THEMES:
Illusion vs Reality {light, Blanche vs Stanley, Blanche dichotomy}
Desire vs Death {Blanche, streetcar and setting, Stella and Stanley’s
relationship}
Old America vs New America {Blanche versus Stanley, Stella’s choices, power}
Ideas:
1. Desire propagates a façade, leads to destruction [Deception of
the truth]
“a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called cemeteries… and
get off at – Elysian Fields”
“And if God choose, I shall love thee better – after – death” – allusion to poet
Elizabeth Browning
“tell [Blanche] she’s looking wonderful… that’s… her little weakness”
“trunk” – Pandora’s box, “love-letters” – reveal past intimacies { Blanche
means white alluding to purity, innocence, virginity}
“red satin robe” – luxury, seductive, sexual
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb” – illusion of herself
“I want to deceive him enough to make him want me”, “my Rosenkavalier” –
heroic knight saving her
“white satin evening gown… silver slippers… rhinestone tiara”
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” – naivety
Blanche tragic hero – flaw is perfection and desire
2. Blanche’s progression of insanity throughout the play
Blanche as a moth: “her white clothes suggest a moth” {stays in darkness,
cannot escape}
Concealment of alcohol {desire to escape and hide reality} “hiding the bottle in
a closet”
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb” – illusion of herself
“polka music”, “blue piano”, “varsouvianna”
“soaking in a hot tub” {cleanse past/ desire for youth}
“you’ve got to be soft and attractive… and I – I’m fading” – feels evanescent in
New America
Stain on “[Blanche’s] pretty white skirt” represents inescapability of past
“I don’t want realism… I tell what ought to be the truth”
“you’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”
“slams the mirror face with such violence that the glass cracks” – life
framgmented and shattered, sees through her own illusion
Illusion vs Reality {light, Blanche vs Stanley, Blanche dichotomy}
Desire vs Death {Blanche, streetcar and setting, Stella and Stanley’s
relationship}
Old America vs New America {Blanche versus Stanley, Stella’s choices, power}
Ideas:
1. Desire propagates a façade, leads to destruction [Deception of
the truth]
“a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called cemeteries… and
get off at – Elysian Fields”
“And if God choose, I shall love thee better – after – death” – allusion to poet
Elizabeth Browning
“tell [Blanche] she’s looking wonderful… that’s… her little weakness”
“trunk” – Pandora’s box, “love-letters” – reveal past intimacies { Blanche
means white alluding to purity, innocence, virginity}
“red satin robe” – luxury, seductive, sexual
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb” – illusion of herself
“I want to deceive him enough to make him want me”, “my Rosenkavalier” –
heroic knight saving her
“white satin evening gown… silver slippers… rhinestone tiara”
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” – naivety
Blanche tragic hero – flaw is perfection and desire
2. Blanche’s progression of insanity throughout the play
Blanche as a moth: “her white clothes suggest a moth” {stays in darkness,
cannot escape}
Concealment of alcohol {desire to escape and hide reality} “hiding the bottle in
a closet”
“I can’t stand a naked light bulb” – illusion of herself
“polka music”, “blue piano”, “varsouvianna”
“soaking in a hot tub” {cleanse past/ desire for youth}
“you’ve got to be soft and attractive… and I – I’m fading” – feels evanescent in
New America
Stain on “[Blanche’s] pretty white skirt” represents inescapability of past
“I don’t want realism… I tell what ought to be the truth”
“you’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”
“slams the mirror face with such violence that the glass cracks” – life
framgmented and shattered, sees through her own illusion
