A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams, one of the most provocative and widely respected playwrights in the modern theater, was born on Columbus, Mississippi, but moved at an early age to St. Louis, where he began writing during his school days. He moved to Memphis, then went to the University of Iowa, from which he graduated in 1938. The Glass Menagerie brought Tennessee Williams the N.Y. Drama Critics' Circle Prize and the Sidney Howard Memorial from the Playwrights Company. Subsequent successes include A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, Camino Real, Orpheus Descending, Night of the Iguana, and more. Fifteen of his plays have been made into films. Mr. Williams died in 1983.

~ Publication Date: 1951

~ Setting:

A Streetcar Named Desire is set in the residence of the Kowalskis located in a poor, yet charming neighborhood of the French Quarter in New Orleans, Louisiana.

~ Main Characters:

Blanche Dubois - She overly sensitive and, proud of her aristocratic background. She is a stranger to New Orleans and lives in an illusory world in order to shield her promiscuity. She seeks refuge with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley after losing her teaching position.

Stanley Kowalski - Stella's domineering and possessive husband and Blanche's brother-in-law. Of Polish origin, he represents all that is masculine, and common in life. Vengeful in nature, he becomes Blanche's enemy, spoils her chance of a possibly happy marriage with his best friend, Harold Mitchell, and rapes her himself.

Stella Kowalski - Blanche's younger sister and Stanley's wife. She is a figure of silent suffering and tremendous compromise. Despite her gentle and refined background, she has surrendered to Stanley's domineering ways, for she truly loves his and enjoys him. She feels sorry for Blanche but would rather save her marriage.

Harold Mitchell (Mitch) - Stanley's poker friend and Blanche's last hope for a husband. He is sensitive in nature, like Blanche. He listens to Stanley's story of Blanche's promiscuous past and decides to forget her, thus triggering her madness; unfortunately, he repents too late to change the course of events.

~ Conflict:

There is a conflict within Blanche to straighten out her life. Stanley is also set against Blanche and is ultimately responsible for her descent into insanity. Stanley also rapes Blanche.

~ Theme -

People are products of their past, as depicted by Blache, she was destroyed by the events in her life. Her young husband has an affair then commits suicide. She goes from a sexual affair to another and starts drinking heavily. She loses her teaching job and seeks refuge with her sister. When she found out the truth of Blanche's past, Stella rejects her too, and she slips into insanity.

~ Plot -

Blanche Dubois, who has been fired from her teaching job, arrives unannounced at the small two-room apartment of her sister, Stella Kowalski. Stella, who lives with Stanley, her rough and domineering husband, in a poor section of the French Quarter in New Orleans, welcomes her older sister. Blanche is shocked by the looks and size of the apartment, but she refuses to go to a hotel for she cannot bear to be alone. Blanche also drinks heavily to calm her nerves. Blanche reveals that Belle Reve; their old, aristocratic house in Laurel, no longer belongs to them. She speaks of the struggle it took to hang on to the place and expresses resentment that Stella had taken an easy escape route by marrying Stanley, a Polish foreigner. Stanley arrives. He is an ex-soldier, every inch a male and very proud of it. He plays poker with his friends and is fond of drinking and bowling. He is not very comfortable about Blanche's visit and does not make her feel very welcome. He is a very dominating person. He demands to see the bill of sale for Belle Reve and resenting the fact that, as Stella's husband, he has lost his lawful share in the property. The next day, Stella and Blanche return from a late night show to find Stanley playing poker with his rough friends. Blanche is attracted to Harold Mitchell, and he takes an interest in her as well. Stanley becomes mean and sarcastic, with his temper steadily rising. He ends the evening by striking Stella, who is pregnant. To guarantee Stella's safety, Blanche takes her upstairs to the apartment of the landlord, but Stanley calls his wife downstairs, and they soon make up. The following morning, Blanche scolds Stella for giving in to such a boorish husband and suggests a solution. She will approach Shep Huntleigh about helping them; he is an old admirer and a Texas oil billionaire. She cannot bear to be under Stanley's roof and criticizes him for his vulgar, animalistic ways. Stanley, who secretly overhears this conversation, realizes that Blanche is a threat to his marriage. He will never be able to forgive her. After a date, Blanche reveals her tragic past to Mitch. She married a very