Tennessee Williams & Streetcar Named Desire

1. Tennessee Williams & Streetcar Named Desire

2. Tennessee Williams • March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983 • Born Thomas Lanier Williams, in Columbus, Mississippi • Moved to Louisiana, setting of Streetcar • Eventually settled in Key West, Florida • Prolific Southern Gothic Writer, most famous for his plays.

3. Tennessee Williams • Troubled family/childhood • Abusive father • 2nd to brother, Dakin • Mentally unstable mother & sister • Sister, Rose • schizophrenic, institutionalized after failed lobotomy left her incapacitated • Devastated Tennessee

4. Tennessee Williams • Openly gay • Long term relationship w/Frank Merlo until Merlo’s death • Never truly recovered • Gay bashed in FL by group of teen boys • Works sometimes criticized for “excess,” merely attack on his sexuality

5. Tennessee Williams • Broken man • Feared insanity • Self-medicated with alcohol/drugs • Depression • Broken characters mirrored his broken life • Died in hotel room, choked on bottle cap…I’ll explain

6. Streetcar Named Desire • Perhaps his most famous play, winning a Pulitzer • culture clash between two iconic characters: Blanche DuBois, a fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley Kowalski, a rising member of the industrial, urban working class

7. Cast of Characters • Blanche DuBois • Dark twist on Southern Belle • Aging & in state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty • veneer of social snobbery and sexual propriety • insecure & relatively pathetic • arrogance not simply snobbery, but a calculated attempt to make herself appear attractive to new male suitors • totally dependent on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem • entire identity reliant on sexual worth

8. Blanche, cont. • FALLEN WOMAN: • family fortune & estate gone • lost young husband to suicide • Looked down on socially due to her sexual promiscuity • drinking problem, which she covers up poorly • dainty & frail--wardrobe of showy but cheap evening clothes. • chronicle of the crumbling of Blanche’s self-image & sanity • no realistic possibility of future happiness • All this too much to take, thus her descent into madness

9. Stanley Kowalski • animalistic vigor/crude & brutish • 1st meet him yelling up at Stella throwing MEAT at her • gambling, sex, bowling, & drinking are his main modes of fun • Work, fighting, & sex • Polish: resents “Polack” slur • Represents new, heterogeneous America, the melting pot Blanche doesn’t belong to because she is a relic from an obsolete social hierarchy. • parallels Emily Grierson • Intense hatred of Blanche motivated by the aristocratic past Blanche represents. • Shows no remorse for his brutal actions.

10. Mitch • Lives w/dying mother • Sensitive, even picked on for this • Kind/decent human being • Only person other than Stella who understands tragedy of Blanche’s madness. • genuinely cares for Blanche • (at first) hopes to marry Blanche so that he will have a woman to bring home to his dying mother • Mitch/Blanche drawn together by mutual need for companionship • clumsy, sweaty, w/ unrefined interests • lacks Blanche’s romantic perspective & education • Blanche toys with his lack of intelligence: speaks to him in French

11. Stella Kowalski • Blanche’s younger sister, about 25 yrs. old • mild disposition sets her apart from her more vulgar neighbors • left Mississippi for New Orleans in late teens • married lower-class Stanley • shares a robust sexual relationship • violent but renewing • torn between her sister and her husband • Denial of reality @ play’s end reveals she has more in common with Blanche than first conveyed

12. Pablo/Steve & Eunice • Stella’s friends, upstairs neighbors, and landlords. • represent Stella’s low-class, carnal life • Like Stella, Eunice accepts her husband’s affections despite his physical abuse of her. • Like Stanley, Steve is a brutish, hot-blooded, physically fit male and an abusive husband. • Pablo is Hispanic, emphasizing culturally diverse nature of the neighborhood.