A Streetcar Named Desire Flashcards
What sort of play is Streetcar described as?
Expressionistic, stage directions, colours, and music are used to illuminate aspects of the characters
What were playwrights and Williams doing during the 1920’s?
Looking at the behaviour of the world ‘why did this happen?’ Williams focused on the human psyche, asking ‘What did it feel like to have this happen?’
Did WW2 have much mention in the play?
No, even though Williams wrote this at the end of WW2, there is little mention
A characteristic in all of his plays, despite the cataclysmic event
What were many writers of the time concerned with?
Whilst great leaps were made in various spheres, man’s capacity for evil and destruction grew.
The journey of desire to death can be linked to this idea.
What does Stanley represent?
The American Dream that all men are born equal and can succeed equally
What does Blanche represent?
The Old World/ Old South, where class and race are still overriding issues
How did Williams’ sexuality influence the play?
For most of his life practiced homosexuality was illegal.
However it was tolerated in places such as New Orleans
How did Williams view the South?
As a broken and damaged place in which the decay was somehow charming.
Did Williams’ political views impact the play?
No, he is an almost completely non-political writer.
He moved away from political issues to addressing the emotional burdens of everyday life
What conflict influences the play the most?
Cultural conflict.
Blanche and Stanley’s views are so opposed that it’s impossible to understand one another
What was women’s social role in the Old South?
To be passive and chaste
Why did Blanche attempt to move away from the South traditions?
It couldn’t give her what she wanted, she tried to marry into ‘light and culture’
She discovers that there is corruption and deceit behind the facade.
What overriding issue divides Blanche and Stanley?
They’re from different worlds where socially, money has different values.
What does the Blue Piano represent?
New Orleans’ vibrant urban energy.
Themes such as sexual desire, unpredictability, and the fleeting nature of life.
How does Williams use the Blue Piano in the play?
To evoke the pulsating, raw energy of New Orleans, to mirror the emotions of the characters
How does the Blue Piano impact the audience?
It encapsulates the play’s central conflicts of illusion vs reality, to deepen the audience’s understanding of the characters
What genre is the Blue Piano most strongly linked to?
The Blues, symbolizing the characters’ inner struggles with desire, loss, and disillusionment
What emotions does the Blue Piano show?
Sadness, uncertainty, longing, desire, turmoil
What is the main tension that the Blue Piano undercurrents?
Blanche’s fragile, romantic illusions vs Stanley’s unyielding, primal vitality
What sort of moments in the play does the Blue Piano mark?
Moments of tension, passion, and inevitable/uncomfortable change.
How is the Blue Piano so impactful?
It suggests that, like the unstoppable rhythm of the music, forces of desire and fate are relentless and destructive
How does the Blue Piano support Williams’s view of New Orleans?
It isn’t just a background current, it’s a symbol of the underlying currents of life in New Orleans.
A city where beauty and brutality live side by side.
What does the Varsouviana polka most notably represent?
Blanche’s psychological trauma and descent into madness as a result of her past
When does the Varsouviana play?
When Allan Grey passed.
When Blanche is experiencing emotional distress or turmoil
It reminds both her and the audience of her guilt
How does the Varsouviana differ to the Blue Piano?
Only Blanche hears it, it’s a diegetic sound.
Why is it significant that only Blanche hears the Varsouviana?
The auditory hallucination shows her fragile grip on reality.
As the play progresses and her illusions crumble, it becomes stronger and more persistent.
How does the Varsouviana affect Blanche?
Every time she hears it she is forced to confront her hidden trauma, takes away her innocence
What motif is heard alongside the Varsouviana ?
A gunshot, represents Allan’s suicide.
Just as his secret was exposed, Blanche’s secrets will lead to her own downfall.
What does Elysian Fields mean?
The Land of the God’s in Greek Mythology
Why is Blanche so hyper-sexual towards young men?
She thinks that she will return to the world of teenage bliss.
Validation, before Allan’s suicide
How does Blanche’s journey signify her life?
Rides Desire, transfers to Cemeteries, to Elysian Fields.
It allegorically represents the trajectory of her life
What does Blanche attribute the death of her ancestors to?
‘Epic Fornication’s’
How can Allan’s suicide be linked to sexual morals?
Indulging in one’s desire in the form of promiscuity can lead to unwanted ends
How does Blanche justify her lies to Mitch?
She lies because she refuses to accept her fate, it allows her life to feel/seem better
How does Stanley’s nature encourage him to expose Blanche?
He is a practical man grounded in the physical world
This encourages him to unravel the fabrications, representing the struggle between appearance vs reality
Why does Blanche try to change her’s AND Stella’s life?
To save Stella from Stanley and rejuvenate their financial and social status
What does Williams’ use of the flexible setting represent?
The boundary of interior vs exterior, shows that the apartment is still subject to the greater reality
How does Williams’ use the flexible setting?
The street is always seen at the same time as the apartment’s interior, expresses the notion that the house is not a domestic sanctuary
What is an example of an exterior problem that the characters bring into the apartment?
Blanche’s prejudice towards the lower class and racism
What setting characteristic foreshadows Blanche’s rape?
The back wall of the apartment becomes transparent, showing the struggles occurring on the street
At the end, how does Williams suggest that fantasy is indeed a useful tool?
Blanche’s naivety and retreat to her fantasies enable her to partially shield herself from the harsh reality
What does Blanche’s final deluded happiness show?
To an extent, fantasy is a vital force at play in everyone’s experience, despite the inevitable triumph of reality
