A Streetcar Named Desire

{ } A Streetcar Named Desire LECTURE 3

{Introduction to men} • [Two men come round the comer, Stanley Kowalski and Mitch. They are about twenty-eight or thirty years old, roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes. Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher's.] Construction of Identity, Gender

{Stanley Kowalski} Age: 25 Origin: Polish Descent Marital Status: Married Occupation: Factory Worker Hobbies: Bowling, Poker, Drinking

{Introduction to Stanley} Stanley [bellowing]: Hey, there! Stella, Baby!

{Introduction to Stanley} More laughter and shouts of parting come from the men. Stanley throwsthe screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He saw women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.

{Stella Kowalski} Symbolic Meaning: Star Age: 25 Hometown: Laurel, Mississippi Marital Status: Married Occupation: Housewife

{Introduction to Stella} • Stars - the light which breaks through the darkness. • Light - opposite of darkness, symbol for high ideals or goals set too high • Stella represents Blanche’s ideal concerning the fact that she is leading a contented life. • Stella’s position in play: light, hope and stability. • Stabilising element of the play - negotiator between the two so very different characters. • Ironic – stability is not sustained and does nothing but witness her sister’s tragic end

{Introduction to Stella} [Stella comes out on the first-floor landing, a gentle young woman, about twenty-five, and of a background obviously quite different from her husband's.] Stella [mildly]: Don't holler at me like that. Hi, Mitch.

{Introduction to Stella} • Contrasts have been set up within the first five minutes of the play. • Contrast will be extended throughout the play – character, gentility, colours, etc • Stella subtly attempts to assert herself – this assertion appears to intensify with the arrival of Blanche, much to the annoyance of Stanley. • Blanche is a threat to Stanley’s overt masculinity

{Introduction to S+S} [He heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but manages to catch it: then she laughs breathlessly. Her husband and his companion have already started back around the corner.]

{Introduction to S+S} • What is significant about the dramatic action here? • Heaving – suggests some sort of aggression, weight • Traditional gender roles constructed here • Hunter/Gatherer; Provider/Nurturer dichotomy set up

{Introduction to S+S} Stella [calling after him}: Stanley! Where are you going? Stanley: Bowling! Stella: Can I come watch? Stanley: Come on. [He goes out.] (p4) --- Eunice: Well, that’s where she’s at, watchin’ her husband bowl. (p5)

{Introduction to S+S} • Games – construction of gendered spaces. • Stella is not invited and plays the role of the observer. • Similar to the poker games, bowling is also a sport that the women are excluded from.

{Stanley+Stella} • Gender dynamics in post-war America presented in play • Power dynamics in marital relationships • Stanley’s position threatened

{Blanche DuBois} Age: 30 Hometown: Laurel, Mississippi Marital Status: Widow (married at 16) Occupation: English School Teacher Traits: Averse to light Past: Shady

{Blanche DuBois} • Blanche – White/Fair • DuBois – French origin, made of wood • Blanche’s entire name is heavily symbolic - it reflects her true nature in a very clear way. • Blanche’s character is revealed in the same way in order of her first and last name. • Appearance/Reality: Even though she initially appears to be innocent and pure, her past and true nature reveals itself as the play progresses.

{Blanche DuBois} • Scene 1: development of Blanche’s character • Blanche: • Aware of social distinctions [note interaction with Eunice and neighbour’s acts] • Vanity, need of flattery • Pathos: fear of ageing, vulnerability

{Blanche DuBois} Awareness of social distinctions: • Monosyllybalic responses to Eunice and the Negro woman Blanche [wanting to get rid of her] Awareness of Stella’s apparent social regression: Eunice [defensively, noticing Blanche’s look]: It’s sort of messed up right now but when it’s clean it’s real sweet. Blanche: Is it?

{Blanche DuBois} “There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth” • Moth: • creature of the night, • averse to light, • lacks colours • symbolic of her living in the dark, living in ignorance and denial

{Blanche DuBois} Blanche [with faintly hysterical humour]: They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!

{Blanche DuBois} • Has a tendency for hysterics and histrionic outbursts that has to be moderated by Stella • Given her literary background, her sense of humour may indicate an awareness of the irony in her own literal journey

{Contrast in Setting} LAURELBelle Reve NEW ORLEANSFrench Quarter Industrialised and urban A shabby part of the neighbourhood situated near railway tracks – evidence of rapid industrialisation and expansion of cities A conglomeration of cultures and migrants • Laurel is a real town in southeastern Mississippi • Had a genteel, aristocratic Old South culture that was fast disappearing in the face of industrialisation

{Contrast in Setting} LAURELBelle Reve NEW ORLEANSFrench Quarter

{Displacement} • Blanche’s displacement from Laurel to New Orleans makes her an outsider in Stanley’s and Stella’s world • Blanche: symbol of the plantation era which must inevitable bow to industrialization and newly confident “ethnic” adversaries – embodied in the Polish Kowalski • Additionally, Williams exposes a patriarchal society in which women ceased to be valued once they lost their physical attractiveness or failed to conform to social and generally sexist mores

{Elysian Fields} • Irony: • Literally means the Greek paradise • But here, it is no ethereal heaven, but a noisy, active place filled with vital, lusty, ‘macho’ life

{Streetcars Significance} Blanche [with faintly hysterical humour]: They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields! Blanche: What you are talking about is brutal desire—just—Desire! The name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another… Stella: Haven’t you ever ridden on that street-car? Blanche: It brought me here. (4.104-106)

{Streetcars}

{Streetcars Significance} There is an actual streetcar named “Desire” that Blanche takes on her way to the Kowalskis’. • Blanche is literally brought to the Kowalski place by “Desire,” but she is also brought there by desire • Desire > Cemeteries > Elysian Fields. • Sex, death, the afterlife? • A linear progression? Desire leading to destruction?

{Stanley + Blanche} Scene 1: • Two individuals from different societies and cultures who are set in sharp contrast • Blanche: a refined woman from an southern aristocratic background, • Stanley: a down-to-earth working man with crude manners, animal-like qualities • Inability to empathise with each other set from the start

{Stanley + Blanche} Scene 1: • Blanche: represents the dying aristocratic culture, an upper class that threatens Stanley’s role as patriarchal head • Stanley: embodies a crude, lower class which threatens her class superiority • Essentially, in conflict with each other on almost every level • Yet, there is a certain baser, animal attraction between each other • Predator/Prey model would work, but is also complex

{Scene 1} • Scene introduces two of the prominent themes of the play, sex and death. • Stella and Stanley – basis of love is sexual passion. • Stanley - “male chauvinist” ? BUT they are happy in their own way, bound together by physical love. • Blanche’s longest speech in this scene – death; note of morbidity continues throughout the play; excessive use of imagery of death in her speech

{Scene 1} • Important symbolic and visual elements in the opening scenes • Stanley – undressing: signifying his elemental, animal-like strength and virility • Blanche - bathing: a symbol of her attempts to wash away her past and project image of being beautiful and refined [in scene 2] • Appearance/Reality; Illusion/Truth NOTE: However, she is associated with the sound of cats, undermining her attempts to present herself in this way

{Stanley+ Blanche} Stanley Blanche New Industrial Age Dark (but realistic) Masculine Solid • Aristocratic Old South • White, Light, Purity • Airy • Feminine

{Stella + Blanche} • Blanche resents Stella: • “In bed with a Polack” • A double insult: • Insinuates Stella’s sexual appetite • Disdain for a Southern aristocrat for a vulgar immigrant • Stella’s defence of Stanley: • “That’s enough!” • She passively listens to Blanche’s attack but jumps to Stanley’s defence

{SCENE 1 dramatic function} Opening Scene • Sets tone, mood and atmosphere • Contextualises play through setting • Introduces main protagonist and antagonist • Constructs contrasts and conflicts • Primes the audience by introducing key concerns and issues ..all of which contribute to the audience’s understanding of the rest of the play

{SCENE 1 dramatic function} Blanche: “Well, I never had your beautiful self-control.” • Scene 1: Sets up contrasts between all three characters • Blanche: self-confesses that she lacks some form of control and discipline over herself • Truth? Or her guilt at her inability in being able enough to manage family property

{ } • Revelations: • Loss of Belle Reve • Stella’s pregnancy • Stanley’s antagonism towards Blanche increases • Laying ground for the motive behind Blanche’s tragic end Scene 2

{ } • Structure: 2 parts • 1. Stella and Stanley • 2. Blanche and Stanley • Foundation for later conflicts is set • New motif: Bathing • Extended in the course of the play • Repetitive and intrusive • Symbolic of Blanche’s attempt to purify herself from guilt and her sexual history Scene 2

{ } • Further construction of a patriarchal society • Napoleanic Code • Class antagonism • Central conflict: • Blanche’s unrealistic view of the world and Stanley’s realistic one Scene 2

{Scene 2 - Setting} It is six o’clock the following evening. BLANCHE is bathing. STELLA is completing her toilette. BLANCHE’S dress, a flowered print, is laid out on STELLA’s bed.” CONTRAST [STANLEY enters the kitchen from outside, leaving the door open on the perpetual ‘blue piano’ around the corner.] Note: Use of spaces and props important in understanding themes and concerns.

{Scene 2 - Blanche} Stella: And admire her dress and tell her she’s looking wonderful. That’s important with Blanche. Her little weakness! QN: What is Blanche’s weakness/flaw? • Obsessive nature • Preoccupation with her youth and her appearance

A Streetcar Named Desire