“It is desire that moves us, and, in moving us, gives our life direction and meaning” (Burton, 2014, pg. 1). The previous quote aptly describes how desire is an ever-present aspect of life. Desire is a feeling that has an effect of any and all actions, whether it is consciously or subconsciously. “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams is a prime example of how desire affects the lives of everyday people and the impacts of those desires. Williams does this by describing the intertwined lives
The story of a “Streetcar Named Desire,” focuses on the life of a sad woman and her very sad life. Blanche DuBois represents an overdramatic not so very innocent southern belle who deals on the depths of her despair after her marital scandal between her husband and another man, leading Blanche to become a widow. In other words, she’s washed up. Forced to leave her beautiful estate and rather scandalous life of a school teacher behind. She ends up in New Orleans perhaps hoping that her sister Stella
Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire brings its readers on a journey to decide for themselves what the most important things in life are: how to deal with one’s past; love or desire; blood family or chosen family. The character Stella deals with all of these things at once and has to decide what will truly become most important to her in the end. These major themes in the play are driven by Stella, a character who is neither the protagonist nor antagonist. The first theme that Stella’s character
Like a moth that flutters for a false moon only to discover a flame, faith in romantic illusions in lieu of reality can burn one to white ash. In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, flighty protagonist Blanche DuBois conceals her scandalous history with contrived fantasies, but ultimately she only fools herself. While Blanche’s fibs and delusions proclaim her virtue and innocence, the truth of her past begins to emerge, and she is undone by the very thing she is trying to escape: reality
Of all the characters in Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Stella Kowalski appears to be the primary embodiment of the conflict between the antebellum era and the modern age in which the play is set. She represents the shift towards modernity in post-war America, and the attempt to rebuild one’s life following the social upheaval caused by WWII. One of the ways we learn of Stella’s position as a fusion between the two eras in scene two is through her attitude towards the loss of Belle Reve
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), directed by Elia Kazan and adapted from the Tennessee Williams’s 1947 play, revolves around the complexity of Blanche DuBois, a seemingly kindhearted woman who has issues with honesty and romance. However, the adaptation reveals another complex character in Stanley Kowalski. In the film, there are circumstances in which Blanche and Stanley each act in a morally justifiable ways and in morally corrupt ways. Both characters are suspicious and hard to read. The film
A Streetcar Named Desire Character Analysis: Stanley Tennessee Williams’s classic 1947 play, A Streetcar Named Desire, explores a variety of important themes. Williams enhances the themes found within the play through the various characters’ actions and interactions. Stanley Kowalski is a strong example of a character who not only progresses the plot of the play, but also helps to explore some of the play’s larger themes. Williams uses Stanley and his specific traits to cultivate some of the play’s
Scene 7: She is washing away her sins. It signifies holy water and she is bathing in a new holy body. He bought her a ticket to leave for her birthday because he wants to tell Mitch and he wants her out of the house. His motive to get her out of the house is to save his marriage. “But it wouldn’t make me make believe if you believe in me” it is ironic she is singing this because she is telling lies and wants people to live in the dreamiest world she creates. Williams exaggerates everything because
will become more limited.” This was particularly true in 1940s America, where women were expected to be wives and mothers, nothing more. Men on the other hand were the providers and had the responsibility of supporting their household. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams analyzes these strict gender roles of the 1940s. Williams uses the characterization of Blanche and Stella to highlight the forced dependence of women on men by society. Stella Kowalski loves her husband, Stanley Kowalski
McCullers suffered throughout her life from several illnesses and from alcoholism. She had rheumatic fever at the age of 15 and suffered from strokes that began in her youth. By the age of 31 her left side was entirely paralyzed. She lived the last twenty years of her life in Nyack, Newyork, where she died on September 29, 1967, at the age of 50 after a brain hemorrhage; she was buried in Oak Hill cemetery. Shortly after her death, the first film adaptation of “Reflection in a Golden Eye” was