ASND quotes

• "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at- Elysian Fields!"

  • Allegorical representation of Blanche's downfall. Elysian Fields was a paradise for the dead in Greek mythology
  • foreshadows inevitability of descent into madness
  • 'Desire' is her hamartia which drove her to Elysian Fields
  • Passive voice illustrates a lack of control as she is forced to interact with new, materialistic world of post-war America
• "You left nothing here but spilt talcum and old empty perfume bottles- unless it's the paper lantern you want to take with you. You want the lantern?

  • Suggests Blanche's life leaves no lasting value. Material objects that can't be used anymore
  • Shows disdain by ripping the lantern off. So attached to her that she almost has a physical reaction which shows her facade had manifested into her identity
• "Tiger-tiger! Drop the bottle-top! Drop it! We've had this date with each other from the beginning!"

  • Insight to true intentions. Stanley feels sexually attracted to and challenged by Blanche
  • Dominates Blanche by destroying her mentally and physically to win his prize (Stella) and keep up alpha status
  • "Tiger-tiger" puts her to status of an animal needing to be tamed. Suggests he's raping her to tame and reduce her to a broken woman
• "He was as good as a lamb when I came back and he's really very, very, very ashamed of himself"

  • Duality of Stanley's nature make it difficult for Stella (and audience) to condemn him for his wrongful actions
  • 'lamb' has innocence and biblical imagery of sacrifice. Stella sacrifices her safety from Stanley's violence for their passionate sexual relationship
  • Repetition emphasises Stella's efforts to prove he's changed and is justifying her submissive behaviour
• "Since when do you give me orders?"

  • Stella steps out of expected gender role and asserts herself, causing Stanley to retaliate which highlights the fixed hierarchy of authority and Stanley's obsession with utmost male dominance
  • Highlights Stella's usual submissive role, that it is unnatural to assert opinions in a traditional patriarchal household. Dependency on Stanley shows not much has changed in the progressive New South that claims to be socially advanced
• Williams about Stella

  "Her natural passivity is one of the things that makes her acceptance of Stanley acceptable. She naturally 'gives in', accepts, lets things slide, she does not make much of an effort"
• Louis Kronenberger


  Blanche is "the most demonically driven kind of liar - the one who lies to the world because she must lie to herself"
• Williams about the play as a whole


  "The play is about ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society"
• "Not the type that goes for jasmine perfume"

  • Stanley lacks the refinement to appropriate fine tastes of Blanche
  • He is an inadequate mate for DuBois clan because of his inability to appreciate the subtle things in life
• "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"

  • Ironic for 2 reasons: The doctor isn't the chivalric Shep Huntleigh type of gentleman she thinks, and her dependence is why she hasn't faired well in life as others were only kind in exchange for sex
  • Indicates her total detachment from her decision to see life only as she wishes
• [There is something about her uncertain matter, as well as her white clothes, that suggest a moth]

  • Blanche's appearance conforms to theme of feminity and dependence
  • 'white clothes' suggest innocence and purity which relates to the social expectations of women and femininity. Ironic since Blanche is neither innocent nor pure, but the clothes help to uphold the facade
  • Moths have a dependence on light sources to find direction. Blanche/women are expected to have a dependence on men to find direction in all aspects of life
• [Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package]

  • Men and masculinity emphasises Stanley's primitive masculinity
  • 'red-stained' - Red has connotations of violence and gory imagery which may foreshadow his future violence, especially towards women
• "Drunk- Drunk- animal thing, you!" [Stanley charges after Stella]

  • Violence accompanies Stanley's aggressive sexual nature
  • Stella is so attracted by dazzling masculinity that she is blinded to the severity of his domestic abuse and cannot distinguish between the two
  • 'charges' suggests animalistic or primitive behaviour
• "I don't want realism... I want magic!" AND "I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be the truth"

  • Paints her lies as sympathetic as possible
  • Reference to magic suggests Blanche hadn't intended to deceive anyone, she had simply been trying to make the world better
  • Could be interpreted as a further attempt to manipulate, but the impression is that Blanche is genuine and she is unable to accept the world as it is
• "Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable"

  • Redeems Blanche as it shows that she never intentionally set out to hurt others, despite her lies
  • Vilifies Stanley as he does set out to hurt others intentionally
  • Blanche is presented as the helpless victim, encouraging the audience to sympathise with her
• "There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark- that sort of make everything else seem- unimportant"

  • Indicates the importance of sex to Stella
  • 'Everything' includes the fate of her sister. Foreshadows Blanche being sent to the asylum
• "I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than a rude remark or a vulgar action"

  • The light will reveal her true age and her true past
  • The light is unflattering and may show flaws
  • Could also symbolise a harsh reality or society that Blanche is trying to avoid, one that she looks down on
• "No, one's my limit"

  • Dramatic irony as audience know she's already had a drink, posing her as a liar
  • Alcohol offers her temporary amnesia, but this becomes less effective meaning she needs more
  • Habitual drinking was bad for a woman's reputation so it was often hidden
• "When he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby"

  • Demonstrates Stella's submissiveness to Stanley
  • Illustrates how she depends on him
  • Their marriage is based on sex meaning it's hard to maintain
• [He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining how he smiles at them] - Scene 1
• "Stella, oh Stella, Stella! Stella for star!" - Blanche, scene 1
• "I, I, I, took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths!" - Blanche, scene 1
• "Funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths - not always... But funerals are quiet, with pretty flowers. And, oh, what gorgeous boxes they pack them away in!" - Blanche, scene 1
• "The boy- the boy died" - Blanche, scene 1
• "Where's the little woman?" - Stanley, scene 1
• [Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth] - Scene 1
• [In this part of New Orleans you are practically always just around the corner, or a few doors down the street, from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers] - Scene 1
• "How in the hell do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for? Death is expensive Miss Stella!" - Blanche, scene 1
• "Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture- Only Poe! Only Mr Edgar Allen Poe could do it justice!" - Blanche, scene 1
• [Animal joy in his being is implict in all his movements and attitudes] - Scene 1
• "I cannot imagine any witch of a woman casting a spell over you" - Blanche, scene 2
• "Admire her dress and tell her she's looking wonderful. That's important with Blanche. Her little weakness!" - Stella, scene 2
• "You are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I! I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it" - Blanche, scene 1
• "Poems a dead boy wrote" - Blanche, scene 2
• [Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh] - Scene 3
• [Blanche comes out of the bathroom in a red satin robe] - Scene 2
• [Invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay] - Scene 1
• "Since when do you give me orders?" - Stanley, scene 2
• "After all, a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion" - Blanche, scene 2
• [pulls a fistful of costume jewlery] - scene 2