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Use of Symbolism to Reinforce Thematic Focus in A Streetcar Named Desire Drama

A streetcar Named Desire is regarded as one of Tennessee William's most successful

plays. In this particular drama, Williams effectively integrates symbols with ideas and thematic

content. A Streetcar Named Desire follows a story of a troubled former schoolteacher Blanche

DuBois leaving small-town Mississippi and moving in with her sister, Stella Kowalski, together

with her husband Stanley in New Orleans. Her presence causes problems for the couple, who

already have a strained relationship. She tries to get into a relationship with Mitch, but things fail

to work out between them. Throughout the play, Williams uses different symbols to develop the

theme of conflict between reality and illusion.

In his play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams features the theme of the dilemma

between reality and illusion. He uses both central and supporting symbols in this drama. Central

symbols are often the focus of the audience and have various functions, which include "proving a

tangible object for the readers' emotions….become the hub for meanings and associations"

(Kessauly and Hermansya, 64). Thus, the key role of the central symbol is to deliver themes. In

contrast, the supporting symbols assist the author in accentuating the central symbols. In the play

Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley, Mitch, and Blanche fulfill the role of supporting symbols,

whereas the paper lantern and bath play the role of central symbols.

In his drama, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams created three symbolic characters,

including Stanley, Mitch, and Blanche. The symbolic importance of the characters becomes clear

throughout the play, which is traditionally associated with knowledge and truth (Ferber, 112).

Thus, Stanley and Mitch's dependence on the light in discovering the real Blanche makes them

symbols of reality. Similarly, Blanche's negative feelings toward light illustrate that she is the

representative of illusion. Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, particularly in front of
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her suitor throughout the play. Also, she refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids

light in order to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. Light symbolizes her

illusion as she is haunted by her losses, which include her first love, her life's purpose, and her

dignity. Blanche used a Chinese paper lantern to cover the exposed light bulb in Stanley's

apartment and declined to go on dates during daytimes or locations that were properly lit.

For Stanley, light is a symbol of reality and reveals the truth about Blanche, which she

tries to high. On his return from work, Stanley went to the closet to pick up his whisky after

greeting Blanche. However, to his surprise, he found the bottle empty and decided to hold the

bottle under the light while observing its depletion (Williams, 28). Stanley assumed that it was

Blanche that drank his whisky despite her claim that she hardly took whisky. Stanley asks

Blanche to have a shot of whisky, but she refuses, replying that she rarely touches it. This leads

to Stanley's sarcastic remarks that "some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often"

(William, 28). Holding the bottle against the light, he conjectures about her double life. Though

she acts like a sophisticated lady, she secretly drinks his whisky.

For Mitch, light embodies the reality that Blanche wants to hide from him. In the 9th

scene, Mitch demands to see Blanche's indirect light without the impact of a paper lantern, "I

don't think I ever seen you in the light" (William, 155). Mitch further complains that Blanche

only goes outside with him in the evening rather than during the day, when there is enough to see

her well. He complained that, "you never want to go out till after six, and then it's always some

place that's not lighted much" (156). However, upon seeing him in direct light, he realized that

she lied to him about her real age. He responded that he knew she was not sixteen years old.

Therefore, Mitch's dependence on light and his demand to see her under the light demonstrates

the significance of light.

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Blanche's avoidance of light symbolizes her illusions. According to Griffin, "Blanche's

light images are related to Allen" (92). Blanche avoids light since sit reminds her of her

husband's suicide. Blanche avoids the light because it depicts her fading youth and beauty. There

are three instances in the play that clearly demonstrate her disliking of bright light, which

portrays the symbol of illusion. First, Williams captures her dislike of strong light, "her delicate

beauty must avoid a strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner, as … that

suggests a moth" (6). Also, when Stella asked her to look at her, she declined to state that "but

don't you look me, Stella, no, no, no, not… turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won't be

looked at in this merciless glare!" (11). Furthermore, Blanche asked Mitch to cover the light bulb

using the Chinese lantern since she could not put up with it. She argues that "I can't stand a

naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action" (66).

Williams develops the theme of conflict between reality and illusion using a paper lantern

as a central symbol. Kolin postulate that the lantern is one of the play's key symbol (62). This

symbol reflects the theme of conflict when Stanley and Mitch tear the lantern off. The conflict

between Blanche and Stanley externalizes the conflict within Blanche of illusion vs. reality.

William demonstrates the theme of conflict using Blanche's paper lantern. During

Blanche's preparation to be taken away into a mental institution, Stanley left his friends playing

poker. He asked Blanche if she had forgotten one of her belongings, which replied that she did

not know him and asked to be left alone. This response injured Stanley's pride, particularly when

he realized that his poker-playing friends were watching. This encouraged him to tear the paper

lantern off the light bulb and give it to her. Since the embodied reality, Stanley liked destroying

Blanche's illusion symbolized by her paper lantern. He is aware that the presence of the paper in

his home impacts his light-loving tendency. Therefore, his tearing off Blanche's favorite lantern
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that she identified herself with symbolically confronts the world of illusion that differs from his

reality. The fact that she shed tears over the lantern illustrate her betraying past and passing

beauty. This act represents her last attempt to rebel against the reality pointed out by Stanley.

Accordingly, Williams focuses on the theme of the dilemma between reality and illusion through

Blanche's paper lantern when Stanley rips it apart.

Additionally, when Stanley informs Mitch about Blanche's troubled past, he decides to

see her alone in the apartment. He insisted on seeing her face without dim or romantic lights,

which she declined, terming it as an insult. This resulted in Mitch tearing the paper lantern off

the bulb due to anger. Prior to Stanley tarnishing Blanche's image by revealing her past in

Laurel, where she was a prostitute, Mitch believed in Blanche's illusion and her perception of the

romantic world. When he becomes aware of her sordid past, he is strongly influenced by

Stanley's reality, hence his powerful criticism of Blanche's illusion. Thus, in expressing his

strong hatred of Blanche's illusion, he rips the paper lantern that symbolizes her illusion.

Similarly, Griffin asserts that the light bulb and colored paper lantern covering it

represent the contrast between Mitch and Stanley's reality that Blanche cannot cope with.

Additionally, when Mitch attempts to enforce his reality by seeing her under direct light and

ripping her paper lantern, she defends her illusions stating that "yes, yes, magic! I try to give that

to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell truth, I tell what ought to be the truth. And if

that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! – Don't turn the light on!" (157). Thus, William's use

of a paper lantern as a symbol depicts the theme of conflict between reality and illusion.

Moreover, the bath symbolizes the theme of reality and illusion. The function of the bath

as a key symbol becomes clear when Blanche is in the bathroom while Stanley asks her to leave.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche often takes a bath to forget her past concerning the young
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husband's suicide, in addition to forgetting the hardships attributable to Stanley. This can be

interpreted to mean that Blanche's baths are motivated by illusions in protecting and dealing with

the cold reality. In her conversation with her sister, Blanche claims that she uses a bath to refresh

herself, giving her a new outlook. Her comments support the notion that she uses a bath to

escape brutal reality as well as to take refuge in illusion. In contrast, Forster posits that Stanley

uses the bath to accomplish simple, practical things such as emptying his bowels. Therefore, for

him, bathing means opening his bowels and relieving his stomach without feeling any desired

impact on his soul. During his conversation with Blanche, Stanley states that "it's not my soul,

it's my kidneys that I'm worried about!" (23). Their conflict represents the battle between illusion

and reality. While Stanley wants to go inside the bathroom fast, symbolizing reality, Blanche

does not want to leave the bathroom, symbolizing illusion. By integrating symbolism, Williams

covers the theme of conflict between reality and illusion.

In conclusion, in A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams symbolically develops the theme

of conflict between reality and illusion, using the symbols of lantern and bath. Whereas Blanche

is the symbol of illusion, Stanley and Mitch embody reality. In the drama, both Stanley and

Mitch tore Blanche's lantern that dims the direct light in order to cover her wrinkled face. By

doing so, they destroy her illusion, such as a sense of sophistication, gentility, and beauty. Also,

Blanche uses baths to purify, regenerate and alleviate her guilt-ridden soul, thus creating an

illusion that she is fighting the unromantic world. In contrast, Stanley's baths are practical and

real since he takes a bath to open his bowels rather than refreshing his soul like Blanche. Thus,

when the conversation about Blanche leaving the bathroom while Blanche asks him to wait

symbolically demonstrates the conflict between reality and illusion.

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Work cited

Ferber, Michael. A dictionary of literary symbols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1999.

Foster, Verna. "Desire, Death, and Laughter: Tragicomic Dramaturgy in A Streetcar Named

Desire." Bloom's Modern Critical Views–Tennessee Williams (2000): 111-122.

Griffin, Alice. On the Symbols of Light and Water. In Harlod Bloom (Ed), Bloom's Guides:

Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. The U.S.: Chelseahouse Publishers

(2005) pp. 92-9

Kesauly, Rosemary and Hermansyah, Harris. Symbols as a Means of Delivering the Theme in

Nabokov's Lolita. Phenomena: Journal of Language and Literature (2011) Vol. 8, No.1,

pp. 61-69

Kolin, Philip C., ed. Tennessee Williams: A guide to research and performance. Greenwood

Publishing Group, 1998.

Williams, Tennessee. A streetcar named Desire. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015.