Streetcar Context:
● Streetcar wrote in 1945 - it greatly contrasted with the Broadway scene at the time, dominated
with musical comedies.
● Ideas on post war America - Stanley as a returning soldier and presentation of gender roles.
● Blanche/Stanley representative of the declining aristocracy of the South and the upcoming of
the proletariat.
● Stella/Stanley's dynamic - typical roles. Blanches promiscuity reflect the era.
● Allen Gray - reflective of Williams’ own struggles as a closeted gay man in the 20th century.
● Belle Reve = Beautiful dream
● Stagecraft such as costuming, set design and lighting link to plastic theatre - coined by Williams.
● Southern gothic genre
● Set in Elysian Fields, Resting place for the souls of the dead.
Williams:
● Cornelias bullied his wife and young children. Edwina was controlling and said they would be
punished by God. His father would shout at his sister and mother.
● In Rose's late teens she started to suffer with mental problems, violent mood swings, and
historical crying. Rose was admitted to a mental hospital and William’s was devastated - he
also feared he would go mad.
● He wrote a play called “The gentleman caller” about his manipulative mother and mentally
ill sister. His sister had a lobotomy and changed his sister and their relationship forever. MGM
rejected his play and so he left, went back to New York and renamed it “The Glass Menagerie”.
Streetcar Critics:
● “wounded genius”- Biographer Donald Spoto on Williams
● Anne Jackson, a friend, says that she thinks the critics “killed him” and “drove him right back
to drink and drugs”. His drinking and intake of drugs lead him to pain and paranoia.
● When Kim Hunter asked Tom what the theme of the play was he said “it's a plea for the
understanding of the delicate people” - Kim believes it was also a plea for the people to
understand him.
● Dakin William, his brother, said that Tom had two personalities - one like Stanley (male) and
one more female like Blanche and so he was able to live inside Blanche's mind.
● “I am Blanche Dubois” = Williams
● “Sanity is dependent on fitting in to the social rules expected of us” = Kirby
● “Blanche is a delicate and sensitive woman pushed into insanity by Stanley Kowalski” =
Clurman
● “Blanche is a tragic feature and Stanley is her agent of destruction” = Lart
● “Mitch has ended up imitating Stanley” = Bubb
Malfi Context:
● Written in 1614. Malfi’s stagecraft and lighting was written for indoor theatres
● Jacobean revenge tragedy.
● Play is set in 1504 Italy, in the court of the Duchess of Malfi. The corrupt society of Renaissance
Spain or Italy.
● Streetcar wrote in 1945 - it greatly contrasted with the Broadway scene at the time, dominated
with musical comedies.
● Ideas on post war America - Stanley as a returning soldier and presentation of gender roles.
● Blanche/Stanley representative of the declining aristocracy of the South and the upcoming of
the proletariat.
● Stella/Stanley's dynamic - typical roles. Blanches promiscuity reflect the era.
● Allen Gray - reflective of Williams’ own struggles as a closeted gay man in the 20th century.
● Belle Reve = Beautiful dream
● Stagecraft such as costuming, set design and lighting link to plastic theatre - coined by Williams.
● Southern gothic genre
● Set in Elysian Fields, Resting place for the souls of the dead.
Williams:
● Cornelias bullied his wife and young children. Edwina was controlling and said they would be
punished by God. His father would shout at his sister and mother.
● In Rose's late teens she started to suffer with mental problems, violent mood swings, and
historical crying. Rose was admitted to a mental hospital and William’s was devastated - he
also feared he would go mad.
● He wrote a play called “The gentleman caller” about his manipulative mother and mentally
ill sister. His sister had a lobotomy and changed his sister and their relationship forever. MGM
rejected his play and so he left, went back to New York and renamed it “The Glass Menagerie”.
Streetcar Critics:
● “wounded genius”- Biographer Donald Spoto on Williams
● Anne Jackson, a friend, says that she thinks the critics “killed him” and “drove him right back
to drink and drugs”. His drinking and intake of drugs lead him to pain and paranoia.
● When Kim Hunter asked Tom what the theme of the play was he said “it's a plea for the
understanding of the delicate people” - Kim believes it was also a plea for the people to
understand him.
● Dakin William, his brother, said that Tom had two personalities - one like Stanley (male) and
one more female like Blanche and so he was able to live inside Blanche's mind.
● “I am Blanche Dubois” = Williams
● “Sanity is dependent on fitting in to the social rules expected of us” = Kirby
● “Blanche is a delicate and sensitive woman pushed into insanity by Stanley Kowalski” =
Clurman
● “Blanche is a tragic feature and Stanley is her agent of destruction” = Lart
● “Mitch has ended up imitating Stanley” = Bubb
Malfi Context:
● Written in 1614. Malfi’s stagecraft and lighting was written for indoor theatres
● Jacobean revenge tragedy.
● Play is set in 1504 Italy, in the court of the Duchess of Malfi. The corrupt society of Renaissance
Spain or Italy.
