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Alevel English Pearson Edexcel Drama A Streetcar Named Desire Notes + Language Analysis
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Alevel English Literature Pearson Edexcel Drama: A Streetcar Named Desire Notes In-Depth Language Analysis & Context
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04/10/2022Notes:
Paper 1: Drama Paper – Tragedy – Section B: Streetcar
Written in 1947 – no reference to the war. The play is a microcosm for more social issues.
Blanche uses sex and alcohol.
Stanley destroys balance – symbol of a new America destroying the old southern way of life.
Blanche’s family made their fortune off of slavery and cotton plantations, all of which was
displaced by the north and the civil war.
‘A paralysing obsession with the largely imaginary glories of the past’
Williams remembered his childhood in the south as idyllic and when he moved he became
miserable.
An expressionistic play -uses the props, settings, plastic theatre is a new dramaturgical form
which blends a naturalistic settings with expressionistic devices to reflect something.
Epigraph – Williams demanded that this stanzas be put into the play, he carried Crane’s
poetry around with him. ‘broken world’ – representative of the how the south has decayed,
Blanche desires security and love through marriage but she doesn’t get this and instead
descends into a ‘broken world’.
Balance = Past, Stanley = Future, neither can live with each other.
Blanche Dubois – very soft sounds, meaning white woods, links to permanence, heritage,
status and aristocracy, Blanche also means pale and sickly. Blanche is a southern aristocrat
of French descent, she represents an old south
Stella Kowalski – Stella means star, very sensible and quite.
Stanley is of polish descent, Kowalski is a common name in polish, Stanley is old English for
stone field (quite immovable). Stanley represents a new America, an American dream.
Mitch is a foil to Stanley, he is very submissive, he is also an outsider, he is isolated withing
his group of friends.
11 scenes with no interval – creates an intense emotional experience, reflects how Blanche
doesn’t get a rest, tablovivant – freeze frame where often Blanche is doing something.
‘I wanted a plastic medium, I conceived things usually in sound and colour and movement’ –
using expressionistic techniques, using exaggeration to create his plastic theatre.
‘The essence of drama is conflict’ – Blanche and Stanley create this conflict.,
‘Elysian’ – means heaven, but in Greek Mythology it means paradise for the dead,
metaphorically Blanche begins to decay and die slowly.
Setting is quite eccentric and unconventional.
’weathered’, ‘rickety’, ‘ornamented’ = a conventional southern gothic setting, not grim but
rather bohemian. ‘faded’ – represents how the south decayed and defeated after the civil
war. The setting in the south is quite romanticised because Williams loved the south, he
simply wants to show that it has decayed (also represents Blanche’s character).
The idea of the melting pot, the setting is a diverse place with a variety of different people.
Easy intermingling of races and cultures, everything is easy and nice, ‘cosmopolitan city’.
‘blue piano’ – is a symbol of the spirit of life, it represents New Orleans’ natural, bohemian
way of life.
The play begins in the middle of a conversation (a dirty joke about sex). Very vibrant
atmosphere. Fire is a connotation of desire and passion. Opposite of Blanche’s character.
Stanley and Mitch are both working men, reflected in their clothing.
Stanley is quiet masculine. He’s loud and domineering. Caveman-esk.
, Stella is Stanley’s opposite. They have a playful relationship – very sexual, he has sexual
proprietorship over her, foreshadowing his sexual dominance later on. Their relationship is
built on sex and desire. He is the dominant one in the relationship.
In disbelief of the setting that her sister lives in, it is a very alien place to her, opposite to the
place where she and Stella lived.
Wearing the clothes of a southern belle, she is dressed inappropriately (wearing a costume).
Here she is an outsider. A strong light would expose the truth, she loves the dark and
doesn’t want Mitch later on to know her real age.
They use of ‘hysterical’ reflects Blanche’s emotional instability right from the very beginning.
A streetcar cannot veer of track, reflective of the fact that Blanche’s fate is sealed. Desire,
death, post death (her downfall) is reflected in her journey to Stella’s house. Desire is her
sexual passion, cemetery represents how she is destroyed by Stanley and Elysian Fields
represents the mad house she is sent to at the end of the play. The fact that she was told
where to go shows that she has no choice in this matter and that her fate is sealed.
She expected Stella to be in the home because to her that is where Stella and women are
supposed to be – in the home.
The Negro Woman has a distinct sociolect. So does Blanche and Stanley.
Blanche wants rid of Eunice – to do with the fact that Blanch is quite a snob, she is very
aware of their difference in class.
‘Belle Reve’ – means beautiful dream, her home town is her dream place, also implies that
her home is out of reach. She yearns for her home and past life, she avoids talking about her
home.
‘blind look’ – she has been in a daze because this place is so alien to her.
‘spring’ and ‘tosses’ both tell the audience that Blanche is an alcoholic.
‘wild cry’ , ‘Stella for star’ – sailors use stars for navigation, Blanche relies on Stella for
guidance.
‘feverish vivacity’, ‘spasmodic’ – on the edge and erratic.
‘bathed’ – needs to was away her sins, ‘turn that over-light off’ – light represents realism,
the dark represents the shadows and secrets, Blanche is disguised because she doesn’t want
people to see the real her, she has to keep up her façade and therefore needs to keep out
the light, ‘daylight never exposed so total a ruin’.
‘shaking all over’ – incredibly nervous, alcohol is Blanche’s crutch even though southern
belles are not supposed to drink, showing that something has gone wrong in her life, ‘lunacy’
She can’t say his name – element of jealousy, cannot say the Kowalski name.
Juxtaposition between the two sisters, Stella lives in reality whilst Blanche is rooted in
fiction. Her reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s poem ‘Ulalume’ shows that she is educated, to
Blanche, Stella’s house is something out of a nightmare.
Little bit of tension and conflict between the sisters already.
Blanche needs attention and flattery. She is very demanding, she likes to be the centre of
attention, pushing Stella into a very passive role.
‘Mr Graves’ – he has been the death of her teaching career.
Blanche is very aware of Stella’s appearance because according to her women would have to
be perfect southern belles which meant that they would have to look good all the time in
order to attract a man. Appearing perfect is incredibly important to Blanche.
Blanche is energetic and wild whereas Stella has self-control.
‘you left Bell Reve…you left us’ – a very sensitive subject.
‘reassurance’, ‘dutifully’ - an issue for Blanche is aging because she won’t be able to attract
a man. Stella falls into her role as Blanche’s dutiful little sister.
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