A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Arthur Miller, a prolific American playwright, found ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ to be inspirational and it threw ‘’open doors to another theatre world”. Although the play had good structure and was realistic, the writing elevated the play and gave it a new meaning.  The language flowed “from the soul” seeming to be from the actor himself as well as the plot being engaging and constantly moving forward. It changed commercial theatre by altering the ways other playwright’s constructed their pieces and inspiring many.  Streetcar is a “cry of pain; forgetting that is to forget the play.”

Southern Belle:

The word ‘Belle’ is derived from the French word beautiful.  It represents a young woman of the American Deep South's upper socioeconomic class. The image was developed in the South during the Antebellum period, it was mainly based on the young, unmarried woman in the upper class of Southern Society.  A Southern Belle is often characterized by wearing hoop skirts, a corset, pantalettes, a wide- brimshaw hat and gloves. They were expected to marry respectable young men and become ladies of society that were dedicated to their families and communities.

New Orleans:

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. It was established by French colonists and strongly influenced by their European culture and is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. New Orleans is also famous for its cuisine and music- it’s the birthplace of jazz.

Immigration to the USA in the 20^th C:

The peak year of European immigration was in 1907, when 1,285,349 persons entered the country^. By 1910, 13.5 million immigrants were living in the United States. In 1921, the Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, followed by the Immigration Act of 1924. The 1924 Act was aimed at further restricting immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, particularly Jews, Italians, and Slavs, who had begun to enter the country in large numbers beginning in the 1890s.

Tennessee William's other plays:


Tennessee William's became very famous after The Glass Menagerie in 1944 which closely reflected on his unhappy childhood. Other famous plays followed such as:

• A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)
• Summer and Smoke (1948)
• The Rose Tattoo (1951)
• Camino Real (1953)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)
• Orpheus Descending (1957)
• Suddenly, Last Summer (1958)
• Sweet Bird of Youth (1959)
• Period of Adjustment (1960)

Williams life:

Playwright Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi, the second of Cornelius and Edwina Williams' three children. Raised predominantly by his mother, Williams had a complicated relationship with his father, a demanding salesman who preferred work instead of parenting.Williams described his childhood in Mississippi as pleasant and happy. But life changed for him when his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. The carefree nature of his boyhood was stripped in his new urban home, and as a result Williams turned inward and started to write.

Blanche - quotes:

BLANCHE
Please don’t get up.
STANLEY
Nobody’s going to get up, so don’t be worried. (3.3.38-9) this shows Blanche's ideal of a Southern gentleman contrasting strongly with the New Orleans man.

BLANCHE
That one seems – superior to the others.
STELLA
Yes, he is.
BLANCHE
I thought he had a sort of sensitive look. (3.57-9) this shows Blanche looks for the sensitive qualities in a man whereas Stella is interested in the masculinity.

BLANCHE
…I let the place go? Where were you! In bed with your – Polack! (1.185) Blanche comes to rely heavily on this derogatory term. She uses her outdated idea of "class" in order to establish her superiority over Stanley.