A Streetcar Named Desire: Critical Quotes

Question 1

Foley: (On Stella)

Answer 1

‘Stella Kowalski represents a more classic example of a female victim in a patriarchal society where a woman accepts spousal abuse in order to be provided for and deludes herself into thinking that she is happy in this role’.

Question 2

Harold Clubman: (On Blanche)

Answer 2

‘Blanche is a DELICATE and SENSITIVE woman pushed into insanity by a brutish environment presided over by chief ape-man Stanley Kowalski’

Question 3

Tennessee Williams himself:

Answer 3

‘One major theme for my work is the destructive power of society on the sensitive non-conformist individual’

Question 4

J.M. McGlinn on Stella’s refusal to accept Blanche’s story of rape:

Answer 4

‘[Stella’s] refusal to accept Blanche’s story of rape is a COMMITMENT TO SELF-PRESERVATION RATHER THAN LOVE, and thus Stella contributes to Blanche’s disintegration’.

Question 5

Jackie Shead:

Answer 5

‘the kind of travel particularised by a streetcar fits well with the play’s representation of desire as a driving force taking characters to destinations, which are, at best, very approximate choices’.