A Streetcar Named Desire

SYNOPSIS

One of the most admired plays of its time, it concerns the mental and moral disintegration and ultimate ruin of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern Belle, at the hands of her brother in law, Stanley Kowalski.

In the wild city of New Orleans, Blanche DuBois comes to visit her younger sister Stella -- now Mrs. Stanley Kowalski. With her, hse brings memories of a marriage gone tragic and the drastic aftermath. Like the fabric of her fine white dress, Blanche (which means "washed out", "pale", "white") is a delicate article of roughly handled at the hands of her brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, a symbol of everything primitive, masculine and dominant. He stomps on Blanche's efforts to flatter and sway him with her lady-like manner and gentility. Stella tries to defend her older sister from him but cannot find it in her own self to leave him and run away from his masculine brutality and boyish needs -- not even at Blanche's whim, who considers him to be "common" and below them and everything the DuBois stand for. Amidst all of this, Blanche tries to rebuild her life in New Orleans where no one knows her and the checkered past she had back home in Belle Reve (which means "Beautiful Dream"). She starts a romance with Mitch, the closest person to a gentleman among Stanley's friends. She pitches to him her good manners as well as "old-fashioned ideals" making Mitch careful and ashamed of his advances.

Soon enough, Blanche's past catches up to her, incited by Stanley, who, in the end, shatters any piece of reality and hope hanging on her lily-white fingers.

[Synopsis] [Setting & Characters] [Poetic References]

[Essay Topics] [Test] [Study Questions] [Stella] [Mitch] [Stanley] [Blanche]

[Structure & Themes] [Notes] [Letters to Jessica Tandy]

From Streetcar:"Deliberate cruelty is unforgiveable. It is the most unforgiveable thing and one that . . ."

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