Elliott - Lights, music, action - motifs and symbols

Victoria Elliott shows how Williams’ play reverberates with visual and aural patterns and motifs. The operate on both a literal and symbolic level, contributing richly to every facet of character, plot and theme.

Light and Colour-

• Light is a motif that recurs throughout the play.

• Clear light is the antithesis of the fantasy world she is trying hard to maintain.

• The light she craves is the glow of love and this single image explains Blanche’s constant attempts to manipulate her sexuality to regain that metaphorical light, while avoiding the physical light which could reveal how she really is.

• Stella and Stanley have ‘coloured lights’ which are symbolic of their sex life- the part of their marriage which holds them together and gives their life colour.

• Throughout the play the symbolism of light is linked to that of colour.

Sound

• The music heard in the background echoes the action of the play

• There are two types of background music: the ‘blues piano’ which is heard by all the characters and the audience and Blanche’s internal varsouviania polka.

• Contrast between the two is suggestive: the blues piano is the sound of New Orleans, a cultural and social melting pot in contrast to the measured European Polka which is the sound of the old-fashioned world of Belle reve.

• The blues piano gives a somewhat melancholy atmosphere from the beginning of the play, mirroring the events.

• Towards the end of Scene 7 the piano is described as going into a ‘hectic breakdown’, just as the fragile peace begins to disintegrate.

• The polka tune represents her grief and guilt over his death and the state of her mind becoming ‘feverish’.

• As she tries to evade the doctor at the end, the lighting and the Polka combine to show Blanche’s disordered mind: reflections appear in ‘odd sinuous shapes’ and the varsouiviania is ‘filtered into a weird distortion’.

• Williams uses the two musical elements to symbolise the mental aspects of the play, which can’t be easily portrayed on stage. This is a key element in expressionist theatre.

Games, pastimes and actions

• Blanche’s feeble aristocracy is thrown into a sharp contrast by Stan’s vitality: he represents the macho, forward-driving America of the future

• The poker games represent a level of society that is very alien to Blanche; they reflect how Stanley’s life is going- he is losing during the first game, when his sister-in-law arrives, but in the game at the end he is winning, just as he has arranged her departure.

• Mitch sums up the friction between the male strength and female softness with his said pronunciation:

‘Poker should not be played in a house with women.’

• Blanche is almost constantly bathing.

• She is happy when bathing, ‘a child frolicking in a tub’, and feels restored.

• It is ironic that it is while she bathes, feeling safe, that stan reveals her past to Stella.

• The bathing also symbolises Blanche’s need to wash herself clean of her past.

• For Stanley on the other hand, the act of cleaning himself physically does have an effect, as the shower he has after hitting Stella sends him into remorse, seeking, and eventually obtaining, forgiveness from his wife.

• A Streetcar Named Desire is a play in which every facet of character and plot reflects and refracts, resulting in a myriad of symbols. It is a highly naturalistic play but also one that draws on the expressionist techniques of symbolism in powerfully dramatic ways.