Tennessee Williams was an American playwright known for works like A Streetcar Named Desire. The play focuses on Blanche DuBois, who moves in with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley in New Orleans. Blanche tries to escape her past through fantasy but cannot overcome Stanley's harsh reality. Her dependence on men and inability to accept the modern world lead to her mental decline. Key themes include the conflict between the old Southern ways and modern life, the primitive nature of Stanley's masculinity, and the tension between Blanche's romanticism and Stanley's realism.

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Presenter: Hira MukhtarPresenter: Hira Mukhtar
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Themes

2. Tennessee Williams
•Born Thomas Lanier Williams III
•American author who focused mainly
on plays in the American theater (short
stories, novels, poetry, essays,
screenplays and a volume of memoirs)
•He received all of the top theatrical
awards for his works of drama
•One of the most accomplished
playwrights in the history of English
speaking theater
•Growing up in a female-dominated
environment, he developed empathy for
the woman characters he created as a
playwright (fragile & neurotic, eventually
to the point of mental illness)

3. Tennessee Williams
•He found inspiration in his dysfunctional family for much of his
writing
•First submitted play was “Beauty is the Word” (1930), followed
by “Hot Milk at Three in the Morning” (1932)
• 1939 is the year when he adopted his professional name,
Tennessee Williams
•He remained close to his sister, Rose (schizophrenia)
•By the late 30s, he accepted his homosexuality
•He chocked to death after many years of drug and alcohol
abuse, depression

4. “They told me to take a street-car named
Desire, and transfer to one called
Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get
off at—Elysian Fields!” (Blanche)
A Streetcar named Desire

5. Characters
Major
Blanche Dubois
Stanley Kowalski
Stella Kowalski
Harold Mitchell
Minor
Eunice Hubbell
Steve Hubbell
Shep Huntleigh
Young Collector

6. Themes
Fantasy’s Inability to Overcome Reality
The Relationship between Sex and
Death
Dependence on Men
The Old South and the New South
Cruelty
The Primitive and the Primal
Desire
Loneliness
Desire vs. Cemeteries / Romance vs.
Realism

7. Fantasy’s Inability to overcome Reality
Blanche’s fantasy can’t overcome
Stanley’s reality

8. The Relationship between Sex and Death
F
• Blanche attempts to avoid ageBlanche attempts to avoid age
• Her sexual desires for men younger than herHer sexual desires for men younger than her
• The link between sex and death leads to her madnessThe link between sex and death leads to her madness

9. Dependence on Men
Real cause of
Blanche’s
downfall
Male companions – The only source of
happiness for Stella and Blanche
Depend on men
for their
sustenance and
self-image

10. The Old South and the New South
• Blanche tries to live in past, thus ends up beingBlanche tries to live in past, thus ends up being
madmad
• Stella mixes her past with her present, thus sheStella mixes her past with her present, thus she
survivessurvives

11. Cruelty
Blanche's well-intentioned deceits
Stella’s self-deceiving duplicity
Stanley's on purpose and unchecked
hatred
Prevails whole play

12. The Primitive and the Primal
 Stanley - a very unrefined manhood
 A man untouched by civilization
 Has irresistible appeal for Stella and
Blanche

13. Blache’sBlache’s

14. Loneliness
Companion theme to desire
Blanche is lost between these two
extremes
She seeks a companion and a protector

15. Desire vs. Cemeteries / Romance vs. Realism
 Blanche takes the streetcars named Desire and
Cemeteries
 Those cars and run together to Blanche's final
destination
 Tension in the play - Blanche the romantic and
Stanley the realist
“I don’t want realism, I want magic! [..] Yes, yes,
magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent
things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell
what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let
me be damned for it!” (Blanche)

16. Conclusion
The themes discussed above strongly
prevail the play and can be seen in every
action and dialogue of the characters
The characters spin around their desires
Blanche – Being the protagonist, is a real
passenger of “A Street-car named Desire”
That car takes her to her destiny in the
end

17. Works Cited
http://www.gradesaver.com/a-
streetcar-named-desire
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote
on A Streetcar Named Desire.”
SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes
LLC. 2003. Web. 29 May 2014.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar
Named Desire and Other Plays.
Ed. E. Martin Browne. New York:
Penguin, 1959.