A Streetcar Named
Desire:
WORKBOOK
AS/A English Literature
MEDIUM: these can be referred to easily throughout your essay
SPICY: these require some explanation in the essay
HOT: these refer to specific events in the text and will require in
depth analysis in your answer
The most successful answers will provide an exploration of Williams’
dramatic methods; this may include an evaluative approach to each device,
saying whether you feel it is successful.
1
, Key facts about the A Streetcar Named
Desire exam .
You have 1 hour (standard time) to write one essay on the play.
You should write an introduction, 2 or 3 arguments, and a conclusion.
You should use context to help drive your argument – try embedding context into your
topic sentences. Use dramatic terminology where you can. It is important that you show
awareness that this text is a play and would be performed to an audience, as well as being
read – as there is evidence it is a closet drama.
Spend 5-10 mins planning and 50-55 mins writing.
You are assessed on:
A01 argument – textual references, academic style, coherent argument, using terminology specific to the
form (drama)
A02 analysis – analysing the techniques used by the writer and their effects
A03 context – historical, cultural, biographical and genre contexts in which the play was written, and how
different audiences/productions may interpret the play over time
AO5 critics – Please note, this is for YEAR 1/AS only. You don’t need to write about critics in your exam if you
are a Year 2 student (but you can if you would like!).
This booklet contains:
Key questions to direct analysis of drama
A terminology table specific to the play (page 6)
Self-study review
Eight self-directed revision sessions
Extra revision activities
A model essay you can read for some inspiration
A list of past paper questions you can use to practice planning essays and writing them in timed conditions
Please note revision sessions do take a long time. You cannot cut corners with revision. Try dividing each
section into smaller chunks and completing a bit at a time with regular breaks.
Please also use your resources on context and dramatic devices to aid your revision. You can find these on
MicrosoftTeams.
WARNING
Please remember, you will not do well if you simply conduct single word analysis e.g. picking out textual references
and saying, “this word suggests X” and “this word suggests Y”. Your analysis needs to reflect the whole play, so you
need to be analysing broader A02 features such as structure, voice, style, form etc. If you are closely analysing
imagery you must look for patterns of imagery (multiple examples). This illustrates that this type of imagery is a
technique used by the writer for a particular effect.
2
, Some questions to help you study and
understand Drama .
CHARACTER:
1. What is each character like? Background? Social or Cultural class? Experiences? Thoughts?
Any prejudices or biases? Emotions? Psychology? What supporting evidence can you find in the
text that supports your opinion or your answer to each question?
2. What does the character look like? Is there any specific evidence in the text that helps
establish the character's appearance and physical behaviour? If not, why do you imagine the
character in the way that you do? What sort of clothes does the character wear? Explain why
you chose that particular sort of attire, including even things like color and style. Remember
that plays from the historical past can always be staged in "modern" ways, with modern or
contemporary settings and costuming. Why might a director choose to use a setting and a
"look" that is different from that of the original play? How do different sorts of costumes (and
costuming choices) affect the ways in which audiences "see" and react to the play?
3. What sort of gestures do you imagine that the character uses? Gestures -- and even physical
postures and movements -- are often just as revealing of character as words (dialogue) are, and
they often signal to the audience how the character's words are to be understood. Sometimes
gestures are suggested in the stage directions, but most often they are not. So how does an
actor (or a director) decide what gestures to use?
4. Is the character sympathetic? Unsympathetic? Some combination of the two? Please
explain your answer. Does the character see herself or himself the way that other characters
do? If not, why not?
5. Have you known someone like the character? How does this personal experience of your
own affect the way in which you respond to the character? How about to the play as a whole?
6. Are the characters in the play generally "true" to life, and to people you have known, and to
what you believe is "real life"? If they do not seem to be "true to life," why is that?
7. Has the author presented all the characters in more or less the same way? That is, are
they all realistic? all symbolic? all "round" (developed)? all "flat" (undeveloped)? Is each
character presented in the same way throughout the play? If not, what are the differences and
how can you account for them?
SETTING:
1. What is the stage setting? Has the author indicated what the stage is supposed to look like?
If so, how would you imagine carrying out the author's wishes if you were responsible for
staging the play? If the author has not specified all the physical details of the setting, how do
you imagine that setting? If you were producing this play, would you want a realistic setting
3
, (and perhaps a lot of props and "period" costumes), or a relatively bare stage and relatively
few "extras"? How does the setting affect the way the audience responds to the play? Can the
setting actually become part of the play's meaning for the audience?
2. At what period of time and in what place is the play set? What is the effect of setting a play
in the immediate present? in the past? in the future? Most authors tend to choose a historical
setting (that is, a setting that identifies a particular time and place) in order to say something
about their own times. If this seems to be the case with the play you are reading, what does
the historical setting tell us about what the author wants to say about her or his own time?
3. Is the stage setting realistic or symbolic? If symbolic, what does it symbolize? And how do
you know?
STRUCTURE:
1. Work out the dramatic structure of the play, including the overall diagram of exposition,
rising action, climax, and falling action. Is the play composed of a number of small actions
leading up to one big one? Does it consist only of several "big" actions? Is there some other
kind of dramatic structure? Is the structure directly related to what is happening to the
protagonist? What does the structure of the play suggest about the way the playwright views
the world?
2. Is there a major confrontation in the play? If so, what sort of confrontation is it? Who or
what is involved? Does the confrontation lead to any recognition or change in awareness on
the protagonist's part, either about herself/himself or about the world she/he inhabits?
3. Is the action of the play "realistic"? That is, does the play portray something one might have
a fair chance of encountering in "real life"? If so, explain how the action(s) reflect the major
intellectual concerns of the play. If not, discuss the effect upon the audience of the play's
deliberately unrealistic performance values.
4. What do a character's actions reveal about her or his personality? background? class?
assumptions and expectations?
LANGUAGE:
1. Does the dialogue strike you as realistic? Like something you have heard or might hear, even
if the language is "old" because the play comes from a much earlier period?
2. Are there any words, phrases, or images that appear repeatedly? If so, what are they? Why
are they repeated? Do they seem to reflect some central concern or preoccupation, some
major theme, or some pervasive mood within the play?
3. Try to explain why each character speaks as she or he does. What was the playwright trying
to accomplish by giving each character that particular dialogue and speech pattern?
4
Desire:
WORKBOOK
AS/A English Literature
MEDIUM: these can be referred to easily throughout your essay
SPICY: these require some explanation in the essay
HOT: these refer to specific events in the text and will require in
depth analysis in your answer
The most successful answers will provide an exploration of Williams’
dramatic methods; this may include an evaluative approach to each device,
saying whether you feel it is successful.
1
, Key facts about the A Streetcar Named
Desire exam .
You have 1 hour (standard time) to write one essay on the play.
You should write an introduction, 2 or 3 arguments, and a conclusion.
You should use context to help drive your argument – try embedding context into your
topic sentences. Use dramatic terminology where you can. It is important that you show
awareness that this text is a play and would be performed to an audience, as well as being
read – as there is evidence it is a closet drama.
Spend 5-10 mins planning and 50-55 mins writing.
You are assessed on:
A01 argument – textual references, academic style, coherent argument, using terminology specific to the
form (drama)
A02 analysis – analysing the techniques used by the writer and their effects
A03 context – historical, cultural, biographical and genre contexts in which the play was written, and how
different audiences/productions may interpret the play over time
AO5 critics – Please note, this is for YEAR 1/AS only. You don’t need to write about critics in your exam if you
are a Year 2 student (but you can if you would like!).
This booklet contains:
Key questions to direct analysis of drama
A terminology table specific to the play (page 6)
Self-study review
Eight self-directed revision sessions
Extra revision activities
A model essay you can read for some inspiration
A list of past paper questions you can use to practice planning essays and writing them in timed conditions
Please note revision sessions do take a long time. You cannot cut corners with revision. Try dividing each
section into smaller chunks and completing a bit at a time with regular breaks.
Please also use your resources on context and dramatic devices to aid your revision. You can find these on
MicrosoftTeams.
WARNING
Please remember, you will not do well if you simply conduct single word analysis e.g. picking out textual references
and saying, “this word suggests X” and “this word suggests Y”. Your analysis needs to reflect the whole play, so you
need to be analysing broader A02 features such as structure, voice, style, form etc. If you are closely analysing
imagery you must look for patterns of imagery (multiple examples). This illustrates that this type of imagery is a
technique used by the writer for a particular effect.
2
, Some questions to help you study and
understand Drama .
CHARACTER:
1. What is each character like? Background? Social or Cultural class? Experiences? Thoughts?
Any prejudices or biases? Emotions? Psychology? What supporting evidence can you find in the
text that supports your opinion or your answer to each question?
2. What does the character look like? Is there any specific evidence in the text that helps
establish the character's appearance and physical behaviour? If not, why do you imagine the
character in the way that you do? What sort of clothes does the character wear? Explain why
you chose that particular sort of attire, including even things like color and style. Remember
that plays from the historical past can always be staged in "modern" ways, with modern or
contemporary settings and costuming. Why might a director choose to use a setting and a
"look" that is different from that of the original play? How do different sorts of costumes (and
costuming choices) affect the ways in which audiences "see" and react to the play?
3. What sort of gestures do you imagine that the character uses? Gestures -- and even physical
postures and movements -- are often just as revealing of character as words (dialogue) are, and
they often signal to the audience how the character's words are to be understood. Sometimes
gestures are suggested in the stage directions, but most often they are not. So how does an
actor (or a director) decide what gestures to use?
4. Is the character sympathetic? Unsympathetic? Some combination of the two? Please
explain your answer. Does the character see herself or himself the way that other characters
do? If not, why not?
5. Have you known someone like the character? How does this personal experience of your
own affect the way in which you respond to the character? How about to the play as a whole?
6. Are the characters in the play generally "true" to life, and to people you have known, and to
what you believe is "real life"? If they do not seem to be "true to life," why is that?
7. Has the author presented all the characters in more or less the same way? That is, are
they all realistic? all symbolic? all "round" (developed)? all "flat" (undeveloped)? Is each
character presented in the same way throughout the play? If not, what are the differences and
how can you account for them?
SETTING:
1. What is the stage setting? Has the author indicated what the stage is supposed to look like?
If so, how would you imagine carrying out the author's wishes if you were responsible for
staging the play? If the author has not specified all the physical details of the setting, how do
you imagine that setting? If you were producing this play, would you want a realistic setting
3
, (and perhaps a lot of props and "period" costumes), or a relatively bare stage and relatively
few "extras"? How does the setting affect the way the audience responds to the play? Can the
setting actually become part of the play's meaning for the audience?
2. At what period of time and in what place is the play set? What is the effect of setting a play
in the immediate present? in the past? in the future? Most authors tend to choose a historical
setting (that is, a setting that identifies a particular time and place) in order to say something
about their own times. If this seems to be the case with the play you are reading, what does
the historical setting tell us about what the author wants to say about her or his own time?
3. Is the stage setting realistic or symbolic? If symbolic, what does it symbolize? And how do
you know?
STRUCTURE:
1. Work out the dramatic structure of the play, including the overall diagram of exposition,
rising action, climax, and falling action. Is the play composed of a number of small actions
leading up to one big one? Does it consist only of several "big" actions? Is there some other
kind of dramatic structure? Is the structure directly related to what is happening to the
protagonist? What does the structure of the play suggest about the way the playwright views
the world?
2. Is there a major confrontation in the play? If so, what sort of confrontation is it? Who or
what is involved? Does the confrontation lead to any recognition or change in awareness on
the protagonist's part, either about herself/himself or about the world she/he inhabits?
3. Is the action of the play "realistic"? That is, does the play portray something one might have
a fair chance of encountering in "real life"? If so, explain how the action(s) reflect the major
intellectual concerns of the play. If not, discuss the effect upon the audience of the play's
deliberately unrealistic performance values.
4. What do a character's actions reveal about her or his personality? background? class?
assumptions and expectations?
LANGUAGE:
1. Does the dialogue strike you as realistic? Like something you have heard or might hear, even
if the language is "old" because the play comes from a much earlier period?
2. Are there any words, phrases, or images that appear repeatedly? If so, what are they? Why
are they repeated? Do they seem to reflect some central concern or preoccupation, some
major theme, or some pervasive mood within the play?
3. Try to explain why each character speaks as she or he does. What was the playwright trying
to accomplish by giving each character that particular dialogue and speech pattern?
4
