A Streetcar Named Desire Settings

Setting: Place USA Southern states Louisiana New Orleans French Quarter Elysian Fields Kowalski’s apartment Bedroom Bathroom Kitchen/living area By reference: Laurel, Mississippi

Setting: Time Era: Mid-20th century Post WW2 1947 Seasons: May to autumn ( a few weeks after some time on September) Time of day – different scenes Also - weather

Literary Context (structure): Aristotle's 3 Unities unity of action: one main plot, centring on a main character, that moves on rapidly and smoothly through the play. Makes it more realistic and convincing unity of time: the action takes place over a short period in the real time of the play. Williams doesn’t strictly adhere to this but it is a relatively short time span of a few months. Makes it more realistic unity of place: the play should take place in a single location. Makes it more realistic and focuses the audience’s attention on the themes and issues.

Context Literary = Aristotle's Unity of place is observed. The entire action of the play takes place in the, or just outside, the Kowalski's apartment. Gives the play a tense, claustrophic feel. Makes it more realistic and focuses the audience’s attention on the themes and issues. Historical/social =Post-war New Orleans. Culturally diverse/more relaxed, etc…, represents societal change which Williams seems to approve of (his warm, almost affectionate descriptions – need for change (homosexuality), even though he laments the decline of the gentility of Laurel and the old world ?

Exam Question Explore the ways in which Williams uses setting in A Streetcar Named Desire. You must relate your discussion to relevant contextual factors. (25 marks) Spend just under one hour on this.

Assessment Objectives 1,2 and 3 Include: Clear, controlled, evaluative argument Use relevant, fluently embedded, sustained quotations Use terminology, and evaluate the effect of concepts and literary features Clear, careful, sophisticated expression Logical, controlled, cohesive and sophisticated structure Show how meanings are created by understanding, analysing and evaluating the writer’s craft Explore, analyse, evaluate and appreciate the significance of contextual factors, making links between the play and its context

Indicative Content Blanche’s first appearance in Elysian Fields and its impact on the audience Dramatic impact of the claustrophobic two-bedroomed flat setting and how Williams uses it to develop his themes Period setting; America after WW2 and the play’s focus on the working class Presentation of Laurel and Belle Reve in contrast to the diversity of the French Quarter of New Orleans Symbolism related to setting, for example. Significance of the play’s tile Effects of staging details and use of music to establish mood and develop character Setting of 1940’s America; allows the play to reflect on societal shifts and changes of the time

Further ideas: Elysian Fields - symbolism – death place of Greek heroes = establishes play as a tragedy Seasons - from May (late spring – time of hope/renewal/rebirth – Blanche’s arrival) to September (autumn – time of faded beauty/decay/beginning of the end…) The set – symbolism

Activity: Verbal Essay In pairs, take one bullet point Research the text, find quotations Write a paragraph which would form part of this essay. Make sure you consider: What Williams’s intentions seem to be The methods Williams uses to convey these ideas Relevant contextual factors

Blanche’s first appearance in Elysian Fields and its impact on the audience Williams’s intentions His methods Relevant context

Intentions: Williams’s intentions seems to be to convey a realistic sense of era and place in order to establish the realism (social themes) of the play. When Blanche appears in this setting, she is immediately out of place suggesting a conflict between her as an individual with the society in which she finds herself.

Methods: Stage directions Sound effects Dialogue Characterisation/symbolism

Context Attitudes towards class Attitudes towards race The cultural divide between New Orleans and Laurel Expectations of gender: the Southern Belle

Quotations about setting: Very detailed opening stage directions to create a naturalistic style establishing a lively, noisy, relaxed, culturally diverse community which W seems to portray in a romantic, poetic manner, suggesting he celebrates this way of life (to some extent…): “New Orleans” and Elysian Fields” are specifically named E F = “poor” but with a “raffish charm” and “rickety houses” and an “atmosphere of decay” = W’s attitude - “first dark of an evening in early May” = symbolism (spring/hope/new start) “turquoise” “lyricism” and “warm breath” = poetically romantic language creates similar atmosphere (Williams’s attitude) “bananas” and “coffee” = exotic, progressive “music of Negro entertainers”, “brown fingers”, “women, one white, one coloured” , “cosmopolitan city”, “warm and easy intermingling of races” = culturally diverse “music of Negro entertainers”, “tinny music” “Blue Piano expresses the spirit of life” , = sound effects = vivacious and lively and establishes music as a motif “the voices of people on the street”, the vendor’s dialogue: “”Red hot! Red hots!”

Quotations about Blanche in this setting: Blanche’s costume, demeanour, dialogue immediately establish her as out of place, an outsider, suggesting a conflict between her as an individual and the society in which she lives, perhaps foreshadowing the tragedy to come Her costume/clothes ….

Williams Lived in New Orleans form 1938, a bohemian place where all manner of behaviour was tolerated if not encouraged The South stood for strong cultural values Mid-20th century were fascinated and charmed by the South ( a place of the landed elite, wealth, studied gentility as opposed to the greed and crassness of the North

Paragraph A very clear and detailed sense of place: a small, working class apartment; Elysian Fields; French Quarter; New Orleans; late 1940s Season is May - hope Romantic; charming; vivacious; culturally diverse; care-free; poor; relaxed but with a sense of decay (from the “old world”)

Methods Stage direction Symbolism “May”