A Streetcar Named Desire - Essay Example

A Streetcar d Desire Introduction: A Streetcar d Desire is a play written by an American playwright known as Tennessee Williams in 1947. Hereceived the special Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948 for writing this magnificent piece of literature (Tennessee Williams). The basic plot of the drama revolves around the personality clash between Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski; the two major characters of the play. The play expresses the intense feelings of love and hate, sexuality and devotion, fantasies and hard realities that follow the lives of people with broken and scarred souls.

The play secretly unfolds the sexual chemistry between a man and a woman; the sexual attraction that intensifies the flame between them no matter it is based on love or hate. Sources of Animosity between Blanche and Stanley: There are different sources of animosity between Blanche and Stanley that marked staunch rift between the two of them. Some of the highlighted differences between them are: Different Social Backgrounds: Their different social background marked the most obvious difference between them.

Blanche belonged to an old Southern family. She was raised to feel and look at herself as socially elite person in future. On the other hand, Stanley belongs to the working class group and this made Stanley very much proud of his social status. He hailed from a family of immigrants. Stanley and Blanche met one another in New Orleans which is one of the most culturally diverse cities in America. The postwar circumstances brought them to this city. Both of them possessed different values and backgrounds.

However, their different values reflected adversity and opposition for each other. They clearly showed hatred for each other and tried their level best to shadow the success of each other with this half hidden animosity for one another. Blanche is not scared of speaking out derogatory remarks for Stanley which shows her plain hatred for him, “I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles, not Polacks. But what I am is a one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it, so don’t ever call me a Polack.

” Power Control over Stella: Stella has been portrayed as symbol of pure love and loyalty in the play. Her loyalty has been symbolized as Stanley’s success. Blanche makes several attempts to create a rift between Stanley and Stella. She convinces Stella to end her relationship with Stanley. She tried her level best to infuse in Stella’s mind that she was born to adopt a better lifestyle, values and status in the society which Stanley has failed to give it to her. In such one attempt Blanche tells Stella, “Oh, I guess he’s just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume, but maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost Belle Reve.

” Blanche wants to prove her statement on Stella that Stanley is a raw, uncivilized and unrefined man who does not deserve “Jasmine Perfume” which simply refers to the point that Stanley lacks the qualities of a gentleman and therefore he cannot understand the value and inner beauty of Stella. On the other hand, knowing Blanche’s vicious intentions for him; Stanley ties Stella with his charm and sexual attraction. The issues between Stanley and Blanche on having different social status and relationship to Stella widened the gulf of hatred and animosity for each other.

Difference of Personalities: Blanche and Stanley are two different souls with different outer and inner personalities in several aspects. The world of Blanche revolved around different fantasies. Blanche even confesses about her fantasies to Mitch. She enjoys misrepresenting different things and events to the people and even enjoys more when different things or the events are misrepresented to her by the people. She makes her own perceptions and standpoints while looking at the things. Throughout the play, Blanche avoids bright and strong light and preferred keeping herself in darkness and shadows.

However, Stanley is a sensible man with healthy mind and soul. He loves enjoying the bounties of life at fullest. He finds happiness and joy in celebrating different moments. He is honest in his relationships with the people. Blanche’s Femininity versus Stanley’s Masculinity: Blanche thinks of Stanley as brutal, uncivilized, hard and rough. She considers herself as a lily surrounded by Stanley’s primitive manners. Blanche considers her femininity as a source of “sexual attraction” for attracting men.

Stanley sees her thoughts about himself as a reflection of Blanche’s superiority complexes. However, undeniably Stanley is a rough man with no space for fools and fraudulent people in his life. He openly confesses, “Remember what Huey Long said 'Every Man is a King!' And I am the king around here, so don't forget it.”Blanche is just the opposite of Stanley. It appears as Blanche knows a lot about music, art, literature, and poetry but in real she has little or no knowledge at all on any of the subject.

They both disliked each other. Conclusion: The basic theme of this play highlights the inner desire of woman and her reliance on men in different ways. Blanche is faced with compulsive personality disorder. William has resembled her with a moth that is pale, fluttery and insecure. Life of a moth ends when it gets closer to the burning flame; similarly, Blanche dies when she is brought into lights; a hard reality light where her real face is exposed to the world. No matter, how much Blanche opposes Stella’s loyalty for Stanley and denies her own confidence on men; she too finds herself ending up with her life in the similar shoes.

Her weak reputation made her least attractive for the men. On the other hand, Stanley proves his dominance on Blanche. He dislikes Blanche for her uncivilized ways and false thinking. He knew that Blanche would end up in misery. However, in the end the world of Stanley stood firm on the ground with no traces of Blanche and her life. He has no regrets of tormenting the already injured soul of Blanche to the highest level. Works Cited: Williams, Tennessee. ‘A Streetcar Named Desire.’ Introduction and text. (1995) Oxford: Heinemann Educational Publishers