streetcar named desire: critics

Moth

Blanche 'has her own desires, that draw her to Stanley, like a moth to a light, a light she voids, even hates, yet yearns for' - Galloway

Williams on the play as a whole

'The play is about the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate by the savage and brutal forces of modern society'

Stanley

Stanley is 'an honest animal who needs no motivation for anything he does other than he wants to do it at that particular time' - William Hawkins

Blanche - liar

Blanche is 'the most demonically driven kind of liar - the one who lies to the world because she must lie to herself' - Louis Kronenberger

Blanche - reality vs fantasy

Blanche 'shuns the reality of what she is and takes gallant and desperate refuge in a magical life she has invented for herself' - John Chapman

Sympathy towards Stanley

Stanley 'cannot be blamed for protecting his marriage against the force that would destroy it' - Bloom

Blanche is predestined for destruction

'tragic destiny' - Richard Barned

Shep Huntleigh

'That (Shep Huntleigh) never shows up and gives the substantial aid to Blanche may suggest that if women place their hope and fortune on men, their oppressed and subordinate status can never be changed' - Fang

Differing opinions on Blanche

'Williams gives audiences significant reasons to sympathise with Blanche as well as to dislike her in the first four scenes and the result, for many spectators, was likely the emergence of several possible appraisals of Blanche'

Negative first impression of Blanche

'As often occurs in social situations, this largely negative first impression left by Blanche shaped audience understanding of Blanche for the rest of the dramatic action'

Exorcism

The 1947 performance 'left audiences feeling that a madwoman had entered an alien world and, after shaking that world, had been successfully exorcised' - Susan Spector

Blanche struggling to adjust to reality

(Blanche) 'attempts to maintain her past luxurious life by holding onto and creating new desires rather than adjusting to her reality' - Duerre

Blanche's dependence on men

'Sorrowfully, when Blanche is stuck in trouble, men are always the ones to whom she resorts' - Fang

Masculinity

'Williams' play depicts a weak and unadjusted masculinity' - COsta

Stanley's role in Blanche's destruction

Stanley is an 'agent of Blanche's destruction' - Lart

Blanche - society

Blanche has become a 'social outcast' - Onyett

Good vs Evil

'There are no clear cut lines of good verses evil'

Blanche's influence on Stella

'Blanche's influence revives old prejudices and ways of thinking in Stella that threaten Stanley'

Nobody wins

'The play has no clear victor, everyone loses something' - Galloway

Tragedy

'The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.' - Thomas Hardy

Nobody is punished

Williams condemns neither Stanley nor Blanche for their sins'

Stella + Blanche's relationship

'Stella must flatter her or lie to her in order to get along with her' - Berkman

Why Blanche is illusionary

(Blanche lives in illusion) 'in order to bring herself to tolerate the situation in which she now finds herself' - Berkman

Stella's weakness

(Stella) 'consistently refuses to look at things, to listen to the truth, or even to tell the truth' - Lant

Stanley and Blanche as victims

'Both leading roles are portrayed as victims of their gendered languages and social norms' - Samuel Tapp

Stanley as a survivor

'Stanley, the master player and Darwinian survivor, controls all' - Leonard Quirino

Stanley + Stella's baby

'Just as the plantation served as a symbol of the past, Stanley and Stella's baby stands for the way the 'working class' ethos will be carried into the future' - Adler

Blanche + Stanley's similarities

'The only things the two of them have in common is that they have strong sexual appetites and enjoy being in control'

William's about good + bad in the play

'There are no 'good' or 'bad' people... It is a tragedy with the classic aim of producing a catharsis of pity and terror and in order to do that, Blanche must finally have the understanding and compassion of the audience. This without creating a black-dyed villain in Stanley' - Williams

Mitch imitating Stanley

'Instead of offering a positive alternative to Stanley's insensitive, bullish masculinity, Mitch has ended up imitating it' - Simon Bubb

Shep Huntleigh as a figure of hope

'he one male figure who might provide a lasting hope (Shep Huntleigh) turns out to have been a fantasy all along' - Simon Bubb

Blanche as a social outcast

'Blanche has become a social outcast because she refuses to conform to conventional moral values. In cruelly unveiling the truth about her scandalous past, Stanley strips her of her psychological, sexual and cultural identity.' - Onyett

What Blanche wants in a man

Blanche 'wants a cultured man but is often subconsciously attracted to strong, basic male characters, no doubt a reflexive response since her marriage with a cultured, sensitive man ended in disaster.' - Galloway

The role of men in the play

'Sensual brute Stanley, blanches young husband Allan, and the naive Mitch together epitomise the conflicting masculine identities available in Williams stage world.' - McDonough

Blanche's downfall

'Blanche's downfall is a demonstration of Williams' sympathy for her circumstances and a condemnation of the society that destroys her' - Vlasopolos

Williams condemning Blanche

'Williams condemns Blanche even as a rape victim and utilities her as a symbol of justice, a promiscuous woman who essentially brought her victimisation on herself' - Lant

Stella's choice

'apparently Williams wants the audience to believe that Stella is wrong in loving Stanley but right in living with him' - Tischner

Blanche is self-destructive

'Blanche's struggle in Streetcar is not so much with Stanley as with herself in her efforts to achieve lasting intimacy' - Cardullo

Psychoanalytic criticism

'The external events of the play, while actually occurring, serve as a metaphor for Blanche's internal conflict' - Mary Corrigan

Stanley is right

'Blanche is dangerous. She is destructive. Stanley's got things the way he wants them around there and he does not want them upset by a...destructive woman. This makes Stanley right!' - Elia Kazan (director of the 1951 film)