Stanley
Stella
* Desire
1) Blanche seeks to deny it, although we learn later in the play that desire
is one of her driving motivations; her desires have caused her to be
driven out of town.
Blanche says “Tarantula was the name of it. I stayed at a hotel called the
Tarantula Arms”.
Mitch says “Tarantula Arms?”
Blanche reply “Yes, a big spider. That's where I brought my victims.
Yes, I've had many meetings with strangers”.
2) Physical desire, and not intellectual or spiritual intimacy, is the heart of
Stella's and Stanley's relationship, but Williams makes it clear that this
does not make their bond any weaker.
3) Desire is also Blanche's undoing, because she cannot find a healthy
way of dealing with her natural urges - she is always either trying to
suppress them or pursuing them with abandon.
*Violence and Cruelty
1)Stanley final assault against Blanche is a merciless attack against an
already-beaten foe.
* Stanley’s says: “Tiger—tiger! Drop the bottle top! Drop it! We’ve had
this date with each other from the beginning!” [She moans. The bottle
top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and
carries her to the bed. The hot trumpet and drums from the Four
Deuces sound loudly] .
2) Blanche's cruelty is unintentional. She lies in a vain or misguided effort
to please.
The connection in Blanche’s past between violence and desire in some
way contributes to the events within the time scale of the play. This is
not to excuse Stanley’s later act of violence or to suggest that Blanche
brings it on herself — rather, Williams is demonstrating how a cycle of
violence, combined with passion and desire, is hard to break.
*Madness
1) The theme of madness running through Streetcar in the form of
Blanche’s neurosis and self-delusion may reveal some of the
playwright’s fears about the instability of his own mental life.
2) William Tennessee’s lingering regrets and guilt about Rose’s treatment
may also be seen in Stella’s anguished cry as Blanche is taken away:
“What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?”
*Fight For Control
1) Stanley and Blanche both fight to control Stella.
2) As her husband, Stanley believes that he should take care of all of
Stella's property and concerns.
3) Blanche believes that her position as Stella's sister gives her the right to
make decisions for Stella, such as trying to force Stella to leave Stanley.
 Blanche said “ He acts like an animal, has an
animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one,
talks like one! There’s even something—subHuman ‫ ـــ‬something not quite to the stage of
humanity yet!”
4) Stanley also seeks to control Blanche. The more they fight over control
of Stella, the more Stanley wants to control Blanche as well. His first
step is to tell Mitch, Blanche's only companion in New Orleans, the
truth about her troubled past.
*Loneliness
1)
The companion theme to desire is loneliness, and between these two
extremes, Blanche is lost. She desperately seeks companionship and
protection in the arms of strangers. And she has never recovered from
her tragic and consuming love for her first husband.
2)
Blanche is in need of a defender. But in New Orleans, she will find
instead the predatory and merciless Stanley.
Blanche said “I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can't be
alone! “
* Illusion and Reality
1) Blanche is a quixotic figure, seeing the world not as it is but as it ought
to be. Illusion or fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from
the tragedies she has had to endure.
 Blanche says: “I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic. I try
to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell truths. I tell
what ought to be truth”.
 2) Blanche's dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley's
steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that
win.
3) Stella must also resort to a kind of illusion, forcing herself to believe
that Blanche's accusations against Stanley are false so that she can
continue living with her husband.
*Dependence on Men
 Williams uses Blanche’s and Stella’s dependence on men to expose the
treatment of women during the transition from the old to the new
South.
1) Blanche and Stella see male companions as their only means to achieve
happiness, and they depend on men for both their sustenance and
their self-image.
Motifs
*Light and Darkness
1)
Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in front of
her suitor, Mitch.
When she greets Stella at the first time in the apartment, she says, "And
turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this
merciless glare!"
 Blanche says : “I can't stand in a naked light bulb, any more than I can
a rude remark or a vulgar action”.
 When Mitch knows about her past, he says , “ What it means is I’ve
never had a real good look at you, Blanche. Let’s turn on the light.”

Blanche fearfully responds, “Light? Which light? What for?”

Mitch replies, “ This one with the paper thing on it. He tears the paper
lantern off the light bulb. She utters a frightened gasp.] (s.9, 144).
* Bathing
 Blanche’s pre-occupation with washing herself is an attempt to cleanse
herself of her past sins.
 The bath is never a quick and simple matter for Blanche. She spends
hours, cleansing herself thoroughly, as if to make a fresh start in life,
hopefully with Mitch.
* Drunkenness
1) Stanley and Blanche drink excessively at various points during the play.
* Stanley’s drinking is social while Blanche’s drinking is anti-social .
2) For Stanley and Blanche, drinking leads to destructive behavior:
• Stanley commits domestic violence.
•
Blanche deludes herself.
*Symbols
 Streetcar named Desire is Blanche's desire. Although Blanche arrives in
New Orleans as a somewhat broken woman, she keeps alive her desire
to be with a man and to lead a life as an elegant, respectable woman.
Blanche means white in French, and–in keeping with her name–she
wears a white dress and gloves in the opening scene of the play to hide
her real self in the purity that white suggests.
Blanche DuBois itself means ‘white woods’ as she tells Mitch - which
implies something virginal and unsullied - both of which she is not.
 Stanley is an Old English name meaning stone field. Thus, it is possible
he represents a cemetery for Blanche. Stanislaus is the name of a king
of Poland. Clearly, Stanley is the king of his household.
 Belle Reve is the name of Blanche's family home in Mississippi. It
means the "beautiful dream" (the meaning of Belle Rêve in French) that
Blanche seeks but never experiences.
 It is a symbol of the past that has gone forever, and Blanche’s inability
to rouse herself from her dream world of illusions and magic.
 The old Mexican woman is a symbol for death, a problem for Blanche.
 The old Mexican woman is a symbol of all deaths at Belle Reve, and the
appearance of the Mexican woman in scene nine reminds Blanche of
those deaths.
 The polka and the moment it evokes represent Blanche’s loss of
innocence. The suicide of the young husband Blanche loved dearly was
the event that triggered her mental decline.
 The polka music plays at various points:
1) In Scene One, when Stanley meets Blanche and asks her about her
husband.
2) When Blanche tells Mitch the story of Allen Grey. From this point on,
the polka plays increasingly often, and it always drives Blanche to
distraction.
 Sahar Talal Subghah
 Dalia Ebrahim Al-amoudi
 Sawsan Faleh lA- shumrani
 Zaina Yaseen Maqadi
 Ro’a Abdul Al –rahman Halawani
Thank You…