streetcar critics

“they are less victim and villain…than mutual victims of desire”

Bert Cardillo on desire

“it is a story about desires destruction rather than desire”

Hulley

“psychologically and symbolically Blanche’s sexual desire leads her on a journey to death”

critic on Blanche’s sexuality and demise

“Blanche being likened to a moth…suggest that she craves ‘magic’ because the truth about post war America is too hard to bear”

P Allan on Blanche escape from reality

“territorial animal desperately defending its lair”

P Williams on Stanley’s behaviour

“blanche has survived all these years being an impersonator extraordinaire”

critic on Blanche’s escape from reality

“her only escape is to go mad”

O’Connor on Blanche’s mental health

“achingly cruel play”

John Peter on the play as a whole

“tiger on the loose sexual terrorist”

Arthur Miller on Stanley

“streetcar is a play on sexual politics”

Phillip Kolin on the play as a whole

“Stanley cannot be blamed for protecting his marriage against the force that would destroy it”

Bloom on Stanley”

“Stella refuses..to listen to the truth or even tell the truth”

critic on Stella as a women

“both leading roles are portrayed as victims of their gendered language and social norms”

Samuel Tapp on the women

“New Orleans became melting pots of ideas where values of the old south were dismissed and new attitudes and beliefs were introduced”

Porter

Williams’ characters are “emotionally displaced people” who are unable to “face reality”

Donahue

“the shock becomes illness and illness eventually triumphs”

Bellmen on the death of Blanche’s husband

“reality is unbearable for Blanche and therefore she can escape only into insanity”

Dusenbury

stanley represents “crude forces of violence, insensibility and vulgarity”

Bigsby

"there are no good or bad characters”

Tennessee williams

“blanche must finally have the compassion and understanding of the audience. this without creating a black-dyed villain in Stanley”

Tenesse Williams

“the brilliance of the play is that it shows us that normality is terrifying”

Francis gilbert

“Stanley Kowolski is he Other, he is what williams is not but would have liked to been”

Georges - Michel Sartre

“his plays exploded the virgin/whore stereotype; he was the first American playwright to grant women erotic sensibilities and he was the first to eroticise men as sexual objects”

Sarah Churchwell on Tennessee Williams

“must find characters that correspond with his own tension”

Tennessee Williams

‘a foil to the loud, domineering Stanley’

Sambrook on Mitch