A Streetcar Named Desire

Soon after the opening of Scene One of A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway in New York City in December 1947, Blanche du Bois enters the stage...

The answer to this question can be found in an early conversation that happens between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski. Stanley actually states that Blanche is a teacher, and then he asks for...

A Streetcar Named Desire does not present a favorable view of the American dream for any of the characters. One walks away from the play feeling as if the American dream is only for men. Even then,...

Central to characterization and themes is the use of color by Tennessee Williams in his A Streetcar Named Desire. With intentional irony, Williams has named his main character Blanche DuBois, a...

This quote is from Scene 9 of A Streetcar Named Desire when Mitch and Blanche break up after Stanley uncovers to Mitch the reality about Blanche's sexual past. Mitch is disgusted and upset; he no...

At the end of scene 10, Stanley and Blanche fight and he carries her away to rape her. During scene 10, Stanley catches Blanche in a lie. He goads her on and fights with her after she's continued...

To add to what the previous respondent has stated, this scene is clearly the climax of the play, but Blanche's sanity has been in question long before this. This is the final straw that finalizes...

In Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire", the tone is very important. Tone: the writer's attitude toward the material and/or readers. Tone may be playful, formal, intimate, angry, serious, ironic,...

Although A Streetcar Named Desire is most overtly about gender roles in post-World War II New Orleans, a case can be made for a metaphorical interpretation that would comment upon the relationship...

Literary expressionism focuses on a character's state of mind, presents symbolic characters, and uses tableaux--all of which Williams incorporates into the final scene of A Streetcar Named Desire...

Another meaning of the name "Blanche" suggests what post#4 discusses: the fading Southern Belle. For, the word blanch means to remove color. Also, it denotes sickness and fear--two symptoms of...

When Blanche asks Stella if she has ever ridden on "that streetcar named desire," volumes are spoken. The title of the play has always been a fascinating one for me. In one aspect, I can take it...

Blanche wishes to sustain the illusion that she is very ladylike and guilless, pure, young, and, although a sexually desirable person, she is respectable. Significantly, Blanche du Bois's name...

As stated previously by my fellow educator, only one question is allowed at one time. I will explain what happens when Stanley finds out that Belle Reve has been lost. At the time Stella tells...

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Mitch is Stanley’s friend who has distinct differences from yet some similarities to Stanley. Although briefly appearing in scene one, he is not fully introduced until...

There are a number of major differences between between Blanche and Stanley that generate a good deal of animosity. Blanche's arrival disrupts the rhythm of Stanley's home life. He's used to being...

One similarity between Blanche and Stella is their background. Both of them grew up and experienced their youth in the "old South" and this imprint is on both of their characters. How they deal...

Starting off with Aristotle's definition of tragedy can illuminate how Williams' work fulfills many of its conditions. Aristotle suggests specific elements to tragedy: Tragedy, then, is an...

Blanche states in scene 5, "I want Mitch—very badly [emphasis added]," but she does not necessarily want to impress him. She actually states, "I want to deceive him [emphasis added]." It can be...

Stanley is the only logical choice to commit this act of ultimate revelation. He alone refuses to buy into Blanche's ruse of youth and beauty, manners and sophistication. However, in order to...

Blanche is attracted to young boys. She lost her job as a high school teacher because she got improperly involved with an adolescent boy. She is a romanticist. She believes in love but is afraid of...

In describing Tennessee Williams's artistic presentation of his play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Arthur Miller wrote that music served to underline motifs: [Williams's] rhapsodic insistence that...

The two "romances" that are at the heart of A Streetcar Named Desire are between Stella and Stanley and between Blanche and the imaginary idea of romance that she has created within her own...

In act two, of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella and Stanley are discussing Blanche, Belle Reve, and Blanche's truck of dresses, furs, and costume jewelry. Stella, wanting to...

Blanche loses her mind after losing the family home. It is clear that whatever mental stability Blanche had cracked when she lost the family homestead, Belle Reve. It is the last in a long line of...

Blanche, like most upper-class Southern belles, is like a hothouse flower. She needs protection. She never learned about the real world because she had the protected childhood of an elite Southern...

Williams presents human sexuality as something that can, under certain circumstances, lead to one's destruction. That's precisely what happens to Blanche DuBois, whose own sexuality is a major part...

As the two are sisters, Blanche and Stella DuBois of Tennessee Williams's 1947 Broadway play, A Streetcar Named Desire, are apt foils for one another. These two members of a fallen aristocratic...

I think that there needs to be a bit of clarity offered in the discussion. Indeed, there is much truth to the fact that Blanche "lies." Yet, I think that a bit of ambiguity is present because the...

In scene 7, Stanley arrives home and Stella informs him that it is Blanche's birthday party. As Blanche is in the bathroom, Stanley proceeds to ridicule her for constantly taking baths and explains...

A tragic hero or heroine evokes our pity or fear, according to Aristotle, because he or she suffers misfortune that seems cruel or disproportionate to what is deserved. The tragic hero/ine is a...

I think that the basis of the conflict in A Streetcar Named Desireis for control. When Blanche enters, a critical choice is forced between Stanley and Blanche. Stella is the one whose decision...

In Tennessee Williams's classic play A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois arrives at her sister's home in New Orleans, where Stella lives with the violent, unrefined Stanley Kowalski. Blanche...

Several conflicts make the relationship between Stella and Blanche clash horribly to the point of having to take sides, and even having to betray one's own blood. Stella and Blanche grew up as two...

Stanley Kowalski and Harold Mitchell's perception of reality is much different than Blanche DuBois's delusional perception throughout the play. Stanley and Mitch are both straightforward men, who...

The use of symbolism and motifs in A Streetcar Named Desire is illustrative of Williams's partiality toward Expressionism as his artistic outlet. The highly effective combinations of action/symbol...

The arrival of Stanley Kowalski’s wife’s troubled sister, Blanche, presages dramatic revelations and conflict between the characters in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire. Stanley and...

In my mind, the two worlds that are brought out in the first scene are the realities of Blanche and the world. The setting is important in that Stanley and Stella live in a working class or poor...

In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, the themes of desire and death are linked to the character of Blanche Dubois. Desire leads to death, and vice versa. In scene 1, Blanche says...

Alongside the significance of New Orleans, outlined very well in a previous response, perhaps the other most important use of setting occurs in scene 10. Scene 10 is an excellent example of...

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley's resentment of Blanche is a significant part of his character. Blanche views Stanley in a negative light. She says to Stella that he is "not the type to go...

In my view, the term "insane" could be applied to Blanche, but we would have to qualify our use of it for several reasons, and we would probably conclude it's not the most accurate way to describe...

New Orleans is a city unique in the U.S. because of its cosmopolitan history; it is an old city, but did not become part of the U.S. until 1803. A mixture of cultures is present there. Its location...

We sympathize with Blanche because she is doing everything she can to survive and take care of herself despite her fragility. She realizes the "beautiful dreams" she grew up with are not going to...

Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, contains important light and dark symbolism. Most important in this symbolism is the light bulb in Stanley's apartment. Prior to Blanche arriving...

The period of time over which the whole play takes place is shown by Stella's pregnancy. Blanche moves in with her and Stanley when Stella is about four months pregnant. We can see her growing...

Tennessee Williams provides a frame of reference for the age of Blanche DuBois in scene 1 of his classic American play A Streetcar Named Desire when Williams introduces Blanche's sister, Stella....

As I understand it, the difference between naturalism and realism in fiction is that naturalism strives to be more interesting by being more dramatic while still maintaining its atmosphere of...

Throughout the play Williams uses external sounds as a kind of commentary on the action of the play, almost in the way a Greek chorus would function. During the initial confrontation between...

The overall impression that one gets from the encounter between Mitch and Blanche is awkwardness. Williams constructs the "boy meets girl" scenario with layers of complexity. Mitch is a decent...