Appreciation of Theatre- a Streetcar named desire

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A Streetcar Named Desire The Play “A Streetcar Named Desire” was the first play that I had read that was by Tennessee Williams. It portrayed a realistic picture of what life would be like during... that time in those conditions in New Orleans. There are two main characters that play a huge role in this play, Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski. Alongside these two characters is Stanley's friend Harold Mitchell and his wife/Blanche's sister, Stella Kowalski. Stanley Kowalski is portrayed to be one of the main characters of the play, and although passionate towards his wife, he proves himself to have a very big anger management issue. Although at the beginning he is thought to be down to earth, he is later proven to be downright crude and disturbing. Even though he is passionately in love with her sister Stella, Stanley shows a hatred toward Blanche from the beginning. He thinks that she is stuck up, and he becomes aware of some of the events in her past that make her even more despicable to him, and he becomes determined to expose these past decisions and flaws to anyone that has a positive view of Blanche's character. Blanche first comes into the picture as one that is slightly mysterious and one would get the idea that she's hiding something from the get-go. Blanche depends on sexual entertainment from men in order to keep her self esteem up. She is very self conscious about her age, and does all she can to keep people from knowing how old she really is. She also has sketchy past, which lead to the loss of the plantation, of which she keeps secret from anyone that might try to use it against her. However she's not aware of the fact that Stanley is well aware of some of this information. Because of this, the relationship between the two is very hostile, which proves in the end, to be the reason of her entry into the mental institution. This study source was downloaded by 100000823250788 from CourseHero.com on 05-03-2021 02:51:25 GMT -05:00 https://www.coursehero.com/file/8918606/Appreciation-of-Theatre-a-Streetcar-named-desire/ This study resource was shared via CourseHero.com “A Streetcar Named Desire,” is a play about the lives of Stanley and Stella Kowalski who live in New Orleans in the late 40s. They live in lower conditions, in an apartment that is right above their good friends. As the play begins, it shows Blanche (from Mississippi) showing up at the apartment dressed up in what seems to be higher class attire. When we finds out where her sister has been living with her husband she gives her a hard time about the living conditions. When Stanley first meets her he has a somewhat cold demeanor when he greets her, as if she does not really deserve his respect. After staying with her sister for a while, Blanche finally tells her what happened to the family's plantation. Stanley does not believe Stella when she tells him that the plantation was lost and thinks that Blanche is cheating them out of their money, which in turn angers Stella. As times goes on, Stanley is even more distant and hostile towards Blanche, causing her to only want to get even more of a reaction out of him with her words. When Blanche meets Mitch, she thinks that maybe she's gotten a second chance at falling in love with someone. However when Stanley exposes a portion of Blanche's past to him, Mitch no longer wants anything to do with her. In the end, Stanley snaps and sexually assaults Blanche, causing her to go over the edge. The play ends with Blanche being taken away by the psych-ward authorities, despite her sisters cries. My personal reaction when reading/watching this play changed throughout the course of the play itself. In the beginning I thought that the plot was interesting, but then by the end I wasn't sure how much I really enjoyed it. I thought that the character of Blanche was very realistic in a way such that she portrayed the way that many women are even nowadays. Her constant concern about the way that she is perceived by other people made me laugh because it wasn't because of how old she looked that she got her reputation, but they acts that she committed while she was teaching in Mississippi. I was not a fan of Stanley's character and the way that he dealt with situations. Although he was up front about the way that he felt sometimes, it's clear that he needs some help with his anger issues. Even though it seems like society still functions this way, it was sad to see the way that Mitch reacted to the news about Blanche's past, and the fact that she never got the chance to try to explain herself or prove This study source was downloaded by 100000823250788 from CourseHero.com on 05-03-2021 02:51:25 GMT -05:00 https://www.coursehero.com/file/8918606/Appreciation-of-Theatre-a-Streetcar-named-desire/ This study resource was shared via CourseHero.com that she had changed. Despite my personal reaction, I still feel like “A Streetcar Named Desire” was a pretty good play. It portrayed the lives of people that had a drastically different background compared to what is commonly seen in society today. [Show More]

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