streetcar context

• Some critics and audiences looked at Stanley as a victim of Blanche's madness and attack against his masculinity, class, and heritage. The rape scene in this approach is justified as an event initiated by Blanche through her flirting and exhibitionism. It was reported that some audiences actively cheered during Blanche's rape.
• Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi.
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  The author considers the baby as a representation of a Kowalski future and not a DuBois one


  Blanche is removed from the picture while Stanley stays back- his final win
• The play, when viewed from a feminist lens, is a critique of the expectations of patriarchal society, which is expressed through the psychological unravelling of characters
• Williams' twisted portrayal of masculinity and femininity can be seen in this light as well, particularly using Blanche who tends to show masculine energy which in turn becomes a threat to Stanley, the established Alpha male and Patriarch
• The rape of Blanche through this feminist lens becomes a scene where Stanley asserts his masculine power and authority over Blanche through sexual violence
• This entire event, in feminist discourse, portrays women as victims of the oppressive patriarchy
• The patriarchy and its norms recurrently chipped at Blanche's sanity as she felt she needed to find a husband to be accepted by society
• Gender Roles


  A Streetcar Named Desire is often considered a play that critiques the limitations that the post-world war American society imposed on itself
• The postwar emergence of a sense of American heroism had implications for the championing of masculinity, as the nation decided to embrace values centered around family and home, heroising these men and placing women like Stella in a more domestic role alongside them
• During WW2, the percentage of women in the national workforce rose from 27% to 37%. After the war ended, they were pushed back into traditional domestic roles
• Williams' post-war New Orleans, therefore, is a space were traditional gender roles had been shaken up and conservative Southern ideals of old money and aristocratic heritage had been displaced in favour of the new working class work ethic
• Williams establishes conventional gender stereotypes and yet twists the notions of masculine and feminine energy using characters
• While Stella and Stanley more or less portray the accepted societal gender roles, Blanche showcases masculine energy in her sexuality and arrogance, while Mitch and Allan Grey are used to showcase sensitivity, a "feminine" trait
• What is clear throughout the plot is societal gender norms negatively impact all the main characters in the play driving them towards either death, mental or moral destruction
• New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races
• 1940's America was not free of racial prejudice and discrimination
• Williams' New Orleans becomes a pocket that is distinguished from the rest in its warmth and welcoming attitude towards the New American Dream of equality open to all classes and races
• The Civil War in America was fought between the Northern and Southern States, and this was mainly on the issue of the abolishment of Slavery
• Despite the loss, the image of "The South' remained in their minds. While slavery was no longer legal, great importance continued to be placed on ancestry and heritage, therefore the racism that existed all along continued to exist long after the Civil War
• This South was alienated from the rest of America and was known to be a place brimming with racism and poverty
• While slavery was illegal, segregation was prevalent and this system perpetuated cheap labor based on race
• Amidst all this, after the Great Depression, New Orleans emerged as the champion of diversity and acceptance in these Southern States
• With a large influx of immigrants from Europe and Africa, New Orleans became a melting pot of culture
• • Williams can be seen as part of the ‘Southern Gothic’ movement, characterised by a rich, even grotesque, imagination, and an awareness of being part of a decaying culture. 
  • this genre came about in the 19th century after the south lost in the civil war - represented by blanche through her psychological malfunctioning and her physical decline
• stanley is portrayed as a patriotic second generation immigrant who wants to be accepted by American society - this champions upwards alpha males
• The classic Southern woman was expected to be "a model of virtue. She was considered inferior to men of her own race, while at the same time supposedly being virginal and morally superior to the male-in other words, less sinful than him. Southern woman was furthermore taught to look not to herself but to others for protection. Blanche does this in the play, appealing first to Stella and Stanley, then to Mitch, and in the final scene to her doctor: "Whoever you are," she says with a kind of blind faith, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"
• • williams life
  • in 1931 Williams had a nervous breakdown, and in 1937 his sister Rose was sent to a mental institution – like Blanche – and was lobotomised. 
  • Like Blanche’s husband Allan (called ‘a degenerate’), Williams was a practising homosexual at a time when it was still illegal. 
  • Suffering from depression, he resorted to heavy drinking (like Blanche) and drugs. 
• • New Orleans
  • legal system was influenced by the Napoleonic code, cited by Stanley. 
  • Known as something of a cultural melting pot, where in some parts, including the French Quarter (district), black and white lived alongside each other. 
  • A ‘streetcar’ (tram) went to an area called Desire, another to Cemeteries; there is also an avenue called Elysian Fields, referring to where the souls of heroes and the virtuous went in Greek mythology. 
  • Known as a free-and-easy sort of place, with a lot of music (as in this play), especially jazz, bars and gambling – including poker. 
• PSYCHOANALYTICS

  -blanche is driven by her id, however her superego enforces her to repress these feelings - her internal sense of right/wrong doing. this causes conflicts between her id and superego, meaning her ego (reality principle) eventually leads to her true self being revealed
• To express his universal truths Williams insisted that setting, properties, music, sound, and visual effects—all the elements of staging—must combine to reflect and enhance the action, theme, characters, and language. - used in his other plays such as a glass menagerie and a cat on a hot tin roof
• The South was defeated and slavery was officially abolished in 1865 and the industrialised North grew both politically and economically in comparison to the largely agricultural South.
• Industrialization was starting to happen more rapidly in cities. While the plantations of the old South were decaying, urban growth and capitalism were doing well. - can symbolise the rape scene
• 'belle reve' - means beautiful dream - supports blanches facade