context

• socio-political: The play set in the aftermath of civil war in America


  . Fought between nothern and southern states, mainly over the abolishment of slavery

  . South against it since their plantations were based on slavery

  . Ended 1865 - north won
• socio-political: Impact of the civil war in the south


  . Despite the loss, the image of "the south" remained in their minds

  . Slavery illegal - BUT - great importance still placed on ancestry and heritage SO racism still very prominent long after the civil war

  . South alienated from rest of America - known for poverty and racism
• socio-political: The emergence of New Orleans in south


  .After Great Depression, New Orleans emerged as champion of diversity and acceptance in south

  . Large influx of immigrants from Europe and Africa

  . This is due to the shift to an industrial economy

  - factories replacing old agrarian community

  - 'working class' emerged

  . New Orleans = "melting pot of culture"
• socio-political: Williams' setting of "Deep South" has two sides


  . Mississippi and the old ways of intolerance towards difference and 'the other' are represented by the upper class Dubois heritage

  . New Orleans though Elysian Fields, showcases the more liberal south
• Socio-economic: transitional period


  .Streetcar explores a time of transition from American south with the tensions resulting from the shift from old money into modernity and diversity

  . Dubois money built on slavery

  - Blanche represents struggle of being stuck in the past unable to move on with progressing society

  - her tension with Stanley caused by their clashing values - her insults of brutishness related to his working-class immigrant status
• Socio-economic: changing south part of wider shift

  Part of wider shift towards modernity during the 20th century:

  . slavery abolishment in south (1865 civil war) lead to the decline of families like Dubois

  . 20th century centred around ideas of American dream welcoming generations of immigrants like Stanley (who feel intrinsically all-american)

  . working class priorities of hard work, perseverance and individualism to achieve this dream contrasts everything Blanche represents
• Socio-economic :mAll American ideology


  all-American ideology heavily propelled by events of WW2 :

  - American heroism based on overcoming Great Depression as well as Nazis

  - national spotlight on men like Stanley (working class men who survived war and rejoined workplace) and seen as bearers of American hard working spirit
• Socio-cultural: gender explored in ASND


  ASND considered play that critiques the limitations that the post-war American society imposed on itself

  . Both female and male stereotyping is addressed

  - restrictions on women

  - male suffering
• Socio-cultural: gender roles post war

  . Emergence of american heroism had implications of championing of masculinity

  - nation embraced values centered around home and family life, heroising men and placing women in domestic roles

  . Women pushed back into traditional domestifc roles after being able to be in work force during war

  . The idolised hyper-masculinity both damaging to men and women
• Williams' conventional gender roles

  Established conventional gender stereotypes and yet twists the notions pf feminine and masculine energy using his characters

  
  

  - Stella + Stanley = accepted social gender roles

  - Blanche = showcase masculine energy in her sexuality and arrogance

  - Mitch + Allan grey = show sensitivity (a 'feminine' trait)

  
  

  Clear in the play that social gender norms negatively impact all the main characters in the play, driving them towards either death, metal or moral destruction.
• Socio-cultural: race - stage direction

  Stage direction:“New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of race” - scene 1

  - 1940s America was not free of racial prejudices or discrimination- however Williams' new Orleans becomes a pocket that is distinguished from the rest in its welcoming attitude towards the American dream thats open to all classes and races.
• socio-cultural: race - ASND characters

  . all main characters are white. "negro woman", "Mexican woman", slang, dialects, along with jazz music attempt to create feeling of diversity ('otherness')- play doesn't address racism against African Americans at the time- looks at racism faced by recent European immigrants (Stanley) compared to established ones (Dubois) - xenophobia
• Socio-cultural: race - 'not quite white'


  xenophobia - "swine", "polak, without aa nerve in your body" (blanche to stanley)

  late 19th/ early 20th century = new immigrants from Italy, Ireland, Poland, Greece, Hungary etc occupied racial middle ground and considered"not-quite-white" .

  yet stanley mainly faces prejudice based on his class position rather than his ethic otherness- racism heavily based on skin colour first- adresss prejudice based on class rather than race- post-Harlem Renaissance era where segregation was still prevalent but being contested
• socio-cultural: religion and morality - American founding


  America founded on puritan and other christian principles

  
  

  While play doesn't explicitly discuss religion, the prejudices against homosexuality and sexual immorality stem from Christian Principles
• socio-cultural: religion and morality - female submission


  idea that "wife must submit to her husband" is a biblical principle and advocated in 20th cent America especially the south

  
  

  america post-depression and post-war desperately tried to revert to old "traditional values"
• socio-cultural: religion and morality - blanches morality


  issues of morality as understood by American society is explore through blanche

  
  

  struggle with moral standards thrust on her by society - she pacifies herself despite knowing of her deceit : she never "lied in heart" and wasn't "deliberate cruel"

  
  

  critique conventional notions of society

  - sexual standards are double standards as they fall more heavily on women

  - multiple lovers leave blanche labelled, ostracised and feeling defiled

  - stanley gets away with domestic abuse and rape !?!?!
• literary and critical: responses from 1st broadway show

  . some rejected the bold portrayal of sexuality, morality and desire. popular with those who felt the crude realisms was admirable

  Robert J Leeney, called Williams an"ultra-realist"- blunt in his ideas- didn't overlook basic human needs behaviour
• literary and critical: comparison to The Glass Menagerie


  . characters inspired by his own family (blanche and Laura = his sister rose)

  . similar thematic elements of illusion, escape, and fantasy vs reality

  . Amanda and Blanche= faded southern belle

  . Lauren and Blanche = trapped in fantasy and separate from humanity, resulting in life of deceit

  . identity!!!!

  - Laura has more childlike escapism through obsessing over her glass figurines (represents fragile identity)

  - blanches escapism (alcohol) is ore socially frowned upon
• literary and critical: audiences view of Stanley as victim


  victim of blanches madness + attack on his masculinity , class and heritage- some audiences cheered during rape scene ??!!marxist lense:- stan = champion of working class- he defeats old aristocratic ways by removing blanche (symbol of the bourgeois) from him and his wives lifeDarwinian "survival of the fittest" mentality= Stan emerges as survivor ready to continue his lineage (Stella pregnancy) while defeating the bourgeois threat to his way of life
• literary and critical: feminist lense


  when viewed though feminist lense, the play is a critique of expectation software patriarchal society

  
  

  shown through psychological unravelling of characters and twisted portrayal of femininity and masculinity

  
  

  rape of blanche:

  - Stan asserts his masculine power and authority over blanche through sexual violence

  - women as victims of oppressive patriarchy which chipped at blanches sanity
• production history: aftermath ww2

  published in 1947 - aftermath of ww2

  
  

  popular because of the taboo themes of class tensions, female sexually, homosexuality, and male domination - all coexisted with the social dilemmas at the time

  
  

  post-war America = fragmented and evolving nation

  - Williams explored the social tension and psychological subdivision of class structures and gender roles through the clash of characters
• production history: view of old and new south

  1947

  - stanley = symbolised world of masculinity and individualism

  - female suffering observed in play, contested by the burgeoning feminist movement.

  
  

  many viewed the play as exposing the moral decay of the old southern values of rigid social hierarchy, aristocracy, culture and etiquette vs the new southern values that embodied Darwinian survival of the fittest struggle of the American dream.
• production history: 1951 movie

  director = Elia Kazan

  screenwriter = williams

  
  

  controversy over the rape scene and williams' refused to remove it

  
  

  as a result, the ending was revised so that Stanley is punished - Stella leaves him
• production history: censorship in 1951 movie

  1. conversations + events about homosexuality

  - homosexuality deemed not correct way of life

  - Allan grey = kills himself due to blanche calling him "weak" for not being able to retain a job.

  
  

  2. blanches drunkness / flirtations towards Mitch + young lad

  - inappropriate for women !!

  
  

  3. verbal abuse about stables status as immigrant

  - deemed immoral behaviour

  
  

  4. Stella + stanley intimate conversations

  - inappropriate for viewers

  
  

  5. "on Sunday nights they would go in town to get drunk"

  - changed to Saturday

  - Sunday = holy day/ sabbath day , so drinking then would be frowned upon
• Authorial context: Tennesse Williams life


  . born 1919 in Mississippi

  . real name = Thomas Lanier Williams

  . known as Tennessee in college after his home state

  . parents had unhappy marriage

  . father was an alcoholic

  . father was a working class salesman

  . mother was a southern belle born to a higher class and well read parents

  . rose institutionalised for her mental illness - received a lobotomy unwillingly

  . he was GAY