Summary

Full Play Analysis

Summary Full Play Analysis

The central conflict in A Streetcar Named Desire occurs between two people representing
disparate social backgrounds, incompatible natures, and opposing approaches to life. Blanche
DuBois is a descendent of an aristocratic, decadent family of plantation-owners, and she is
sensitive, cultured, and devoted to manners and appearances. Her antagonist, Stanley
Kowalski, is a “common” descendent of Polish immigrants, brutish, domineering, and carnal.
In a larger sense, the major conflict occurs as Blanche, a self-proclaimed “soft” person, tries
to survive as her resources—both tangible (money and family) and intangible (youth and
beauty)—dwindle. Stanley personifies the difficult world that, with mounting intent, smashes
Blanche’s ideals.
Streetcar unfolds as a series of encounters between Blanche’s world and Stanley’s world.
Their confrontations begin almost immediately, with the characters meeting in the play’s first
scene. Although superficially civil, this meeting includes a significant exchange, with
Blanche mentioning that she is an English teacher and Stanley remarking, “I never was a very
good English student.” These words establish the fundamental difference and incompatibility
between them. Their first true clash occurs a day later when Stanley interrogates Blanche
over the loss of the DuBois family home, Belle Reve. Blanche’s coquettish behavior—her
effort to handle and defuse the situation—antagonizes him. The battle is thus begun, and
tension and hatred between the pair escalates with every subsequent encounter as both try to
win other characters (namely Stella) over to their side.

Blanche consistently loses ground in the ongoing war. Appalled by Stanley striking the pregnant
Stella during a poker game, Blanche begs her sister to leave, categorizing Stanley as an ape-man—
only to see Stella run to embrace her husband. Three months after that, Blanche is left shaken when
Stanley alludes to a man who knows her from Laurel and presumably slept with her. Blanche appears
to win a small victory when Mitch proposes marriage to her, but the victory is short-lived. Only a few
weeks later, Stanley has gained full possession of the sordid facts about Blanche’s life in Laurel,
which he shares with Stella and Mitch. His revelations result in another blow for Blanche: Mitch
breaks off their engagement, though he indicates he still wants to sleep with her, and only her
hysterical screams stop him.

The climactic confrontation occurs shortly after Mitch’s unwanted advances on Blanche. With Stella
in labor at the hospital, Blanche and Stanley are alone in the apartment for the first time. Blanche is
drunk, entertaining imaginary guests, pretending she’s gotten an invitation from an old beau, and
calling Stanley and Mitch “swine.” Enraged and aroused, Stanley rapes her. As the play’s final scene
reveals, Stanley has “won” their war by physically violating Blanche. Blanche eventually goes to a
mental institution after being committed by Stella. Stanley has not only driven Blanche away, he has
driven her insane. Appearing almost completely detached from reality, Blanche departs with a doctor
and nurse for the asylum, unsure of who they are but confident she can rely on the kindness of
strangers.
Summary Key Facts

At a Glance:
Full TitleA Streetcar Named Desire
AuthorTennessee Williams
Type Of WorkPlay
GenreTragedy
LanguageEnglish
Time And Place WrittenLate 1940s, New Orleans
Date Of First Publication1947
PublisherNew Directions

Indepth Facts:

ToneIronic and sympathetic realism

Setting (Time)1940s

Setting (Place)New Orleans, Louisiana

ProtagonistBlanche DuBois

Major ConflictBlanche DuBois, an aging Southern debutante, arrives at her sister’s home in
New Orleans hoping to start a new life after losing her ancestral mansion, her job, and her
reputation in her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi. Blanche’s brother-in-law, a macho
working-class guy named Stanley Kowalski, is so filled with class resentment that he seeks to
destroy Blanche’s character in New Orleans as well. His cruelty, combined with Blanche’s
fragile, insecure personality, leaves her mentally detached from reality by the play’s end.

Rising ActionBlanche immediately rouses the suspicion of Stanley, who (wrongly) suspects
Blanche of swindling Stella out of her inheritance. Blanche grows to despise Stanley when
she sees him drunkenly beat her pregnant sister. Stanley permanently despises Blanche after
he overhears her trying to convince Stella to leave Stanley because he is common. Already
suspicious of Blanche’s act of superiority, Stanley researches Blanche’s past. He discovers
that in Laurel Blanche was known for her sexual promiscuity and for having an affair with a
teenage student. He reports his findings to Blanche’s suitor, Mitch, dissuading Mitch from
marrying Blanche.

ClimaxAfter Stanley treats Blanche cruelly during her birthday dinner, giving her a bus ticket
back to Laurel as a present, Stella goes into labor. She and Stanley depart for the hospital,
leaving Blanche alone in the house. Mitch arrives, drunk, and breaks off his relationship with
Blanche. Blanche, alone in the apartment once more, drowns herself in alcohol and dreams of
an impossible rescue. Stanley returns to the apartment from the hospital and rapes Blanche.
Falling ActionWeeks after the rape, Stella secretly prepares for Blanche’s departure to an
insane asylum. She tells her neighbor Eunice that she simply couldn’t believe Blanche’s
accusation that Stanley raped her. Unaware of reality, Blanche boasts that she is leaving to
join a millionaire suitor. When the doctor arrives, Blanche leaves after a minor struggle, and
only Stella and Mitch, who sits in the kitchen with Stanley’s poker players, seem to express
real remorse for her.

ThemesFantasy’s inability to overcome reality; the relationship between sex and death;
dependence on men

MotifsLight; bathing; drunkenness

SymbolsShadows and cries; the Varsouviana polka; “It’s Only a Paper Moon”; meat

ForeshadowingIn Scene Ten, Williams takes a brief detour away from events in the
Kowalski household to show a street scene involving a prostitute, her male admirer, and a
Black woman. The man follows the prostitute solicitously, there is a struggle offstage, and
then the Black woman runs away with the prostitute’s handbag. This scene foreshadows
Stanley’s rape of Blanche, which occurs offstage at the scene’s end. Stanley’s raiding of
Blanche’s trunk in Scene Two also foreshadows the rape.