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Summary A Streetcar Named Desire: Essay Plans
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Essay Plans (detailed and broken down in accordance with the A0s)
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Essay Plans and PointsA01: Blanche and Stanley are similar in the fact that they both aren’t able to let go of their past
completely.
A02: It’s been said that Blanche and Stanley are opposite to each other, symbolising the Old and New
Souths respectively. Indeed, this interpretation is supported by the costuming in the Exposition of the
play, as whilst Blanche’s ‘white’ and ‘pearls’ coveys her impractical yet delicate nature, Stanley been
‘roughly dressed in blue demine work clothes’ acts as a visual representation to the audience of the
difference between their characterisations. Stanley lacks the delicacy of Blanche, but finds a surplus
of practicality she cannot access, and it’s for this reason that Stanley is able to thrive in the New
American Dream in which ‘luck is believing your lucky.’
A02: However, Williams does not present their character dynamic as binary. Blanche’s dedication to
the Old South is seen through the ascending tricolon which states that she’s willing to ‘die’ for ‘Belle
Reve,’ which acts as a symbol for the beautiful dream of the pre-civil war era. ‘I stayed and fought for
it, bled for it, almost died for it’ is a typical sentiment in Southern American Literature, as Faulkner’s
idea of ‘what was, is,’ neatly summarises the nostalgia some felt for the deeply problematic ways of
the past. Yet, Williams also suggests Stanley is more comfortable in the past, hyper-masculine
atmosphere of the Second World War. This is evidenced in scene 4, in which Blanche assumes Stella
was attracted to him as she ‘saw in in urform, an officer.’
A03: After WWII, when men were able to return after being exposed to horrific conditions and
violence, they were expected to take on the role of father and husband seamlessly. Many struggled
with this transition, which is reflected in the play as Williams ends with the image of Stanley as a
family man, standing beside his wife and new baby, yet his scene 3 abuse of Stella and lack of
memory around it could be interpreted by Williams contemporary audience, who also saw the
atrocities of the war, as an indication his past, like Blanche’s- has been unable to leave him
completely. This is furthered by how after the abuse, the men around him ‘speak quickly and lovingly
to him as he leans his face on one of their shoulders,’ although this could alternatively be suggested to
be men protecting men, and ignoring the abuse of women. The only difference between them is that
after the War, in the post-modern era, Stanley’s overt masculinity- being described as a proud ‘male
bird among the hens’ to highlight his masculine sexuality- was more accepted than Blanche, who
acted as a reminded of the inequality of the past.
A01: However, their character motivations are starkly juxtaposed. The tense character dynamic
between Blanche and Stanley is representative of the battle between realism and figurative
throughout the play, which is even seen in the title of the play.
A02: Scene 2- ‘how pretty the sky is! I ought to go there on a rocket that never comes down.’ This
demonstrates Blanche’s impracticality, with the lexical choice of ‘never’ demonstrating the extent of
her delusion, as well as her desperate want to escape her current reality. This manifest in the setting of
the play, as the use of ‘paper lanterns’ shows her fondness for ‘magic’ distorting realties.
A02: Stanley parodies this figurative approach through his stichomythia dialogue with Stella,
specifically in the dialogue ‘a crown for an empress!’ Their differences are insurmountable, which is
conveyed through how Blanche’s ‘Belle Reve’ is simply ‘the planation’ to Stanley.
A03: During the post-modern era, Stanley’s realism would have seemed more favourable to Williams
contemporary audience, as the war led to decreased interest in unfailingly optimistic plays. However,
modern audiences are better poised to recognise it’s Stella who comes across as a true realistic.
, A02: This is seen in her response ‘a rhinestone tiara she wore to a costume ball,’ as well as her
recognition that Blanche must be protected from realities, otherwise ‘she’ll go to pieces again.’ This
conveys how Stella is the joining of Blanche and Stanley’s juxtaposing natures, and as she is able to
recognise and empathise with both. Although it could be said that the play spans the time frame of her
pregnancy, and thus by the end she aligns fully with Stanley as she has his child, continuing the
legacy of realistic, it could alternatively be said that she is only able to survive in New South realism
through blinding herself. This is seen in how the repetition and vocative case of ‘what have I done to
my sister?’ suggests in Scene 11 she will recognise the role she plays in Blanche’s peripeteia, but she
conforms to the naturalist form of the play by failing to act on this realisation.
A01: Blanche recognises that beauty determines how women are treated within her 1940 society,
which leads to her mental decay.
A02: ‘men don’t -don’t even admit your existence unless they are making love to you.’ The repetition
of ‘don’t’ and implication that she is being subjected to the ‘making love’ conveys how she doesn’t
enjoy the objectification, yet she relies on as ‘I’m fading now.’ Her commodification of her beauty is
suggested to lead to her mental decay in scene 5, when Stella spills soda over her ‘pretty white skirt!’
The emphasis that the costume for the actress should be ‘white’ conveys how the characters purity is
soiled due to her feminine beauty, which is seen through the feminine costuming of the ‘skirt.’
A03: During the 1940s, women were paradoxically praised and criticised for their beauty. This is seen
in the ‘She may look clean, but-’ campaign, in which the government warned American soldiers that
beautiful women being transmitters of STI’s, implying beauty is linked with decay.
A02: This attitude towards women is seen when Mitch states ‘you’re not clean enough to bring in the
house with my mother’ yet still attempts to sexually assault her. This treatment of Blanche leads to the
setting of the apartment taking on a non-corporeal status as the audience can see the Mexican Women
symbolising her fast approaching spiritual death, and this plastic theatre speaks to the mental decay of
Blanche.
A01: Blanche is a fallen Southern Belle.
A02: She is initially presented as a Southern Belle in her scene one costuming, as she wears ‘white’
and ‘pearls,’ connoting her purity and wealth. This is made ‘incongruous’ to the setting to emphasise
her status as a symbol of the past, which cannot be preserved in the heat of the New South.
A03: After the Old South fell due to the civil war, women who were previously prized on their
innocence and adherence to societal expectations could no longer survive from the profits of the
enslaved and had to face reality. This is evidenced in the popularity of Ladies Finishing Schools
diminishing after the civil war, which Williams would have seen himself as his mother was born just
19 years after the end of the war.
A02: Williams complicates the depiction of Blanche as an uncomplicated Southern Belle to conform
of the post-modernist genre (which focused on loneliness, suffering, and disillusionment) popular
during his time and to reflect the reality he saw. This is seen in Blanche’s reoccurring trick of smoking
‘cigs’ with men as a flirting technique throughout the play, which is confided in scene 5 that she does
to protect herself. The sexual connotations of smoking due to the phallic imagery of the prop and the
fact cigarette companies used sexually provocative images to sell their products, an association
Williams contemporary audiences are more likely to pick up on. This suggests that despite her ‘white’
costuming, Blanche is not innocent. This is hinted at when Stanley mocking refers to her as ‘Sister
Blanche,’ and confirmed in scene 9 when she explains her history with sex work.
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