What are some literary devices in A Streetcar Named Desire?
Stereotypes In A Streetcar Named Desire
- Gender Stereotypes In Streetcar Named Desire. ...
- Chopin Literary Devices. ...
- The Conflict Of Gender Roles In Shakespeare's Macbeth. ...
- Blanche Dubois Case Study. ...
- Symbols In Annie John By Jamaica Kincaid. ...
- Medea As A Feminist Tragedy. ...
- Stereotypes In Washington Irving's The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow. ...
- Gender Inequality In The Great Gatsby. ...
Why is it called A Streetcar Named Desire?
Literally, the title, A Streetcar Named Desire, refers to the streetcar Blanche rides into town on. Of course, desire plays a much larger role in the play than that. Desire is why Stella stays with Stanley. After he abuses her she looks forward to the passion they’ll share when they make up.
What is the inciting incident in A Streetcar Named Desire?
Yes, that’s right—the early interactions between Stella and her husband constitute the initial situation of A Streetcar Named Desire. It’s important for us as the reader/audience to see the status quo of the Kowalski's relationship before Blanche shows up and alters it for the duration of the play. Blanche arrives; something is up.
Why did Tennessee Williams write Streetcar Named Desire?
Williams wanted to write a play to depict working-class characters as psychologically-evolved entities; to some extent, Williams tries to portray these blue-collar characters on their own terms, without romanticizing them. Check out this GradeSaver link, http://www.gradesaver.com/a-streetcar-named-desire/study-guide/about/
What is the theme of the play A Streetcar Named Desire?
A Streetcar Named Desire presents a sharp critique of the way the institutions and attitudes of postwar America placed restrictions on women's lives. Williams uses Blanche's and Stella's dependence on men to expose and critique the treatment of women during the transition from the old to the new South.
What is the final message in A Streetcar Named Desire?
During the final scene of "A Streetcar Named Desire," the audience witnesses Stella adopting the delusion that her husband is trustworthy—that he did not, in fact, rape her sister. When Eunice says, "No matter what happens, we've all got to keep going," she is preaching the virtues of self-deception.
WHAT DOES A Streetcar Named Desire symbolize?
The Streetcar Symbol Analysis Williams called the streetcar the “ideal metaphor for the human condition.” The play's title refers not only to a real streetcar line in New Orleans but also symbolically to the power of desire as the driving force behind the characters' actions.
What are some of the modernist themes in the play A Streetcar Named Desire?
A Streetcar Named Desire ThemesSexual Desire. Many critics believe that Williams invented the idea of desire for the 20th century. ... Fantasy and Delusion. ... Interior and Exterior Appearance. ... Masculinity and Physicality. ... Femininity and Dependence.
Why does Blanche go insane at the end of the play?
The play chronicles the subsequent crumbling of Blanche's self-image and sanity. Stanley himself takes the final stabs at Blanche, destroying the remainder of her sexual and mental esteem by raping her and then committing her to an insane asylum.
What mental illness does Blanche DuBois have?
Blanche Dubois' mental state progresses from neurosis through to psychosis.
Why is Blanche's name ironic?
What does Blanche's name mean and why is it ironic? It means white woods. It's ironic because white is pure and she is the farthest from pure.
What does Stanley Kowalski symbolize?
Stanley Kowalski He is loyal to his friends, passionate to his wife, and heartlessly cruel to Blanche. With his Polish ancestry, he represents the new, heterogeneous America. He sees himself as a social leveler, and wishes to destroy Blanche's social pretensions.
What is the significance of the flowers in A Streetcar Named Desire?
"Symbolism associated with daises are purity, innocence, loyal love and beauty. Stella's comment that Blanche is as fresh as a daisy is exactly the image that Blanche strives to maintain. Beautiful and fragile are connotations that can be applied to both."
What is the main conflict in A Streetcar Named Desire?
The central conflict in A Streetcar Named Desire occurs between two people representing disparate social backgrounds, incompatible natures, and opposing approaches to life.
How does Stanley represent reality?
Stanley is associated with light, which indicates him as Blanche's opposite in a power struggle within society. Since the light represents the truth, Stanley is also seen as a symbol of (ugly) reality.
Is desire a theme in literature?
Desire and motivation are essences of good storytelling, and are among the most defining features of literary fiction.
What does the audience see in Streetcar?
The audience of Streeetcar sees both the inside of the Kowalskis’ apartment as well as the street, which emphasizes the tense relationship between what is on the outside and what is on the inside throughout the play. The physical attention to inside versus outside also symbolically demonstrates the complicated relationship between what goes on in the mind versus what occurs in real life. As the play progresses, the split between Blanche ’s fantasy world and…
Who invented the idea of desire?
Many critics believe that Williams invented the idea of desire for the 20th century. The power of sexual desire is the engine propelling A Streetcar Named Desire: all of the characters are driven by “that rattle-trap street-car” in various ways.
What is Blanche's desire in Scene 1?
In Scene One, Blanche takes a streetcar named Desire through Cemeteries to reach Elysian Fields, where Stella and Stanley live. Though the place names are real, the journey allegorically foreshadows Blanche’s mental descent throughout the play. Blanche’s desires have led her down paths of sexual promiscuity and alcoholism, and by coming to stay with the Kowalskis, she has reached the end of the line. Blanche’s desire to escape causes her to lose touch with…
What are Blanche and Stella's relationships?
Both Blanche and Stella define themselves in terms of the men in their lives, and they see relationships with men as the only avenue for happiness and fulfillment. Blanche is a fading Southern belle who clings to coquettish trappings, preferring “magic” and the night to reality and the light of day. She performs a delicate, innocent…
What is Blanche's conception of how she operates in the world?
Much of Blanche’s conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire. Her interactions with men always begin with flirtation. Blanche tells…
What are the three main characters in A Streetcar Named Desire?
The three main characters of A Streetcar Named Desire are sexual . Blanche’s sexuality is decaying and unstable, while Stella, on the other hand, responds to Stanley’s thrown meat of the first scene with a gasp and a giggle, which has clear sexual connotations. The sexual chemistry shared by the Kolwaskis is the foundation of their marriage.
What is Blanche's journey between two worlds?
Journey Between Two Worlds. Blanche journeys between two opposite, but equally inhabitable worlds: Belle Reve, with its emphasis of manners and southern traditions but lost to creditors, and Elysian Fields, with its overt sexuality and “raffish charm”.
What was Blanche's downfall?
Part of Blanche’s downfall has to do with her husband’s homosexuality and being disgusted by it. “A degenerate,” who “wrote poetry,” was the way Stella described him. Blanche, in turn, referred to him as “the boy,” whom she describes as having “a nervousness, a softness, and tenderness which wasn’t like a man’s, ...
What does the lightbulb symbolize in Blanche?
Hence, the lightbulb symbolizes the naked truth, and the lantern symbolizes Blanche’s manipulation of the truth and its impact on the way others perceive her. Frey, Angelica. "'A Streetcar Named Desire' Themes.". ThoughtCo, Jan. 29, 2020, thoughtco.com/a-streetcar-named-desire-themes-4685189.
What is Blanche's desire in the play?
Closely related to the theme above, desire is the central theme of the play. Blanche seeks to deny it, although we learn later in the play that desire is one of her driving motivations; her desires have caused her to be driven out of town. Physical desire, and not intellectual or spiritual intimacy, is the heart of Stella's and Stanley's relationship, but Williams makes it clear that this does not make their bond any weaker. Desire is also Blanche's undoing, because she cannot find a healthy way of dealing with her natural urges - she is always either trying to suppress them or pursuing them with abandon.
What is Blanche's primary means of self-defense?
Blanche dwells in illusion; fantasy is her primary means of self-defense, both against outside threats and against her own demons. But her deceits carry no trace of malice, but rather they come from her weakness and inability to confront the truth head-on. She is a quixotic figure, seeing the world not as it is but as it ought to be. Fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from the tragedies she has had to endure. Throughout the play, Blanche's dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley's steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that win. To survive, Stella must also resort to a kind of illusion , forcing herself to believe that Blanche's accusations against Stanley are false so that she can continue living with her husband.
What does Blanche think of Stanley?
Blanche often speaks of Stanley as ape-like and primitive. Stanley represents a very unrefined manhood, a Romantic idea of man untouched by civilization and its effeminizing influences. His appeal is clear: Stella cannot resist him, and even Blanche, though repulsed, is on some level drawn to him.
How does Stella survive in the past?
Blanche attempts to stay back in the past but it is impossible, and Stella only survives by mixing her DuBois blood with the common stock of the Kowalskis ; the old South can only live on in a diluted, bastardized form.
What are Stella and Blanche's origins?
Stella and Blanche come from a world that is rapidly dying. Belle Reve, their family's ancestral plantation, has been lost, and the two sisters are the last living members of their family and, symbolically, of their old world of cavaliers and cotton fields. Their strain of Old South was not conquered by the march of General Sherman's army, but by the steady march of time, and as Blanche's beauty fades with age so too do these vestiges of that civilization gone with the wind. Blanche attempts to stay back in the past but it is impossible, and Stella only survives by mixing her DuBois blood with the common stock of the Kowalskis; the old South can only live on in a diluted, bastardized form.
What is Blanche's dependence on illusion?
Throughout the play, Blanche's dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley's steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that win.
What is Blanche's need in New Orleans?
And she has never recovered from her tragic and consuming love for her first husband. Blanche is in need of a defender. But in New Orleans, she will find instead the predatory and merciless Stanley.
What is the desire in the play?
Desire and destruction form a toxic cocktail that influences the motivations and actions of the play's four major characters. Blanche, Stanley, Stella, and Mitch are driven by a variety of desires, including the need for romance, sex, power, or self-protection. The word desire is in the play's title for a reason: the desires ...
Why is the word "desire" in the title of the play?
The word desire is in the play's title for a reason: the desires of these characters almost always lead to their destruction and to the destruction of those around them. Death as well as desire and destruction are tangled together for Blanche because of two major tragedies in her life.
What happened to Blanche in Belle Reve?
She is haunted by the death of her young husband, whom she loved, and by the loss of her beloved family estate, Belle Reve. Blanche was shocked to discover her husband's true sexual desires (he was a homosexual), and her inability to accept him leads to his suicide.
Why does Stella choose illusion over truth?
In the end, however, Stella chooses illusion over truth in order to preserve her marriage, refusing to believe that Stanley raped Blanche.
What does Stella love?
Stella loves both Blanche and Stanley. She desires to keep the peace, but in the end Stella is forced to choose between her sister and her husband. With a new baby to care for, she sides with her husband. Stella's desire to maintain both relationships, therefore, ends in frustration and torment for her.
What does Mitch want in Blanche?
Mitch desires a nice wife. He falls for Blanche's Southern belle affectations and becomes infatuated with her. However, when Mitch finds out the truth about Blanche's past, he becomes disillusioned and bitter and their relationship is destroyed. He ends up a broken man, whose desires have been shattered.
What is the relationship between Stella and Blanche?
Stella and Blanche live in a time when women were expected to be dependent on men, both financially and emotionally, and both women suffer as a result. In fact this dependence dictates the course of their lives. The death of her young husband and the loss of her family home have made Blanche especially vulnerable. Blanche is fixated on finding a man to protect her. Indeed Blanche sees this goal as necessary for her survival. When her last hope of marrying Mitch is destroyed, Blanche becomes hysterical, consumed by the panic of facing life without a man.
Why did Tennessee Williams use stage directions?
Tennessee Williams uses many stage directions to allow the reader or watcher to be able to read his thoughts. Williams wrote both the play in 1947 and the …show more content…. In the beginning of the story, she tells Stanley, “You lay your hands on me and I’ll…” but is cut off by getting hit by her husband, in front of all their friends. ...
What is the story of No Name Woman about?
The author claims that the story came along with a taboo, as it describes woman suffering, rape, how to keep a marriage going or end it, illegitimate birth, death of a mother and a child. In No Name Woman, near the fields around the author’s house, Kingston’s aunt was raped while her husband was in America.
Why is Stella trapped in her marriage?
Stella is trapped in her marriage, because she allows it. She wants a fairytale ending with her husband and child, and decides to stay with him regardless of his …show more content…. In the movie, she is more crazy than I could have even imagined.
What is the color purple about?
That all changes when she meets Shug Avery, an ex-lover of Celie’s husband. A woman whom she has been infatuated with for a long time. Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple is about a girl named Celie.
Who is Loureen's neighbor in Trifles?
Trifles Feminist Analysis. Still in a fit of anxiety, Loureen calls her neighbor, Florence, and tells her to rush over. Loureen confides in Florence, who knows of her problems with domestic abuse and can relate to them herself, that she has killed her husband.
Criticism
- Many critics believe that Williams invented the idea of desire for the 20th century. The power of sexual desire is the engine propelling A Streetcar Named Desire: all of the characters are driven by that rattle-trap street-car in various ways.
Behavior
- Much of Blanches conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire. Her interactions with men always begin with flirtation. Blanche tells
Synopsis
- In Scene One, Blanche takes a streetcar named Desire through Cemeteries to reach Elysian Fields, where Stella and Stanley live. Though the place names are real, the journey allegorically foreshadows Blanches mental descent throughout the play. Blanches desires have led her down paths of sexual promiscuity and alcoholism, and by coming to stay with ...
Themes
- The audience of Streeetcar sees both the inside of the Kowalskis apartment as well as the street, which emphasizes the tense relationship between what is on the outside and what is on the inside throughout the play. The physical attention to inside versus outside also symbolically demonstrates the complicated relationship between what goes on in the mind versus what occu…
Characteristics
- Masculinity, particularly in Stanley, is linked to the idea of a brute, aggressive, animal force as well as carnal lust. His brute strength is emphasized frequently throughout, and he asserts dominance aggressively through loud actions and violence. Even his clothing is forceful: he dresses in bright, lurid colors. Stanleys masculinity is deeply connected to the sub-human. Williams describes hi…
Analysis
- Blanche and Stella demonstrate two different types of femininity in the play, yet both find themselves dependent on men. Both Blanche and Stella define themselves in terms of the men in their lives, and they see relationships with men as the only avenue for happiness and fulfillment. Blanche is a fading Southern belle who clings to coquettish trappings, preferring magic and the …
Homosexuality
Journey Between Two Worlds
Light, Purity, and The Old South
Sexuality and Desire
- The three main characters of A Streetcar Named Desire are sexual. Blanche’s sexuality is decaying and unstable, while Stella, on the other hand, responds to Stanley’s thrown meat of the first scene with a gasp and a giggle, which has clear sexual connotations. The sexual chemistry shared by the Kolwaskis is the foundation of their marriage. “But th...
Madness
Symbols: The Naked Lightbulb and The Paper Lantern
Desire, Destruction, and Death
Truth Versus Illusion
- Stella and Blanche come from a world that is rapidly dying. Belle Reve, their family's ancestral plantation, has been lost, and the two sisters are the last living members of their family and, symbolically, of their old world of cavaliers and cotton fields. Their strain of Old South was not conquered by the march of General Sherman's army, but by t...
Repression and Dependence
Class Differences
Passion and Sexuality