Critics

Question 1

“The ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society” - Tennessee Williams

Answer 1

What the play is about
Agree completely
The effects of society

Question 2

“I write out of love for the South… once a way of life that I am just able to remember—not a society based on money… I write about the South because I think the war between romanticism and the hostility to it is very sharp there” - Tennessee Williams

Answer 2

He sees both the charm and destruction
Personal connections
Unable to completely hate a place you were raised
However can see it’s reality

Question 3

Marxist criticism

Answer 3

May consider play to be social drama, expresses socioeconomic conditions and struggles of 1940’s America
Represents decline of plantation families and rise of working class

Question 4

“Southern aristocratic society abused women like Blanche, making them passive pawns of social forces.” - Jones

Answer 4

Agree
Blanches downfall

Question 5

“The beautiful dream is that which enables Blanche to endure the horrors of existence.” - George Crandell

Answer 5

Agree
Illusion
Fantasy is a coping mechanism

Question 6

“There are no clear cut lines of good vs evil, no character is neither completely good nor bad.” - Shirley Galloway

Answer 6

Good vs evil
Agree
Society
Life is not simple
Humanity is not two dimensional

Question 7

“The central conflict in the play is between Blanche’s unrealistic view of the world and Stanley’s realistic one.” - Alvin Kernan

Answer 7

Blanche and Stanley
I believe this is one aspect of the plays conflict
But central conflict to between to people/societies fighting for power

Question 8

“Her quality is pathetic softness, not tragic strength.” - Nancy Tischner

Answer 8

Blanche
Disagree
She is a character who has suffered and been degraded due to her gender
She is not soft she is broken
Due to having to be strong for too long and then finding relief in her sexuality, which is short lived and destroys her reputation

Question 9

“IT IS APPARENT THAT STANLEY HAS A GREAT DEAL OF CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF AS A MAN AND A HUSBAND AND THAT STELLA CAN FIND SECURITY IN HIS CONFIDENCE”

Answer 9

Stanley
Disagree
He like all has insecurities, his leading cause to hate Blanche
Who’s class, use of slurs and previous wealth threatens him
Seen also in his claim to the Napoleonic code - desperate for power and scared to lose the piece of it he has
His lower class origin further supports that