A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams

Advantages: see op
Disadvantages: see op

A Streetcar Named Desire : How does violence progress throughout the play and change the course of action? In what ways did Williams’ use of violence contribute to the controversy of the play? Williams’ work is often considered as “one of the most savage indictments of culture in our time”(i) and A Streetcar Named Desire is no exception. The play challenged the taboo issues of violence, homosexuality and promiscuity whilst the 1951 film adaptation ...
...bears to the play as a whole. This central topic of violence is initially revealed to the audience during Scene I with a subtle indication of Stanley and Stella’s physicality as he “heaves” a package of meat at her. This impersonal yet primal exchange between the two characters is a first vague image of their type of communication. Williams continues to involve violence in this slight form during the scene through Blanche’s recollections of the DuBois ... Read review

Advantages: lots to think about
Disadvantages: uncomfortable reading

..."A Streetcar named Desire" is a powerful tale of lust, poverty and decay. Being a fairly modern text (1940s) it is very readable and entirely relevant to a modern audience. Sadly for me, I've never seen the whole thing on the stage (I saw an extract once), but to read it is very impressive. The basic plot: Blanche DuBois, down on her luck is obliged to move in with her sister Stella and Stella's husband Stanley. Blanche is used to living the high ...
...is rude, demanding and flirtatious, a combination which gradually enrages Stanley. One of the difficulties with urnavelling the play is that so much of its vital content exists in subtext, and so much of that subtext depends on the unreliable statements made by Blanche. It would appear that Blanche's sexual forrays have caused a good deal of the trouble in her life, that she is unable to adapt to having limited financial means, that she is accustomed ... Read review

Advantages: exciting play
Disadvantages: poor acting can spoil the story line

...lyers thick, make essay writing a hard and time consuming task! But it has to be done! I watched this play the other day at theatre in Norwich and I have to say that watching the play ruined my image of what i thought the play would be like, i was much happier with my own imagination to be honest! But it was interesting to see how the director interpreted it. It has been said that Williams deliberately sets up a pattern on tension and conflicts ...
...by Tennessee Williams, Williams employs a number of devices to create tension and conflict, he then expertly combines all of these devices into the final scene. In this essay I am going to explore each point that he draws into the final scene, each point with significance towards the whole of the play. Scene 11 begins with Blanche, once again in the bath. Throughout the play there are a number of references to water and bathing. In scene 2, Blanche ... Read review

Advantages: moving stuff
Disadvantages: i was forced to study it

...with sister's hubbie..this lady is a tramp!) and trying to hide it with lampshades, too much foundation and only socialising in dingy places (sound familiar Ann Robinson?). Having lost the grand family house in the country she runs to Stella, her common as muck but happy as a pig in mud sister. Stella is married to brash, rough and ready Stan, played by the hunky Marlon Brando in the film version, just in case you are interested (is it ok for me ...
...myself off). Anyhoo, Blanche is a general pain in the ass and a little teeny weeny bit coo coos. Sorry, I should probably explain that...my 14 year old spawn of satan brother uses coo coos to mean crazy. If you don't believe me about his evil ways, let me know and I will be more than happy to fill you in on his chicken dancing, cat painting, bedroom burning ways. Anyway, I'm getting off subject now! So, Blanche is basically broke. She tells Stella ... Read review

Advantages: gripping
Disadvantages: none

What a wonderful and gripping play! I first watched it in the Bristol Old VIc, and it was definately one of the best plays I have ever seen. Literally I was stuck to the seat, amazed by William's great genius. If you haven't yet read/watched it, I advice you to do so without delay. A Streetcar Named Desire is a subversive, steamy classic. Tennessee Williams' 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play tells the feverish story of the pathetic mental and emotional ...
...lady born to a once-wealthy family of Mississippi planters. Her impoverished downfall in the squalid French Quarter apartment of her married sister and animalistic brother-in-law is at the hands of savage, brutal forces in modern society. In her search for refuge, she finds that her sister lives (approvingly) with drunkenness, violence, lust, and ignorance. Like all other plays, simply reading it would only gain a partial understanding, as dramatc ... Read review