Presents the plays ending
The plays ending represents Blanches ‘moral death’, and Williams does this through exploring Blanche as a modern
Aristotelian tragic hero. The convention of an Aristotelian tragic hero is that the hero can evoke pity or fear within the
audience, individuals who are flawed and create great misfortune that lead to their downfall. Williams employs this trop
and subsequently uses the play as a social commentary to criticise the social circumstances that have led to her demise.
The last scenes in the play focus on Blanches declining mental stability, creating sympathy as the audience sees how
Blanche has fully retreated into her delusions as a source of comfort. As Blanche rushes to the bathroom in Scene 11,
‘Lurid reflections appear on the wall.... The Varsouviana is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and
noises of the jungle’. The motif of the Varsouviana reflects Blanches mental instability and descent into madness,
Williams uses this in conjunction with animalistic imagery of the jungle, which Blanche repeatedly linked to Stanley. This
reflects how Stanley has ultimately led to Blanches fate.
William's presentation of Stanley can be linked to the literary tradition of the Southern Gothic, which attempted to
romanticise the decaying South of America following the civil war in the mid-19th century. His representation of Stanley
as ‘barbaric’ can reflect the attitude Williams took towards the rising working class in the North, which was facing mass
economic growth whilst the South was experiencing decline. This decision on William's part was one aiming to preserve
the South.
The plays ending further explores the abusive and dependent relationship Stanley and Stella have for one another.
Stanley and Stellas relationship is characterised by both sexual desire and violence.
Stella informs Blanche she is ‘thrilled’ by Stanleys violent actions “He smashed all the light bulbs with the heel of my
slipper!..I was sort of thrilled.” The word choice of ‘sort of’, implies uneasy about it, as though Stella isn’t sure whether
she enjoys the relationship she is in. However, in scene 11 after Stella has given birth to Stanleys child, she makes the
choice to stay with him, rejecting Blanches story because she, ‘couldn’t believe her story and go on’. As Blanche is taken
to the psychiatric hospital, Stella sobs with ‘inhuman abandon’, as Stanley ‘kneels beside her and his fingers find the
opening of her blouse’. Stanley uses sexual advances as a means to comfort Stella when she needs to, and it is unlike she
will reject him due to her dependency on him.
Women in the 1940’s were expected to be docile homemakers, who couldn’t reject their husbands advances, or leave, a
domestic violence was confined to the private sphere of the home.
AO3:
The plays ending also serves as a point of contention for audiences, influencing how the play has been represented to
some. Williams collaborated on the screenplay of the 1951 film, which did make a significant change to the ending. As
Blanche is led away, Stella abruptly decides to leave Stanley. The twist was dictated by the film industry, which
demanded that Stanley be punished in some way for the rape. The plays true ending is meant to be much darker, with
Steve announcing it is a ‘seven card stud’, which is a form of poker, a game of deception. This can represent many things
but namely that each character within the narrative is trapped in a form of deception and lies. It can also be
representative of life continuing as normal, with the game continuing in spite of Blanches absence. There is a tension
between the audience wanting to Stanley punished, and the inevitability of the rise of new people like Stanley in this
‘new America’
Representative of Old/New South?
Presents minor characters
Minor characters can best be explored in relation to Blanches character development, as her attachment to individuals,
real or imagined can link to her own narrative, linking her past and future.
AO1: Although Alan Gray is never in the play, his omnipresence is a symbol of Blanches mental
, instability, which is expressed through the use of the expressionist Varsouviana Polka.
AO2: Varsouviana Polka: Blanche begins to lose her tenuous grasp on reality through the
"Varsouviana polka” in Scene 7, only diegetic for Blanche and symbolic of her inability to escape
her past. Once Blanche begins to drink the polka plays “feverishly" and this aural dissonance
implies her psychological collapse.
AO3: Williams perceived the visible and audible components of theatre to be able to illustrate
the psychological decline of his protagonist, Blanche, to a contemporary audience. Reminiscent
of the Expressionist techniques and Plastic Theatre he uses later in the play, Williams uses
dramatic irony in the presentation of the Varsouviana polka tune to symbolise Blanche's growing
delirium and foreshadow her descent into insanity, which arises from her delusional wish to
conceal her past.
AO3: Williams dramatizing the closet + sister Rose’ schizophrenia + why Williams aligned w plastic theatre in the first
place
AO1: The young man is a collector for the newspaper, he is stopped by Blanche who steals a kiss from him. Symbolically,
the young man embodies Blanche's obsession with young boys, which in turn originates from her obsession with Allan
Grey. Blanche's attitude and approach toward this young man reflect all her past affairs with young soldiers and boys,
including the 17-year-old student in her school.
AO2: “Now run along, now, quickly! It would be nice to keep you, but I've got to be good--and keep my hands off
children.” -> Lack of care for consent, with the idiom ‘keep my hands off’ being insidious to the audience, particularly of
a modern audience.
Blanches affinity for young boys can further reflect her descent into madness and a psychological desperation to relive
her youth, as it was the last time she was truly happy; . This age regression always occurs at points in the narrative
where she is trying to control others perception of herself. This therefore explains her affinity to the young man, with
Blanche revealing to Stella that she hasn’t told Mitch about her age, thinking it would lead him to want her to ‘put out’.
This comment is ironic considering Blanches continual sexual escapades before the plays beginning.
AO3: Williams as Blanche
AO1: The symbol of the Mexican woman is ultimately to foreshadow Blanche’s impending doom. She foretells Blanche's
future and acts as a trigger for Blanche's mental breakdown. This breakdown reveals to the audience more about
Blanche's past. Blanche reflects on all the death she has witnessed in flashes of memory almost like a stream of
consciousness. She does not function as a character, as she does not help advance the plot, but she is used symbolically
AO2: The Mexican flower-seller appears on Blanche's doorstep saying "Flores para los Muertos, ”which translates to
"Flowers for the dead.". This frightens Blanche who slams the door and then sinks into her disturbed mind, reliving her
grim past. Similarly in Scene 10, as Blanche argues with Mitch the call of ‘Flores’ repeats as she explains the
psychological impacts of the deaths in Belle Reeve. The Staccato'd speech created by the use of “-” and “...” creates
tension
AO3: Both haunting symbolic characters are POC, this is significant in terms of race relations at the time of publication,
considering that civil rights movement hadn't started + the racism associated with the Southern America.
Presents death/desire/mortality
Death and desire are inherently linked within the play, with Williams crafting these ideas as leading to the demise of the
vulnerable.
A Streetcar named Desire is a ‘single setting play’ or an “Aristotelian tragedy”, meaning that all of the play's events
happen in one setting, there is one plotline, and it takes place in an established time period. This draws more attention t
the setting itself and the dramatic symbolism it has. Setting as a means to explore death and desire
, Elysian field is the catalyst for Blanches downfall, with its name referring to the resting place for heroes in Greek mythos
foreshowing the mental death she suffers from at the hands of Stanley.
Blanches arrival to Elysian fields is presented as almost fatalistic, as she arrives in a “streetcar named desire” and
transfers to a streetcar called “cemeteries”. The journey holds significance of a figurative level, with the ‘Cemeteries” ca
connoting death whilst the “Desire” car represents desire of all kinds, whether it be sexual, romantic, escapist. The fact
Blanche had to use both cars to get to her destination shows how death and desire will lead to her fatalistic downfall.
Literary critics have viewed that Blanches characterisation has been inspired, to an extent, by William's himself, with
Blanches struggle with sexual desire, alcoholism mental decline reflecting Williams own substance abuse issues,
homosexuality and mental illness. Friends of his told writers that he also suffered repeatedly from delusions, referring to
himself as “Blanche DuBois”.
Stellas characterisation and thus, symbolic demise, is explored through her relationship with Stanley. Stella appears to b
so consumed and blinded by her desire for Stanley that she ignores not only his brutish rape of her sister ("I couldn't
believe her story and go on living with Stanley", Scene 10) but also Stanley's physical assault on herself.
In Scene 3, Williams reveals how machoistic exploitation is interlaced with sexual desire in Stanley and Stella's marriage.
The stage directions indicate that "Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh" proleptically underlining the
notion that the sexualised male gaze drives their relationship. From the harsh onomatopoeic verb "whack" to the
pornification of her "thigh”, Williams gives us an insight into the objectification of women in the masculine space in
1940's America.
The stage directions indicate that "Stanley charges after Stella" in another display of male dominance/ violence. Even
after the unforgivable chaos of Scene 3, Stella has a "narcotized tranquillity" about her, as their sexual desire is all that is
remembered. She is in fact thrilled and aroused by his bestial qualities, justifying herself by asserting that "there are
things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark" and that this was nothing - he actually "smashed all the
light-bulbs with the heel of my slipper!" on her wedding night. Her exclamatory language in the latter justification
especially signals the twisted appreciation she has for his toxic and violent demonstrations of masculinity - she appears t
be proud of his excessive physicality.
AO3: Williams + Pancho y Rodreguiz
The ostracization of anybody who doesn't display hegemonic masculinity (in this case due to Allan's homosexuality) is
clear through the damning of Blanche's late husband Allan Gray. Allan never appears in the play; he is simply a symbol o
her traumatic past. Many psychologists and psychiatrists in 1940's America, including the American Psychiatric
Association, considered homosexuality a mental illness or even a sociopathic personality disturbance. Many argue that
his elimination from the play is rooted in his outward defiance to social norms of heterosexuality and machoistic
exploitation, exposing the true stagnancy and progressive facade of this New South society. These horrific attitudes
towards homosexuality are revealed at various moments. Stella, for examples, describes Allan as a “beautiful and
talented young man" but also a mere "degenerate" (Scene Seven) - the latter appellation on the basis of his sexuality.
This term reveals her deep moral disgust for gay people. Williams further employes colour imagery to show vulnerable
characters such as Blanche, Stella and Allan when compared to men such as Stanley and Mitch. Blanche is routinely
associated with ‘white’, a colour that connotes fragility, Stella is associated with celestial imagery of ‘stars’, which shine
bright, yet pale yellow, and Allan Grey is associated with grey, a colour that exists in limbo between other shades. This is
a direct contrast to the ‘lurid’ colours associated with the poker scene. Through her remark and his use of imagery,
Williams exposes the lack of progression in the New South; It is these discriminatory views that inhibit social mobility,
allowing only white heterosexual, alpha males the privilege of the American Dream.
Presents isolation: Regardless of power, characters are isolated from one another or from society at large
Blanche as isolated
Ao1: Blanche is geographically isolated from her home of Laurel, Mississippi due to both death and desire. Further links
to the dramatic presentation of those themes as intertwined and directing the play.
Ao2: The trouble with Dame Blanche was that she couldn't put on her act any more in Laurel!......And as time went by
she became a town character. Regarded as not just different but downright loco--nuts. (Scene 7)
This symbolised Blanches increasing ostracization in the face of society for trying to cope with her losses.
Blanches turning to sex as a source of comfort has left her isolated from others
Cont.: Further supported by Blanches arrival to Elysian fields which is presented as almost fatalistic, as she arrives in a
“streetcar named desire” and transfers to a streetcar called “cemeteries”. The journey holds significance of a figurative
