Themes

Question 1

Desire

Answer 1

Williams commonly shows sex do destructive things in his plays
Brought to New Orleans by desire
The driving force of play
Destructive - travel from Cemeteries to Elysian Fields - death
- ancestors ‘epic fornications’ leads to loss of Belle Reve
- death of Blanches good reputation at Flamingo Hotel
- affair with student and job loss
-Allan Gray’s homosexuality
- Stanley raping Blanche
Blanche believes it is deaths opposite
Blanche desires security, past
Stanley desires power, to be seen as equal to all men
Stella desires security, passion

Question 2

American Dream

Answer 2

Post Civil War
Post WWII
Stanley represents this

Question 3

Gender and sexuality

Answer 3

Stanley - typical male desires dominance
Stella - typical female desires to be dominated
Allan Grey - homosexual
Blanche - promiscuous heterosexual female
Sexual passion - unstoppable driving force like streetcar carrying victim down path of self destruction

Question 4

Conflict and Social Class

Answer 4

Blanche and Stella - members of old established land owning aristocracy
Blanche - desperately clings to illusion of Southern Belle
- tragedy of not being able to move on
Stella - embraces New South
Stanley - working class man of polish heritage
Post war - class division shifted
Blanche represents Old South whilst Stanley represents the New South
They reflect the conflict between the two

Question 5

Tragedy

Answer 5

Blanches mental decline
Blanches experiences with death and husband’s suicide
Stanley rapes her - death of a sort
Tragic heroine - Blanche
- downfall presented as inevitable
- victim of society or passions?
I believe she’s a victim of society, she believes her only worth is her youth and charm, her husband’s homosexuality and suicide affect her, she is now stuck in past and pursues youth, remind her of Allan. She then searches for comfort in others but told that is wrong when it’s a natural thing

Question 6

Realism vs Expressionism
Realism:

Answer 6

• characters real and relatable
• protagonist is good character
• setting reflects everyday life
• realistic acting style
• normal and not heightened dialogue
• linear action
• audience can identify with situations and characters on stage
• whole effect is of transparency; nothing draws attention to act of making theatre

Question 7

Expressionism

Answer 7

• characters symbolise wider class or attitude
• more creative and complex setting with less use of props
• intense, violent and melodramatic acting
• fragmented, poetic and unrealistic dialogue
• episodic action, mimics dream like state
• vivid, dreamlike and nightmarish atmosphere, aided by unrealistic lighting and visual distortions
• self conscious; production’s separate elements are obvious and undisguised