‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams Essay

Look at scene IV of ‘Streetcar’ What does the scene tell us about the relationship between Stella and Stanley, and how does Williams portray this? In order to analyse this scene, there needs to be a clear understanding of what has happened prier to it. Scene three is set at Stanley’s poker game, when Mitch leaves the game, to chat to Blanche, Stanley becomes more and more annoyed, and smashes a radio. Stella yells at him, and he starts to beat her. The men pull him off. Blanche takes Stella and some clothes to Eunice’s apartment upstairs. Stanley goes limp and seems confused, but when the men try to force him into the shower to sober him up he fights them off. They grab their winnings and leave. Stanley stumbles out of the bathroom, calling for Stella. He phones upstairs, then phones again, before hurling the phone to the floor. Half-dressed he stumbles out to the street and calls for her again and again: â€Å"STELL-LAHHHHH!† Eunice gives him a piece of her mind, but to no avail. Finally, Stella slips out of the apartment and down to where Stanley is. They stare at each other and then rush together with â€Å"animal moans.† He falls to his knees, caresses her face and belly, then lifts her up and carries her into their flat. Scene four occurs early the next morning, Stella lies serenely in the bedroom, her face aglow. She is described as having a â€Å"narcotised tranquillity that is in the faces of Eastern idols†. Colour and light are huge themes here, Stella holds â€Å"coloured comics† there are â€Å"Gaudy pyjamas† on the floor and â€Å"summer brilliance† in the window. The colours theme within the play, is Williams’s way of telling us that the romance in Stella and Stanley’s relationship is pushed in favour of the couples sexual relations. This being 1949, Williams cannot express this outright. Blanche, who has not slept, enters the apartment the complete opposite of Stella’s serenity. She is worried and demands to know how Stella could go back and spend the night with Stanley after what he did to her. Stella feels  Blanche is making a big issue out of nothing. â€Å"You’re making an awful fuss of this† Yet Blanche goes on about how she must figure out a way to get them both out of this situation, how she recently ran into an old friend who struck it rich in oil, and perhaps he would be able to help them. Stella pays little attention to what Blanche says; she has no desire to leave. She says that Blanche merely saw Stanley at his worst. Blanche feels she saw him at his most characteristic-and this is what terrifies her. Blanche simply cannot understand how a woman raised in Belle Reve could choose to live her life with a man who has â€Å"not one particle† of a gentleman in him, about whom there is â€Å"something downright–bestial†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Stella’s reply is that â€Å"there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant.† This is just desire, says Blanche, and not a basis for marriage. A train approaches, a signal for an emotional outburst, and while it roars past Stanley enters the flat unheard. Not knowing that Stanley is listening, Blanche holds nothing back. She describes him as common, an animal, ape-like, a primitive brute, and in part this is true. Stella listens coldly. Under cover of another passing train, Stanley slips out of the apartment, then enters it noisily. Stella runs to Stanley and embraces him fiercely. Stanley grins at Blanche. This fierce embrace is a clear rejection by Stella of everything Blanche has just said about Stanley–she does not believe her at all. By Stanley’s grin it also shows he has the upper hand, for all his â€Å"ape-like† qualities he is seen as the master here. If the bond between Stella and Stanley is animal, it is also spiritual. These are the flip sides of the ‘primitive’ coin–the dual world of instinct and the supernatural. Stella in this scene offers a glimpse at the mystical side of attraction and desire. She glows transcendently; as mentioned her face is likened to that of an Eastern idol. Her calm is anomalous, as if she has  just taken part in something holy. Blanche fails to see the magic in what to her seems an abusive and dangerous relationship, because she has never reconciled her identity with her own profound desire. The divide is too great between her aristocratic sense of self and the â€Å"animal† urges that have at times controlled her. Blanche herself invokes the streetcar named Desire as a metaphor of what she believes Stella feels. Stella throws the metaphor back at her: â€Å"Haven’t you ever ridden on that streetcar?† Blanche’s answer, â€Å"It brought me here,† is truer than Stella knows. â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† by Tennessee Williams Essay A Streetcar named Desire is a play both grimly naturalistic and poetically symbolic, written by playwright Tennessee Williams. It is set in New Orleans post the depression and World War II. The characters in A Streetcar Named Desire are trying to rebuild their lives in post-war America. Much of the characters and themes found in Williams’s dramas were derived from the playwright’s own life. Alcoholism, depression, desire, loneliness, and insanity were all included. Typical of Williams’ style, Streetcar portrays the main character as Blanche DuBois, a, faded Southern belle who represents the culture and beauty of the past and her evident distaste for her younger sister, Stella’s, husband, Stanley Kowalski, a lower class Polish man who is the personification of modern practicality, crudeness, cynicism, and brutality. Through this play we follow Blanche and her descent into madness and lunacy. This play is written in the style of theatre is known as expressionism/naturalism. Expressionism in drama and art was a movement that rejected traditional methods of representing objective reality. Instead, expressionists exaggerated and distorted aspects of the outside world in order to ‘express’ certain moods and feelings. Expressionism continues to be an important influence on experimental theatre and art. Williams has used this style to portray his themes, ideas and characters in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. The character of Blanche, was actually a ‘repertoire of the womanly characteristics’ displayed by Tennessee Williams. Naturalism can refer to the technique of portraying life in a scientifically detached manner; however, it is generally used to refer specifically to a nineteenth century movement in art and literature where the artists or authors claimed to be objective observers. Naturalist writers were strongly influenced by evolutionary theory, and saw human beings as creatures constrained by heredity and environment, rather than as beings with free will. In regards  to Streetcar Williams’ sought to depict working-class characters as psychologically evolved beings to some extent, he attempts to portray these ‘blue-collar’ characters on their own terms, without romanticizing them. Although these two styles of theatre seem to contrast and clash the playwright has used them to complement each other. He has used elements of naturalism but somewhat challenged the conventions of this particular style and effectively entwined it with forms of expressionism. The context of a play is very important as it gives an insight of the playwright’s purpose of the play. One of the intentions of the play is to depict an Americans attempt of rebuilding their life post depression and World War II. His experience as a known homosexual in an era and culture unfriendly to homosexuality also informed his work. William’s most memorable characters, many of them female, contain recognizable elements of their author. His vulgar, irresponsible male characters, such as Stanley Kowalski, were likely modelled on Williams’s own father and on other males who tormented him during his childhood. In Streetcar, Williams challenged the values and attitudes of society in the portrayal of a multicultural society where everyone is equal, in regards to their race and culture. â€Å"†¦you’ve got to realize that Blanche and I grew up in very different circumstances than you did† Although the playwright has shown that racial class doesn’t matter, it is obvious that social stature still does. The rich and the poor are still separated. Since Blanche and Stella were raised in Belle Reve they subconsciously believe they are superior to ‘commoners’ like Stanley. The central themes of this play are fantasy and illusion, cruelty, the primitive and the primal, loneliness and as the title of the book suggests, desire. Scene seven, the scene which we chose to perform, discusses the theme of cruelty, on Stanley’s behalf, loneliness from Stella and fantasy and illusion from Blanche. The only unforgivable crime, according to Blanche, is deliberate cruelty. In this scene Stanley attempts to ‘reveal’ Blanche as the low life prostitute she has become to Stella, hopefully  convincing her to ‘side’ with him. He does this by being self-righteous, arrogant and demanding. Blanche however, oblivious of Stanley’s knowledge of her past, is in the bath once again ‘cooling’ herself off, singing ‘It’s Only a Paper Moon’ the popular 1940s ballad summarizes Blanche’s situation with regard to Mitch. She is in a state of pure oblivion that adds to her fantasy world. Williams juxtaposes Blanche’s merry rendition of this song with Stanley’s malicious revelations about her character, creating a situation of tense dramatic irony as Blanche sings about a future that will never come true. The song describes the fanciful way one perceives the world while in love, but it also foreshadows the fact that Mitch falls out of love with Blanche after his illusions about her have been destroyed. In turn Stella feels lonely because she is isolated. She is torn between the man she loves and her sister. A Streetcar Named Desire written by playwright Tennessee Williams is a play both naturalistic but poetically symbolic as it is written in the theatre styles of expressionism and naturalism. In performing a scripted piece it is imperative to learn of the text’s historical and authors context to fully realise and understand the development of characters, themes and ideas. â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire† by Tennessee Williams Essay Over the last few lessons in drama we have been working on a number of tasks to do with Tennessee Williams’ â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire†. These tasks involved using movement as well as words; some were naturalistic and others were much more abstract. Our first task was to walk like different characters from the play, focusing on the way they used certain parts of their body to show their personalities. First we had to walk like Stanley. Most of us walked with a confident swagger, sticking our chests or pelvises out to indicate his masculine pride. When we were asked to sit down in character, we sat back in a relaxed manner, opening our legs and perhaps loosely crossing our arms or draping them over the back of our chair, indicating total self-assuredness. Next we were asked to play Blanche. I decided to portray her as a fidgety person, constantly smoothing her clothes, fixing her hair or touching her face, to show her insecurities and lack of confidence. I also walked with short, dainty steps, to show how fragile and slight she is. When we sat down, I leaned forward slightly, with my shoulders slightly hunched, to show her vulnerability. Finally we were asked to portray Stella – standing upright, slightly tense as if waiti ng to heed to Stanley’s latest demands – and Mitch – big, awkward, slightly more hunched and less confident-looking than Stanley. After this task, we were asked to depict Stanley and Blanche as animals. For Stanley, nearly everyone acted like a wolf or a fox – strong, territorial, sly, always hunting and watching. For Blanche, I chose to act like a small bird, which would preen and look pretty but would be fidgety and nervous and would fly away when frightened. Our next task was to get into groups and act out scenes taking place before the play begins, which would reveal something interesting about our characters. I was in a group with Emily, and we were told to act out a scene from when Blanche and Stella still lived at Belle Reve. Emily played Stella and I played Blanche. Our scene began with Blanche climbing through the window of the room she shares with Stella, late at night. Stella, who has been studying, admonishes her for being so late and tells her how worried she has been. Blanche, who has been drinking but claims she â€Å"limits herself to one†, has just met a young man who reads poetry, who, as we know, will later commit suicide. It is revealed that Stella is the clever sister, who has the potential to make something of herself, and Blanche is the wilder, worldlier sister who relies on her beauty to have fun. This explains why Stella left Belle Reve and had the ability to get a husband and a home of her own, and why Blanc he was left behind, unwilling to grow up and surrender her beauty. Millie and Genna also played Blanche and Stella at Belle Reve. Their scene involved Blanche taking Stella out on the town for the first time. Blanche is very domineering and worldly, and Stella is naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and nervous about the shortness of her dress. Stella wears white, showing her innocence, and Blanche wears red, showing her corrupted virtue. Jack and Owen played Mitch and Stanley. They gave Mitch a deep personality, having him hint about wanting to settle down with a wife and worrying about his mother. They also showed Stanley’s love for Stella, as he talks about her in a very loving and tender way to Mitch. Next Felix and Flick, playing Stanley and Stella, showed how Stella was very like Blanche when she first met Stanley, unused to this more working class environment, yet being excited by Stanley’s attentions. Finally, Angelika and Hugo, playing Stella and Stanley, show Stella as being naà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ve and Stanley being mysterious and inquisitive, trying t o figure her out. In our next task we did Hot Seating. One by one, we were asked questions in character about our views on different events in the play. I chose to be Eunice, because although she is not a main character in the play, she is good friends with Stella and her husband is friends with Stanley, and she lives in the flat above them, so she would have a very clear idea of what life would be like for them. I chose to give her the opinion that Stanley’s hitting Stella isn’t good, but is acceptable, and is just a part of marriage that cannot be avoided. I was particularly impressed by Emily’s portrayal of Stella after having her sister taken away. She made it clear that Stella was heartbroken, and although she claimed to believe Stanley, she let on that she had no choice but to believe him. I also liked Alex as Blanche, gushing and acting pleasant and sweet to try and cover up her past, but when difficult questions were brought up her act fell and she would refuse to talk abo ut it. Our final task was to act out the scene where Blanche has been stood up by Mitch on her birthday and use freeze-frames to mark the most important moments in that the scene. I was in a group with Felix and Alex. Felix played Stanley, Alex played Blanche and I played Stella. The moments we marked were: Stanley throwing plates off the table; Stella and Stanley on the porch with Blanche on the phone, trying to reach Mitch; Stanley giving Blanche a ticket back to Laurel; and Stella going into labour. For each of our important moments, we froze in position for four seconds, before doing an action and moving onto the next moment. There were subtle differences between each group’s piece; instead of using an action, as we did in ours, Millie, Flick and Jack used an important line of text in each of their moments, which I found very effective. Although I found these tasks challenging (especially as I knew we were on camera), I enjoyed interpreting different characters in new ways. I also worked with different people to whom I normally would, which was a good experience and made me enthusiastic and eager to work with them again in future lessons.