English Literature Pearson Edexcel
Unit 1: Drama, Paper 1
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams
Essay Plan for theme of Death & Decay
AO1 (Understanding), AO2 (Analysis) & AO3 (Context)
Throughout the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ the theme of death and decay is exemplified
through the character Blanche DuBois. Over the course of the play the audience can see Blanche’s
downfall, mental and physical decay and her metaphorical death at the hands of Stanley through
Williams’ use of plastic theatre and expressionism. Within the play Blanche represents the Old South
and the southern genteel, agricultural way of life, conversely Stanley represents the New America a
place of diversity and work. By entering New Orleans, a metaphorical melting pot of people of
different cultures, Blanche is doomed to decay, on a streetcar led on tracks with no alternate ending
or destination and will metaphorically die as she fails to conform to the way of life.
Point 1: Blanche from the moment she entered New Orleans was doomed to decay and ultimately
experience a metaphorical death.
Quotes:
‘The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue…gracefully
attenuates the atmosphere of decay’ – the abstract noun ‘atmosphere’ and the noun ’decay’
suggests that the setting of the play reflects the theme of decay and foreshadows Blanches
decay and eventual metaphorical death within New Orleans..
‘They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries
and ride six blocks and get off at--Elysian Fields’
‘She couldn't stay here; there wasn't no other place for her to go’
Context:
New Orleans was a ‘melting pot’ of people of different ethic cultures and background.
Blanche does not fit in and holds herself above the people of New Orleans like Stanley and
Eunice.
Point 2: Throughout the course of the play Blanche’s decay can be seen in her experiences before
arriving at New Orleans and witnessing the deaths of her family and her husband Allan. These
memories exacerbate her decay through her inability to move away from the past, this is reflective of
the decay of the Old South.
Quotes:
‘All of those deaths!... And funerals are pretty compared to deaths.’
After the death of Allan--intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty
heart with’
Context:
The Old South decayed over time due to their inability to move with the times as the North
did with the move away from agriculture to industrialisation. Blanche represents the
southern genteel aristocracy with the reliance of slaves /indentures servants whereas
Stanley represents the North’s new world of work.
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