A Streetcar Named Desire THEMES enotes.com. A Streetcar Named Desire. Summary and Study Guide, enotes.com, Inc., n.d. Web. 3 Jan. 2010.

Themes Class Conflict Sex Roles Violence and Cruelty Madness

Class Conflict The decline of the aristocratic family traditionally associated with the American South is a major theme explored in the play. Blanche represents the female aristocratic tradition of the Old South. Blanche's ultimate fate can be interpreted as the destruction of the Old South by the new, industrial America. Stanley, an immigrant, represents this new American that destroys Blanche.

Stanley says to Stella, "When we first met, me and you, you thought I was common. How right you was, baby. I was common as dirt. You showed me the snapshot of the place with the columns [Belle Reve]. I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it."

By the end of the play, good does not really triumph over evil. Stanley’s aggression destroys Blanche. Even as she leaves the apartment to be institutionalized, the manners of the Old South are apparent as she tells the men not to bother to rise in her presence. Rising for her anyway is a polite gesture on the men’s part, but it is a small one considering their role in Blanche's destruction and, by extension, in the fall of the Old South itself.

Sex Roles Blanche needs men to lean on and to protect her She continues to depend on them throughout the play, right up to her conversation with the doctor from the mental hospital, where she remarks, "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

She has clearly known sexual freedom in the past, but understands that sexual freedom does not fit the pattern of chaste behavior to which a Southern woman would be expected to conform. She greatly fears rejection by men. Mitch’s eventual rejection of her when he learns the truth of her “loose” past, shows the discrepancy between women’s real behavior and the type of behavior publicly expected of them by society.

The audience knows that there is a connection in Blanche's past between violence and desire. Tennessee Williams is demonstrating how a cycle of violence, combined with passion and desire, is hard to break.

Violence and Cruelty Violence and sexual passion are intertwined in this play. Stella explains that she loves Stanley even though he is brutal. "But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark—that sort of make everything else seem—unimportant.“ Eunice and Steve have a violent relationship, but their rough incidents are always followed immediately by playful sexual interplay.

Madness Williams’ own mental life was full of instability. His sister Rose had a lobotomy due to mental illness, and Williams feared this for himself. It is little wonder that the theme of madness runs through Streetcar in the form of Blanche's neurosis and self-delusion.

Stella cries in anguish at the end of the play when Blanche is taken away to an institution: "What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?'‘ This might represent some of Williams’ own lingering regrets and guilt about his sister Rose's treatment.