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IGCSE English Literature CIE
A Streetcar Named Desire
Contents
A Streetcar Named Desire: Plot Summary
A Streetcar Named Desire: Understanding the Text
A Streetcar Named Desire: T hemes
A Streetcar Named Desire: Characters
A Streetcar Named Desire: Writer's Methods & Techniques
A Streetcar Named Desire: Key Quotations
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Plot Summary
Plot Summary
One of the most important things you can do in preparation for the exam is to “know” the plot of A
Streetcar Named Desire thoroughly. Once you know the play well, you should be comfortable and
familiar enough with key events that you can then link to larger ideas. Having an in-depth knowledge
and understanding of the text will help you to gain confidence to find the most relevant references to
support your response.
Below you will find:
An overview of the play
A scene-by-scene plot summary
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Overview
A Streetcar Named Desire is set in a run-down part of New Orleans, in America’s Deep South, during
the 1940s. The play opens on a warm evening outside a house split into two, grandly named Elysian
Fields. Stanley and Stella Kowalski live in the downstairs apartment, and their neighbours Eunice and
Steve Hubbel live on the first floor.
Stella’s sister, Blanche DuBois, arrives. Stella returns and greets her sister warmly. Blanche asks Stella
for a drink of liquor and criticises the conditions she believes Stella to be living in. Stanley returns. He
seems quite amiable towards Blanche at first, but questions her about her past.
The following evening, Stanley questions Stella about Belle Reve being lost. He also reveals to
Blanche that Stella is pregnant. The sisters go out, and when they return, Stanley and his friends are still
playing poker and drinking. Blanche catches the eye of Mitch, one of the men, and they flirt. But
Stanley becomes increasingly agitated by Blanche’s presence disturbing the game, and eventually he
erupts in a fit of anger. When Stella tries to stop him, he hits her. Blanche and Stella escape while the
other men douse Stanley in a cold shower to sober him up. He is immediately wracked with guilt and
remorse and yells at Stella to come back to him, which she does.
The next morning, Stella is calm and content, while Blanche cannot believe that Stella wants to stay
with Stanley. Blanche and Mitch begin to date, and Blanche reveals to Stanley that she was once
married to a young boy whom she later discovered with another man. Her young husband then killed
himself. Mitch and Blanche come to an agreement to marry.
The action moves on to September and Stella is preparing a birthday dinner for Blanche. Stanley
comes in to tell Stella that he has learnt the truth about Blanche. Stella is distraught that Stanley has
also revealed all of this to Mitch, who does not turn up for Blanche’s birthday meal. Stanley cruelly
gives Blanche her “birthday present” – a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel, her hometown. Stella is
upset but then goes into labour and Stanley takes her to the hospital.
Alone in the apartment, Blanche is drinking when Mitch arrives and challenges her about lying to him.
Blanche defends herself but does not deny it. Mitch tries to have sex with her, but she forces him to
leave as she knows he will no longer marry her. Stanley returns from the hospital. He and Blanche fight
and Stanley rapes Blanche.
The final scene takes place a few weeks later, after the baby is born. Stella and Eunice are helping
Blanche pack, while Stanley plays poker with his friends in the front room. A doctor arrives with a nurse
to take Blanche away. The doctor treats Blanche gently and convinces her to accompany him, and he
leads her away, leaving Stanley, Stella and their new baby.
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Exam Tip
Knowing the plot of the play very well is important, but it is equally important that you pay attention
to the stage directions Williams uses to convey the dramatic developments of the story. These
give extra information about the action and the characters, which will help you to develop your
own insights and interpretations about the play.
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Scene-by-Scene Plot Summary
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Scene 1
Eunice Hubbel and Negro Woman are sitting on the steps of Elysian Fields
Stanley Kowalski and Harold Mitchell (Mitch) enter, toss a package to Stella Kowalski and go
bowling, with Stella following them
Blanche DuBois comes around the corner, looking out of place and carrying a suitcase:
She is looking for her sister, Stella
Stella returns and the sisters embrace:
Blanche reveals she needs a drink to calm her nerves, and is surprised at Stella’s
impoverished surroundings
She also reveals that she is taking a leave of absence from her job as a school teacher, and
that Belle Reve, the family home, is “lost”
Stanley returns and asks Blanche about her marriage
Scene 2
The following evening, the sisters are preparing to go out while Stanley is playing poker with his
friends
Stella reveals to Stanley that Belle Reve is lost, and he demands to know more details:
He believes that, under Louisiana law, any property belonging to his wife also belongs to him
Stanley demands to see the papers from the sale of Belle Reve:
Stanley finds letters belonging to Blanche’s dead husband
Blanche gives him all of the papers and reveals that the property was lost on remortgages
stretching back generations
Stanley reveals that Stella is going to have a baby
Scene 3
The sisters return in the early hours of the morning and the poker game is still going on
Blanche meets Mitch and flirts with him
Stanley is drunk and starts to get angry at the noise the sisters are making, as well as Mitch’s
interest in Blanche
Blanche aggravates Stanley
Stanley erupts in a violent rage and throws a radio out of the window:
Stella tries to interject and Stanley hits her
The other men rush forward to intervene while Blanche and Stella escape
The men force Stanley under the shower to sober him up:
Stanley emerges, soaked and repentant, crying out for Stella
After a while, Stella emerges and returns to him
Scene 4
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The next morning, Stella lies in bed and Blanche is horrified at Stanley’s behaviour and that Stella
went back to him:
She appeals to Stella to leave Stanley, but she refuses
Stella explains that Stanley is sometimes violent, but that is the way she likes it as it gives her a thrill
Blanche rages against Stanley, calling him “bestial”, “like an animal”, “ape-like” and “sub-human”:
The sisters do not realise that Stanley has returned and overhears
Scene 5
Stella and Blanche are in the bedroom
Stanley begins to question Blanche about her past:
It is clear that Stanley has begun to make some enquiries about Blanche
Blanche is shaken
She seems nervous and almost hysterical:
She reveals she is going on a date with Mitch, and has not been honest with him about her age
Stella leaves to join Stanley
As Blanche waits for Mitch, a Young Collector appears at the door, collecting subscriptions for a
newspaper
Blanche flirts with the young boy, attempting to seduce him:
She kisses him on the mouth, but then sends him on his way, saying that she has got to be
good and keep her “hands off children”
Mitch arrives with roses
Scene 6
Blanche and Mitch return from their date
Mitch asks if he can kiss Blanche:
She invites him in for a night-cap
As they talk, Mitch reveals to Blanche about his sick mother and her desire to see Mitch settled
down before she passes away
Blanche tells Mitch about her young husband:
They were both very young, and she says she loved him passionately, but he was unhappy
One day, she discovered him in bed with an older man
They both pretended nothing had happened, and drove out to a casino
Blanche told him that he disgusted her
The boy then rushed out and committed suicide
Mitch suggests that they both need somebody and they embrace
Scene 7
The action moves on to mid-September
Stella is preparing a birthday meal for Blanche, while she is taking another bath
Stanley enters and reveals all he has found out about Blanche:
He tells her that Blanche had been living in a disreputable hotel
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She developed such a scandalous reputation for promiscuous behaviour that the hotel had
kicked her out
He also reports that Blanche actually lost her job as a teacher for having an affair with a 17year-old student
At first, Stella doesn’t believe Stanley:
Stanley also reveals that he has told Mitch the truth about Blanche
Blanche comes out of the bathroom and realises that something is different
Scene 8
Stanley, Stella and Blanche are finishing their birthday dinner without Mitch, who did not show
Stanley tells Blanche that he has a birthday present for her, and hands her a bus ticket back to
Laurel, her hometown
Stella tells Stanley that what he did was cruel, but then she goes into labour and instructs Stanley
to take her to the hospital
Scene 9
Blanche is alone in the apartment, drinking
Mitch arrives, unshaven and dishevelled:
He accuses her of lying about her age and her innocence
A Mexican woman comes to the door, selling “flores para los muertos” (flowers for the dead):
Blanche is frightened and slams the door
Mitch tries to embrace Blanche, but she tells him that he must marry her first:
Mitch replies that she is not clean enough to bring home to his mother
Blanche screams at him and he leaves
Scene 10
Blanche is still in the apartment, and has been drinking since Mitch left
Stanley returns from the hospital
He is in high spirits and puts on his silk pyjamas from his wedding night
Blanche tells Stanley that Mitch also visited to beg her forgiveness:
Stanley then confronts Blanche, attacking her verbally and accusing her of lying
Grotesque shadows start to surround Blanche on the walls
Stanley advances towards Blanche:
She smashes a bottle on the table and waves it at him
Stanley grabs her, picks her up and carries her to the bed
Scene 11
Some weeks later, Stella is packing Blanche’s things while she is in the bathroom
The men are playing poker in the kitchen
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Stella reveals to Eunice that Blanche told her about Stanley raping her, but she could not believe it
and went on living with him
Blanche emerges from the bathroom:
She seems daz ed and confused
A doctor and a nurse arrive:
When Blanche sees the doctor, she panics
Stanley and the nurse begin to advance on Blanche, who becomes hysterical:
The nurse asks the doctor if they will need a straight jacket
The doctor thinks that won’t be necessary, and leads Blanche gently out
Stella is distraught, but Eunice places her baby in her arms:
She joins Stanley on the porch, who holds her in his arms
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Understanding the Text
Understanding the Text
All questions in the IGCSE encourage an informed personal response, which means that it is not
enough just to know the text you are being examined on really well; you also need to develop a sound
understanding of the themes, main ideas, settings, situations and events in the play you have studied,
as well as an understanding of the significance of a particular moment or scene in relation to the
whole text. You also need to demonstrate an awareness of the text as a piece of drama and show an
appreciation of the play on stage. All of this will help you to develop a sustained, critical
understanding of the text, which will allow you to demonstrate individuality and insight.
Each of the sub-topics below will help you to develop a better understanding of the text:
Background information
Dramatic context
Key moments in context
Exam Tip
It is crucial that you develop the skills to find your own ideas and arrive at your own meanings and
interpretations of the text. Try to take a more exploratory and discursive approach to your
reading of the play as the examiner will reward you highly for this approach. For instance, you
could begin to develop your own interpretations by using sentence starters such as: “Williams
may have used the character of Blanche to highlight ideas about…”
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Background information
A knowledge of the historical and social context of the play can help you to develop an informed
personal response. However, it is very important that you do not include lots of historical information
about Tennessee Williams and/or the time in which the play was written in your answer. Your response
to the play should be firstly based on the focus of the question and the key theme, or themes, that
the question prompts you to explore.
Tennessee Williams was born in 1919 in Mississippi in America’s Deep South:
He published A Streetcar Named Desire in 1946, in the aftermath of World War II and during a
time of transition for the American South following the American Civil War of the late 19th
century
Williams’s childhood was difficult:
His parents had an unhappy marriage
His father was a working-class salesman and an alcoholic
His mother was a “Southern Belle” who resented her husband’s ways and placed a lot of
emphasis on social status
Williams was very close to his sister, Rose, who later suffered from mental illness and was
institutionalised for a time
Williams himself struggled with loneliness, alcoholism, drug use and depression:
These themes and ideas were often depicted in his work
Williams was also homosexual, at a time when homosexuality was criminal in the USA:
Williams was living and writing during a time when his sexual orientation and sexual
promiscuity in general were considered morally wrong and taboo:
This is explored in the character of Blanche
This is also reflected in the implication in Scene 6 that Blanche’s husband was gay, and he saw
marriage to Blanche as a way of hiding this:
Blanche discovered the secret, leading to tragic consequences
Hiding one’s passions and desires was the safest thing to do, as many homosexuals married
the opposite sex in order to fit in with the norms of the time
In addition, Williams addresses gender stereotyping in the play:
Stella and Stanley represent traditional, patriarchal gender roles
Following World War II, there was an emergence of an idea of American heroism that
championed masculinity and a male-dominated nuclear family unit
Women like Stella were placed in a more domestic role
Stella and Eunice demonstrate that, despite physical and emotional abuse from their
husbands, they are willing to overlook their treatment and take them back in order to survive
However, the character of Blanche subverts conventional gender stereotypes:
She showcases masculine traits through her promiscuity, sexuality and arrogance
In addition, the characters of Mitch and Allan Grey (Blanche’s young husband) are used to
show more feminine traits of sensitivity in men
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Societal gender norms and expectations have a negative impact on all of the main characters,
driving them towards mental or moral destruction, or even death in the case of Blanche’s
husband:
Blanche is seen to be struggling with the moral standards placed on her by society, and she is
negatively labelled and judged through her actions
These, however, are seen to be double standards, as Stanley, as a man, gets away with
domestic abuse and rape
The rape is a scene in which Stanley asserts his masculine power and authority over Blanche:
This portrays women as victims of the oppressive patriarchy, especially as Blanche also
felt she needed to find a husband in order to be accepted by society
Class prejudice is also evident in the play:
At the time of writing, even though slavery had been abolished following the American Civil
War, inbuilt racism continued in the Southern States of America, with racial segregation still
prevalent
New Orleans, where the play is set, was an exception, emerging as a champion of diversity
with a large influx of immigrants from Europe and Africa and the development of a strong
working class
Blanche therefore represents the old ways of Mississippi, showing intolerance and prejudice
against Stanley’s heritage and social status; she looks down on him as a working-class
immigrant:
She represents a time of transition and tensions resulting from the shift from old money to
modernity and diversity
The post-war rise of the American Dream is represented by Stanley, who feels all-American and
believes he can achieve whatever he desires through hard work and perseverance:
Staney could therefore be viewed as a champion of the working classes, who defeats the
old, aristocratic ways by removing Blanche, the symbol of old money and privilege, and
emerging as the victor in the end
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Dramatic context
The literary context of a text can be thought of in terms of genre, as well as any ways that the text
either conforms to or subverts the conventions of that genre. A Streetcar Named Desire is a play
designed to be watched by an audience, so this is the context in which we should read the stage
directions and any other relevant information Williams provides, in addition to the dialogue. It also
contains elements of social realism and Southern Gothic, both of which will be explored further
below.
Exam Tip
Examiners like to see that students have an awareness of the form of a text, whether it’s a novel, a
play, a poem, etc. A Streetcar Named Desire is a play, and so it’s important that you signal to the
examiner that you know this. This is as simple as using the term “audience” instead of “reader”,
and other play-specific terminology such as “act”, “scene”, “on stage” and even “playwright”
instead of writer.
It is also important to add that commenting on stage directions is as valuable as analysing any
other writer’s method. Indeed, it has the advantage of showing the examiner you are aware of the
writer’s intentions (the overall message he/she is trying to convey), because all stage directions
are literally their intentions for what happens on stage.
Staging
Williams uses detailed stage directions in the play in order to not only bring the play to life, but to give
the audience further insights into the themes of the play and the minds of the characters.
Williams starts the text with a detailed description of Elysian Fields and its location within New
Orleans:
It is in a poorer neighbourhood, surrounded by noise and a lack of privacy, with the
background tune of the “Blue Piano” never far away
Williams establishes the “relatively warm and easy intermingling of races” in that part of town,
suggesting that racial discrimination is never fully removed in this part of the world
Elysian Fields represents the opposite of Belle Reve and the old-fashioned Deep South it
encompasses to Blanche
Williams also uses colour and aspects of Expressionism to depict menacing shapes inside the
apartment
Sound effects are also used to symbolise emotions and feelings:
The Varsouviana polka is heard whenever Blanche thinks of her husband
The roar of the steam train and the jungle-like cries reflect Blanche’s delicate mental state,
and her confusion and terror:
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Williams is very careful with his use of these stage directions, especially in Scene 10,
achieving a shocking visual and audio impact in keeping with the shocking spectacle of
Stanley raping his sister-in-law while his wife is in labour in hospital
The drums that accompany Stanley represent power, action and dominance
Social realism
In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams employs social realism to depict a deglamorised, highly
detailed slice of the poorer side of 1940s New Orleans life.
Social realist dramas are naturalistic works set in actual places with a realistic tone:
The characters are not just individuals, but also represent social classes, cultures,
nationalities or races
The action in the drama explores character relationships and clashes
Typically, one character or group of characters rises, while another falls, symbolising a shift in
society
However, Williams subverts this form:
He placed his plot, setting and characters in real life, but also used expressionistic theatrical
devices, such as flashbacks and juxtaposition, to tell the story
For example, the stage directions indicating a departure from realistic jaz z music to
incoherent sounds that only Blanche hears is used to convey her deteriorating mental state
The stage directions also specify the symbolic use of colour in costume:
For example, in Scene 10, Stanley enters wearing a “vivid green silk bowling shirt” and puts
on brightly coloured silk pyjamas to match his identity as the “gaudy seed-bearer”
Southern Gothic
A Streetcar Named Desire can be considered a tragic drama, adhering to Aristotelian rules for
classic Greek tragedy. The story unfolds over a set time period, within a single setting, and focuses
on a single plot line. However, because it contains exaggerated emotions, dramatic events and
theatrical effects, some critics class it more as a melodrama, and more specifically, a sub-genre
called Southern Gothic.
This Southern Gothic sub-genre was developed in the 1920s, typically by Southern-American
writers:
These works are set in the American South affected by the legacy of the Civil War
They tended to feature an atmosphere of decay, poverty, grotesque characters, violent or
sexual events and insanity:
All of these feature in A Streetcar Named Desire
Williams was drawn to elements of the Gothic for what they revealed about human psychology
and dark motives:
He explored extreme, anti-social behaviours that were a reaction against the confines of
traditional codes of social conduct
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Key moments in context
It is not enough to just analyse a passage or scene in isolation; you must also consider why that
particular passage or scene is important to the text as a whole. What key themes or ideas does it
represent? Does it foreshadow upcoming events? Does it reveal more about a character’s
motivations, thoughts or feelings, given what has happened and/or what is to come? The following
section includes some key moments from the play and how they are relevant to the rest of the text,
but this list is not exhaustive, and you are encouraged to consider other moments and how these
also relate to the play as a whole.
Key moment
Scene 2:
Stanley: “Yeah. I get the idea. Now let’s skip back a little to where you said the country place was
disposed of”
Summary of key moment:
Stanley questions Stella about the loss of Belle Reve, and is dismissive of her pleas to be kind to
Blanche:
He demands to see the papers and tries to explain the Napoleonic code to Stella
Why this is important in relation to the play as a whole:
Stanley’s aggression is hinted at when he raises his voice and does not care if Blanche hears:
This foreshadows his later violence
The reference to the Napoleonic code establishes Stanley’s role as a working-class man with
traditional values and a sense of justice:
If he feels he has been cheated he will fight to get what he feels he has a right to
The scene also shows his ignorance, which explains why he is so keen not to have the wool
pulled over his eyes
He resents Stella and Blanche for making him feel a fool
The scene also reinforces gender stereotypes, as at this point in time he has a right to everything
Stella owns
It also shows how Blanche’s visit has started to create conflict between Stanley and Stella:
Stella defends Blanche, which makes Stanley envious
Key moment
Scene 4 (the whole scene)
Summary of key moment:
This scene opens after Stanley has physically assaulted Stella and then the couple have made up:
Stella wakes serenely, juxtaposing the violence of the previous scene
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Blanche cannot reconcile the physical violence she witnessed with Stella’s acceptance of the
situation:
She tells Stella what she thinks of Stanley, unaware that he is outside and overhears
Why this is important in relation to the play as a whole:
This scene demonstrates Blanche’s superior attitude towards Stanley
It also explores the gender dynamics between Stella and Stanley:
It highlights her pregnancy as a physical connection to her husband, and her determination to
make her marriage work despite the violence
It also reveals tensions between the sisters, as Stella reveals that she is used to Stanley’s
aggression when drunk, and is even aroused by it
The fact that Stanley’s violence is so easily accepted by Stella highlights toxic masculinity
There is then somewhat of a role reversal between the sisters, with Blanche trying to be practical
and get Stella away from the situation (even though Stella does not want to be away from it):
Blanche associates Stanley’s violence with his social class
The conversation turns to the theme of desire:
The allegory of the streetcar as sexual desire is resumed, with Blanche saying that this is what
brought her to this place, where she is ashamed to be
This reveals more about Blanche’s past and shame
This scene is also important because Blanche and Stella are unaware that Stanley has overheard
their conversation, but the audience know – this is called dramatic irony
Key moment
Scene 10:
Stanley: “Was this before or after the telegram came from the Texas oil millionaire?”
Summary of key moment:
Stanley has returned from the hospital to find Blanche drunk:
At this point, she knows that Mitch is not going to marry her, but creates a fantasy of being
saved by an old “beau”
Stanley angrily advances on her, verbally shattering her illusions one by one
The play then reaches its climax:
Stella is in the hospital giving birth
Stanley and Blanche clash
Stanley rapes Blanche
Why this is important in relation to the play as a whole:
This scene explores the themes of desire, fate and toxic masculinity
Stanley hates the names that Blanche calls him, such as “Polack” and “swine”:
His subsequent verbal destruction of Blanche foreshadows his physical destruction of her
His assertion that “we’ve had this date with each other from the beginning” alludes to sexual
attraction between the two, but also gives Stanley an excuse to do what he does – almost as
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if it is Blanche’s fault
The rape can been seen as the final victory of the working-class American Dream over the Old
South and its traditional, prejudicial ideals:
The rape itself is not explicitly shown, but is implied to be primitive and animalistic through the
stage directions
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Themes
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Themes
Exam responses that are led by themes, or the ideas that a writer is exploring in their text, are more
likely to reach the highest levels of the mark scheme. Exploring the text thematically, specifically in
relation to the question being asked, will help to increase your fluency and assurance in writing about
Williams’s play.
Below are some of the key themes that could be explored in A Streetcar Named Desire. This list is not
exhaustive and you are encouraged to identify other ideas within the play. Below you will find
sections on:
Sex and desire
Fantasy versus reality
Gender roles
Exam Tip
The theme the examiner wants you to focus on will be given to you in the question. It is therefore
crucial that you base your answer on the focus of the question, rather than just writing about all of
the themes in the play or what happens. You should instead focus on how Williams presents the
theme in focus, and why he does this. Consider how Williams uses characters, plot, setting or
stage directions to explore bigger ideas.
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Sex and desire
Desire is a central theme of the play, as demonstrated with the metaphor of the streetcar bearing the
same name being the one that carries Blanche to Elysium Fields, representing one of her driving
emotions, and the means of her undoing. Physical desire is also at the heart of Stella and Stanley’s
relationship.
Knowledge and evidence:
All of the characters are driven by “that rattle-trap street-car” in various ways:
Blanche and Stella talk in metaphors about “riding” on that particular streetcar, and Blanche
bitterly replies that it brought her here
Blanche initially seeks to deny her desire, but we later learn that acting on her desires caused her
to be driven out of her hometown:
Much of Blanche’s character and behaviour rely on her perception of herself as an object of
male desire
She flirts in a chaste and pretentious way with Mitch, but approaches the Young Collector
with determination almost akin to aggression
She dresses provocatively and constantly calls her appearance and body to attention
She clings to her sexuality and desirability more and more as the play progresses and she
unravels:
The discovery of her first husband being a homosexual leads to a feeling of loss of
desirability which, to Blanche, is like losing her identity and reason for being
She therefore links sexuality and death, and seems to believe that, by continuously
asserting her sexuality, she will be able to avoid ageing and death
Stella’s desire for Stanley pulls her away from her past:
She symbolises traditional, domestic femininity:
Her pregnancy reflects this
It is physical desire that is at the heart of Stella and Stanley’s relationship
She forgives Stanley for his violence as their sexual dynamic keeps them together
Stanley represents a brutal, primitive sexuality, which attracts Stella:
His sexuality and masculinity are interconnected
He asserts himself sexually over both Stella and Blanche, and his carnal desires result in his
eventual rape of Blanche
Blanche often describes Stanley using ape-like and primitive language
He therefore represents unrefined manhood:
But this also includes a blatant disregard for morality
Servicing his desires is a central part of who he is, so he has no problem driving his sisterin-law further into madness or raping her
It could be argued that Blanche is also attracted to Stanley on some level because she
sees something of herself in him
Throughout the play, sexual desire is therefore linked to violence and destruction
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What is Williams's intention?
For Williams, desire symbolised a particularly destructive force:
Like Blanche, Williams had many sexual encounters, and suffered from loneliness and
depression
He therefore could be suggesting that being driven by desire is self-destructive
The message could be that indulging in one’s desires leads to loneliness, ostracisation or
untimely ends
Blanche’s fall into madness can be read as the ending brought about by her flaw – her inability to
act appropriately on her desires:
Her fate seems to be predetermined, as symbolised by the image of the streetcar rattling
onwards towards its inevitable final destination
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Fantasy versus reality
One of the basic tensions in this play is the one between the romantic and the realistic, or between
fantasy and reality. This is most obviously symbolised through Blanche as the romantic fantasist and
Stanley as the realist, and Blanche’s dependence on fantasy and illusion is contrasted with Stanley’s
down-to-earth view of the world, which eventually “wins”.
Knowledge and evidence:
Blanche lives in a fantasy of her own making:
This acts as her primary means of self-defence and survival:
She doesn’t want reality – she wants “magic”
Her lies and fantasies are based on her inability to confront and accept the truth
By living in her own version of reality, she tries to protect herself from the pain of the tragedies
she has had to endure:
She makes her life appear as it should be, rather than as it is
But Blanche’s desire to escape causes her mental collapse, so that by the end of the play,
she can no longer distinguish between fantasy and real life
Following her treatment by Stanley, she retreats from reality into her make-believe world
In order to survive, Stella must also live in a kind of illusion:
She forces herself to believe that Blanche was lying when she told her that Stanley raped her,
in order to survive
In contrast, Stanley deals in practicalities, reality and what he sees to be the truth:
He tells Stella and Mitch what he has discovered about Blanche’s past
He disdains Blanche’s lies and does everything he can to expose them
What is Williams's intention?
The characters of Blanche and Stanley represent the struggle between appearance and reality, in
which reality ultimately wins:
Williams blurs the boundaries between the interiors of the apartments and the exterior of the
street, so that the audience are able to see both at the same time
Williams also uses light to represent the harsh reality of Stanley and the dimmed focus of
Blanche:
Stanley sees things as they are
Whereas Blanche prefers shadow and illusion
The play is structured on the presentation of two conflicting worlds:
The two worlds are incompatible, resulting in a series of direct confrontations until one is
destroyed
However, even though reality wins, Williams establishes fantasy as a useful tool for selfpreservation:
Fear of madness was another driving force for Williams, along with guilt over what happened
to his sister, Rose, who was institutionalised and subjected to a prefrontal lobotomy
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Gender roles
One of the other key themes Williams addresses in the play is gender stereotyping, following the
emerging post-war American ideals that championed masculinity and patriarchal values. Williams
also uses Blanche and Stella’s dependence on men to critique the treatment of women and their
position in society.
Knowledge and evidence:
Stella and Stanley represent traditional, patriarchal gender roles
Stanley’s masculinity is emphasised by his strength, aggression and lust:
A lot of emphasis in the play is placed on his physical form and his role as the alpha male
He also shows moments of tenderness in response to the feminine, in his remorse when
Stella temporarily leaves him and his caring for Stella when she goes into labour
Stanley represents the male, but not the gentleman:
In contrast, Mitch, who is still a masculine force, does not assert the same kind of dominance,
and displays more sensitive, and arguably more feminine, qualities
Both Blanche and Stella depend on men for happiness, sustenance and their own self-image:
When faced with the choice of believing Blanche or believing Stanley, Stella chooses Stanley
as he represents a more secure future than Blanche does
Blanche sees marriage to Mitch as her means of escaping poverty and shame
Men’s exploitation of Blanche’s sexuality has left her with a poor reputation:
This results in Mitch rejecting her as “damaged goods”
In response, Blanche immediately thinks of another man, Shep Huntleigh, to rescue her
She cannot see beyond her dependence on men, so she has no idea how to rescue herself
However, by relying on men, Blanche puts her fate in the hands of others
What is Williams's intention?
In the aftermath of World War II, there was increased emphasis placed on the idea of American
heroism, as the nation embraced traditional, patriarchal family values:
Williams may have been using Blanche and Stella’s dependence on men to critique the
treatment of and restrictions placed on women, especially during the transition from the old
to the new South
It could also be argued that the character of Blanche subverts conventional gender stereotypes:
She demonstrates more masculine traits through her promiscuity, sexuality and arrogance
However, the fact that these traits ultimately lead to her downfall suggests that stepping
outside of societal norms can lead to destruction
Societal gender norms and expectations have a negative impact on all of the main characters,
driving them towards mental or moral destruction, or even death in the case of Blanche’s
husband:
Blanche is seen to be struggling with the moral standards placed on her by society, and she is
negatively labelled and judged by her actions
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These, however, are seen to be double standards, as Stanley, as a man, gets away with domestic
abuse and rape
The rape is a scene in which Stanley asserts his masculine power and authority over Blanche:
This portrays women as victims of the oppressive patriarchy, especially as Blanche also felt
she needed to find a husband in order to be accepted by society
Exam Tip
There are other themes evident in the play, such as death, madness and class prejudice.
Whatever is the focus of the question, you are encouraged to arrive at your own interpretations
of the play in order to develop a personal response. This involves considering all of the themes
and how they appear in the play, as well as reading a wide range of different opinions and
interpretations, in order to be able to form your own.
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Characters
Characters
It is vital that you understand that characters are often used symbolically to express ideas. Tennessee
Wiliams uses all of his characters to symbolise various ideas prevalent in his society, and the
differences between characters reflect contemporary debates. Therefore, it is very useful not only
to learn about each character individually, but how they compare and contrast to other characters in
the play.
It is important to consider the range of strategies used by Williams to create and develop characters
within A Streetcar Named Desire . These include:
How characters are established
How characters are presented:
Physical appearance or suggestions about this
Their actions and motives
What they say and think
How they interact with others
What others say and think about them
How far the characters conform to or subvert stereotypes
Their relationships to other characters
Below you will find character profiles of:
Main characters
Blanche DuBois
Stanley Kowalski
Stella Kowalski
Harold Mitchell (Mitch)
Other characters
Eunice Hubbel
Steve Hubbel
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Exam Tip
In the exam, the idea of a character as a conscious construct should be evident throughout your
response. You should demonstrate a firm understanding that Williams has deliberately created
these characters to perform certain functions within the play.
For instance, you could begin to consider why Williams has chosen to present Blanche in the way
that he does. Consider her costumes and mannerisms, as well as what she says. As this is a play,
an exploration of dramatic form is also essential to a study of her character. Consider the music
often playing in the background when Blanche is feeling particularly stressed or unstable. Try to
explore reasons as to why Williams may have chosen to do this and what it might suggest about
the character.
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Blanche DuBois
Blanche is about thirty years old and is Stella’s older sister
She is a delicate, fluttering creature who first appears wearing a white dress and looking out of
place in the run-down part of New Orleans where Stella lives
In the stage directions, Williams says that she is a “delicate beauty who must avoid strong light”
and that there is something about her that “suggests a moth”
She is a complex, contradictory character:
The audience becomes aware early in the play of her class snobbery in her dealings with
Eunice and her reaction to Stanley
We also learn that she is a heavy drinker:
She perhaps drinks to blot out the guilt about her past
She is fond of taking long baths, symbolically to wash away her guilt
She embodies some masculine qualities, such as overt sexuality, which juxtaposes with her
delicate, feminine appearance and mannerisms
She is nervous and appears constantly on edge
As a young woman, she married a man she later discovered to be a homosexual:
She feels responsible for him taking his own life by telling him that he disgusted her
She was then subjected to a series of deaths in her family, illustrating the brutality of life
These events have severely affected her mental health:
When she is feeling stressed or remembering her young husband, she hears the polka tune
that was playing when he committed suicide
She then hears a shot and the music stops
In order to try to alleviate the guilt she feels at her husband’s suicide, she has given herself to lots
of other young men who remind her of her husband:
This could be seen as her trying to fill the void left by her husband’s death
When Blanche arrives at Elysian Fields, she has lost the family home, Belle Reve, and is facing
financial and personal destitution:
However, she desperately clings to the fantasy of her being a refined Southern Belle
She is cultured and intelligent, and cannot stand what she considers to be vulgarity or poor
manners, especially from a man
Blanche is repulsed by Stanley, but is almost perversely attracted to his masculinity and
physicality, like a moth to a flame:
She tries to win Stanley over by using her feminine charms
This suggests that if she cannot function as a woman, then her life is invalid
She represents illusion and fantasy, which will always be at the mercy of the harsh real world:
She says that she doesn’t want realism; she wants “magic”
She changes the apartment to make it more feminine, and cannot have naked light bulbs
She prefers to live in a quiet, half-lit world of illusion
This suggests that she does not want to see things as they are
In Mitch, she sees a chance to be “saved” and looked after in the way that she wants:
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She presents Mitch with the illusion of being a delicate, innocent woman who needs a strong
man to look after her
However, when Mitch learns the truth about Blanche’s past from Stanley, he forces Blanche to
admit to her lies
Blanche defends herself, telling him that “inside, I never lied”
However, through Mitch confronting her, Blanche is stripped of her chief attribute – her
illusions
Blanche’s past sexual encounters have always been with strangers:
This would explain why she pushes Mitch away when he tries to have sex with her, reacting as
though Mitch is trying to attack her
Whereas for Mitch, her reputation has been sullied to the extent that he believes that she
should have no objections to sleeping with one more man
The fact that, on the same night, Stanley rapes her, reinforces the double standards that
suggest that it is acceptable for men to have sex with lots of women, but it is not ok for
women to do the same
Stanley’s rape of Blanche destroys her completely as an individual
Blanche’s final remarks in the play echo her life:
As she leaves with the doctor, she remarks that she has “always depended on the kindness
of strangers”
Blanche’s part in the story ends in the hands of a stranger
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Stanley Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski is Stella’s husband and Blanche’s brother-in-law
He is direct, passionate, realistic and often violent
He lives in a patriarchal system in which he expects his wife to be subservient to him:
He believes his authority is threatened by Blanche’s arrival
With his Polish ancestry, he represents the American Dream:
He fought in World War II, and now works as an auto-parts salesman
He sees all working-class men as capable of achieving what they want through hard work, and
is fiercely loyal to his friends
He is at ease with the men around him as he seems confident of his own superiority to them
He therefore seems to inspire loyalty as well in his friends, despite bullying them and
sometimes being violent with them
He is practical and has no time or patience for Blanche’s fantasies and illusions:
He likes to speak plainly and embodies qualities that can be seen as straightforward and
masculine
Blanche views him as crude, vulgar and common
He is loud and explosive:
This is reflected in his costumes, which are often loud and gaudy
He is described as the “gaudy seed-bearer” who takes pleasure in his masculinity
He is a dominant character and is shrewd:
He is sensitive to the fact that he married someone of a higher class than himself
He resents Stella’s background, which explains his desire to pull her down to his level
The conflict between him and Blanche is therefore inevitable, as he sees Blanche as trying to
pull Stella back to her past
He embodies patriarchal values, believing that anything belonging to his wife also belongs to him:
He therefore believes that if his wife has been swindled, then he has been swindled
He investigates this directly in order to uncover the truth, not caring for Blanche or Stella’s
feelings
Throughout Blanche’s stay, he believes that she has drunk his liquor, eaten his food and taken
advantage of his hospitality
He sees Blanche as responsible for upsetting the status quo between him and Stella:
He resents the fact that she feels superior to him
He therefore is intent on finding out about her past, so that he can re-establish superiority
and his dominance over Stella
When Stanley rapes Blanche, this is partly out of revenge, but it is also his final act of establishing
reality over Blanche’s fantasy world:
He establishes his dominance over her and her world in the only way he understands
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Stella Kowalski
Stella is Blanche’s younger sister and Stanley’s wife
She is the feminine to Stanley’s masculine, and the calm to Blanche’s hysteria:
She is the character who bridges the divide between the two worlds represented by Blanche
and Stanley
Her character is the suggestion that a blend of the two worlds is in some way possible, but is
made impossible by Stanley and Blanche’s inflexible attitudes
This also places her as a pawn in the game, with both Blanche and Stanley trying to assert their
alliance with her
She is described as having a quiet, reserved manner:
Blanche treats her like a child, and yet Stella makes no objection to waiting on her
She is deeply, physically connected to Stanley:
She has therefore no desire to return to her past, even though she cares about Blanche
She will always choose Stanley over her
This is evident in her decision to return to Stanley after he hit her, and her decision to believe
Stanley over Blanche in regards to the rape
She is complicit in the decision to send Blanche to an asylum
Stella’s surrender to Stanley’s world is almost totally complete:
Even though Blanche has some influence over her, resulting in tensions between Stanley and
Stella, Stella has accepted Stanley’s world and its values
This is evident when she fiercely defends Stanley against Blanche’s criticisms
It is Stella’s acceptance of Stanley’s version of events in order to protect her marriage and her
family at the end of the play that draws the most parallels with her sister:
She chooses to deny reality in order to continue to live in an illusion
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Harold Mitchell (Mitch)
Mitch is an army friend of Stanley’s, as well as his co-worker and friend
He is clumsy and unrefined, but is more sensitive and gentlemanly than Stanley and his other
friends:
He displays awkward courtesy and embarrassment when he first meets Blanche
Blanche is quick to notice that he seems to be more sensitive than the others
He lives with his mother, who is slowly dying, and for whom he obviously cares deeply
He acts as a foil for loud, domineering Stanley
He dates Blanche and comes to an agreement to marry her, until he finds out the truth about her
past:
The two are an unlikely match, as Mitch is not a typical chivalric hero
However, Blanche thinks of him as the man who can save her
He acts respectfully towards her, asking her permission to kiss her
He has the demeanour of a boy, bragging about his physique, which Blanche plays up to
Mitch matters to Stanley, who needs his admiration and respect to maintain his superiority in the
pack:
He therefore tells Mitch what he has discovered about Blanche
Mitch believes he has been lied to, showing his straightforward nature
He attempts to assert dominance over her, but cannot achieve it
He therefore leaves as a failed hero, left as lonely and alone as Blanche
Minor characters
Eunice Hubbel
Eunice is Stella’s friend and upstairs neighbour
She lives with her husband, Steve, and represents the lower-class life that Stella has chosen
Like Stella, Eunice overlooks her husband’s physical abuse to remain with him:
She often kicks Steve out, accusing him of having affairs, only to reconcile a short time later
Her advice to Stella at the end of the play represents what she symbolises, as she tells Stella
that she has no choice but to believe Stanley
Steve Hubbel
Steve is Eunice’s husband and Stanley’s poker friend
Like Stanley, he is a vulgar, hot-headed, physically fit man and an abusive husband
He and Stanley’s other poker friend, Pablo, seem to disagree with the decision to call the doctor
on Blanche, but do not challenge Stanley directly
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Writer's Methods & Techniques
Writer’s Methods and Techniques
“Writer’s methods and techniques” is an umbrella term for anything the writer does on purpose to
create meaning. Using the writer’s name in your response will help you to think about the text as a
conscious construct and will keep reminding you that Tennessee Williams purposely put the text
together.
The best responses at IGCSE don’t limit their analysis to individual words and phrases. Examiners are
really looking for analysis of Williams’s overall aims, so try to take a “whole-text” approach to writer’s
methods and techniques. There are a number of dramatic methods and techniques used in A
Streetcar Named Desire:
Form
Structure
Visual and sound effects
Imagery and symbolism
Exam Tip
Remember that the people in the text are conscious constructs, and so are the places being
described, and the objects mentioned. Try to learn to notice deliberate things Williams has done
to communicate his ideas.
As you read the play, try to consider: “why this, now?” For instance, our introduction to Stanley is
him “bellowing” and throwing a packet of meat at Stella. What does this tell us about these two
characters and their relationship?
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Form
A Streetcar Named Desire qualifies as a tragic drama as it adheres to the three unities of time, place
and action. It has also been called a melodrama and, more specifically, a sub-genre called Southern
Gothic. It also has elements of social realism.
The play adheres to the three unities of time, place and action:
The events in the play take place either in Elysian Fields or just outside it
The play unfolds over a set time period from May to September
The play centres on Blanche and the escalating conflict between her and Stanley
The play can also be classed as a melodrama:
It contains exaggerated emotions, explosive effects and theatrical effects
The sub-genre Southern Gothic was developed in the 1920s:
These works are set in the American South and tend to feature an atmosphere of decay,
poverty, violent or sexual events and insanity
Williams also contrasts the poetic style of Blanche with the straightforward and naturalistic style
of Stanley:
In this way, the play reflects social realism, which are naturalistic works set in actual places
with a realistic tone
But Williams also deliberately uses more expressionistic theatrical devices, such as the use
of the Mexican woman selling flowers for the day of the dead
Exam Tip
Understanding that a writer’s methods also include stagecraft will enable you to write about
Williams’s intentions much more thoroughly than just analysing his use of language. Stagecraft
includes:
Stage directions
Lighting
The opening and ending of each scene
How opening and closing lines are used
Dramatic irony, pace, as well as tension, suspense, surprise, etc.
All of the above are deliberate choices made by Williams, and so analysis of the above will
improve your mark when exploring Williams's methods in your essay.
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Structure
Williams structured his play into 11 scenes, but in one act. This further contains the play in one time span
and setting, even though the play as a whole can be viewed in three distinct sections.
Each of the scenes ends with a punchline or dramatic gesture:
This may have been to sustain the dramatic tension in the play
The first six scenes take place in May, and set the scene for the events that will take place in the
second group of scenes:
The later scenes take place within one day in September
The final scene follows a few weeks later, showing the outcome of the events
Williams also employs repetition, such as Blanche’s repeated bathing and the poker games:
This reinforces the idea that events are building up and the cycle of Stanley and Stella’s
relationship
The play can also be seen to be structured as a series of confrontations between Stanley and
Blanche:
These gradually increase in severity until one of them must be destroyed
Williams also employs a third-person omniscient point of view:
He does not tell the story through any one character’s eyes
The audience sometimes sees action happening in two different places at the same time
However, the focus is mainly on Blanche, as Williams presents us with sounds that only she can
hear:
These instances put the audience inside Blanche’s head, increasing empathy for the
character
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Visual and sound effects
Music and other sound effects, as well as visual effects, play important roles in the drama to create
mood and to give the audience further information about characters’ thoughts and motivations.
Realistic sound effects, such as the locomotive and the slamming of doors, tend to accompany
Stanley in the play:
This emphasises the social realist aspect of the play and Stanley as representative of the real
world
These sounds emphasise Stanley’s masculinity and brutality
The sound of people on the street and jaz z music also adds to the sense of realism in the play:
It emphasises that this play is about an ordinary group of people as they go about their
ordinary lives
Domestic violence is also conveyed in the play through sound effects:
When Stanley hits Stella, this is conveyed through the stage direction “there is a sound of a
blow”
A disturbance is also heard upstairs when Eunice and Steve are fighting
In addition, music is used throughout the play as a device to emphasise Blanche’s thoughts and
mental state:
Blanche and her young husband were dancing to the Varsouviana Polka on the night he
committed suicide
Whenever Blanche is asked about this, the music plays (but only she and the audience can
hear it)
The song only stops when she hears a gunshot
The same music also plays in the background for a lot of scenes to do with Blanche:
This suggests that the memory of her husband is always with her
Williams also employs lighting to further highlight the decaying state of Blanche’s mind, and the
contrast between her world and Stanley’s:
The men are often shown under bright lights and intense colours to show their masculinity
and strength
Blanche attempts to hide in subdued light and shade, adding to her sense of illusion
This is symbolically stripped away when both Mitch and then Stanley tear down the paper
lantern
The lurid reflections that play on the wall, accompanied by inhuman cries, represent Blanche’s
state of terror:
This is a visual representation of Blanche’s hysteria and trauma
The shadows are also present in the rape scene, giving the impression of Blanche being
trapped by Stanley
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Exam Tip
Examiners are looking to reward what you say about the craft of the writer, not the number of
technical terms referenced in your response. You do not need to display an extensive
knowledge of literary and linguistic methods, but are best advised to use simpler terminology (if
any) to focus and build your argument.
Rather than just highlighting literary and linguistic methods, you can instead focus on
characterisation, structure and plot development. For example, Williams’s use of dramatic irony
allows the audience further insight into Blanche’s unravelling when she hears the polka music and
gunshot, which the other characters cannot. Consider why this might be.
Imagery and symbolism
Imagery and symbolism in the play are present both in the motifs and in the dialogue.
Blanche is an English teacher and a poetry-lover:
She frequently uses figurative language, such as in Scene 6 when she describes love as being
like “a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow”
The use of such poetic language emphasises Blanche’s role of representing a more oldfashioned, refined and genteel time
The streetcar itself is a symbol of the power of sexual desire as the driving force for the
characters in the play:
When it takes over, the characters are carried along to the end of the line and are powerless
to get off
Blanche uses bathing as an attempt to cleanse herself and forget her reality:
It may also be an attempt to wash away the guilt she feels for her husband’s suicide
Alcohol and drunkenness are also used in a symbolic way:
Stanley’s drinking exaggerates his masculinity and brutality
He makes a show of drinking and links it to his rights as a man
In contrast, Blanche tries to hide her drinking
She uses it as another escape mechanism, but it also further emphasises her delusions, as
she constantly claims that she rarely drinks
Exam Tip
In the exam, the question may involve the command word “how” and will make reference to the
author. This invites you to explore the craft of writing/the writer’s methods and go beyond the
“what” of the text, to thinking about the text as a conscious construct, exploring what the writer
has done on purpose in order to create meaning.
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Key Quotations
Key Quotations
The Assessment Objectives for the CIE IGCSE Literature in English state that you should demonstrate
your knowledge of the content of the text through reference to detail and quotations from the text.
This means summarising, paraphrasing, referencing single words and referencing plot events are all as
valid as direct quotations in demonstrating that you understand the text. It is important to remember
that you can evidence your knowledge of the text in these two equally valid ways: both through
references to it and direct quotations from it.
Overall, you should aim to secure a strong knowledge of the text, rather than rehearsed quotations,
as this will enable you to respond to the question. It is the quality of your knowledge of the text which
will enable you to select references effectively.
If you are going to revise quotations, the best way is to group them by character or theme. Below you
will find definitions and analysis of the best quotations, arranged by the following themes:
Sex and desire
Fantasy versus reality
Gender roles
Exam Tip
If you are answering the passage-based question, examiners will reward you if you are able to link
ideas and themes in the given extract to the rest of the play. A fantastic way to do this is to
include quotations from elsewhere in A Streetcar Named Desire that show a connection,
contrast or character development.
However, it is equally valuable to include your own “paired quotations” if answering the essaybased question. These are two quotations that show connections, or changes. These paired
quotations are marked below, and are great when memorised together.
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Sex and desire
Desire is a central theme of the play, as demonstrated with the metaphor of the streetcar bearing the
same name being the one that carries Blanche to Elysium Fields, representing one of her driving
emotions, and the means of her undoing. Physical desire is also at the heart of Stella and Stanley’s
relationship.
“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride
six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields!” – Blanche, Scene 1
Meaning and context
This quote is the first line Blanche speaks to Eunice upon arriving at the Kowalski’s apartment
She has just arrived in New Orleans and describes the instructions she was given with “faintly
hysterical humour”
Analysis
Elysian Fields is named after the land of the dead in Greek mythology
Therefore, the journey that Blanche makes from the train station to the apartment is an allegorical
version of her life up to that point
Her pursuit of sexual desires has led to her social death and banishment from her hometown, as
represented by the Cemeteries, to a sort of after-life
“There are thousands of papers, stretching back over hundreds of years, affecting Belle Reve as,
piece by piece, our improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and brothers exchanged the
land for their epic fornications” – Blanche, Scene 2
Meaning and context
Blanche gives this speech to Stanley in Scene 2, after he has accused her of swindling Stella (and
him) out of her inheritance
She shows Stanley paperwork that proves she lost Belle Reve due to foreclosure on its
mortgage
Analysis
Here, Blanche links her family’s decline into poverty with the behaviour of its male members,
specifically their “epic fornications”, over the generations
Like Blanche, the DuBois ancestors have maintained an outward appearance of refinement, while
secretly pursuing their sexual desires
She is the last in a long line of ancestors who cannot express their sexual desire in a healthy
manner
Paired quotation:
“Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of
it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird
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among hens” – Stage directions, Scene 1
“He siz es women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and
determining the way he smiles at them” – Stage directions, Scene 1
Meaning and context
These stage directions describe Stanley before he first meets Blanche in Scene 1
He enters loudly, throwing open the screen door of the kitchen, and his description is summed
up as one of a “gaudy seed-bearer”
Analysis
These stage directions place Stanley firmly as both masculine and dominant:
For Stanley, masculinity and sexuality are connected
The reference to the “taking” of women’s pleasure foreshadows his eventual rape of Blanche
He sees women as objects of sex and determines their worth on this basis:
Stanley is not interested in anything else they might offer
He is described as having the “power and pride of a richly feathered male bird”, suggesting his
arrogance and belief that he is at the centre of a woman’s universe
“But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark – that sort of make
everything else seem – unimportant” – Stella
“What you are talking about is brutal desire – just Desire! – the name of that rattle-trap street-car that
bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another…” – Blanche
“Haven’t you ever ridden on that street-car?” – Stella
“It brought me here. – Where I’m not wanted and where I’m ashamed to be…” – Blanche, Scene 4
Meaning and context
Stella is trying to explain how she feels about Stanley and why she stays with him even though he
hits her
Blanche does not understand how that kind of physical passion can be true love
Analysis
Here, the sisters are talking in metaphors
For Stella, love and physical attraction are inseparable:
The sexual dynamic she has with Stanley keeps them together
Blanche can recognise desire, but tries to pretend that she can’t and refuses to get on board:
She speaks of it with disdain
She links desire with shame, as it was her desire that brought her to her current predicament
Paired quotation:
“You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother” – Mitch, Scene 9
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“Tiger – tiger! Drop the bottle-top! Drop it! We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!” –
Stanley, Scene 10
Meaning and context
The first quote is spoken by Mitch when he visits Blanche after learning the truth about her past
Mitch attempts to have sex with Blanche, but Blanche tells him that he must marry her first – this is
his response
The second quote is spoken by Stanley to Blanche just before he rapes her
Blanche has broken a bottle and waves it at Stanley in a feeble act of self-defence
Following this, the stage directions tell us that he carries her to the bed
Analysis
When Mitch arrives, Blanche is clinging on to the illusion that he might still want to marry her, and
that she is a Southern Belle
Mitch, however, believes that he has been lied to:
For him, Blanche is simply a liar pretending to be virtuous
He therefore thinks that, if she has had that many men, then one more won’t matter
He is astonished at her reaction, which underlines the lack of understanding between them
Mitch speaks plainly, while Blanche still uses poetic language, emphasising the different worlds
they represent
Stanley’s words hint at the inevitability of their situation from the moment they met:
Blanche was always aware of his dominant masculinity, and behaved flirtatiously in response
to it
Stanley breaks taboos by raping his sister-in-law while his wife is giving birth to their child:
This final violation is what sends Blanche into insanity
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Fantasy versus reality
One of the basic tensions in this play is the one between the romantic and the realistic, or between
fantasy and reality. This is most obviously symbolised through Blanche as the romantic fantasist and
Stanley as the realist, and Blanche’s dependence on fantasy and illusion is contrasted with Stanley’s
down-to-earth view of the world, which eventually “wins”.
Paired quotation:
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action” – Blanche, Scene
3
“And so the soft people have got to – shimmer and glow – put a – paper lantern over the light” –
Blanche, Scene 5
Meaning and context
The first line is spoken during Blanche’s first interaction and flirtation with Mitch
She has bought a paper lantern at a Chinese shop and she asks Mitch to put it over the light bulb
for her
The second is spoken by Blanche to Stella when she realises that Stanley has started digging into
her past
She is beginning to construct a defence of her actions
Analysis
The paper lantern is used as a symbol in the play, as it is torn down later by both Mitch and Stanley,
representing the tearing away of the illusion Blanche has created around herself
It symbolises the reality that Blanche has created for herself – that of a genteel, virtuous woman
of manners and breeding
The line suggests that Blanche takes the truth, as symbolised by the naked light bulb, and blurs it:
She seems unable to face the ugly reality of her life
Paired quotation:
“I don’t want realism” – Blanche, Scene 9
“I’ll tell you what I want. Magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to
them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth” – Blanche, Scene 9
Meaning and context
Blanche is arguing with Mitch when he visits her after learning the truth about her past
He insists on turning on the light so that he can see her properly, as she is normally in shadow or
muted light
Analysis
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For Blanche, it doesn’t matter if the magic is real or if even she believes it
She wants fantasy and illusion over the harsh brutality of the real world:
This is where she can believe in and hope for something kinder and more refined than the real
world
She turns to her world of make-believe when she cannot face reality or her shame
She believes that her lies are a way of presenting people with the truth, or reality, that they really
want and wish for:
In Mitch’s case, a wife to look after him after his mother has passed away
“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” – Stella, Scene 11
Meaning and context
This line is spoken by Stella to Eunice after revealing that she has arranged for her sister to be
taken to a mental hospital
She explains that she had no choice but to believe that the story of the rape was the invention of a
mentally unstable woman
Analysis
This line reveals that Stella has more in common with Blanche than it first appears
She has chosen to believe a version of the truth that will allow her to survive, especially as she now
has a new baby to care for and she is financially dependent on her husband
Her guilt and devastation at Blanche being taken away, however, suggest that she does know the
truth deep down:
This mirrors the fact that Blanche also knows the truth, but covers it with a metaphorical paper
lantern
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Gender roles
One of the other key themes Williams addresses in the play is gender stereotyping, following the
emerging post-war American ideals that championed masculinity and patriarchal values. Williams also
uses Blanche and Stella’s dependence on men to critique the treatment of women and their position
in society.
“In the state of Louisiana we have the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife
belongs to the husband and vice versa” – Stanley, Scene 2
Meaning and context
Stanley attempts to explain the Napoleonic code to Stella when he learns that Belle Reve has
been lost
He believes that Stella has been cheated out of her inheritance and, therefore, he has been
cheated as well
Analysis
Here, Stanley betrays his ignorance, as well as his fundamental belief in his own superiority:
He reacts suspiciously to anything he believes threatens this
His suspicions also relate to a profound mistrust of better-educated people
The lines also underscore the characters of Stanley and Stella as conforming to traditional
gender stereotypes
“Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women” – Mitch, Scene 3
Meaning and context
This line is repeated twice by Mitch in the poker game scene
He says it before and after Stanley has exploded in a violent rage and hit Stella
It suggests he thinks that women, poker and gambling are a bad mix
Analysis
This line shows Mitch as someone who fundamentally believes women are soft, gentle and
should be protected from anything unpleasant or rough
It also underscores his inherent patriarchal values:
He doesn’t blame Stanley for his actions, but instead blames the game, as though it stirs
something up in a man that he cannot help
“Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by, and there he is – Stanley Kowalski –
survivor of the stone age! Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle! And you – you here –
waiting for him! Maybe he’ll strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you!” – Blanche, Scene 4
Meaning and context
Blanche is berating Stella for staying with Stanley even though he is physically abusive to her
Blanche is trying to explain the kind of man she thinks Stanley is
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Analysis
This is part of a longer speech in which Blanche throws a lot of names at Stanley
She is trying to remind Stella of her upbringing and higher social status
It also reveals how she sees Stanley, as primitive and animalistic
This speech subverts traditional gender roles, as Blanche is arguing against patriarchal values and
tries to make Stella see that she deserves more
“I want to kiss you – just once – softly and sweetly on your mouth…It would be nice to keep you, but I’ve
got to be good and keep my hands off children” – Blanche, Scene 6
Meaning and context
A Young Collector has arrived at the Kowalski apartment – Blanche is alone and drinking, waiting
for her date with Mitch
Blanche flirts with him and kisses him
Analysis
This quote is an example of Williams subverting normal gender stereotypes
Instead of an innocent girl being corrupted by a more experienced man, Blanche is the one doing
the corrupting
The quote references her many previous liaisons with young men, and suggests that she was the
instigator of them:
This includes the affair she had with the 17-year-old student that got her dismissed from her
job
Here, she is the one in control, as she orders the young man away:
This contrasts with her eventual rape by Stanley
“Whoever you are – I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” – Blanche, Scene 11
Meaning and context
This quote is Blanche’s last line in the play, as she is led out by the doctor
Analysis
Her line suggests that Blanche sees the doctor as the gentleman rescuer she has longed for
Despite her masculine trait of overt sexuality, Blanche still longs to be saved by a man
The line is ironic as Blanche’s dependence on the “kindness of strangers” is the reason why her
life has unravelled:
In reality, strangers have only been kind in exchange for sex
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