Explore how Williams portrays the rise of a new social order in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.
In Tennessee Williams’ tragedy, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Williams uses a range of
techniques to portray a new social order in which traditional values surrounding class,
heritage and the duty of a woman are being abandoned. Arguably, Williams intentionally
chooses the progressive setting of New Orleans for it’s synesthetic “intermingling of races”,
sights and “redolence’s”: the ideal location for the rise of new social ideas in the 1940’s when
the play was set and written. Having lived in the French Quarter himself, Williams is familiar
with the setting and so would be able to portray ideas that would resonate with the audience
as being accurate and truthful. He employs the play’s protagonist, Blanche, as a faded symbol
of the Old South, who can’t comprehend how much of their lavish “bringing up” her sister has
“forgotten”. The Antebellum South was an economy prior to the American Civil War that
heavily relied on slave run plantations like Belle Reve, Blanche’s ancestral home. Following
the abolition of slavery and the popularity of the new American dream, the plantations fell
into disrepair and the Old South began to crumble. In opposition to the ideals of the Old
South, Williams uses the play’s antagonist, Stanley Kowalski, as a symbol of the new social
order. Consequently, the loss of Belle Reve and Stanley’s eventual defeat of Blanche – ending
with her implied institutionalisation – conveys to the audience that a new social order will
prevail over outdated ideas of class hierarchy and women.
In the introduction of the tragedy, Williams’ description of Blanche in her introductory stage
directions makes it clear that - as a fading Southern Belle – she has no place the progressive
and culturally diverse setting of New Orleans. Consequently, (as a representative of the Old
South and the old social order where the upper class ruled the lower classes), Blanche being
“incongruous to this setting” portrays and promotes the rise of a new social order. In the rich
and detailed opening stage directions, Williams affectionately describes the cosmopolitan city
of New Orleans. An anthropomorphic description of the “warm breath of the brown river”
and the “easy intermingling of races” creates the impression that the city itself is alive and
thriving under a progressive social order. Following this, Williams’ intentional use of plastic
theatre results in Blanche being “daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice”, with an
“uncertain manner… that suggests a moth”. Here the nouns “white” and “fluffy” suggest that
Blanche wants to appear innocent and gentle. The glamour of her outfit also betrays that she
is accustomed to gentility and respectability of the Old South, which has no place amongst
the blue-collar workers of New Orleans. Williams uses a simile to liken Blanche to a moth. By
stating that “her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light”, Williams arguably foreshadows
the painful downfall that Blanche will endure by seeking what she desires in New Orleans, in
the same way that a moth is burned by a flame. The implication that Blanche’s old-fashioned
ideals will not survive undoubtably portrays to the audience that a new social order has risen,
which favours more progressive ideas. Furthermore, the life and liveliness of the setting are
in complete juxtaposition to Blanche who, throughout the play, is haunted by her leitmotif:
polka music (The Varsouviana) that symbolises death. In scene eleven, Williams uses
expressionism to great effect as “The ‘Varsouviana’ rises as Blanche enters the bedroom”.
Consequently, Blanches association with the theme death serves as a reminder to the
audience that Blanches beautiful dream and, by proxy, the beautiful dream of the Old South
is has been killed by the new social order.
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