context

decline of the southern aristocracy

• identity of old south formed w/in original southern colonies

• old south had agrarian way of life based off of small farms and fertile plantations which were run with slavery

• the southern states were against its abolishment as their plantations were based on slavery, and therefore the southern economy would collapse.

• the war ended in 1865, with the victory of the northern states

• despite the loss, the image of the ‘american south’ remained in their minds

• after defeat, there was still a great importance placed on ancestry and heritage, which meant that the racism existing in the antebellum period was carried through to the post-civil war era

• the south was alienated from the rest of america and was famous for being fulled with racism and poverty

the industrial south

• in WW1 labour shortage developed in southern agriculture with the industrialisation of supporting the war effort

• owners of land moved to urban areas (as they had no labourers)

• from 1920-40s, industrialisation continued to expand in the south, and the old southern class structure couldn’t withstand its effects

• in 1945, 5 mil women in work force in south, and industrial workers skyrocketed

• benefited from increased unionisation and legislation → more successful members became part of a middle class which replaced the disappearing aristocracy

the french quarter

• oldest neighbourhood in New orleans

• french immigrants who settled in 17th/ 18th century

• melting pot of races and classes (black, creole, european, cajuns, mexicans, asians) in a mix which would not occur for decades in other American cities

• Whilst Polish Americans made up only a small percentage of population, European immigrants composed a significant part of racial tapestry of New Orleans post ww2

new orleans streetcars

• most powered by electricity → development of electric streetcar corresponds to growth of suburbs and the definite division between rich + poor neighbourhoods

• desire line served Bourbon and Royal streets in the affluent nightclub section of the french quarter

• williams once wrote that the streetcars’ “indiscourageable progress up and down royal street struch me as having some symbolic bearing of a broad nature on life in the vieux carre, and everywhere else for that matter

• represents modernity - the fast and intrusive changes that the old south underwent after the civil war

• symbolises the dominance and inevitability of stanley’s victory over blanche

southern gothic

• practiced by writers in american south whose stories are set in the region; characterised by grotesque, macabre, and fantastic incidents

• emotionally rich style from romantics + themes of gothicism in southern setting

• used to dissect social issues (e.g. blanche’s rape as the ultimate defeat of the old south, and the removal of power from women in post-war america) and highlight the american south’s cultural climate

• post civil war south made perfect landscape to explore dark + gothic themes → looks at history of slavery, racism, violence + fear of outside world

wpa

• WPA (works progress administration) set up after great depression

  • paid americans to ‘revive american culture’

• Williams was a recipient of money and used it to move to New Orleans and write ASND

• led to a style called ‘social realism’

social realism

• bridging idea into the post-modern era

• the depiction of society as it actually is

• draws special attention to the w.c. and poor

• depicts the human condition and the worst sides of people

• doesn’t feel the need to have a hero/ moral, even if that is an uncomfortable truth

• recognisable milieus whose characters are cultural archetypes

• dramas covers how characters co-exist and dramatizes a clash between them

• one character rises and another one falls, symbolising a shift in society

significance of new orleans

• in the transition into the post antebellum era, after the great depression, new orleans emerged as a leading town of diversity and acceptance in these southern states

• accepting a large influx of immigrants from europe and africa due to a shift to an industrial economy to replace the old agrarian community, new orleans became a melting pot of culture

• at the same time, a new working class emerged

• ultimately, new orleans was filled w immigrants but remained v intermixed and multicultural (e.g opening stage directions of play), which is unique form other cities, which had trends of clumped settling patterns

concept of the southern belle

• southern women were expected to be model of virtue, garden of youth and a ‘restraint on man’s natural vice and immorality’

• considered inferior to me of her own race, whilst being virginal and morally superior to the male

• expected to marry respectable young men, become ladies of society and be dedicated to the family and community

• taught to look at others for pretection

• educated (especially in Mississipi, where the south’s first public college for women was established in 1884)

american dream

• the american dream is the idea that every citizen of the usa should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination and initiative in a capitalist society with few barriers

• this individualistic all-american ideology was shone on working class men like stanley who had survived, re-joined the peacetime workforce and were now seen as bearers of american hard-working spirit

• some argue that the american dream originates from the united states declaration of independence, which states that ‘all men are created equal’ (with the notable exclusion of women, who were expected to quit the jobs they took up in ww2 to let men pursue the american dream), with the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’

meta-theatre

• self-conscious awareness of the play’s own theatrical nature, exploring themes of performance, reality, and the audiences role

• Blanche's fabricated past and attempts to maintain an image are presented as a performance for Stella and Stanley, creating a theatrical layer of deception and self-presentation

• use of flashback (literal and metaphorical) highlights the subjective nature of memory and reality, blurring lines between performance and truth

• audience drawn into play’s metatheatrical exploration by being invited to consider Blanche’s delusion as a performance or a form of self-deception, prompting reflection on the nature of theatrical storytelling

aristotelian tragedy

• change from good to bad is preferable because this induces pathos and fear from audience

• complex, suffering, character and spectacle tragedy

• mistake is brought about by an error/ frailty rather than a vice/ depravity

• character must be good and have the ability to make good choices

• features woes of royalty/ aristocracy

• must be a portrait → same as us in some way

modern tragedy

• status → concerns plight of character fitting classical model in temperament (other than fact that not necessarily high status)

• society → may serve as oppressor for our tragic hero w/o the means to fight their battles/ protect themselves or their family, or seek moral/ intellectual guidance

  • may have been poorly served by unkind soceity

• doesn’t necessarily have to die

expressionism

• experimenting with theatrical devices, non-naturalistic staging and heightened language to dramatise the way an individual experienced a situation rather than literally.

• In American theatre of the 1930s and 40s saw playwrights, including Williams, uses techniques associated with both s.r. and e.:
  - some aspects of a play might be grittily realistic/naturalistic
  - playwrights might also choose to use very non-naturalistic theatrical devices such as lighting, music, staging or language - poetic phrasing ans extended speeches.

• conventions: few but symbolic props, episodic, long monologues, pauses/ silences, stylised and exaggerated movements rather than naturalistic acting

  expressionist theatre critiqued the government, big business, the military, family structures, and sexism

plastic theatre

• slightly different to expressionism (which we could argue he does use in relation to Blanche)

• a theatrical style that prioritizes the visual and aural elements of performance over realism, using props, sound, lighting, and costumes to create a symbolic and expressive experience.

• It's a non-realist, expressionistic approach that aims to convey deeper truths and psychological states through theatrical means.

• uses lighting, music, set, and props to provide a more penetrating and vivid expression of things as they are in a way that realism cannot accomplish

the epigraph

• taken from a Hart Crane poem titled ‘the broken tower’

• Williams was influenced by Crane’s imagery and by his unusual attention to metaphor

• epigraph’s description of love as only an ‘instant’ and as a force that precipitates ‘each desperate choice’ brings to mind Williams’ character Blanche

• with increasing desperation, blanche ‘hurls’ her continually denied love out into the world, only to have that love revisit her in the form of suffering

women in the early cold war era

• marked by polarising gender ideology

• equation of national security with the maintenance of a heterosexual, middle-class family structure

• universal idea of female primacy in the home for the good of their children and the good of the nation

• choice to stray from domestic life regarded as destabilising

• image of the housewife that came to define women in 1950s was that they were seen only in terms of their sexual role

• women encouraged to surrender wartime jobs to ease male readjustment

• education would blemish a woman’s femininity

hegemonic masculinity

practises that authorise and encourage male domination = justifies the subordination of women and non-hegemonic males

nietzschean tragedy

• "The Birth of Tragedy" posits two fundamental forces in life:

  • Apollo, representing reason, order, and beauty,

  • Dionysus, embodying instinct, chaos, and the intoxicating power of the subconscious.

  • In "A Streetcar Named Desire," Blanche's clinging to the past, her elaborate pretense, and her pursuit of idealized beauty are all Apollonian traits.

  • Stanley, with his primal instincts, raw energy, and disregard for social norms, embodies the Dionysian.