Streetcar Set

I chose to make my set design bare as I felt that the set is simply supporting of the characters, and not as important to the play as the dialogue. However, my set does have some important pieces in it. Firstly, the set contains no bed. I did this because we see little action taking place in the bedroom, and felt that by removing everything but the bed, I enabled the actors to have much more room to act, but also that it made the stage seem more sparse, something that I believe Williams would have liked to have shown about the Kowlaski household, to help emphasise the level of wealth that they felt.

The bathroom and the living room have quite a bit more furnishing, for two reasons. Firstly, these are the two rooms that have the most action in them, and by adding more furnishing that necessary to these rooms, I am able to give the impression that they are cramped, without restricting acting space. I did this through adding things like lights and making the table fairly large, so that it takes up the majority of the room.

My set design is based around having main focuses for the stage. The bathroom has the bath, the living room has the table, and the bedroom has the bed. These focuses give the audience a place to focus their attention, and by having these focuses we have a sparse but usable environment. These focuses also allows the actors to know where to stand, and mean that the action is easily concentrated in one area, which makes it easier on the audience, too.

Itallics In Streetcar

Tennessee Williams uses italics as a author would use imagery. He uses his italics to paint pictures for the reader of the play, in ways that most plays do not. Williams uses the italics to make sure that no small detail is left untouched by the reader's mind. He uses them to draw scenes through sound, scent and sight. He sets up mood and stage directions in ways that wouldn't be expected from a play script, but from a director.

First of all, Williams uses his italics to give us insight into the characters that, as a reader, we wouldn't get. Plays are mostly written to be watched, and through that logic, it is likely that we will never see physical attributes of characters, or how the playwright wanted them to be seen. This means that we lose some of the idea that the playwright had behind some of the characters. Williams makes it possible for us to see his every intention for what the characters looked like. This allows a reader, who hasn't seen the play, to understand what Williams intends to be seen on stage. This helps the reader to understand the play so much more, especially in a play that is as character driven as Streetcar.

Not only this, but Williams uses the italics to show what each character can smell, hear and see, something that makes the play more easily read, something which is integral to the way Williams presents the play. Not only does it help the play's readability, but it also helps a director to stage the play, how Williams would have wanted it to be. Again, this shows how much care Williams had towards his plays. He never directed a play, and therefore felt that by writing stage directions down in such detail, he was able to get across the message that he wanted to be seen by the audience, something which would have normally been difficult without directing the play himself.

Poker and Bathing

Poker in The Streetcar Named Desire is a symbol used in a variety of ways. Firstly, it shows Stanley as an alpha male. The first game of poker introduces us to the characters of Mitch, Stanley, Pedro and Steve. The poker games is shown as a time for the men to bond, and is the way that they are able to recreate the brotherhood that they had during the war.

An example of Stanley as an alpha male is first given when Stanley decides that they will be playing the poker game at Mitch's, without consulting with him first. When Mitch says this isn't possible, Stanley tries to stay in command by telling Mitch to bring beer.

At the end of the play, we see Steve say that the game is seven-card stud. This is significant because it is the very end of the play, and shows two things. Firstly, it shows that the men are unfazed by the happenings of the night.  The second effect of the line is that it pokes a little bit of fun at Stanley, in that it mentions a stud, which, when juxtaposed with what is happening between Stanley and Stella, shows Stanley's character to a tee.

As soon as Blanche arrives, Stella goes and washes her face, to help herself calm down. Bathing as a major motif is used when something deceptive is going on. Each scene where a lie is being told, or a deception being woven has bathing in it. 

Another thing that bathing does is show Blanche's vulnerabilities, in that when she is bathing, she opens up and sings to herself, which seems to free her from her issues. The same thing happens directly after bathing, where she is a lot less awkward around people afterwards, which shows that bathing is what makes Blanche feel free.

Poetry In Streetcar

Sonnets From The Portugese 43 is a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and details her undying love for her husband, Robert Browning. Through the sonnet, Browning mentions how she loves him, and lists a dozen different ways. She mentions that she loves him freely, and with undying passion. The love that she feels is un-inhibited by lies, and is honest. There is excessive repitition of the words, "I love thee", which helps to show the undying feelings that she feels towards her husband.

The poem lends itself to A Streetcar Named Desire in a couple of ways. First of all, Blanche. Blance had a fantastic love life, with a young man, who she married and loved to a massive degree. She thought he was sweet, handsome and caring, although slighlty effeminate. Up to this point, you can understand why Blanche thinks of Sonnet 43 as her favourite poem. It describes her love life perfectly. However, it takes a turn of the ironic once you see what she did to her husband. Upon finding out that her husband was a closet homosexual, she completely turned on her heel, and literally destroyed him emotionally. The irony of this is that the poem talks about unconditional love, where Blance does not have that trait.

Mitch, on the other hand, is a perfect mirror of who the poem is written for. He loves his dead girlfriend unconditionally. everything he does is either done for his mother, or his dead girlfriend. He still loves her, and carries a token from her, with a line from the poem engraved in it. This shows that Mitch is a pure character, who doesn't try to show his love, which makes him a genuine character. Blance, being an actress, is dramatic about this love, and uses it to make people like her, which shows the falseness of her character.

Gender Descriptive Words in A Streetcar Named Desire

In A Streetcar Named Desire, there is very gender-specific language used. These words typically describe the characters physical appearances, but also lend themselves to the character's personalities, too.

The two characters that I will discuss here are Blance and Stanley, who the story seems to revolve around.

Blanche is a old-South woman, who sees her self as very upper-class, and very respectable. She looks down on all around her, and thinks that she is better than everybody else. She is an outcast in the setting of New Orleans, and tries to fit into the society with little avail. She also seems to live in an idealized world. Below are 5 words that are used to describe her, and which highlight her character the best.

The first word that I chose describes her best is glamorous. Blance is shown throughout the play as an upper-class woman, who thinks of herself as living the high life. She is constantly changing clothes, as an actress would do, and she portrays herself as a diva would do.

The second word that I chose to describe Blance was liar. Throughout the play, Blanche tells blatant lies to people, to make other people think of her in a better light. This again lends itself to the idea that Blanche is an actress, and shows a public face, which is usually completely different to her real life. One example of these lies, and her manipulation of her sister, is on page 60, where she tells Mitch that she is a year younger than Stella, just to make her seem more important than Stella, and also to save face.

The third word that I would use to describe Blanche is lovely. Blanche has a beauty around her that makes her seem as if she is out-of-place in the rough town of New Orleans. This beauty adds to her character, and helps to show one reason that she lies so often, to protect herself from the harshness of New Orleans.

The fourth word that descibes Blanche best is delicate. Blanche is constantly needing to protect herself from everything, and is always feeling vulnerable in the harsh New Orleans. Her delicateness makes her appear in a way that makes the other characters pity her, something that she seems to thrive off.

The last word that I chose to describe Blanche is dainty. Again, Blanche has a sort of beauty around her that makes her seem fragile, and is what makes Stella and Mitch feel pity for her, and what makes them want to protect her from all the evils of the world. She uses this daintyness to get what she wants from Mitch, and to control everybody else she knows.

Stanley is completly different to Blanche. Not only is he a powerful, strong man, but he is dominating and violent. As a working class man, Stanley feels the need to control everything around him, and when Blanche tries to upset this, he begins to feel threatened.

The first word that I chose to describe Stanley is executioner. Blanche calls him this, while talking to Mitch, and that forshadows both what Stanley is capable of, and also how threatening of a person he is.

Secondly, I would use straightforward to describe Stanley. He doesn't mince his words. If he thinks something, he will say it, which helps to show that he is a powerful man, who doesn't care how his words affect people. This lends itself to the cruel side of Stanley's character, and the impulsiveness. 

Third, Stanley is described as a primtive. This again lends a theme of power in Stanley. When we hear the word primitive, we think of strong, short, hairy powerful neanderthal. This goes along perfectly with the large paragraph that we get at the beginning of the book to describe him.

Pride is another great descriptor for Stanley. Everything that he does is because of his pride. He feels threatened by the presence of Blanche, and feels that he will lose the power that he holds over Stella. He is very controlling, and takes great pride in being the "alpha" of the group.

Finally, I described Stanley as honest. As I said earlier, he doesn't mince his words. When Blanche asks him what he thinks of her, he tells her. He doesn't lie, he doesn't tell a half-truth, he just tells her the truth. And throughout the play we see this. The only time that he doesn't tell the truth is when Blanche is yelling about him.



Stanley: Executioner, straightforward, primitive, pride, honest