Analysis of New Orleans- A Streetcar Named Desire- A Level
A Streetcar Named Desire- Analysis- A Level English Literature
Explore the presentation of vulnerability in A Streetcar Named Desire
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PEARSON (PEARSON)
English Literature 2015
Unit 1 - Drama
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Tennessee Williams uses the character of Blanche DuBois in a variety of different ways and for
different purposes within ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Blanche represents the ‘Old South’, she is
symbolic of an old, aristocratic and genteel way of life based on agricultural plantations and reliant
on slave labour. Therefore when Blanche leaves Laurel and arrives in New Orleans she is
immediately outsider and is seemingly doomed from the start, as seen by her arrival on a ‘Streetcar’
which runs on tracks which do not deviate. Williams also presents Blanche through the metaphor of
a moth within the opening scenes of the play. Blanche’s delicate beauty portrays a fragile femininity
which foreshadows her own deterioration because of her own desire heightened by the setting of
New Orleans. Williams emphasises a sort of split personality within Blanche’s character as she
attempts to protect her refined reputation despite her own instability, in the end her appearance of
superiority is, in reality, tarnished by symptoms of her desire exposed as her weakness that become
more prominent throughout her introduction. Blanche’s downfall is symbolic of the downfall of the
South because they could not move out of the past and embrace the new American way of life.
At the beginning of Scene one, Williams instantly presents the incongruous character of Blanche as a
symbol of fragile femininity in juxtaposition to the decaying backdrop of New Orleans. In stage
directions, Williams describes Blanche with the adjective ‘delicate’ and as being draped in
‘white’ evoking images of purity and fragility within her character. This juxtaposes the ‘weathered’
and ‘warm’ depiction of New Orleans, in comparison to Blanche’s clinical white, emphasising the
significance of Blanche’s entrance as she represents the traditional ‘pure’ values of the Deep South.
Moreover, the fragility in Blanche’s pure appearance is tainted by Williams’ metaphor of her ‘moth-
like’ character; insinuates a naivety beneath her regal appearance as, similar to moths, she is
foreshadowed to be led by attraction but reveals her inner state as weak and fragile. This parallel is
further seen through the setting, in dramatic irony, as Blanche mentions to have taken a ‘streetcar
named desire’ to ‘one called cemeteries’. This concept of the abstract noun ‘desire’ linking to
death, symbolised by the destination ‘cemeteries’, foreshadows to the audience that her fate at the
end of the play is already set to be a tragedy due to her own uncontrollable desire and thus portrays
the message that the downfall of the South was in many ways inevitable. This notion is further
implied with the metaphor of a moth as it symbolises Blanche’s vice which is her desire, a danger to
her own survival both literally and metaphorically. This is also presented in the ‘broken world’ of
New Orleans foreshadowed earlier in the epigraph; the adjective ‘broken’ already suggesting to the
audience that Blanche’s world of desire and illusion is decaying. These hints of Blanche’s
promiscuous character are also highlighted through a light motif. Within this motif light is used by
Williams to represent the truth and reality. To Blanche the light shows everyone who she really is
beneath her facades; an example of this being Blanche’s hysterical complaints of being looked at in a
‘merciless glare!’ The adjective ‘merciless’ portrays Blanche’s own vision of herself as the victim of
her own narrative while also presenting this vulnerable aspect to her character that conflicts with
the ‘perfect’ appearance she struggles to maintain. This is by Williams an example of his use of
plastic theatre and expressionism within this play in which properties, music, sound, and visual
effects are used to reflect and enhance the emotions of the characters. Therefore, Williams presents
a fragility in Blanche’s character portrayed by a weakness in desire which is intensified by the
backdrop of New Orleans.
Williams also presents a split personality within Blanche’s unstable character with implications at a
more untrustworthy and manipulative woman beneath her ‘pure’ appearance. A darker side to
Blanche’s character is portrayed within her reliance on alcohol, when alone with the audience as the
only witness, she ‘springs up’ and ‘tosses (a glass of whiskey) down’. The verbs ‘springs’ and ‘tosses’
both convey an urgent need for drinking in stressful situations while ‘tosses’ suggests that Blanche’s
character is less demure and refined than previously displayed to the audience. Williams further
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