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LitCharts offers comprehensive analysis and summary of Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire, with themes, quotes, characters, symbols, and more. Learn about the historical and literary context, the plot, the themes, and the characters of this classic drama.
- Plot Summary Plot
Get all the key plot points of Tennessee Williams's A...
- Summary & Analysis
Blanche DuBois comes around the corner, looking distinctly...
- Themes
The power of sexual desire is the engine propelling A...
- Quotes
Find the quotes you need in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar...
- Characters
A Streetcar Named Desire Character Analysis | LitCharts. A...
- Symbols
A Streetcar Named Desire Symbols | LitCharts. A Streetcar...
- Bathing
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- Shadows
Shadows represent the dream-world and the escape from the...
- Plot Summary Plot
Get all the key plot points of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire on one page. From the creators of SparkNotes.
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Many critics believe that Williams invented the idea of desire for the 20th century. The power of sexual desire is the engine propelling A Streetcar Named Desire: all of the characters are driven by that rattle-trap street-car in various ways.
Much of Blanches conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire. Her interactions with men always begin with flirtation. Blanche tells
In Scene One, Blanche takes a streetcar named Desire through Cemeteries to reach Elysian Fields, where Stella and Stanley live. Though the place names are real, the journey allegorically foreshadows Blanches mental descent throughout the play. Blanches desires have led her down paths of sexual promiscuity and alcoholism, and by coming to stay with ...
The audience of Streeetcar sees both the inside of the Kowalskis apartment as well as the street, which emphasizes the tense relationship between what is on the outside and what is on the inside throughout the play. The physical attention to inside versus outside also symbolically demonstrates the complicated relationship between what goes on in th...
Masculinity, particularly in Stanley, is linked to the idea of a brute, aggressive, animal force as well as carnal lust. His brute strength is emphasized frequently throughout, and he asserts dominance aggressively through loud actions and violence. Even his clothing is forceful: he dresses in bright, lurid colors. Stanleys masculinity is deeply co...
Blanche and Stella demonstrate two different types of femininity in the play, yet both find themselves dependent on men. Both Blanche and Stella define themselves in terms of the men in their lives, and they see relationships with men as the only avenue for happiness and fulfillment. Blanche is a fading Southern belle who clings to coquettish trapp...
Find plot summary, character analysis, and important quotes from Tennessee Williams' classic American play. Explore themes of sex, gender, and mortality in the post-World War II era.
street-car named Desire, and then to transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at––Elysian Fields!” Blanche is a fading Southern belle from Laurel, Mississippi.
Light. Throughout the play, Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in front of her suitor, Mitch. She also refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids light in order to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanche’s past.
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Learn about the plot, themes, and characters of Tennessee Williams's classic play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Explore the conflict between fantasy and reality, dependence and independence, gender and desire, and the old and new South in this literary analysis.
