Themes Flashcards
Desire and Fate
The two Streetcars that brought Blanche to New Orleans were named ‘Desire’ and ‘Cemeteries’, which symbolises Blanche’s journey in the play: driven by her sexual desires, she essentially ‘died’ at the end of the play when sent to a mental institution.
The Streetcars running directly along the rails to its destination also symbolises that fate is inescapable, and is a destructive power (‘that rattle-trap streetcar’). This idea of promiscuity is referenced in the epigraph at the beginning of the play.
Like Blanche, Williams was driven by lust throughout his life and failed to secure a permanent relationship. By this, Williams portrays sexual desire as self-destructive, and its victims are unable to escape their fate; Blanche is destined to suffer, which is represented by the Streetcar metaphor. This desire also drives Stella, who has abandoned her integrity and self-respect due to her lust for Stanley. Stella betrays her sister due to her sexual desire, and although her fate is not known, seeing the violence shown against herself and Eunice indicates she is destined to be a subservient housewife for an abusive husband.
The symbol of the train appears at dramatic moments in the play, usually involving Stanley (when Blanche reproaches Stanley, when Blanche discusses Allen’s suicide, and when Stanley rapes Blanche).
Death
Blanche vividly recalls the deaths that she witnessed at Belle Reve, as her relatives died one by one, with Stella and Mitch being forced to listen to Blanche’s grim expositions. In Scene 1, she recalls the brutal cremation of a family member who was so swollen by disease, she could not fit in her coffin. In Scene 9, she explains how she had to change the ‘blood-stained pillow-slips’, because her family could no longer afford servants, emphasising the indignity in death. However, by Scene 11, when she seemingly accepts her fate, Blanche begins to romanticise death in her wishes to be buried ‘at sea sewn up in a clean white sack’, which shows how she is scared of dying an undignified death, like her relatives.
Significantly, Blanche feels responsible for the suicide of her husband, Allen. When the ‘Varsouviana’ plays on stage, the events of the night he died plays in her mind like a film, ending with the shot that killed him. Although the audience reads/hears this, none of the other characters on stage hear what is going on in Blanche’s head, contributing to her isolation.
Like Blanche, Williams was obsessed with death throughout his life, as he narrowly survived a case of diptheria as a child. His beloved grandmother died of cancer in 1943, and in 1946, he was convinced he also had cancer, which later grew into intense hypochondria.
Madness
It is implied throughout the play that Blanche’s mental state has never been particularly stable. Fuelled by the death of Allen (and her role in causing it) and the deaths at Belle Reve, she became physically and mentally isolated, and began to descend into a life of sexual promiscuity and alcoholism, in which she created a fantasy world of romantic, chivalrous gentlemen and fun songs and parties.
However, the death of Allen is seemingly omnipresent in the mind of Blanche; when the nightmare sequence occurs, it can only end with the sound of the gun firing, so Blanche has to relive the whole evening. In spite of this, she implies to Mitch that this happens a lot, so the fact she deals with her trauma in such a pragmatic way reveals she has the capacity to accommodate such terrors in her life.
Over the course of the play, Blanche’s mental state is gradually dismantled, and she retreats further into her fantasies. Significant points in the play include: Stanley’s revelations about Blanche’s past, Mitch’s rejection of Blanche and his subsequent attempt to have sex with her, and Blanche getting raped by Stanley.
Like death, Williams was paranoid about mental health. His sister Rose experienced violent sexual fantasies and made accusations against their father; their parents sent Rose to a mental institution, where she had a lobotomy, which made her completely different person. Williams was guilty that he did not prevent Rose from having the surgery, and was equally scared that her condition was hereditary.
Social Class
The DuBois family was one of the old-established ‘plantation’ families whose members made their fortunes from using slave labour to farm crops. Many families began to see their fortunes evaporate following the defeat of the Confederacy in the American Civil War, which saw slavery abolished and the Southern Aristocracy collapse, which can be seen through the repossession of Belle Reve.
Due to her heritage, Blanche assumes superiority over people she deems of a lower social standing. She is disparaging towards towards both Stella’s apartment, and most crucially to the plot, Stanley, to whom she exhibits both social and racial prejudice. However, Blanche is not as derogatory to Mitch, as he appears more sensitive than Stanley, although she often mocks his lack of education by using literary allusions (e.g. ‘Rosenkavalier’), and inviting him to sleep with her in French.
Stella initially does not appear to hold the same values as Blanche, showing she has rejected the Antebellum for the values of modern America. She is largely unimpressed by Blanche’s scathing criticisms of Stanley, as she sexually desires him and is having his baby. However, by the end of the play, she clearly has some sympathy for Blanche, as she becomes more assertive over Stanley when he is exhibiting stereotypically masculine, working-class behaviour.
Stanley resents Blanche’s sense of superiority and is stubborn in his refusal to show her any courtesy, and his resent towards Blanche is worsened when her values/mannerisms appear to be rubbing off on Stella and Mitch, his wife and close friend.
