A Streetcar Named Desire

Stepping off a streetcar run by the Desire line in New Orleans, the flighty Southern belle Blanche DuBois steps into the lives of her sister Stella and her primally masculine, roughneck husband Stanley, who live in a small, two-room apartment in an unpromising district of the city. What follows is a series of entertaining sparks from Tennessee Williams' carefully-crafted tinderbox.

There might not be any deeper theme to Williams' play, beyond the idea that people "needn't [be] cruel to someone alone" (pg. 81) – an irony brought home by the play's famous line, delivered by Blanche, that she has "always depended on the kindness of strangers" (pg. 107). Said by Blanche at a moment in the play when she has been treated cruelly – and show more needlessly so – it throws into tragically harsh light the idea that, with such a worldview, Blanche was always destined to be crushed by cold reality. Her old-fashioned idea of how people should interact (even if she doesn't follow it herself) comes up against the brute reality-check of Stanley Kowalski. And it's not that Stanley is particularly villainous. Blanche was always eventually going to cross paths with someone who would provide this reality-check.

There are things to discuss then, but less in theme and more in how the characters interact. I didn't find Blanche as sympathetic as many others appear to, and I thought the real victim of the story was Stella, caught between her overpowering and high-maintenance sister Blanche on one hand and her abusive husband Stanley on the other. I would have liked the play to focus more on the compromises Stella makes than the traps that Blanche wilfully falls into. The question of why women like Stella stay with men like Stanley is an interesting one, but one that the play does not take the opportunity to address – and one which hasn't, as far as I am aware, really been addressed in commentary on the play. Stanley has become rooted in popular culture as a smouldering and desirable bad boy, epitomised in his famous portrayal by Marlon Brando, and while this might be great for the play's popularity it distracts from the real implications of Stanley. Mostly, the orthodox ruling on the play has been that Stanley is a predatory male, a brute and a villain, and that Blanche and Stella are innocent birds caught in his trap – while simultaneously granting us licence to swoon over him when shirtless (a hypocrisy also found in modern depictions of Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice). Such an orthodoxy denies the two women characters the agency they display on every page – it is a Blanche-like fiction obscuring the cold realism the man provides.

This, however, is a fault in how we have absorbed the play into our popular culture, not with Williams' play itself. Williams himself provides us with the nuance in how his characters interact, and it is up to us to choose how to interpret that. If a deeper theme isn't penetrated, Williams nevertheless provides greater scope and grandeur by staging his scenes evocatively, and in how naturally his dialogue comes across. My ultimate impression of A Streetcar Named Desire was as something of a high-class soap opera; too well-made to be dismissed as frivolous, and with a few trappings that make it appear grand, but not deep enough to provide a lasting fascination either. show less

When I was reading the 9nth scene I wanted to rate this play with 5 stars. When I finished it I wanted to give it 1 star.
I hate it.
But it's awesome.

I have strong objections with the last 2 scenes. I don't think they should exist. They're not necessary. The point of the play has already been made and the emotional impact on the reader/viewer is already immense. It's understandable why Williams wanted to go to the extreme but I found it pointless. I felt like he was trying to rip my soul to shreds, and it did the exact opposite.

In all, it's a great play, from one of the masters of the stage, and the value of A Streetcar of Desire is timeless. Regardless of my own objections, it's a play that must be read by everyone who enjoys not only show more theater, but great classic literature as well. show less

A formerly-rich Southern Belle spends a few weeks with her sister and her working-class husband. No-one can know she’s really poor and desperate, but her brother-in-law feels punched in the working class by her very presence and sets out to diminish her. Tensions simmer and are expressed through spite, violence and power games.

I liked this one a lot better than Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which I read earlier this month. At least the characters in this one seem human, can be empathized with, show some characterization. And not just a little: they’re fully fleshed out and do not really feel like made-up people in made-up circumstances. I enjoyed not enjoying spending time with them.

Very well done!

Must reading for the #MeToo generation. This play is rough; it makes The Yellow Wallpaper seem like a quaint weekend vacation. Tennessee Williams really nails the subjugation of women in a male-dominated culture, and how those women who attempt to stand-up against it or define their own roles are mercilessly destroyed. For those who think that the feminism movement is just about equal pay and workplace harassment, this play should be an eye-opener.

this is well written and interesting, with a story that keeps you moving forward and a lot of layers to peel away. i've never read a play before that was sectioned only by scenes and not acts, so that was new for me, and i kind of liked it.

the themes that i found most interesting were fantasy/illusion vs reality and mental illness (and its relation to fantasy/illusion vs reality). it's also interesting to me that williams pits the two main characters against each other, neither of whom are likable, which (sort of) causes a reader to choose a side when neither side is a natural choice. (for me, blanche is a much more sympathetic character than stanley, as she is ruining herself and has experienced a great deal of suffering, whereas he is show more sometimes violent and predatory to others, and often rude and sexist. but that doesn't make blanche a character that many people would probably like. as i type that i realize that blanche, though, is also responsible to some degree for her young husband's suicide as well as what today would be sexual assault of her student, although probably wasn't as "serious" a situation in 1947.)

it's hard for me to believe that i'd never read this and had no knowledge of the story at all. i didn't expect that there would be a gay theme and i'm a little disappointed in his handling of sex (and maybe an underlying statement about being true to yourself?) but overall found this a quick but layered read and i'm glad i finally got to it. show less

"A Streetcar Named Desire" is a captivating play by Tennessee Williams, exploring themes of desire, identity, illusion, and the clash between old Southern values and the emerging modern world. It’s a masterful weave that portrays the complexities of human relationships and the struggle for power and dominance. One of the most intriguing aspects of the play is the character of Blanche DuBois. Her descent into madness and her desperate attempts to cling to her illusions make her a tragic figure, evoking both sympathy and disdain from the audience. Contrast this with Stanley, who embodies raw masculinity and represents the changing social landscape of post-war America. His aggression and dominance over Blanche symbolize the decline of show more the old Southern aristocracy and the rise of a new, more ruthless order. Moreover, it continues to resonate with audiences today. Its exploration of universal themes and complex characters makes it one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. show less

Williamstown Theatre version. Strong play with strong performances that was a hard listen due to the content. Like the grimiest COPS episode where a gaggle of alcoholics and wife beaters take turns telling lies, cheating, abusing and raping each other. The play gets very theatrical and so do the characters, but the realism of the lives spiralling the drain shine through clear enough. In terms of emotional impact one of the best plays I've listened to.