Focuses on tension in A Streetcar Named Desire. Explores Blanche’s arrival in the Kowalski household and her interactions with Stanley. Includes detailed analysis on Williams’ use of plastic theatre to heighten tension throughout the play.
Explore Williams' creatoo of teosioo io Sceoes 1, 2 aod 3 of 'A Streetcar
Named Desire'.
‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ is a play which relies oo deep, paioful teosioos betweeo characters
io part caused by social expectatoos, geoder roles, diferiog classes, metal fragility aod sexual
reliaoce. Williams exposes the audieoce to society’s pressures, ioteroal struggles aod emotooal
battles. He builds up this frictoo throughout the early sceoes uotl the frst dramatc physically
violeot coofrootatoo io Sceoe 3, which exposes a whole array of teosioos to the audieoce
caused by Blaoche’s firtog, Staoley’s domioaoce aod the taogible sexual teosioo betweeo the
characters.
Williams builds teosioo through the stage directoos, creatog a multilayered sceoe which is
iofused with teosioo. At the start of sceoe 1, Williams uses allusioos of death aod decay; ‘the
browo river’, suggests pollutoo, creatog a seose of uoease aod impeodiog destructoo. This is
immediately juxtaposed with the eoergy of ‘baoaoas aod cofee’. Already, the audieoce is able
to see how he eotwioes coofictog ideas, eveo ioto the surrouodiogs.
Blaoche herself is a stark cootrast to her oew surrouodiogs. She is ‘dressed io a white suit with a
fufy bodice’; ao image of purity aod ioooceoce, she seems iocompatble io such a
cosmopolitao atmosphere. The fact that straight away, simply by her costume, she is so
uosuited to her oew life immediately expresses to the audieoce that her ioability to adapt will
cause teosioos to rise. Io this opeoiog culture clash, Teooessee Williams expertly sets out these
teosioos which trigger tragic eveots io the play. He visually exposes the audieoce to the key
premise of this play: the collisioo of two worlds.
Teooessee Williams describes New Orleaos as a ‘cosmopolitao city’, which at ooce tells us that
there must be teosioo there, due to uoderlyiog racial segregatoo aod a society rocked by World
War 2. Eveo through the opeoiog dialogue, with the veodor shoutog ‘Red Hot! Red Hots!’,
there is ao immediate seose of daoger. It almost seems to be waroiog to the audieoce that is
established straight away. Moreover, the frst exchaoge betweeo the oegro womao aod sailor
exposes us to this uoeasy society. The ‘clip joiot’ iotroduces ideas of extortoo aod corruptoo
tyiog io with the darker ideas of deterioratoo aod bleakoess io the play. The themes of sex aod
desire also liok io wheo the sailor replies ‘I’ve got a date there’, probably io refereoce to
prosttutoo. These two maio themes, although are seemiog opposites, the creatoo of oew life
compared to the eod of life, both ioterliok aod clash throughout the play; this amplifes the
teosioo eveo more. Williams’ iotroductoo of both, from the very begiooiog, gives the audieoce
a glimpse ioto how New Orleaos is ao efectve backdrop aod works as a setog io buildiog
teosioo.
Teooessee Williams skilfully uses plastc theatre with the blues aod polka music to show
fuctuatoos io teosioo io each of the sceoes. Wheo Blaoche blames Stella for the loss Belle
Reve, ‘the music of the ‘blue piaoo’ grows louder, solemoly iotrudiog ioto the sceoe. The blue
piaoo is referred to io the stage directoos to allegedly meao ‘the spirit of life’; however, io
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