Williams’s
A Streetcar Named Desire
Study Guide
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scenes I-II
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. Look again at the opening stage description. List the key items
that Williams reveals in this opening bit.
2. Look at the narrative description of Blanche. List some of the
key characteristics Williams mentions about her.
3. What do you think of Blanche? What is your “read” of her
character?
4. Go to www.bartleby.com and click on the “Reference” tab.
Type in the name of Stanley and Stella’s building. After you
run the search, click on the second link. What is the meaning
of this name/place? Why do you think Williams gave the
building this name?
5. When we first meet Blanche DuBois, she has traveled to see
her sister Stella. She took streetcars named Desire and
Cemeteries to arrive at her sister’s apartment. What might
these names represent?
6. Blanche goes into Stella’s apartment to wait for her to come
home. What is her reaction to Stella’s home? Why might she
react this way?
7. Go to www.freetranslation.com and choose the “French to
Engilsh” option. Type in Belle Rêve – don’t forget to use the
special “ê” with the triangular top. Click “Free Translation.”
What does “Belle Rêve” mean? What does it refer to in the
play? Why do you think Williams chose this name?
8. Why does Blanche say that she has left her teaching job to visit
Stella? How do we judge this statement?
9. Why does Blanche say that she lost Belle Reve?
10. Look at the narrative description of Stanley. List some of the
key characteristics Williams mentions about him.
11. What sort of guy do you think he is?
12. At the end of Scene One, what music “rises up, faint in the
distance”? What do you think the overall significance of the
“constantly playing Blue Piano music” rising up means?
13. Near the end of Scene One, what do we learn about
Blanche’s husband?
1. When Stanley finds out about the loss of Belle Reve, what is
his reaction?
2. What does Stanley think that Blanche has done with the money
he believes she made from selling Belle Reve? What does this
reveal to us about Stanley? About Stella?
3. What is Stanley’s reaction to Blanche’s “doubletalk” throughout
this scene?
4. What “papers” does Stanley mistakenly discover as he’s
looking for the foreclosure documents for Belle Reve? How
does Blanche react to this? How does Stanley respond to her
reaction?
5. What does Stanley reveal to Blanche about Stella as they are
going through her business papers? What is Blanche’s
reaction to this news?
6. Where are Stella and Blanche going while the men play poker?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scene III
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. Look at the opening stage directions. What atmosphere
is Williams attempting to create?
How does he go about this through the use of staging
and color?
2. The entrance of Stella and Blanche into this male
dominated environment creates tension.
How does Blanche use her “wiles” to integrate herself into
the company? How does Stanley attempt to protect the
integrity of the male group?
3. What traces of tension can you find between male and
female in this scene?
Identify and discuss at least two.
4. When Blanche and Stella return to the apartment, the
men are still there playing poker. To whom does Stella
introduce Blanche?
What does Blanche say about him?
What expectations do we have for their relationship by
the end of the scene?
5. What do you suppose is the “drive” that Stella mentions in
regard to Stanley?
6. Blanche goes to the back room, a bedroom, to relax until
the men finish playing. She turns on the radio. Stanley
asks her to turn it off, but when she doesn’t, what does
Stanley do?
How does this reflect on Stanley’s character?
7. Look at the way Blanche acts towards Mitch. How would
you describe it? How does this reflect upon her
character?
8. Why doesn’t Blanche like bright lights?
9. What happens between Stella and Stanley that ends the
poker game?
In what way(s) does the conclusion of the scene re-affirm
the differences between the world of Elysian Fields and
the world that Blanche inhabits?
10.
Based on your reading of the first three scenes, what
kind of relationship do Stanley and Stella have?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scene IV-V
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. Why do you think Blanche’s speech at the end of this
scene is particularly key? How will it influence the
direction of the rest of the play?
2. How did Stella say she reacted to Stanley’s breaking all
the light bulbs on their wedding night?
3. What idea does Blanche have to escape New Orleans
with Stella? What is Stella’s reaction?
4. The opening stage directions are clearly attempting to
create an atmosphere of peace, tranquility, and sensual
indulgence. How does Williams create this atmosphere
and why is there such a direct contrast between the state
of mind of Stella and the nervousness of Blanche?
5. What evidence is there here for the assertion that
Blanche has difficulty in distinguishing between truth and
fantasy?
6. Why does Stella say that Blanche saw Stanley at his
worst and why does Blanche say that she saw him at his
best?
7. Look carefully at the references to desire on pages 70-71.
What are the differences that Stella and Blanche have
towards desire?
1. In Scene Five, Blanche discusses astrological signs.
What sign does she think Stanley was born under and
why?
2. What sign does she say she was born under? What does
it mean?
3. What function is served by the fight and subsequent
reconciliation of Eunice and Steve?
4. Look carefully at Stanley’s attack on Blanche before he
leaves. This is clearly designed to unnerve her, and he
clearly succeeds. How does he do this?
5. Write a reaction to Blanche’s speech on page 79. Why is
it important and what does it reveal?
6. Notice how stage directions dominate the page on 84.
What effect is Williams trying to achieve here?
7. After Stella and Stanley leave, a young man comes to the
door collecting money for the local newspaper, The
Evening Star. What does Blanche do to him? How does
this reflect on her character?
8. Why does Blanche say at the end of this scene,
“Sometimes – there’s God – so quickly”?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scene VI
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. What kind of atmosphere are the opening stage
directions meant to evoke?
2. Why does Blanche burst into laughter when Mitch says
he has never known anyone like her before?
3. Blanche and Mitch discuss Stanley. She asks him if
Stanley talks much about her and explains how horrid he
is making her life there with them. What does Mitch
respond?
4. How does Blanche prepare Mitch for what Stanley might
say about her? Why does she do this?
5. Blanche confides in Mitch by telling him the story of how
her husband, Allen Grey, died. How did he die? What
led to that? Why prompts Blanche to tell the story?
6. How does this scene end between Mitch and Blanche?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scenes VII-Viii
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. It is now mid-September and Blanche’s birthday. Stella
has prepared a party for her. Stanley lets Stella know
that he has learned some things about Blanche. What
things?
2. During their talk, Blanche is in the tub and singing. What
does she sing about?
3. Who is supposed to come over for Blanche’s birthday?
Why does Stanley say this person won’t be coming?
4. Look closely at Stella’s defense of Blanche on pages 89100. Does this affect the way audience views Stanley’s
revelations?
5. Write a reaction to the fact that Stanley has “talked to
Mitch” about Blanche.
6. What does Stanley mean when he says “Her [Blanche’s]
future is mapped out for her”?
7. In what ways is Williams creating a juxtaposition in this
scene between what is going on between Stanley and
Stella, and Blanche in the bathroom?
1. How does Williams create the effect of tension being
hiding thinly beneath a veneer of assumed happiness or
joviality at the beginning of this scene? Pay specific
attention to the opening stage directions.
2. Stella attacks Stanley for “making a pig of himself.” Why
do you think he does this? Is there a link between the
language she uses and the animal imagery that Blanch
has used to describe Stanley in the past?
3. Look closely at Stanley’s speech beginning with “That’s
how I’ll clear the table!” How does this reveal the nature
of his battle against Blanche for possession of Stella?
How does it reflect on his character?
4. The phone interrupts the argument between Stanley,
Stella, and Blanche. How does Stanley use this to
humiliate Blanche further?
5. Consider Stella’s remark that, “People like you abuse her,
and forced her to change.” How does this speech help us
to understand Blanche’s character?
6. The scene finishes with Stella being taken to the hospital.
Blanche’s isolation is accentuated how?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scene iX-X
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. Look at the description of Blanche’s actions when Mitch
rings. In particular, pay attention to the verbs in the
stage directions. What does this tell us about Blanche’s
state of mind and her hopes for Mitch?
2. Mitch is characterized by a certain brutality of language
and violence of movement. Are we meant to see
parallels between Mitch and Stanley?
3. Look to Blanche’s speech in the middle of page 117.
How useful is Blanche’s comment to understanding her
character throughout the play so far in terms of “truth”
and “realism”?
4. What is the significance of the Mexican woman selling
“flowers for the dead”?
5. What does Blanche mean when she says that the
opposite of death is desire?
6. Why is Mitch’s treatment of her at the end of this scene
such a bitter blow to Blanche?
1. Look at what Blanche wears, says, and does at the
opening of the scene. What does this tell us about her
frame of mind?
2. Stanley seems to initially accept Blanche’s story about
Shep. What are his motives?
3. Stanley brutally shatters Blanche’s delusions after she
declares, “I don’t tell the truth. I tell what ought to be
truth.” How is language used as a weapon by Stanley?
4. How is image and sound used to lead up to Stanley’s
attack and rape of Blanche?
5. Stanley admits, “We’ve had this date with each other from
the beginning!” What are the implications of this remark?
Is there any validity to it?
A Streetcar Named Desire
Scene Xi
Answer in complete sentences. Use the present tense when discussing the Play!
1. Where does Blanche think she is going? Where is she
actually going?
2. The opening stage directions consciously re-create the
“raw, lurid” atmosphere of the Poker Night from Scene
Three. What conclusions can we draw from this?
3. How is Blanche’s state of mind reflected through sounds,
colors, reflections, and shapes?
4. How do we interpret Mitch’s physical attack on Stanley?
5. How do you interpret Blanche’s reaction to the doctor and
her comment on the top of page 142?
6. What is the significance of the following quote by Stella:
“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley.”
Why do you think Stella reacts the way she does when
Blanche is finally taken away?
7. What is the significance of the following quote by Eunice:
“Don’t ever believe it. Life has got to go on. No matter
what happens, you’ve got to keep on going.”
8. What is the significance of the following quote by Stanley:
“Luck is believing you’re lucky. Take at Salerno. I
believed I was lucky…To hold front position in this ratrace you’ve got to believe you are lucky.”