Streetcar Named Desire Blue Piano

The reader may view Blanche as someone who tried to escape her sordid past in Laurel and wanted to start a new life with her sister, yet due to the continuous investigations from Stanley, was unable to do so. Stanley reveals Blanches’ lies and deceits, commenting on them as her ‘same old act, same old hooey!’ This tells the reader that his research of Blanches’ past is way of stopping her from finding a new life. Blanche attempts to redeem her life by finding love with Mitch, yet Stanley again reveals to Mitch that she was not ‘straight’, resulting in Mitch not wanting to be with her and also contributing to her fate. Stanley, after mercilessly divulging all her truths and bringing her to the edge of her mental capacity, rapes Blanche which brought about her final collapse. The reader may view Stella as someone at blame for her sisters’ fate, as though she shows some moral support of Blanches’ situation and listens to what she has to say, Stella continuously throughout the play neglects to notice Blanches slow mental deterioration and ignores Blanches’ outcries and incessant need for attention. Stella chooses Stanley over Blanche, despite her warnings about him being ‘volatile, violent and sub-human which represents not

Throughout the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses blue piano and polka music to depict different emotions. The blue piano illustrates passion, while the polka is used to represent Blanche's depressing feeling and her threatening experience. In the opening stage directions, Tennessee Williams states, "the blue piano expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here". Not only is New Orlean a cosmopolitan city with easy intermingling of races, it is also a lively place where the voices of people can be heard on top of the music. Furthermore on page 65, the blue piano is present in Stanley's reunion with Stella. Even though the moment is not joyful to an outsider, to Stanley and Stella, their reunion represents hope to better

The "Blue Piano" playing from the nearby saloon functions much like a score would in a movie. It is a form of mood setter. The music is deliberate and does not occur in every scene but rather in intense situations for instance in scene..... where Blanche and Stella discusses the loss of Belle Reeve. It signals danger and conflict such as the rape scene. The "Blue Piano" is introduced in the first stage direction setting the tone for the genre of the play, a tragedy, since it brings up connotations to the idiom "feeling blue", an unhappy state of mind. The choice of music is also true to the setting. "In this part of New Orleans you are practically always around the corner, or a few doors down the street, from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers. This "Blue Piano" expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here" (p.1778). New Orleans is described as a "cosmopolitan" (p.1778) city because of the majorly liberal attitude its inhabitants have to interracial associations.

taking her back to her past. Then later on in the evening the tune can

     Another key element in the story is the blue piano. Whenever this piano is heard playing during the play it signifies that Stanley has had a victory over Blanche in some way. The blue piano also signifies that Blanches illusion is begging to unravel. The reality of Blanches situation becomes apparent to Stanley who then tries to expose Blanche for what she really

Chopin uses the first hand description of Adele from Edna as a literary comparison to previous descriptions of Adele, allowing insight into Edna’s own perceptions and changing world view.

At the beginning of the play, there is an equilibrium, Stanley and Stella have been living happily together in Elysian Fields, however the arrival of Blanche acts as a catalyst and immediately she begins to challenge their way of life with her values.

“Stella has embraced him with both arms, fiercely, and full in the view of Blanche. He laughs and clasps her head to him. Over her head he grins through the curtains at Blanche.” (Williams 73) A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams exemplifies the theme of a struggle to attain happiness. The play not only portrays this theme in its characters and setting, but through the literary devices of Foil, Imagery, and Intertextuality. Williams took great care in applying each of these literary device techniques to the theme as he presents an intriguing contrast between Blanche and Stanley, vivid images both animalistic and broken, and imploring the use of the Odyssey to further

Established as one of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams used his writing as a form of therapy. The author came from a troubled background consisting of alcoholism, mental breakdowns, and general unhappiness; Williams exploited these unfortunate events and allowed them to motivate his literature. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois’ struggles represent the reality of people’s lives, “an enduring concern of [Williams’] throughout his writing career (Henthorne 1). Blanche captures our focus with her seemingly sincere and fragile nature, but it is later revealed that this is just an illusion within her own mind. She resides in a world of fantasy to shield herself against the harsh threats of reality and her own fears. Blanche’s main objective in the play is to keep herself from falling apart in a world of cruelty through alcoholism and illusion. Through the characterization of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams depicts the coping mechanism of fantasy and its detrimental repercussions by exploring the specific experiences that eventually impede her happiness.

Blanches’ emotional state of mind is also conspicuous at the start of the play as she circumvents direct light, fearful of showing her fading looks and the light would make her vulnerable to the truth. Blanche is unable to withstand harsh light, calling the light a ‘merciless glare’(S1:pg.120*) because with Allan’s death, the light had gone out of her life and the effect this had is that she wanted dim lights hiding the reality of her painful memories. This links to the theme of dream and reality as Blanche, a delicate character, refused ‘to accept the reality of her life and attempts to live under illusion’ (*2), living on the borders of life similar to a moth which creates the image of Blanches’ fragility.

Stella, too, is a major character who lives in a world of hopes and fantasies. Stella’s tears over her sister as Blanche was taken away at the end of play reveals that Stella’s fantasies have been crushed by Stanley’s brutality. Stella calls her sister, “Blanche! Blanche! Blanche!”(142) , as if she does not want to let go of her sister. In spite of the fact that Stanley tried to justify and to relief her, Stella knows that something acquitted and abandoned had banished. She knows that her happy and humble world and her sister’s hopes had gone. Through her fantasy world, she thinks she could keep her sister for ever, but fantasy does not always work and makes life appear as it should be rather than what reality is. Also, Blanche imagines the doctor as a gentleman who is going to rescue her from a life that she imagines it as a life that does not want to accept her. Blanche finishes the play by saying, “Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (142). Blanche’s irony is demonstrated for two reasons. First of all, the doctor is not a gentleman; he came to take her to a mental health care. Second of all, strangers are not kind to her; they are kind only for trade of sex. Instead, they feel sympathy for her for creating a world where she is the victim. Blanche never perceives stranger’s kindness as something that people take advantage of. Instead, she thinks that Stanley is the one who does not treat her well, although he wanted

In the opening two scenes of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams, the audience has its first and generally most important impressions formulated on characters, the plot and the mood and tone of the play overall.

The darkness all begins when Blanche arrives at Stella’s apartment after her family home was lost. Stanley initially doesn’t trust Blanche and thinks she swindled Stella out of her share of the family home to pay off her own debts. The two are sisters and immediately Blanche begins to criticize their apartment because of coming from a high-class place. This immediately bothers Stanley and he becomes agitated with Blanche since they have taken her in and let her stay in their home. This adds issue between the characters right away because of both of their backgrounds. Blanche come from money and Tennessee Williams quotes “Her appearance is incongruous to the setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district.” This is all build the plot showing contrast in difference in the two characters right away, the darkness begins to come upon Blanche.

One of the ways Williams plays on illusion is in his use of diegetic and non-diegetic music. In the first set of stage directions at the start of the play it reads ‘blue piano expresses the spirit of life’ in New Orleans as the music echoes through the streets of this diverse and vibrant city. Throughout the play, the blue piano appears when Blanche is talking about the loss of her family and Belle Reve, and is also present during her meeting and kissing the young newspaper man. The blue piano thus stands for Blanche’s loneliness and longing for youth and the past. The Varsouviana is also used to represent Blanche, but in a different way.

Tennessee Williams' Use of Dramatic Devices To Create Contrast And Conflict In "A Streetcar Named Desire"