Streetcar Critics

Scene 4- Desire

“[Blanche and Stanley] are less victim and villain… than mutual victims of Desire.” (Cardullo)

Scene 10- Violence

‘The rape of Blanche by Stanley… the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate by the savage and brutal forces in modern society.’ (Williams)

Society

‘One major theme of my work is the destructive power of society on the sensitive non-conformist individual.’ (Williams)

Masculinity

‘The ‘sensual brute’ Stanley, Blanche’s young husband Allan, and the naive Mitch together epitomize the conflicting masculine identities available in Williams’ stage world.’ (Bubb)

Society- Antebellum v Working Class

‘He sees his place in society threatened by Blanche’ (Freeman)

‘…success is attainable through effort and hard work, rather than being dependent on social connections and privilege.’ (Freeman)

Stella

“[Stella]is essentially a submissive, self-deprecating wife who tolerates and excuses her husband’s behaviour.” (Koprince)

Misunderstanding- Blanche and Stanley

It is a thing (misunderstanding) not a person (Stanley) that destroys [Blanche] in the end. In the end you should feel – ‘If only they had all known about each other.’ Tennessee Williams in a letter to Elia Kazan

Power and Society

‘In A Streetcar Named Desire the change from one set of values to another is enacted through the transfer of power from Blanche (representing a lost southern aristocratic world) to Stanley (representing a newly ascendant northern post-war industrialism): in essence, between old and new.’ (Philip Smithers)

Plastic Theatre- Blanche

‘Blanche’s tragic arc can be traced through these costumes, as she transforms from dainty Southern Belle, to ‘scarlet woman’ to martyr.’ (Reigh)