A Streetcar Named Desire- context AO3

Expressionism:
 Glass Menagerie- play written by Williams one of his first biggest plays. Contains a
faded Southern Belle with themes of hope, sweetness, nostalgia, desire, madness
and escape. Reoccurring themes
 The Night Café, Vincent Van Gogh painting mentioned explicitly (scene 3 poker
night), gaudy lighting, vibrant scene, depressed collapsed figures shows scene in a
hallucinogenic way and implies more than realism could convey
PLASTIC THEATRE- a term that Williams coined to describe his expressionistic form of
theatre such as non literary elements of stage production (lighting, costume, sound
design etc)
 Music- Varsouviana haunts Blanche from when her husband committed suicide, it is
also punctuated by other forms of music like the blue piano
 Lighting- Chinese Lantern to soften lighting, crucial for creating the atmosphere
 Stage directions- very abstract and poetry like because TW wants the directors and
actors to feel something, expressionist because the audience c an hesr the
Varsouviana that plays in Blanche’s mind, the audience can witness the
erosion/devastation that’s also occurring
 Expressionism is also known for being episodic, each scene is almost like its own
play, first 4 scenes are comedy,2 scenes after are romance then last 5 are tragedy
 Southern Plantation- concept of totally fictitious illusion of Belle Reve , it’s a horrific
place and utterly decimated occupied by death, slavery’s part of this wealth and
culture
 Streetcar that runs through one way to the cemetery and other to desire that
capsulates the metaphor of the play, tension between Blanche and Stanley is the
central conflict
Social Conflict:
 Women in the play, false fallen manners that decay as Blanche was a teacher (a role
that women at the time in America were expected to work), in contrast TW portrays
women who have agency and power (Stella coming down the stairs after her
husband hit her), introduction to sexual agency is particularly powerful in his
portrayal of women
Tennessee William’s Life:
 Born in 1911 Mississippi Old South
 Sensitive young boy that suffered as a result of his violent, alcoholic father.
(Embodies his father in the character of Stanley)
 At uni he struggled to fit in and was considered to be socially awkward and
pretentious. (link to Blanche not fitting in at Elysian Fields)
 William was gay and it was illegal at the time and so they faced a lot of prejudice.
(link to guilt and shame faced by Blanche’s husband who kills himself when she
discovers he is a homosexual)
 Result of his difficult relationships and mental instability, William became highly
dependent on drugs and alcohol which contributed to his death (Blanche’s
alcoholism)
Literary Background and influences:
 Southern Gothic: literary tradition that originated in American South, consists of
madness and a fixation with death, Blanche mentions Edgar Allan Poe (a key writer
in this genre)
 Modern America Drama: used a realist style to depict modern America and the
breakdown of traditional values while exploring tensions within relationships
 Tragedy genre: ASND can be regarded as a modern tragedy.
 Aristotelian Tragedy: