context

• AO3: What does context mean for your exam?
• Context


  The relationship between the ideas in the text and the context in which it was written
• Types of context


  • Details about the author's background and life
  • The historical context in which they lived and wrote, and (if it is different) the historical context in which the text is set
  • How the text was received when it was first published or performed
  • Literary contexts, for example which genre(s) the author uses in the text
  • The contexts in which a text is engaged with by different audiences through the ages
  • Performance history (for a play), for example how it would have been first staged, and various different performances through to the present day
• Context is assessed throughout the paper. It is important that you have a thorough knowledge of a text's context in order to understand it fully.
• It is important to understand what Williams' original audience would have known or been thinking about as they watched the play, as these are the people for whom he was writing.

  
• The most important thing to remember about context in your exam essay is that it needs to be directly relevant, rather than 'bolted-on' to the end of a paragraph or essay.
• You should include relevant context throughout to illustrate and develop your answer to the question.
• Authorial Context


  Details about the author's background and life
• Tennesse Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams III, in 1919, in Mississippi. In college he was named Tennessee by his friends, after his home state.
• Williams had a particularly difficult childhood; his parents had an unhappy marriage, his father was an alcoholic and his mother resented her husband's drunken and philandering ways.
• As a child, he was bedridden for two years and grew reserved and vulnerable after he was ostracized and bullied in school. However, he was very close to his sister Rose, who later suffered from mental illness and was institutionalized for the same.
• Williams was gay and lived in a time where homosexuality was seen as a mental illness, something that is reflected clearly in his work.
• Negative experiences fueled much of William's writing. All the above life events and relationships are represented through the main characters in A Streetcar Named Desire.

  
• Williams struggled with loneliness, alcoholism and depression, and depicted them in his work.
• Socio-Political Context


  The historical context in which the text was written and set
• The play is set in the atmospheric aftermath of the Civil War. 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.
• 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.
• 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 sets A Streetcar Named Desire in this "Deep South '', yet we see two different sides to it. Mississippi and the old ways of intolerance towards difference and the "Other" are represented through the upper-class Dubois heritage, while New Orleans through Elysian Fields, showcases the more liberal South.

  
• Socio-Economic Context


  The economic and social conditions in which the text was written and set
• A Streetcar Named Desire explores a time of transition for the American South, and the tensions resulting from the shift from old money into modernity and diversity.
• Blanche and Stella's money would likely have been built on slavery, and Blanche represents the struggle of being stuck in the past, unable to move on with a progressing society.
• Stanley represents the American Dream, and the go-getting thrust of the working-class people who feel they can achieve whatever they desire through hard work, perseverance, and individualism.
• The Second World War enabled a sense of American heroism to develop, a heroism that was based on overcoming the Great Depression and defeating the Nazis. A national spotlight was shone on working-class men like Stanley, who had survived the war, rejoined the peacetime workforce and were now seen as bearers of American hard-working spirit.
• Socio-Cultural Context


  The cultural and social norms and values in which the text was written and set
• A Streetcar Named Desire is often considered a play that critiques the limitations that the post-world war American society imposed on itself, particularly in terms of gender roles.

  
• After the war ended, women were pushed back into traditional domestic roles, despite the increase in women in the workforce during the war.
• Williams establishes conventional gender stereotypes and yet twists the notions of masculine ad feminine energy using characters.

  
• While the main characters are all white, "Negro woman", "Mexican women", language, slang, dialects along with jazz music attempt to create the feeling of diversity and Otherness.
• The relationship between Blanche and Stanley illustrates the prejudice many first or second-generation European faced, as 'new immigrants' from Italy, Ireland, Poland, Greece, Hungary and the Slavic countries occupied a racial middle ground and were considered 'not-quite-white'.
• America was founded on Puritan and other Christian principles, which seeped into culture and beliefs, and evolved over time. The play addresses the issue of morality as understood by the American society.
• Literary and Critical Context

  The reception and interpretation of the text by critics and audiences
• The play received a variety of responses when it first hit Broadway. Some rejected the bold portrayal of sexuality, morality, and desire, but it also became very popular amongst those audiences who felt the crude realism was admirable.

  
• Many critics constantly compared his play to his The Glass Menagerie, but unlike The Glass Menagerie it was deemed far graver.
• Some critics and audiences looked at Stanley as a victim of Blanche's madness and attack against him.
• The play A Streetcar Named Desire can be understood as a critique of conventional notions of morality as sexual standards are double standards - they fall more heavily on women
• Multiple lovers leave Blanche labelled and ostracised and feeling defiled, while Stanley gets away with domestic abuse and rape
• The play received a variety of responses when it first hit Broadway

  • Some rejected the bold portrayal of sexuality, morality, and desire, but it also became very popular amongst those audiences who felt the crude realism was admirable
  • Robert J. Leeney, the editorial writer of the Register, called Williams an "ultra-realist" who was blunt in his ideas and did not overlook basic human needs behaviour
  • Many critics constantly compared his play to his The Glass Menagerie, but unlike The Glass Menagerie it was deemed far graver

  
• 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