A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
FAST FACTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR
• Born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi on March 26,
1911.
• 1937: completed English degree at the University of Iowa.
• Moved to New Orleans, LA at age 28 where he changed his name to
Tennessee and came out as a gay man.
• Awarded his first Pulitzer Prize for Streetcar Named Desire in 1948.
• Awarded a Tony award for the screenplay, The Rose Tattoo, in 1951.
• Awarded second Pulitzer Prize for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955.
• Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.
• Died on February 25, 1983 at age 71 in New York City.
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SWEET HOME MISSISSIPPI
The photograph above features Williams’
childhood home in Columbus, MS. Williams
moved with his family to St. Louis, MO during
his early teenage years where he spent the
majority of his young adult life.
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Clipart provided by etc.usf.edu
Photo courtesy of www.preservationnation.org
MOST SIGNIFICANT WORKS
Photo courtesy of
goodreads.com
Photo courtesy of
students.cis.uab.edu
Photo courtesy of
students.cis.uab.edu
The Glass Menagerie (1944)
A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
The Rose Tattoo (1951)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (1957)
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Photo courtesy of
Image courtesy of www.rankopedia.com
BACKGROUND ON THE PLAY:
•
Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier
Williams) first published “A
Streetcar” in 1947
•
Tragedy: Depicts the downfall of a
hero or heroine. Tragic plots tend
to stress order and process.
•
Set in New Orleans in the French
Quarter.
•
Williams won the Pulitzer Prize in
1948 for this play.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
Williams’ Pulitzer Prize winning
play, A Streetcar Named Desire,
shifted from the stage to the
screen in 1951 in a Hollywood
production, which stared Marlon
Brando and Vivien Leigh.
Photo courtesy of moviepostershop.com
Photo courtesy of movies-wallpapers.net
Marlon Brando as Stanley
Kowalski and Vivien Leigh as
Blanche DuBois
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 Although Williams was working on the play during
World War II, its setting in time (in the years after
WWII) is of no real importance.
 What is important, however, is its setting in terms of
place…
America…
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Pre-Civil War (1861-65), the American South
was to a great extent representative of its
stereotypical image – think Gone With the
Wind with cotton plantations, a landed elite
who flaunted their inherited wealth and
gentility and a slavery system based around
the flourishing industries of tobacco and
cotton.
THE STEREOTYPICAL SOUTH
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
• Slavery was regarded as evil by the
Northern States, although the Southern
States regarded it as essential for their
tobacco and cotton industries.
• When Abraham Lincoln was elected
president in 1860 he promised (in a bid to
keep the Union from breaking up) that
slavery would continue to be legal in states
where it already existed.
A DIVIDED COUNTRY
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
• At first, the Northern half of the United States
wanted only to stop slavery spreading to other
states, but gradually as anti-slavery feeling grew
stronger, the total abolition of slavery became the
declared aim of the North.
• The Civil War occurred when the Southern States
tried to separate from the Union in order to protect
their “state rights” – amongst them the right to
practice slavery.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
•
The American Civil War ended with the Confederate
surrender in April 1865. As the Southern States had
lost the war, many Southerners looked back wistfully
to the plantation life that had characterized their
region pre-Civil War.
•
Yet as the traditional South declined, the Northern
States prospered. Industry flourished and
immigrants from all over the world arrived to make
America their new home in a bid to achieve the
American Dream.
THE AMERICAN DREAM
BLANCHE
• In the play, the character of Blanche
symbolizes the crumbling grandeur of
Southern plantations.
• Lost her fortune and her status in society
• She lost her young husband to suicide and has a bad
drinking problem
• Panics about her fading beauty and is basically a dried
up Southern belle
• Blanche depends on male sexual admiration for her
sense of self-esteem
• Is trying to find a husband to fix her reputation
• Lies to cover up her unhappiness
• Bathes to erase her sexual encounters
Blanche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGttPdMEBOo
STANLEY
• Stanley is the new American in
the new America.
• He is an immigrant who believes
that he too can achieve the
American Dream.
• He is from Poland and claims he is more American than Blanche
because she represents old America.
• He hates Blanche because he sees immediately that she is lying to
make it seem like she is better than everyone else.
• He also hates Blanche because she represents upper class while he
has been lower class all his life.
• Appears to be a family man and seems to love Stella very much,
until he beats her.
STANLEY
HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=LHWAD9NOA_0
&FEATURE=RELATED
• “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and
transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and
get off at—Elysian Fields!” –Blanche
• “Whoever you are- I have always depended on the
kindness of strangers.” –Blanche
• “I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles, not
Polacks. But what I am is a one hundred percent
American, born and raised in the greatest country on
earth and proud as hell of it, so don’t ever call me
a Polack.” – Stanley
Famous Quotes from Blanche
and Stanley…
Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire…
Escapism
Escapism is defined by Merriam-Webster as the
“habitual diversion of the mind…(or) an
escape from reality or routine.”
Blanche finds escape through two resources: her
male suitors or drunkenness. She is unable to
deal with the death of her husband and the
loss of her family’s estate, which ultimately
leads to her instability.
http://youtu.be/DSTd1LuiVUs
Williams further explores escapism and the tragic
results that are often yielded through the
male-female dynamic, Stanley (reality) and
Blanch (fantasy).
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Photo courtesy
of filmcement.org
• Acts as a foil to Blanche and Stanley and also tries to keep the
balance between the two.
• Stanley and Blanche are almost battling for her love.
• Stella loves Stanley even though he beats her. Their relationship
relies on violence to maintain the physical attraction.
• And Stella loves Blanche even though she causes her relationship
with Stanley to waver and deals with all her ‘baggage’.
STELLA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1A
0p0F_iH8
Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire : II
Dependence on Men
Because of Blanche’s instability she relies
on men for her happiness as well as her
sense of worth.
Stella, Blanche’s sister, is married to
Stanley, who is abusive yet commands a
domineering power over Stella.
“STELLLAAA!”
http://youtu.be/S1A0p0F_iH8
Photo courtesy of artburger.com
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Photo courtesy of
moviespeechastre
etcarnameddesire.
html
• Light: Blanche hides from the light. She
believes that the light will show her
fading beauty.
• Being drunk: another way to hide from
reality.
• Moth: William describes Blanche as
fragile and dainty like a moth.
• Rhinestone Tiara: Blanche’s fake
glamor.
SYMBOLS
• Meat: Stanley tosses Stella a package of
meat at the beginning. Think brute, raw.
ART REFLECTING LIFE
•
•
Many of Williams’ plays reflect themes
that occurred in his own life. For
example Stanley’s (from A Streetcar
Named Desire) overbearing masculinity
corresponds to Williams’ father
domineering personality. Another
example is the character of Big Daddy
in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which
Williams claimed was a directly
influenced by his own father.
•
Because of Williams’ struggle in his
day-to-day life, his familiarity with
escapism transcended into his
work and is portrayed through
various characters, including
Blanche DuBois, who, like
Williams, looked to alternative
ways to escape reality.
Williams grew up in a fairly
dysfunctional family. His father was
emotionally abusive toward him due
to his lack physical ability and
consistent bouts of illness during his
childhood. Throughout his life his mother
was overbearing and overprotective of
Williams, perhaps as a result of his
father’s rejection.
•
After moving to Missouri as an early
teen, “He (Williams) and his siblings
were often ridiculed by other students
because of their Southern accent. He
also skipped school regularly and did
poorly in his studies, preferring instead
to escape into the world of reading and
writing.”
- Ronald Hayman, Tennessee Williams: Everyone Else Is an
Audience
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