Ethical Lessons in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

   A Streetcar Named Desire is an intricate web of complex themes and conflicted characters. Set in the pivotal years immediately following World War II, Tennessee Williams infuses Blanche and Stanley with the symbols of opposing class and differing attitudes towards sex and love, then steps back as the power struggle between them ensues. Yet there are no clear cut lines of good vs. evil, no character is neither completely good nor bad, because the main characters, (especially Blanche), are so torn by conflicting and contradictory desires and needs. As such, the play has no clear victor, everyone loses something, and this fact is what gives the play its tragic cast. In a

He likes to possess and control everything around him, he almost ‘owns’ Stella, and he has changed from her days at Belle Reve, pulling her “down off them columns and how [she] loved it”. But the arrival of Blanche, and her aristocratic ways annoys Stanley, as Stella begins to revert to her old ways. Blanche encourages her to stand up to him, and continually stresses the difference in their levels, although Stanley is not ashamed that he “was common as dirt”. Therefore, the only way that he can overcome Blanche and restore his authority is to beat her and triumph over her physically, which he eventually does. Although ironically, it is the effect of Stanley and his actions on her mind that finally provokes her downfall.

Finally, Stanley rapes Blanche because “he has tried and tried to keep her down to his level” (Kagan 26) but she cannot go there.  The rape is his way of getting her there.  In the powerful scene where Stanley loses total control of his actions and strikes the person whom he has sworn to protect, love and cherish, William's shows Stanley's lack of control and hatred of the new threat in his life, Blanche.  What makes this scene so important to the topic is the way that the three characters react once the party has broken up.  Blanche is in her usual state of panic; Stella has retreated upstairs, while Stanley stumbles around calling out 'Steeelllaaa' in a drunken sweaty animal-like manner.  Surprisingly Stella answers her mate's calls and embraces him, the two of them exchanging words of compassion and kisses.  Stanley then picks up Stella and carries her off to his den to make love, which is Stanley's way of apologizing.  Stanley has to be the dominant male figure in all his relationships, not only with Stella and Blanche, but with his friends as well.  He is a leader and instantly rises to the challenge whenever his status is threatened.

A Streetcar Named Desire was written by Tennessee Williams in the late 1940s. The play takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana. A Streetcar Named Desire is a tragedy about a Mississippi school teacher, Blanche DuBois, who travels to New Orleans to visit her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski. Throughout this play, Williams displays the destruction of Blanche DuBois’ life by alcoholism, her lust for young boys, and Stanley Kowalski. In this play there are distinct differences between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski’s lifestyles, backgrounds, and personalities. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams portrays two completely opposite ways of life within the characters of Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski. The backgrounds of these two characters play a crucial part in the understanding of the meaning behind this play. Once it is understood where Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski come from, it is much easier to understand the reasoning behind certain events that happen in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Blanche has just lost her last chance to be stable financially, emotionally and physically. The reader can most likely relate on some level with a loss of something once loved. The most shocking parts of the play take place in the last few scenes when Stanley takes out the ultimate aggression and abuse of power on Blanche; he rapes her while her sister is in labor with his child. This is a very hard concept to grasp. How could Stanley be so evil?

The play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams is a story of taboos from the 1950’s. The story begins with the arrival of a young southern belle named Blanche DuBois at her sister’s house in New Orleans. Blanche is forced to relocate there as her father and grandfather squandered what money they had left, to the point of losing of their home estate Belle Reve. As the play continues Blanche develops a relationship with Stanley’s friend Mitch. The addition of Stella’s husband Stanley, Tennessee Williams creates a catalyst to the taboos he desires for his story. As the play continues the stress of the new people and locations force Stella and Stanley to commit Blanche into a mental ward. In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” Tennessee

From the beginning, it is clear that Blanche and Stanley are polar opposites. Stanley is bold, harsh and blunt and is the face of a new changing America, while Blanche is fragile, delicate and elusive and represents a fading genteel society. It is clear the two will find it difficult to coincide and one will have to conquer the other. Stanley’s resentment results in him revealing her hidden scandalous past to Stella, namely that she has had many illicit affairs, including one with her teenage

A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams and performed at La Boite Theatre Company, engages the audience in their successful attempt to relate themes of domestic violence and mental health for a contemporary audience. The audience followed the story of Blanche DuBois as she tried to stay peacefully with her sister and her husband, Stanley. During her stay, she discovers secrets of domestic violence and pregnancy, and has her own secrets dug up by Stanley. This resulted in a bitter end of rape and admittance into a mental institution for Blanche. To achieve immersion into the dramatic meaning of Streetcar Named Desire for a contemporary audience, Todd MacDonald effectively utilised the characterisation of Stella, incorporating

Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire presents a cascade of emotions focusing on Blanche DuBois, who tries to start fresh in New Orleans after losing Belle Reve. Throughout the play, audiences often feel conflicted with Blanche’s role, torn between sympathy for her losses and apathy of her strong sexual urges. One may argue that Blanche is the villain of the story, barging into Stella’s and Stanley’s lives and attempting to convince Stella to leave her husband. However, it is Blanche’s perspective whom Williams chooses to tell the story from. We ride along with Blanche as she makes the trip to visit her sister, resists change from the New South, and lets the tension build up around her. Our sympathies lie around Blanche as she struggles to fit into her sister’s life, tries to withhold some form dignity through mistakes from her past, but ultimately loses all connections around her as she tries to preserve her opinions about the Old South.

Realistically portraying controversial ideas of sexuality, violence, and mental instability, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire was awarded the Pulitzer Prize among others and is known as one of the best dramas in American contemporary literature. This captivating play brings attention to the theme that individuals are never willing to accept the truth which is clearly demonstrated by the protagonist Blanche Dubois, and through multivarious literary elements the theme is illustrated and better comprehended. First and foremost, the literary technique of motif can be used to depict the message of this theme. The concept of light and darkness is brought up continuously throughout the scenes as Blanche Dubois flees from the bright

The complexities and diversities of human relationships can dismantle ones life, and ultimately destroy them. A Streetcar Named Desire explores the complexities and diversities of human relationships through the protagonist, Blanche. Blanche creates relationships with all the characters of the play, but not all of her relationships are smooth and straightforward. In the play, the death of many people in Blanche’s life, results in her alienation and her descent into madness.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” written by Tennessee Williams, introduces a self-centered, southern belle, Blanche DuBois who is exposed to the cruel reality that exists in New Orleans. Blanche, the deceptive picture of purity, is giving an unexpected visit to her sister, Stella, and brother in law, Stanley, who immediately demonstrate some doubts about her staying with them. Throughout the tragic story, Tennessee Williams develops Blanche as having a mental illness, escalated by the loss of family and her home and Stanley’s cruel treatment. Through Blanche DuBois’ prosperous background, insecure actions, and surreptitious manner, she develops as a dynamic character that like a tragic hero she eventually causes her own decline.

A Streetcar named Desire was written by Tennessee Williams, during the restless years following World War II. The play was based on the life of a woman named Blanche Dubois. Blanche was a fragile and neurotic woman, desperate for a place to call her own. She had been exiled from her hometown Laurel, Mississippi after seducing a seventeen year old boy. After this incident, she decided to move to New Orleans with her sister Stella. She claimed she had to move, in result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Her sisters husband, Stanley Kowalski is very suspicious seeing that Blanche seems like an ambitious woman. Therefore, he decides to investigate her. He wanted to make sure

Blanche eagerly wants true acceptance and acknowledgement but never really manages to find it. Williams has portrayed Blanche as a strange woman who lives in her past which is full of mistakes yet longs for a rosy future. According to her, men are the true source of happiness and therefore she never really makes efforts to find her own happiness. Blanche had her own freedom of expression but she was straightforward, rough and outgoing. Stanley was not used to this kind of a personality and he always felt that she was a threat to his authority. He however had realized much earlier that Stanley’s outward appearance is a mere façade that she had created to hide her inner self. But Stanley was smart enough to find out her weak point which was her reality. He therefore decided to destroy Blanche by exposing her real self to the world and as the play proceeds, Stanley’s plan works out pretty much. Both he and Stella slowly move out and surprisingly they start judging her on the basis of her past mistakes like being immoral with

Stella neglects to confront the violent underlying problems in her seemingly content relationship with Stanley, and she sweeps aside reality to keep their marriage intact. Minimizing the magnitude of Stanley’s brutish actions, Stella repeatedly excuses his heathen behavior, and blurs her vision to the animal that is her husband.