Themes Flashcards
Themes in Streetcar
Desire, class, death, masculinity, Old south vs New south, women, fantasy and illusion
Desire topic sentences
- shows how desire is a strong, irrational force that can both push people forward and destroy them, leading to personal downfall and broken relationships.
- A complex feeling that is be presented in different ways for different characters - stanley and blanche
- how desire can defy social rules and personal identity, especially through Blanche’s past relationships and her desperate attempts to stay young, which eventually lead to her downfall.
- Desire as a way of gaining power and control, through Blanche’s use of physical appearance to gain control - stanley, young men, previous men in flamingo hotel
Class topic sentences
- Class differences are a big part of the conflict between Blanche and Stanley, as Blanche’s upper-class attitude clashes with Stanley’s working-class lifestyle, showing how society was changing after World War II.
- Tennessee Williams uses Blanche’s struggles to show how strict class divisions in the South can affect people’s identities, opportunities, and relationships.
- The play explores power and class, as Blanche’s belief that she is superior is destroyed by Stanley’s forcefulness, proving that social class does not always determine strength or success.
Death
- Death and desire are linked
- Williams uses death to show the struggle between reality and illusion, especially in Blanche’s refusal to fully accept her husband’s death, which leads to her emotional breakdown.
- Death is a powerful presence throughout the play - follows blanche throughout the whole story
Masculinity
- Stanley represents a tough, aggressive kind of masculinity that clashes with Blanche’s ideas of refinement, showing how traditional Southern values were being replaced after the war.
- Masculinity in the play is portrayed as something powerful but often fragile, as Stanley dominates both Blanche and Stella, revealing how men’s authority over women can lead to harm, but is also seen as unstable in certain moments of the play.
- Through Stanley, Williams criticizes the idea that men must be strong and aggressive, showing how society teaches men to act this way and how it leads to damage in relationship
Old south vs New south
- The conflict between Blanche and Stanley represents the battle between the Old South’s traditions and the New South’s working-class, industrial values, showing how society was changing.
- Williams uses Blanche to represent the fading Southern aristocracy, where old values of honor and refinement are being replaced by a more practical and materialistic world, as seen in Stanley.
- The struggle between the Old and New South plays out in Blanche and Stanley’s interactions, showing how old-fashioned Southern life no longer fits in the modern, urban world
Women
- Williams portrays women in different ways, with Blanche’s vulnerability and Stella’s quiet acceptance showing how women must navigate society’s unfair expectations.
- The women in the play are both victims and survivors, trying to keep their dignity while facing male control, social judgment, and emotional struggles.
- Williams shows how society views women as weak and emotional, using Blanche’s mental breakdown to highlight the harsh consequences faced by women who don’t fit traditional roles.
Fantasy and illusion
1.Williams shows how characters, especially Blanche, use fantasy and lies to escape their painful past, creating a struggle between reality and illusion.
2. Williams portrays fantasy and illusion as a way escapism forced onto people through societal expectations to cover up the harsh truths of past mistakes, as shown clearly with Blanche.
3. Williams critiques the consequences of denial and illusion by showing how Blanche’s attempts to form a facade to maintain a positive social image ultimately leads to an obsession and her self-destruction
Desire quotes
“I don’t want realism. I want magic!”
- uses desire to show the destructive power of unrealistic expectations and the pursuit of unattainable ideals.
- Williams explores how individuals who desire escape from reality often crumble under the weight of their delusions.
- Blanche’s inability to face the harshness of reality leads to her ultimate downfall, illustrating the dangers of living in a fantasy.
- Blanche rejects reality in favor of illusion, showing her desperate attempt to escape aging and societal judgment.
“Young man! Young, young, young man! Has anyone ever told you that you look like a young Prince out of the Arabian Nights?”
- Blanche’s flirtation with the young newspaper boy highlights her obsession with youth and her inability to accept aging. - her desire subverts societal norms, leads to downfall
- expelled from school for being with student - desire for youthness
“Streetcar named desire”
- brings blanche to New Orleans
- Essentially how her past desire leads her to the place of her personal downfall
- symbolism
”I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”
- Stanley’s aggressive dominance contrasts with Blanche’s romantic ideals, showcasing different manifestations of desire.
Invasion of trunk - symbolic of him violating her life; taking control and power
Foreshadows rape as final strike to blanches spiral of madness
Masculinity quotes
”I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”
- Williams uses this quote to critique the traditional, domineering forms of masculinity that were prevalent in the mid-20th century. ( hegemonic masculinity)
- Williams explores the destructive effects of toxic masculinity on relationships, women, and society.
- Stanley asserts his dominance, rejecting Blanche’s traditional southern views and symbolizing the shift from Old Southern ideals to a new, working-class masculinity. - Leads to conflict
“I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it”
- Stanley reminds Stella that she has left behind Blanche’s refined world for his more primal, physical existence, reinforcing the destruction of the Old South’s genteel traditions. - “columns metaphor for upper class
“Stella! Hey, Stella!”
- reflects his raw, animalistic nature, reinforcing his need for control and his dependence on Stella.
- His earlier violence contrasts with his desperation, highlighting how Williams critiques hyper-masculinity - can be powerful and fragile
- This moment underscores the play’s power dynamics, where male dominance is ultimately reinforced, yet exposed as emotionally unstable.
- Through Stanley, Williams questions society’s tolerance of toxic masculinity and its impact on gender roles.
“Heaves the package” of “raw meat”
Illusion vs reality quotes
“I don’t want realism. I want magic!”
- By making Blanche a character whose entire life is built on illusions, Williams critiques the consequences of denial and escapism, showing how fantasy can be a temporary refuge that ultimately leads to self-destruction
- Blanche outright rejects reality, insisting on illusions to protect herself from the painful truths of her past.
Bathing - blanche tries to purify from past mistakes - another way she tries to escape the harsh truth of her past
“I don’t tell the truth. I tell what ought to be the truth.”
- Blanche acknowledges her tendency to distort reality, showing how she fabricates a better version of her life to cope with past trauma.
“A woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion.”
- She rationalizes her lies, believing that deception is necessary for survival, particularly for women in a world that values youth and beauty.
- gives a sense of empathy as we feel that she is forced into this lifestyle by the societal norms and expectations - williams possibly criticises this aspect of society
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb”
- The naked light bulb symbolizes truth and reality, which Blanche cannot confront, much like she avoids the truth about her past.
- Also the harsh truth of her ageing - she loses physical appearance and men’s desire - she loses power
- Her preference for soft lighting represents her need to maintain an illusion of beauty, innocence, and control.
- Williams uses this moment to show how Blanche constructs a false identity, rejecting the uncomfortable reality in favor of her idealized, distorted world that then clashes with the harsh truths she tries to escape
-“ paper lantern” - mitch rips it off - mitch exposes her as he removes what stopped the light ( symbolic of truth) from reaching blanche
“I couldn’t go on believing her story and live with stanley”
- lies to herself in order to keep stability for herself and her baby
- forced on by society
Society forces her to lie to hide her past and gain stability - to marry mitch - criticise society
Alcohol - another way of escaping the harsh truths - however she tries to cover it up - rooted from her fear of others finding out the truth
Old south vs New South quotes
“I don’t want to be at the mercy of a savage, untamed woman! I want to be treated with respect!”
- Williams uses Blanche’s fear of Stanley to represent the cultural anxiety of the Old South being overtaken by the more “savage” and “untamed” forces of modern, industrialized America.
- emphasizes the power struggle between the decaying Southern aristocracy and the rise of new, less refined social orders.
‘“Every man is a King!’ And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”
- Stanley’s declaration symbolizes the shift from the Old South’s traditional elite status to a new, populist vision of power.
- Williams uses this conflict to explore the tensions between old and new systems of power and identity in the South during the time period.
“Please don’t get up. i’m only passing through”
- highlights her desire for old traditional values
- she is quickly humbled as none of the men intended to stand up and don’t respect her, as said by stanley - tragically exposed clearly through the rape
- shows her being an outcast in the new southern values
Death quotes
“Streetcar Named Desire”
- passes through “cemeteries”
- symbolism
- takes blanche to elysian fields (greek resting place)
-desire takes her to her resting place
The death of Belle Reve leads to her cycle into using her body for power rather than money
“Polka music”
- Death of allan follows blanche throughout whole play
- plastic theatre + shot
- williams adds this to give the audience the understanding that what is seen during the polka can not be trusted as we are transported into blanche’s unstable mind
Class quotes
“Ape-like” “polack”
She verbally attacks him to use her upper class as a weapon to gain power over the lower class stanley
“ you’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”
- mitch’s rejection of blanche after he finds out about her past, influenced by social norms of purity and status
Women quotes
“Napoleonic code”
- shows the cultural misogyny that restricted women in society and explains how women are dependant on men for survival, as said by social expectations
“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with stanley”
- she ignores stanley’s rape and previous violence becausw she is aware of societal expectations and knows that she needs the marriage to be protected
“Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh”
- in poker night
Onomatopoeia “whack” and pornification of her “thigh”
- shows the objectification of women in society
Stella’s submission to her violent partner acts as a social commentary of on women’s entrapment in relationships
