Context for ASND

Question 1

What is gothic literature a sub/genre of?

Answer 1

Romanticism

Question 2

When was streetcar first debuted?

Answer 2

1947

Question 3

Name the significance of Blanches reference to Edgar Allan Po

Answer 3

Blanches reference to Edgar Alan Po is an intertextual allusion – 19th century American writer known for his tales of mystery and horror

Question 4

What is the Southern Gothic influenced by? What does it tackle?

Answer 4

The Southern Gothic is influenced by Gothic elements and the American South. Tackles the inability of the genteel gallantry of the mythic antique Old South to survive amid the brash consumerist confidence of booming America.

Question 5

What does Belle Reve translate to in French?

Answer 5

Beautiful dream

Question 6

Name the symbology of the loss of Belle Reve

Answer 6

The loss of the planation house signifies the ‘death’ of the old ways of the South, the loss of ways of life that have no place in modern America.

Question 7

What does the loss of Belle Reve mean for Blanches past?

Answer 7

The beautiful dream is the Southern past, the heyday of Blanche’s genteel youth are long gone. Heritage and pedigree are all Blanche has but that is currency with no value here.

Question 8

Name another play with a plantation

Answer 8

‘Cat on a hot tin roof’ – set on a plantation… the south loom largely in Tennessee William’s plays.

Question 9

What is realism?

Answer 9

Often, the words naturalism and realism are interchangeable and refer to plays that create an illusion of real life on stage

Question 10

What’s the fancy word for real life on stage?

Answer 10

verisimilitude

Question 11

Name a realist play

Answer 11

A Doll’s House by Henrick Ibsen (1879) - A Doll’s House is an example of a realist or naturalistic play. It dramatizes the ordinary lives of ordinary people in sets which look like the rooms they are supposed to represent.

Question 12

What’s expressionism?

Answer 12

During the 20th century, naturalism and realism came under attack in European theatre from new artistic movements such as expressionism and surrealism. Expressionism is an artistic style which privileges the representation of the inner world of emotion over that of external reality. Where the argument of naturalism is that truth is best achieved through verisimilitude, expressionism suggests that a non-realist approach is required for audiences to truly access the inner experience of the characters.

Question 13

Name an expressionist play

Answer 13

The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill (1922) - The Hairy Ape shows how playwrights began to experiment with theatrical devices, non-naturalistic staging and heightened language to dramatize the way an individual experienced a situation rather than represent it absolutely literally. The play is an example of expressionism.

Question 14

What is plastic theatre?

Answer 14

By “plastic theatre” Williams is referring to a drama that was more than just a picture of reality: he insists that his ideal theatre make use of all the stage arts to generate a theatrical experience greater than mere realism. Plastic theatre exploits an expressionistic style to symbolically reflect the psyche of the characters on stage – PROXEMICS

Question 15

Name a plastic theatre play

Answer 15

In his production notes for The Glass Menagerie, Williams discusses his vision of a “plastic theatre” which shuns straightforward naturalism for expressionism and uses the stage not simply as a screenless television, but as a uniquely poeticised and metaphoric space.

Question 16

How does Williams combine realism and expressionsim?

Answer 16

Williams’ plays powerfully combine psychological depth of character (realism and naturalism) with the use of stylistic devices (expressionism). In ASND Williams developed and experimented with what he coined as plastic theatre, a non-realist style that exploits Expressionist devices to symbolically represent the psyche of his protagonists

Question 17

How is music symbolic in New Orleans?

Answer 17

New Orleans is famous for its musical heritage and in using it as the setting of the play Williams has given himself license to use music. As you read the stage directions you will see music is frequently playing to evoke mood.

Question 18

Describe the effect of the Varsouviuana Polka in the play

Answer 18

The “Varsouviana”, a polka, reoccurs throughout the play. The piece was playing when Blanche’s husband Alan committed suicide and the gothic, claustrophobic music is associated with Blanche’s troubled state of mind and guilt over her role in Alan’s suicide. When the music plays we are to assume no other character can hear it.

Question 19

Name the director of the first production of ASND and what did they say about music in scene 9?

Answer 19

Elia Kazan, the director of the first production, identified scene 9 as the crisis of the play, summing up the scene as ‘Blanche’s last desperate effort to save herself by telling the whole truth. The truth dooms her.’

Question 20

Describe the context behind ‘degenerate’ in scene 7

Answer 20

Degenerate’ This is used by Stella to describe Blanche’s husband, in this context it means homosexual. Homosexuality was considered a perversion and was illegal, and there was a reluctance even to speak of it openly.

Question 21

How is ASND a biographical play?

Answer 21

most characters in streetcar correlate with relations to TW. Much of the pathos in the play was mined from the playwrights own life including; alcoholism, depression and insanity.

Question 22

Give examples of hoe chartacters relate to TW family

Answer 22

TW’s father Cornelius Williams also runs in parallel to Stanley. He is an angry, argumentative character who drinks a lot and also a victim of a gambling problem. The marriage between the two was unhappy.

Question 23

How is TW sister similar to Blanche?

Answer 23

A lobotomy backfired on TW sister, causing her to have mental breakdowns. TW felt immense regret in that he could not have saved his sister.  Like Stella when she commits Blanche to an institution in the end of the play.

Question 24

State the role of women in relation to the Nepolionic code

Answer 24

Stanley refers to the Napoleonic code in the state of Louisiana in the second scene hinting at the cultural misogyny that women are subjected to in 1950s America. The roles of Blanche and stella are culturally refined as women are constrained by social expectations of things like being chaste and being passive – a mans subordinate.

Question 25

Describe the nouveau rich in ASND?

Answer 25

In each of TW plays was a relation to his past. His past casts a long shadow over the lives of his protagonists. Whether it is the corruption and decay of Belle Reve which haunts Blanche in Streetcar. Or Amanda Wingfield’s inhibiting vision of genteel female behaviour in ‘The Glass Menagerie’ or Bid daddy’s impoverish childhood in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Question 26

Describe the Liebestod period in ASND

Answer 26

German origin with means ‘love death’ – interpreted as an erotic union achieved by lovers solely through or after the death. Therefore, the streetcars desire and cemeteries in scene 1 become of a ASND focal images, linking sex and death, gaining coherence through the Liebestod Tradition. The further cyclical structure of the play and Williams’ conscious intertwining of death and desire also adds to this tradition, exposing the consequences to those who try to escape the expected and accepted gender norms of this society.

Question 27

What theory ranks masculinity?

Answer 27

Connells 1995 gender order theory:
hegemonic
complicit
marginalised
subordinate

Question 28

What’s the irony with the way TW represents New Orleans?

Answer 28

Williams creates a false sense of security by depicting New Orleans as a liberal culture melting pot in the opening scene… the irony of new Orleans is clear as it is far from the inclusive utopia presented in the opening scene. There are issues of sexism and racism still rope4 at the heart of the city and throughout the play. Williams subtly introduces the deep-seated cultural misogyny of post-war America wen Stanley alludes to the Napoleonic code (scene 2) in new Orleans, Louisiana.

Question 29

What type of irony does TW use when talking about New Orleans?

Answer 29

Williams uses proleptic irony in his intentional creation of Elysian Fields as Stanleys street name to foreshadow his victory over Balance and psychological victory over Stella. Elysian fields represents the gender imbalance as for Stanley it is a pleasure of masculine dominion, but for women elysian fields is a place or permanent entrapment.