A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams Essay

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams uses setting to illustrate various themes and messages as they pertain to the events of the play. The setting plays a crucial role in the story line and the outcome of the play.

A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams in 1947 is a play that is perceived with the variance between a man and his sister-in-law. Stanley Kowalski immediately captures the attention of the audience through Williams’ excellent portrayal of the intensely strong willed character, furthermore Williams forms Stanley into an exceedingly masculine character who will always have his way or no way and makes his opinions vey clear to those around him “why don’t you women go up and sit with Eunice” this declaration from Stanley shows that he his very sexist, this was very typical of men’s attitudes to women in the 1940’s because the patriarchal society at the time meant that men wanted

A Streetcar Named Desire is a socially challenging play in light of the way in which Tennessee Williams depicts the capacity of human nature for brutality and deceit.  He takes the viewpoint that, no matter how structured or 'civilized' society is, all people will rely on their natural animal instincts, such as dominance and deception, to get themselves out of trouble at some stage in life.  William's has created three main characters, Blanche Dubois, Stella Kowalski and Stanley Kowalski. Each of these characters is equally as civilized as the next, yet all are guilty of acts of savagery on different levels.  Throughout the play Williams symbolically relates these three characters to animals, 'savages,' through the disclosure of

Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a web of themes, complicated scenarios, and clashes between the characters. Therefore, it might’ve been somehow difficult to find out who the protagonist of this play is if it wasn’t for Aristotle’s ideas of a good tragedy because neither of the main characters, Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois, is completely good nor bad. According to Aristotle’s Poetics, a good tragedy requires the protagonist to undergo a change of status which only happens with Blanche Dubois.

A Streetcar Named Desire is a widely celebrated play that was written by Tennessee Williams. Throughout this play, Williams uses a significant amount of references to light in order to make an assertion about reality. In A Streetcar Named Desire, light represents the harsh reality that exists in the world, particularly with Blanche. With the huge emphasis that was placed on light, Williams asserts that Blanche’s avoidance of light demonstrates an avoidance of her reality. The author illuminates the harsh realities that exist in the world by using vivid imagery, purposeful foreshadowing, and characterizing metaphors. In this instance, it was Blanche’s desire to stay out of the light in order to hide her age. This desire is quite evident because of her assertive tone when regarding the subject of light. While trying to avoid light, Blanche initiated her own demise by being forced to divulge her true age and appearance to Mitch. Because of this event, Blanche was forced to face the harsh reality that she wished to evade for so long. Williams uses brilliant literary and figurative elements in order to lead up to the inevitable event. Thus, the significance of light in A Streetcar Named Desire is astronomical when placing it in context.

Social upheaval in many senses was explicit through the beginning of the twentieth century; two world wars had - for a short time - shifted the balance of power between men and women. Women were increasingly employed to fill positions which had previously been considered masculine. This was not to last however, and by the fifties men had reassumed their more dominant role in society. People were finding new voices at this time by taking pre-existing forms and pushing the boundaries to re-voice established literary forms. Tennessee Williams wrote A Streetcar Named Desire around the time this reversal was occurring in American society. Williams was a homosexual from the deep south of America, and his play is about physical, emotional

The Raw Power of A Streetcar Named Desire         Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire contains more within it's characters, situations, and story than appears on its surface. As in many of Williams's plays, there is much use of symbolism and interesting characters in order to draw in and involve the audience.   The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire alone does not captivate the audience.  

In the 1947 play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams explores the aspects of traditional gender roles in society; raising many questions about gender, power, and dominance. Ultimately, though, A Streetcar Named Desire observes the conflict between alpha male Stanley Kowalski and the delicately feminine Blanche DuBois, with wife, sister, and mother-to-be, Stella Kowalski, caught in the middle. Williams investigates the continuing fight for authority, on the one hand, and equality on the other; delving into gender politics and depicting many levels of uniqueness, from sexual conflicts to mental illness.

     Stanley shreds the dreams of Blanche DuBois, revealing her ugly past to her sister and her beau. He refuses to

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who is in misplaced circumstances. Her life is lived through fantasies, the remembrance of her lost husband and the resentment that she feels for her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Various moral and ethical lessons arise in this play such as: Lying ultimately gets you nowhere, Abuse is never good, Treat people how you want to be treated, Stay true to yourself and Don’t judge a book by its cover.

In the beginning of the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche first arrives from Laurel Missouri and immediately becomes the antagonist. As the play goes on Stanley starts to go against Blanche. At the end of the play Blanche becomes the victim. In the end, Stanley sent Blanche off to a mental asylum. This plays demonstrates domestic violence. In the beginning of the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams shows how society accepted it and ignored it.Stanley, one of the characters in the play, found domestic violence to be a positive and very sexual part of him and his wife, Stella's, relationship. Throughout the play, Williams shows that he believes that it is wrong.

Throughout the plot Stanley Kowalski constantly confirms his representation of the id. The id accounts for all the biological and instinctive parts of our personality, such as, sex and death. It also responds to the pleasure principle which is that every wish should be immediately satisfied regardless of the consequence. Very early in the play Williams’s paints a picture of him as aggressive, dominant, and very sexual masculine

Initially, Stanley believes Blanche has sold her and Stella’s family estate without giving Stella her cut of the profit. Stanley’s feels that his power is threatened as he believes he is being cheated by Blanche and brings up the Napoleonic code which states that a wife and husband’s belongings are shared. Stanley tells Stella, “… and when you’re swindled under the Napoleonic code I’m swindled too. And I don’t like to be swindled” (Williams, 33). Stanley explains to Stella how if she loses money through Blanche, the code states that he loses the money too due to the sharing of possessions between spouses. This is where we first see Stanley’s desire for power and control as it is seen that he becomes angry with the fact that Blanche potentially manipulates him. In many scenes of the play, Stanley’s assertiveness and need for control is seen through his actions. In scene eight of the play, Stella is angered by Stanley’s actions at the dinner table and demands that he wash up and help clear the table. Angered by Stella’s demands, Stanley feels that Blanche and Stella see him as weak. His desire to regain his power and control takes over as he states, “…And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it! (He hurls a

Stanley is portrayed in a negative light throughout the play, with his mind mainly focused on himself. Williams paints this impression of Stanley by emphasizing the importance of his possessions by describing, “his car, his radio, everything that’s his.” (25) At first glance, Stella and

This essay will discuss how Williams portrays relationships and conflicts between his characters in A Streetcar Named Desire, and how this has an impact on the audience's first impressions of Stella, Blanche and Stanley in the first scenes of the play. Williams introduces Stanley and Stella as a traditional couple who are deeply infatuated with one another. Stanley, in particular, demonstrates a sense of pride in being Stella's partner and isn't hesitant to announce this to anyone who's listening; '(bellowing) Hey, there! Stella, Baby!' conveys this affection towards his wife. Williams uses short syntax to display Stanley's unruly, headstrong personality which is shown later in the script, when he confronts Blanche about what really happened