A streetcar named desire

Introduction

Tennessee Williams vividly describes mid-twentieth century New Orleans, as he perceived it, through his play 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. His primary goal in the first scene seemed to be to portray the vast difference between the inhabitants of a city, New Orleans, and the more country-inclined folk, like the main character, Blanche Dubois. However in order to effectively do this, he was sure to set a striking scene.

Streetcar Named Desire contains more within its characters, situations, and story than appears on its surface. Symbolism and interesting characters are widely used in order to involve the audience.

Background

The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire alone does not captivate the attention. What makes people watch this movie in “one breath” are brilliant and intriguing characters who make a person truly understand the movie's meaning. It also presents a continuous flow of raw, realistic moods mixed with a world of fantasies in which a cruel reality does not seem to be so terrifying. Altogether, the symbolism, characters, mood, and fantasy world make this movie unique. (Ebert, Pp 34-37)

Blanche DuBois is the most fascinating character in A Streetcar Named Desire. One reason is that she has an absolutely brilliant way of making reality seem like fantasy, and making fantasy seem like reality. This element of Blanche's personality is what makes her character interesting to the audience. The scene in which Blanche explains to Stanley that she received a wire and that her “cavalier” is taking her on a cruise is just one more example of her being lost between her desires and a cruel reality. For Blanche, living in her dreams is the best way of escaping situations she does not find pleasant. Her imagination does not stop there: when the situation becomes more wounding than she can take, she totally drowns in a world of her dreams. In that world, she becomes what she always wanted: an illusory lady surrounded with people full of respect for her.

The scene in which she wears a diamond tiara and admires her reflection in the mirror best reflects her ability to distance herself from the real world of pain and humiliation to which she is exposed by Stanley's cruelty. Her ability to cope with a harsh life by seeing the world through pink glasses is what makes the audience startled with her character.

Another example, taken from the same passage is; 'The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue…' Once again we see the over-shadowing of a negative phrase 'the dim white building' by a positive one, 'a peculiarly tender blue.' It is not merely imagery that Williams uses to draw the audience into the play. He also describes the smells the characters would encounter; '…faint redolences of bananas and coffee.' These two smells on their own would be very open to individual interpretation were it not for the words preceding it. The author's choosing of 'faint' over alternatives such as 'hanging' or 'intrusive' and 'redolences' as opposed ...