A Streetcar Named Desire (Modern Classics (Penguin)) [Paperback]

A Streetcar Named Desire is one of my favourite plays, and that's high praise coming from the very dedicated bookworm that I am! What I find most striking about the play is the ease with which it flows, despite the difficult topics it covers and despite flouting all of Grice's maxims, ie containing both stunted and unclear speech, and long and irrelevant digressions. The former often come from the 'down to earth' characters in the play, namely the couple, Stanley and Stella, while the latter can be found in almost anything Blanche Dubois (Stella's sister) has to say.

As the play unfolds the reader realises that s/he should not take anything Blanche says too seriously- she is too much of a faux Shakespearean character, flamboyant but also forced, somewhat false, and to be watched with interest. This becomes clearer later in the play, as her character unravels with the denouement, culminating in her downfall. Blanche hides behind her words, which compose the seemingly ludicrous and over the top world she inhabits in her imagination. Stella, on the other hand, is direct and attentive with her speech, and is easy to like for this reason. She initially seems like the poor, enduring sister, which Blanche is eccentric and spoilt. Many people I know who have read this play have detested Blanche: she is needy and demanding, she talks mostly about herself and constantly turns conversations to herself, and by the end of the play the reader has usually grown tired of her self-indulgent speeches. However a closer social reading can make one aware of the sadness and loneliness that pervade Blanche, and see that her excess use of language is her way out of this mental instability. It could be argued that Williams presents Blanche to us thus as a case study of the 'old South' and the belles it once produced: victims, perhaps to modern-day New Orleans.

Blanche is a formidable character, easy to hate but also easy to pity, and for this reason I find her to be a fascinating study. She represents the 'old South' in the play; the New Orleans that once thrived upon false feminine flamboyancy and coquettishness. As Williams demonstrates throughout the play, New Orleans is ever-changing and it no longer welcomes or celebrates Southern belles such as the one Blanche believes herself to be. The champion character is instead the 'lad's lad' Stanley, who is somewhat arrogant, demanding and fearless, and also a bulky and macho character who represents the industrial growth and strength of New Orleans. Stanley speaks little about himself throughout the play, but he is a powerful character and he is the overall 'winner' without having to do much work to succeed.

Blanche on the other hand struggles against the brutality of Stanley's society, attempting to salvage her dwindling situation by marrying a man who she believes will be good to her and who can also provide for her. Despite Blanche's best (and pained) efforts, we see that a brief talk with Stanley ends her hopes in this direction also. Mitch is Stanley's friend, is a sensitive male character who often plays poker with Stanley. He courts Blanche but is poisoned against her by Stanley, who discovers and reveals dark secrets from her past. Stanley is glad to mar her falsely innocent image, as he despites her pretences and perhaps the 'high brow' class they purport to represent. However the reader can see that her past mistakes show another sad side to her story: that she has once again been the victim. We do not hear Mitch's point of view, but we know that he abandons her despite the potential for happiness that they both have together. When he attempts to accuse her of misleading him, he is drunk and comes off as comical: he cannot take on the role that Stanley carries so easily. Mitch is a carer; his mother is ill and he speaks tenderly of her throughout the play, and Blanche requires a gentle man who is able to care for her, so perhaps they would have been the ideal match. At the end of the play, when Blanche is being taken away and Mitch finally rises to Stanley's constant bullying remarks about him, Mitch's attempt to stand up to Stanley is, again, comical, and ends with Stanley calling him a 'cry baby'- which, it is worth noting, Williams' own father called him whenever he showed signs of emotion or 'weakness'.

Although Blanche seems false and irritating throughout the play, she is a significant marker in Williams observations of contemporary New Orleans society, of changing gender roles, of the relationships between people and how they see themselves, and their roles in society. Blanche lives in a make-believe world based on a class system that she really no longer belongs to, since she has lost her property, Belle Reve, and therefore her wealth. However Stella also lives in a false contentment which she is willing to sacrifice in order to ride the 'streetcar named desire': this is, perhaps crudely, her own escape from the world, as is the case also with her neighbour Eunice who lives upstairs and who we witness fighting with her husband once, after which they make up passionately. From the beginning of the play, Stella appears to lead a contented life, one which she has settled for, despite the occasional violence against her on Stanley's part, which we witness once in the play. Although Blanche seems to be an intensely selfish character at first glance, she is genuinely concerned for her sister's welfare, and she attempts to persuade her to leave Stanley. Her sister is smitten however and would rather hold onto the intense 'desire' of her marriage than pursue anything else. In advising her to leave Stanley, Blanche unwittingly places herself in opposition to his character, and this is ultimately her downfall. Not only does he bully her and play constant games with her nervous disposition and need for attention and kindness- later in the play he is often brutal with his words towards her- he eventually rapes her and has her cast out to a mental institution, with her sister Stella's aid. Stella chooses Stanley's side, as she is pregnant and wishes to continue her own lifestyle, at the expense of losing her sister.

The relationships between different characters and, more notably, men and women are heavily explored in this play, and although Blanche seems to be the key 'player' at the start of the play, we realise by the end that she is not the only character who plays games in A Streetcar Named Desire. Also, it could be argued that her upbringing is actually her downfall: this is highlighted in the dénouement, when she will not submit to the burly matron, but when the doctor speaks gently to her she succumbs to him and allows herself to be led out of the house and to the asylum. She comes from a world where gentlemen like this exist: she has been bred to trust them, and this has made her weak. Although she is Stanley's rival throughout the play, she is never his equal, and she cannot have imagined the extent of his power over her, that he could use such force against her, and her powerlessness before him.

Stanley is the only figure in the play who has no need for airs and falsities. He does and takes what he wants, and he is successful: in this way he is stable and strong, while Blanche is weak and a victim. We see Stanley's character collapse only once in the play, after he has hit Stella in a drunken rage and she runs away from him, but she does not actually leave him so nothing more comes of this. He makes little effort be anyone in particular: we learn little about him, besides the fact that he supports his family and earns a good wage, and likes to play poker with his friends. This, apparently, is enough for anyone to be successful in 'new' New Orleans.

But Williams uses more than dialogue to make this play. His use of lighting and sound are strongly apparent even when one is reading the text instead of watching the scenes on stage: frequently a character's speech is interrupted by music or lights from the outside world. The opening sets the scene, with a bustling scene of people's half-conversations rolling over each other, and Blanche's sharply contrasting delicate character and speech arriving amidst this hustle and bustle. She is described as delicate, like a flower, and she attempts to control, throughout the play, the way people see her physically- she does not like to stand in bright lights, for example. The final insult to Blanche is perhaps when she is being taken away to the institution and Stanley tears down her lampshade to give to her- a spiteful, unnecessary, and bullying final act. Yet Stanley's action again makes a poignant point: Blanche can no longer conceal herself from the harshness of this society, and so she must leave it. And no matter how much the reader may dislike Blanche's character, I believe that s/he cannot deny the utter tragedy of Ms Dubois.

I am reading this for an AS English Literature course and have to say that whilst it is written with incredibly emotive and visual stage directions I found the actual story quite painful to read.

The story is based on the inter-relationships of three people. Blanche Dubois, an aristocratic well brought up woman who has definitely fallen on hard times and is having a difficult time dealing with the realities around her. She is a fragile creature in a hard world, a butterfly in a land of beasts. Blanche exhibits a strange double standard; on the one hand she appears otherworldly and untouched by man but as the story unfolds we discover that she has seen more than her fair share of pain, death and corruption. This wreaks a dreadful toll on a woman who is constantly grateful for the kindness of strangers.

The other two characters are Stella and her loutish husband Stanley Kowalski. Stanley is a neanderthol, a barbarous ape with a huge ego. He isn't stupid, as he soon finds out the truth about Blanche and knows his rights but he is so very masculine that I felt that I would have difficulty being in the same room as such a man who owns the very air around him. Stella, in comparison with her sister is a calmer character, more accepting of her fate and with the world. She truly loves her husband, brutish and base as he is. She is torn between love for him and her sisterly fealty.

I won't reveal the end. This is a book that must be read and a play that must be seen to be fully understood and appreciated. I loved the casting of Vivien Leigh, who did indeed go on to become a frail butterfly, and the animal magnetism of Marlon Brando. I hope anyone reading this will enjoy A Streetcar Named Desire also.

Having first read this in my A Level English class and watched the film alongside it, I knew I wasn't going to just read it in class. I kept the book (well I bought it, I'm not exactly going to give it away am I?!) and re-read it often. My sister also enjoyed it. :)

18 year old avid reader - lameyxx