A Streetcar Named Desire Themes Flashcards
Death and desire (the Liebestod tradition)
The Liebestod Tradition - derived from German origins, LIEBESTOD means “LOVE DEATH” and is interpreted as an EROTIC UNION achieved by lovers, solely through death.
The streetcars named “desire” and “cemeteries” (scene 1) become on of the plays FOCAL images
Explicitly linking sex and death, gaining coherence through the LIEBESTOD tradition
Blanche and Sexual desire
Much of Blanche’s conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire.
Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin, silks, costume jewelry, etc: she calls attention to her body and her femininity through her carefully cultivated appearance.
Blanche clings to her sexuality more and more desperately as the play progresses. To Blanche, perhaps motivated by her discovery that her first husband was in fact homosexual, losing her desirability is akin to losing her identity and her reason to live.
Stella and sexual desire
tella’s desire for Stanley pulls her away from Belle Reve and her past. Stella is drawn to Stanley’s brute, animal sexuality, and he is drawn to her traditional, domestic, feminine sexuality.
Stella is pregnant: her sexuality is deeply tied to both womanliness and motherhood. Even though Stanley is violent to Stella, their sexual dynamic keeps them together
Stanley and sexual desire
Stanley’s sexuality and his masculinity are extremely interconnected: he radiates a raw, violent, brute animal magnetism.
While Stella is at the hospital giving birth to his child, Stanley rapes Blanche: the culmination of his sexual act with Stella coincides with the tragic culmination of his destined date with Blanche.
Sexual desire overall
SEXUAL DESIRE IS LINKED TO DESTRUCTION
Blanche’s pursuit of sexual desire has led to the loss of Belle Reve, her expulsion from Laurel, and her eventual removal from society. Stanley’s voracious carnal desire culminates in his rape of Blanche. Blanche’s husband’s “unacceptable” homosexual desire leads to his suicide.
Blanche and Fantasy and delusion
- “she doesn’t want realism she wants magic”
The journey through Elysian fiels allegorically foreshadows B’s mental descent throughout the play
Blanche’s desires have led her down paths of sexual promiscuity and alcoholism, and by coming to stay with the Kowalskis, she has reached the end of the line. Blanche’s desire to escape causes her to lose touch with the world around her. By the end of the play, Blanche can no longer distinguish between fantasy and real life.
She clings to the false, illusory world of paper lanterns and satin robes keeping up this appearance of an INNOCENT INGENUE
Social class pt1
In many ways this is the FOCAL theme:
- tensions of social class and pressure lead to physical conflict between B and Stanley
- psychological conflict between B and Stella
- culture clash between B’s upper-class Old South ways and the industrial New South leads to her OSTRACIZATION from society
social class pt2
The American dream and Stanley
The American dream and social class are interconnected
A confident and domineering second generation American determined to carve his own path in his world.
The 1940s INFATUATION with achieving the American dream is demonstrated through Stanley’s deep-seated DETESTATION for Blanche.
This play can be interpreted as a clash between two cultures/classes, as well as between two individuals
Social class
New Orleans and Elysian Fields
New Orleans - a cultural melting pot to emphasise B’s outsider status. Her appearance is “incongruous to this setting” (scene 1)
Blanche’s culture shock of intermingling social classes in Elysian fiels acts as CATALYST for her downfall - she doesn’t understand the decay of her southern bell grandeur in the new society and views stan as an outsider in his own marriage due to social class.
- resulted in New Orleans and Elysian Fields reversing roles for OSTRACIZATION: The upper class woman is ostracized
Social class
What else does Elysian Fields represent
The disintegration of B’s psyche as a result of Stanleys physician and verbal abuse
The violence reveals the harsh reality of life in the new south (desire, male dominion, drunkenness) and strips away her fairy-tale fantasies of her ideal OLD SOUTHERN UTOPIA
Social class
Interplay of gender and social class
Williams builds a complexity into B’s performed innocence:
- as a southern Belle, she exploits her power rooted in privelidge as an upper-class and white woman
- she emasculates and degrades Stan’s self-worth
- However, it is society’s acceptance of the HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY and the condemnation of women who try to gain power that inhibits her control and encourages Stanley’s
Stanley’s BRUTISH ANIMALITY seems to be his coping mechanism for his CONSTANT FEAR OF LOSING anything he deems “his
Hegemonic masculinity
A concept which is part of Cornell’s (1995) gender order theory.
A practice that authorises and encourages male domination, justifying the subordination of woman and non-hegemonic males
