A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire is Tennessee Williams’s most famous play, first performed in 1947. A Streetcar Named Desire was also written in 1947 and is a southern gothic play set in New Orleans. The plot follows the relationship between Stella, her husband Stanley, and her recently reintroduced sister Blanche.

Fig. 1 - A Streetcar Named Desire is set in post-World War Two New Orleans.

A Streetcar Named Desire: summary

Below is a summary of the important details of A Streetcar Named Desire.

The narrative begins as Blanche DuBois, a teacher from Mississippi, arrives in New Orleans to stay with her sister despite the fact the two have been estranged from each other. The reason for her arrival is nervousness impacting her ability to work as well as the loss of the sisters' ancestral home in the Old South, Belle Reve.

Conflict begins to arise between Blanche and her sister’s husband, Stanley, as she is critical of the couple’s living quarters and of his Polish heritage. On the other hand, Stanley immediately dislikes Blanche as he fears she has cheated him out of the family inheritance.

Further conflict begins during a drunken poker game (The Poker Night being the title of the only named scene in the play) in which Stanley hits his wife. It is implied that this violence occurs regularly, but it is not seriously addressed because of their animalistic sexual desires.

The next day Blanche tries to convince Stella to leave her husband, but her sister dismisses the idea. Stanley, however, overhears the conversation and is enraged. He begins to taunt Blanche about her past and she begins to look more and more upset.

Blanche is left alone during the day and meets a young paperboy whom she kisses, despite the fact that she is waiting for a man named Mitch to take her on a date. During her outing with Mitch, Blanche behaves strangely and uneasily, unnerved by Stanley’s threats. She reveals to Mitch the tragedy of her first love.

Time passes and it is finally Blanche’s birthday. While Stella prepares dinner for everyone, Stanley reveals elements of Blanche’s past to her, such as her numerous sexual relationships and the reason she lost her job (an affair with a student). Stanley has also told Mitch about Blanche and, for this reason, he refuses to attend her birthday celebration. Stanley then gives Blanche a one-way ticket back to Laurel as a birthday present.

Fig. 2 - Stanley is antagonistic to Blanche, especially at her birthday, which reflects the difficult power relations between men and women in the play.

Stella is shocked over such a cruel gift and looks like she might consider leaving Stanley. However, Stella's labour begins and interrupts their argument. When they have left Blanche alone, she starts to drink heavily but is interrupted by Mitch, who wants to confront the allegations about her. Mitch then tries to assault Blanche as the statements about her sexual habits are confirmed, but she shouts 'fire' in hopes of attracting attention.

Stanley returns home from the hospital and finds a very drunk Blanche. The pair confront each other until Blanche tries to escape from his presence by smashing a bottle, but he carries her to the bedroom and rapes her.

More time passes; Stella and her neighbour are waiting for Blanche to leave the bathroom. They discuss how Stella cannot accept Blanche' revelation about what Stanley did to her that night. As Blanche enters the room she seems fragile as she talks about her delusions and fantasies. A doctor and a nurse arrive to try and take Blanche to an institution but she struggles and fights back until she is finally subdued. As Blanche leaves, Stella cries with her newborn child in her arms.

A Streetcar Named Desire: characters

The main characters of A Streetcar Named Desire include Blanche DuBois, Stella Kowalski, and Stanley Kowalski.

Main characters

Although many of the characters have key parts in the production, these characters are essential to the plot.

Blanche DuBois

Blanche DuBois is one of three central characters. Her relationship with the others sparks the narrative of the play. Although she appears well put together, she gradually begins to unravel and reveal insecurities and mental fragilities triggered by her life experiences.

She and her sister are from the Old South but are forced to adapt to the New South’s way of life. The meaning of her name is rather ironic, as Blanche means 'white' and DuBois means 'from the wood', which suggests that she is innocent and pure when the reality is otherwise.

Stella Kowalski

Stella is Blanche’s younger sister. She is protective of her older sibling and tries to care for her while they live together. She is married to Stanley Kowalski and is deeply attracted to him, despite his violent nature. Throughout the play, she acts as a passive bystander and recipient of action due to her dependence on Stanley as a woman.

Stanley Kowalski

Stanley Kowalski is a descendant of a Polish immigrant and a follower of the American Dream. He is a simultaneously violent and sexual individual, which attracts his wife but also creates a rift in their relationship. He has a fixation on Stella’s heritage and her rich history and is disappointed to find out that any inheritance has been lost.

Minor characters

Some of the minor characters include:

A Streetcar Named Desire: themes

A Streetcar Named Desire is a play that explores many themes surrounding humanity, such as desire, death, and gender, as well as the ways that humans suffer and cope with their suffering through delusions and dependency.

Illusion, fantasy and reality

An essential theme to the play is that of the illusions and fantasy each character projects and internalises, as well as the contrasting reality. Blanche is totally absorbed in her fantasies, which are so powerful that they absorb others (like Mitch). In order to preserve these self-delusions, she controls the lighting with a paper lantern to appear more youthful and pretends to be a stereotypical Southern Belle.

Desire

Desire is a significant motivator for the characters in the play and even acts as a hamartia for some. It is their sexual desire in particular that causes this.

Blanche's hamartia, for example, is the sexual desire that has stained her reputation. Stella's sexual desire also traps her in a toxic relationship because she is attracted to Stanley's violence and strength (even though it harms her). Allan Grey also suffers from his sexual desire because he cannot come to terms with his sexuality being exposed, pushing him to suicide.

Masculinity and femininity

Much of the conflict in the play occurs between the competing and cohabiting poles of Stanley and Blanche that encompass hyper-masculinity and hyper-femininity. Tennessee Williams explores this theme by imposing stereotypes on each of the characters, such as Stanley’s aggression and Blanche’s vanity. However, Williams also highlights a limit to these stereotypes through Blanche’s swaying from the ideal of femininity by exploring her sexuality.

Dependency

For many of the characters, their dependency acts as a coping mechanism for different difficulties they face. Blanche in particular is affected by numerous mental health issues and fragilities. She deals with them through dependency: on fantasy, self-projecting illusions, and alcohol.

Similarly, other characters have dependencies on idealisms or other people. Stanley, for example, is dependent on the American Dream. Like many, he hopes for a life that is richer and happier because he is in the United States, a country idolised for its social mobility and freedom.

Stella is also dependent on her husband. Owing to the fact that America was a highly patriarchal society in the 1940s, without Stanley it would be near-impossible for her to sustain a comfortable life for her and her child. Stanley even gives her an allowance after their arguments as a sort of retribution pay.

A Streetcar Named Desire: genre

A Streetcar Named Desire is exemplary of the Southern Gothic genre. Williams explores the transition between the Old and New South through his symbolic characters, as Blanche represents the Old South, Stella the transition, and Stanley the New South.

Williams uses the Southern Gothic genre to mourn a time with less of the commercialisation and materialisation that the New South symbolises for him. The genre is further explored by other significant writers like Harper Lee, Donna Tart and Toni Morrison.

A Streetcar Named Desire: facts and influences

A Streetcar Named Desire was an incredibly successful play first performed on the 3rd December 1947, under the direction of Elia Kazan (who also directed Williams' 1955 play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). It won several prestigious awards including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American Play in 1948.

Williams' plays often bring a 'darker, more violent side'¹ to the theatre, and A Streetcar Named Desire is no exception. He analyses the simultaneous fragility and cruelty of mankind through his characters of Blanche, Stella, and Stanley, while also criticising the institutions that surround American society.

The play is influential in its timelessness, especially considering that it has continued to be performed internationally (even in 2020 in the UK, with its cast of Gillian Anderson, Ben Foster, and Vanessa Kirby in the lead roles).

1. Richard Gilman. 'Theatre; Williams shocked American theatre to maturity'. The New York Times, 1990.