Blanche is seen the tragedy of an individual caught between two worlds-the past world of the Southern gentlewoman and the present world of crudeness and decay-unwilling to let go of the past and unable, because of her character, to come to any sort of terms with the present (Falk 94). The final result is her destruction. This process began long before her clash with Stanley Kowalski. It started with the death of her young husband, a weak and perverted boy who committed suicide when she taunted him with her disgust at the discovery of his perversion. In retrospect, she knows that he was the only man she had ever loved, and from this early catastrophe evolved her promiscuity. She is lonely and frightened, and she attempts to fight this condition with sex. Desire fills the emptiness when there is no love and desire blocks the inexorable movement of death, which has already wasted and decayed Blanche's ancestral home Belle Reve.
For Blanche, Belle Reve was the remaining symbol of a life and tradition that she knows in her heart have vanished, yet to which she clings with a desperate tenacity. In doing so, she is “both an individual and a representative of her society, an emblem of a lost tradition” (Krutch 39). She is dated. Her speech, manners and habi...
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Adler, Thomas. A Streetcar Named Desire: The Moth and the Lantern. New York: Twayne, 1990.
Baym, Nina et al, eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 1995.
Falk, Signi. Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire. “The Southern Gentlewoman”. Ed. Jordan Y. Miller. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
Krutch, Joseph Wood. Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire. “Review of Streetcar Named Desire”. Ed. Jordan Y. Miller. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
Szeliski, John T. von. Twentieth Century Interpretations of A Streetcar Named Desire. “Tennessee Williams and the Tragedy of Sensitivity”. Ed. Jordan Y. Miller. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1971.
Williams, Tennessee. The Theater of Tennessee Williams. “A Streetcar Named Desire”. New York: Laughlin, 1971.
In Stephen Chapman’s essay, “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”, he questions whether the Western world’s idea of punishment for criminals is as humane as its citizens would like to believe or would Westerners be better off adopting the Eastern Islamic laws for crime and punishment. The author believes that the current prison systems in the Western world are not working for many reasons and introduces the idea of following the Koranic laws. Chapman’s “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” is persuasive because of his supporting evidence on the negative inhumane impact from the Western form of criminal punishment and his strong influential testament to the actions used by Eastern Islamic societies for crimes committed.
Williams, Tennessee. "A Streetcar Named Desire." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. 2337-2398.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
... reconsider the position when we have cases of patients who developed Aids and the treatment is so severe that their lives become unbearable. Those patients should not be forced to take treatments that will end their lives in the worst way. Death is seen sooner or later, it should be respected if the patient prefers death as opposed to suffering. Suffering without any mean to stop it, is such cruel act humans can imposed on one another. God sent us to learn and live the life he showed us, but also he demonstrates compassion and forgiveness during these times.
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.
*Quotes from the play: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar named Desire and Other Plays, Penguin Twentieth-Century, ISBN 0-14-018385-X
What is euthanasia? The word euthanasia comes from Greek words. “eu” means good and “thanatos” means death. When these two words are put together, it means “good death”. However, in the dictionary, the meaning of euthanasia is “the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of a hopelessly sick or injured individual in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy”. Although this definition is meant to indicate euthanasia, it may give people a negative idea about euthanasia. Most people who choose to have euthanasia are patients with incurable or painful diseases such as cancer or Hepatitis B. These people go through a lot of pain every day; so don’t they have the right to choose death over going through a life of both physical and mental suffering? Euthanasia gives people with diseases like such, to have a good death without going through the suffering and pain. Yet, euthanasia is only legal in four countries and 3 out of 50 of the states in America. Many
At some point, everyone has financial problems or times when they need cash quickly to cover an emergency home repair or to fix their vehicle when it breaks down. However, for many people, it can be difficult to get a loan because they have less than perfect credit. Fortunately, if you have someone willing to sign a loan form for you, you may be able to be approved for a guarantor loan.
Trust is a very delicate emotion. You can have it one moment and then loose it forever in the next. Nowhere in the human experience is this more evident than in the relationship between the professional salesperson and his/her customer. Many salespeople go to great lengths to build a strong and lasting relationship with their customers. Others lie, cheat, and steal their way to the top only to inevitably fall off of the high pedestal they have placed themselves upon, making it just that much harder for the next sales professional to do his/her job.
Students may not sit down or have excessive conversations during class. unless instructed to do so by their instructor.
Euthanasia, otherwise known as mercy killing or good death, is used to help end the suffering of a patient in an irreversible state of health, like severe cases of Lou Gehrig’s disease or severe burn victims. Many believe that it is immoral to go against natural survival instincts, while others wish to legalize it to help end the pain of those suffering. The main argument over euthanasia is whether or not it should even be allowed to exist within the medical and legal worlds. Euthanasia has caused many controversies and lawsuits that will continue until euthanasia is fully denied or accepted by society.