‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
By Tennessee Williams
Critical Essay Writing
• Key:
Green – context detail
Blue – analysis detail (generic)
Red – specific question detail
Black – general info
• Introduction:
• ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams is a play
which revolves around the character of Blanche Du Bois as
she travels to New Orleans to visit her sister Stella and
Stella’s husband Stanley. During this visit the audience learn
that Blanche is not all she appears to be as she attempts to
deceive Stella and Stanley and in doing so, ******. This
results in a battle of wits which ends with Stanley raping
Blanche and her sister sending her away to a mental asylum
at the end of the play. The playwright is successful in ******
by utilising the stage directions and themes of deception
and vulnerability.*
• In the opening scene of the play Blanche is introduced as a character
clearly out-with her comfort zone. She was once a Southern Belle
and is very obviously preoccupied with her appearance and the
appearance of things around her – she is not content with the ‘state’
of her sister’s apartment when she is shown to it. Vulnerability is
highlighted early on as the audience see Blanche struggle with her
surroundings so much that she almost immediately begins looking
for and consuming alcohol.
• SD: She pours a half tumbler of whisky and tosses it down. She carefully
replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink.
• This suggests Blanche is nervous and anxious and the fact that the
stage directions clearly do not state she reacts to the taste of the
whisky shows that she must be a hardened drinker. She is
vulnerable as she is in a strange place, a strange apartment and
there is a suggestion that her sister is like a stranger too.
• When Stanley and Blanche meet in Scene 1 they size each other up
and immediately it is obvious to the audience that there will be
tension within this relationship. Stanley offers Blanche a drink and
she declines, beginning the deception that is to become a part of
her general character. This is obviously second nature to Blanche as
she lies with little hesitation.
• Stanley: Have a shot?
• Blanche: No, I – rarely touch it.
• Blanche obviously does not want to appear weak or unladylike in
front of Stanley, clearly wishing to deceive him of her real character.
She is trying to assert herself and stay in control and there is a
suggestion that more alcohol will not allow her to maintain any
control in front of this man. It can be argued she is intimidated by
Stanley and does not want to let her guard down for fear of what
that means for their relationship.
• In scene 3 Stanley is hosting a poker game and Blanche is making
her presence felt among the men. This attracts the attention of
Mitch, a well-mannered man who takes an instant liking to Blanche
and decides to strike up conversation. Blanche flirts back and
immediately Mitch is under her spell. She makes a request of him
which highlights her vulnerability and the fact that she would rather
hide her true self from people, as she prefers the light to be covered
in a shade than exposed.
• Blanche: I can’t stand a naked light bulb any more than I can a rude remark or
a vulgar action.
• Blanche is once again trying to be a lady in the presence of what she
believes to be a gentleman, but is also trying to hide her true self
from being exposed or realised. This is further deception which will
cause her issues with Mitch further on in the play, but once again
comes naturally to Blanche.
• Towards the middle of the play Blanche is waiting around for Mitch
to pick her up for a date. She has begun to show signs of delusion
more frequently than before and behaves in a very unpredictable
way when a messenger boy shows up at the door. She flirts with
him and gives the audience a direct indication of her past and her
problem with men and alcohol, which Stanley had earlier alluded to.
The scene is awkward and tense, although Blanche appears to enjoy
behaving like a school girl.
• Blanche: Come on over here like I told you! I want to kiss you… It would be
nice to keep you, but I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off children.
• The audience realise that Blanche’s odd behaviour is delusional, a
sign that she is losing her grip on reality. Stanley previously asked
her about a man she must have known from Laurel and it seemed to
unsettle her. At this point, with the messenger boy, Blanche appears
to behave in a way she has in the past, and vulnerability is once
again highlighted as she is inappropriate but doesn’t fully
understand that.
• When Blanche and Mitch are returning from their date in Scene 6,
Blanche appears tired and distant and she takes this opportunity to tell
Mitch the truth about a part of her past. She tells him of the night she
lost her innocence, the night her husband killed himself not long after
she caught him in bed with another man and told him he disgusted her.
She appears very vulnerable as she tells her tale, but the audience also
see further signs of delusion as parts of the event only take part inside
Blanche’s mind, highlighting some of her issues with living in the present
and accepting reality.
• Blanche: We danced the Varsouvianna! Suddenly in the middle of the dance
the boy I had married broke away from me… A few moments later – a shot!
• The polka stops abruptly…
• The audience feel sympathy for Blanche here; this event was clearly
traumatic and could be the sole reason for Blanche’s drinking habit, her
unpredictable behaviour and her need to hide her ‘true’ self. She wishes
to forget the responsibility of ‘killing’ Alan, but unfortunately cannot
move past the event itself.
• Later in the play Stanley reveals to Stella that he has checked up on
Blanche and all is not as it seems. He has not warmed to Blanche, in
fact has probably felt intimidated by her and the idea that she can
take Stella away from him, and he has dug deeply into her past to
find out who she really is. He is not surprised at what he finds out,
but delighted as he can use this information against her in order to
get him out of his life, and tries to convince Stella she is lying to
them both.
• Stanley: … for the last year or two she has been washed up like poison. That’s
why she’s here… putting on all this act…
• Stanley is cruel beyond words at this stage, using Blanche’s birthday
as the perfect opportunity to buy her a bus ticket back to Laurel, to
where he knows she is not welcome and to where he knows she will
be trapped in her previous life. Identifying her as ‘poison’ shows
Stanley’s own opinion of her is very low; much like hers is of him.
• Scene 7 is also one of the main scenes that highlights the change in
Blanche’s behaviour around Stanley. In the beginning she would flirt with
him happily, but as she gets closer to Mitch and becomes much more weary
of Stanley the stage directions show her fear of him and it grows the closer
they physically become in the apartment. After spending time getting ready
for her birthday ‘party’ she tries to make a grand entrance, attempting to
show she is happy but appearing delirious – until Stanley’s physical presence
creates a threat.
• S/D: The bathroom door flies open and Blanche emerges with a gay peal of
laughter, but as Stanley crosses past her, a frightened look appears on her
face, almost a look of panic.
• The fact that Blanche is close to ‘panic’ suggests to the audience that Stanley
is a threat in more than just a physical way and it foreshadows her descent
into madness as well as the inevitable rape at his hands later in the play. Her
happiness is clearly a front, highlighting once again her deception as she
even deceives herself, and she becomes more vulnerable as the audience
understand she is genuinely scared of Stanley’s presence.
• From the beginning of the play it is made clear that Blanche spends
a lot of time bathing; symbolically this is her way of cleansing the
sins of her past, allowing her to feel clean, pure and young again. In
scene 7 she is preparing for her birthday ‘party’ and is heard as
childish as she sings happy songs while bathing. When she appears
she tries hard to claim a new lease of life can be felt, as if every
problem she has can be solved now that she is ‘clean’.
• Blanche: A hot bath and a long, cold drink always gives me a brand new
outlook on life!
• Clearly Blanche is delusional at this point. The bath has renewed her
energy but she is also looking for a drink, a sure sign that she is in
denial about reality and what her problems really are. Blanche is
once again portrayed as a vulnerable, child-like creature who is so
delicate she has to be handled with care. The difficulty is that she is
not willing to be truthful with anyone – including herself – and so
she is simply seen as deceptive and manipulative.
• Scene 9 is an intense scene where Blanche is portrayed as on the brink
of losing her mind. She now knows that Mitch knows about her past
and as she is on her own in the apartment she begins to fantasise
about being with other people at parties, including her mystery
‘knight’, Shep Huntleigh. The stage directions in the opening of this
scene show Blanche close to breaking point, once again reliving the
night Alan died and trying to block out the pain of what is really
happening in the present.
• S/D: … rapid, feverish polka tune, the ‘Varsouviana’ is heard. The music is in her
mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her…
• Blanche does realise she is in trouble and that a saviour will be very
difficult for her to find. In a way, she is resigned to her fate as she
allows the polka music to invade her life once more, she drinks heavily
as she has done since and she does not tackle her problems head on.
The music becoming ‘feverish’ is a suggestion of Blanche being on a
very steep path to destruction, and one she is not willing to steer
herself away from.
• When Mitch appears drunk in scene 9, he is determined to get the truth
out of Blanche, but is not aware of how far from reality she is. Her
behaviour is erratic and Mitch believes at first she is simply drunk herself,
but then she mentions the music that she always hears and once again in
his presence she talks out loud about the night Allan died.
• A distant revolver shot is heard. Blanche seems relieved.
• Blanche: There now, the shot! It always stops after that.
• The polka tune music dies out again.
• Blanche calms down quickly after hearing ‘the shot’ but does not
immediately snap back into reality. She becomes more delusional, as if
the worst part of her past is yet to come or it may be out of fear of ‘the
shot’ returning as it so often does. The fact that she uses the word
‘always’ to describe what is going on inside her head suggests she lives
through this event frequently, once more highlighting her vulnerability,
but it is also significant that Mitch is the only person she can actually talk
to about the events of that night. This suggests she sees Mitch as her
physical ‘Shep’.
• The symbol of the paper lantern will prove to be the undoing of Mitch
and Blanche’s relationship as in scene 9 Mitch decides he must ‘see’
Blanche for who she really is before he completely makes up his mind
about what Stanley has revealed to him. He becomes slightly
intimidating in Blanche’s mind, creating another threat she does not
know how to deal with as he tears the paper lantern away, ready to
expose her.
• S/D: Mitch crosses to the switch. He turns the light on and stares at her. She
cries out and covers her face. He turns the light off again.
• The exposure of the ‘real’ Blanche is brief, but enough for Mitch to
make up his mind that she has been far too deceitful for him to
consider her part of his future. This puts Blanche in jeopardy again as
she is completely on her own and must fight her past with her only
weapon – her flirtatious nature. It is too late however; she has been
exposed, Mitch knows now that she is much older in looks than she
claimed to be and she no longer has any hold over him. She has lost
any real saviour in Mitch.
• Blanche: Don’t say I lied to you… Never inside, I didn’t lie in my heart…
• Stanley: I’ve been on to you from the start! Not once did you pull any wool
over this boy’s eyes!
• S/D: Lurid reflections appear on the walls around Blanche. The shadows are
of a grotesque and menacing form.
• Stanley: We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!
• She moans… she sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries
her to the bed.
• Blanche: You are not the gentleman I was expecting.
• She suddenly gasps… The ‘Varsouviana’ is playing distantly…