Plot?... I never liked to talk much about plots. Briefly, Blanch Dubois, a destitute, fading beauty, arrives in New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella, who's married to Stanley Kowalski. Blanche is repelled by the coarseness of her sister's surroundings, while Stanley, insulted by her airs, starts digging up nasty bits of Blanche's less than perfect past. Ok, with that done, let's talk themes. To quoteWilliams loosely, it's about the exploitation of the weak by the harsh forces of modern society. The weak, symbolised by Blanche, thrives in the half-light, in the comforting shade, in the crumbling memories of the Old Order, and in the decorated imagination of Blanche's fantasies. This fragile world is thrown against the harsh naked lights of Stanley's world of the factory, the bowling alley, the poker party, the unforgiving, sordid industrial world.
The movie was pretty controversial in its time, for its references to Blanche's sexual adventures and also for its amoral ending. Elia Kazan and Tennesse William had to make a few concessions to the prevailing public moral watchdogs in the movie version, but it is still a major milestone for social realism in the movies.
My name is Stella Kowalski. I am 25-years-old and I have been married to Stanley Kowalski for a brief amount of time. In Act 1 Scene 1, my older sister Blanche comes to visit me and she has never met Stanley before. I also had not seen her myself since I married him. ( Scene 1 Blanche: "Will Stanley like me, or will I be just a visiting in-law, Stella?") I never went to college and Stanley and I live in a lower middle-class area of New Orleans, which is quite different from where I grew up. ( Scene 1 Blanche: "...explain this place to me! What are you doing in a place like this?") Stanley has a violent temper and he gets extremely rough with me at times, but I don't really mind. Stanley represents the opposite of my past; the wildness and unpredictability of Stanley's temper excites me.( Scene 4 When Blanche asks me why I didn't get upset when Stanley smashed all the lightbulbs on our wedding night I said, "I was sort of thrilled by it.") Blanche does not understand this or my decision to live where I live. Stanley brought me out of the world I'd once lived in and I am happy to have left it, although Blanche still exists in that world.
Although I don't want to admit it, I really want Blanche to leave. She has entered our home and disrupted everything, driving Stanley crazy and taking his a lot attention away from me. I would have been like Blanche were it not for Stanley, and when she is there she causes me to act like my former self at times, which I hate. (In scene 3, I yell at Stanley with rage: "Drunk- drunk- animal thing, you!" and we have a big fight, caused indirectly by my sister.) I want Blanche to leave because I want Stanley and me to be happy again living in our own world. ( Scene 8, Stanley attempts to reassure me by saying, "Stell, it's gonna be all right after she goes and after you've had the baby. It's gonna be all right again between you and me and the way that it was.")
I cannot directly force my sister out of the house because I know that she's in trouble, therefore I must have a reason for her to leave, and Stanley can help me with this. (In scene 11 we send her away to a mental institution claiming that she's crazy- she tells me that Stanley raped her but I refuse to believe her.) Blanche can hurt me because she represents everything I'd wanted to flee from, and she can destroy my world with Stanley by trying to force realizations onto me. For although Stanley loves me he is filled with an implacable rage shown clearest when he rapes Blanche. (In scene 11 I remark to Eunice, "I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley.") My deepest fear is that my world with Stanley could be destroyed, and by refusing to believe my sister I am refusing to let go of that world.
In order to get Blanche out of the picture I must send her away to a mental institution. I am a threat to Blanche because I am able to do this. I can induce Stanley to do things because he does love me. (By me leaving during scene 3 due to his rage, he cries for me to return and I get him to show his real and unabandoned affection for me.)
I expect to make Blanche leave because that is what I must do in order to restore my and my husband's life. Stanley also wishes her out of the picture and we both make her leave. When Blanche finally does leave, I am not fully restored and I will never feel completely better because deep down I know the truth and I know it was wrong to send her away. (In the end of scene 11 I sob uncontrollably while Stanley tries to comfort me.)
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is centered upon interpersonal relations. From the moment Stanley sees Blanche for the first time, he knows that she will greatly threaten the relationship he has with Stella. Throughout the play, Blanche criticizes the way that Stella lives and the way that she allows her husband to behave. By the end, Stanley knows that the only way he can protect his way of life is to remove Blanche from it. Stanley's actions at the end of the play can be justified in that they are the only way to make sure Stella never challenges him again.
The first problem that Stanley encounters with Blanche is that she avoids the truth, which is often symbolized by light. She only is seen going to dark places, only meets people in the evenings and in places without much light. Blanche also refuses to be truthful when asked to reveal her age. Even Mitch, the person to whom she is most connected, is never allowed to find out her true age. "Not only would direct light divulge her true age, but it would also render her vulnerable to the truth" ("Streetcar"). It soon becomes clean that she can't keep all her secrets forever. Stanley spends many hours researching these "shadowed secrets"("Streetcar"). When he discovers what she had been up to recently, he wastes no time in telling Stella and Mitch. This is Stanley's first step in his quest for total destruction of Blanche.
The second aspect of Blanche's persona that threatens Stanley is that she pretends to be upper class when she clearly is not. When Stanley open's Blanche's trunk, he is amazed on the number of furs and the amount of jewelry she has. "Being a very poor judge of such things, Stanley does not realize that all of Blanche's possessions are cheap imitations..."("Works"). Along the same lines, Blanche is obsessed with her outward appearance and constantly asking to be told how beautiful she is. From the first moment she enters the neighborhood, Blanche was complaining about the size of the house, the type of neighborhood, and especially about Stanley. Blanche refers to Stanley as everything from a "polack," to a savage to common and unsophisticated. What disturbs Stanley the most is that she makes a very compelling argument to Stella on why she should stand up to him. This influence is seen in how Stella asks Stanley to help clear the table in scene 8.
Finally, Blanche disturbs Stanley because there is a mutual attraction between them. The insults Blanche uses against Stanley involving "...his animal prowess [also] indicate a strong fascination and subconscious desire [for him]"("Works"). If this final aspect did not exist, then it would be sufficient for Stanley to just kick her out of town. Instead, "He must prove that the world is a pigsty and he is the king of pigs..."("Works"). Stanley does this first, by telling Blanche's boyfriend Mitch and sister Stella about her past. Finally, to make sure that Blanche has nothing left, Stanley corners her and rapes her, saying "We've had this date with each-other from the beginning"(130)
Stanley lives in a world that is very different from that in which Blanche resides. The greatest fear that Stanley has is that Stella will be coerced to join Blanche's world and leave him. We see throughout the play how dependent Stanley is upon Stella and therefore understand how disturbing Blanche's behavior is to him. If Blanche were a typical enemy who wronged Stanley, he would have beat her up, kicked her out of town and that would have been the end of it. However, when someone tries to undermine his way of life and the relationship he has with is wife, Stanley feels it justified to perform an act so atrocious, that it pushes Blanche over the edge and makes sure that she will never return. "Like all men, and animals, he [insists upon] security in his own home"("Works").
An Opera in three acts
Commissioned by the San Francisco Opera
Music by Andre Previn Libretto by Philip Littell Based on the play by Tennessee Williams
Premiere: War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, September 1998
Cast
Blanche DuBois - Renee Fleming Stanley Kowalski - Rodney Gilfry Stella Kowalski - Elizabeth Futral Harold Mitchell (Mitch) - Anthony Dean Griffey Eunice Hubbell - Judith Forst Steve Hubbell - Matthew Lord A Young Collector - Jeffery Lentz A Flower Woman - Josepha Gayer A Nurse - Lynne Soffer A Doctor - Ray Reinhardt
Streetcar
There is also a great significance in where Blanche used to live which we learn in the opening scene, `Why I -live in Laurel.' Laurel is important as it has several significant meanings that apply to Blanche and her demeanour. Firstly Laurel is a mark of honour particularly in the ancient times. This is important in the first scene as it shows the audience the history with which Blanche descends from, which therefore helps to explain her air of dominance towards people she considers to be beneath her.
Another meaning of Laurel is `to rely on past achievements instead of working to maintain or advance ones statues or reputation.' This applies to Blanche because although she owns nothing `everything I own is in that trunk,' and she is completely dependent on others kindness, she still believes that her reputation of upper classes puts her needs above others. Blanche also believed because of her superior background that her reputation could not be damaged and would remain clean whatever she did.
So when she acted with promiscuity in her home town she didn't understand the full effects that would take their toll on her reputation, until it was too late and she could no longer maintain her prim exterior; she depended on Laurel to support her.
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