Explore the presentation of death and desire in A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee
Williams. You must make reference to contextual factors.
In his 1947 tragedy “A Streetcar Named Desire,” many of Tennessee Williams’ characters use
the repression of desire to assert identity and feel belonging within the play’s setting in
post-WWII New America. Williams presents both desire and the repression of desire as the
hamartia of his characters, leading them to be haunted by their inescapable pasts and guiding
them to their eventual demise, in the case of some - death.
Williams explores the presentation of death by conveying how it preys on the most vulnerable
individuals of society, exemplified through the tragic demise of Allan Grey and the subsequent
guilt and descent into madness experienced by Blanche. Her description of Allan’s feminine
qualities, such as “nervousness, softness, and tenderness,” underscores his lack of physical
aggression within his character and emphasizes the adversity he faced due to his fragile nature.
However, the vagueness of Blanche’s recollection reflects the extent of her denial, bringing light
to issues of the past and the victims created by society’s heteronormative codes. Blanche
employs ambiguous nouns to describe Allan, repeatedly referring to him as a “boy,” connoting
inexperience and reflecting on Allan’s weaknesses: he would never become a man due to his
sexual repression. This could alternatively be read as Blanche feeling emotionally stunted by
Allan’s death. Blanche goes on to reveal that “he’d stuck a revolver in his mouth and fired, so
that the back of his head had been - blown away!” Blanche’s fragmented syntax expresses the
ongoing distress felt by Allan’s death and the use of colloquial language highlights how
emotionally stunted she has become - her usually flamboyant and crafted diction has now been
reduced to an unrefined expression of anguish, reflecting the remains of her once sophisticated
facade. The stark transformation of Blanche’s language marks the fragmentation of her psyche,
following the exposing of her carefully constructed past. Stella’s labeling of Allan as a
“degenerate” during a confrontation with Stanley implicitly references homosexuality, exposing
the repressive era of the 1940s in America, where sexual freedom could not be asserted or
expressed by homosexuals. Through this characterisation of Allan, Williams may be reflecting
on his own transgressive desires which were frowned upon by society, similarly to how Blanche
rejects her husband’s true identity. Blanche recalls how Allan was “in the quicksands and
clutching at me,” resulting in her “slipping in with him.” Here Williams evidences through
metaphorical language that Allan’s death acts as a catalyst for Blanche’s mental deterioration
throughout the play. The metaphor of “quicksand” conveys how they are both inescapably
sinking, highlighting the inevitability of Allan’s death but also conveying how society disposes of
those who oppose the societal codes of normativity, non-transgressive expressions of sexual
desire). Blanche highlights her destructive nature but simultaneously concludes that Allan is
ultimately deceived by his own illusion. The recurring motif of the Varsouviana polka, a form of
plastic theater, is utilized by Williams to represent Allan’s lingering presence and mental torment
for Blanche, ultimately resolved in the punishment of madness. This illustrates how death
chases the most fragile, and in this case, it is Blanche’s repressed shame and trauma that
positions her in this state. The “polka music sounding in a minor key” evokes dissonance and
inner turmoil as Allan, who cannot freely be who he desires, destroys others in the process. The
transition to a “major key” signifies Allan’s capacity to embrace his authentic sexual orientation
