1. A Streetcar Named Desire
By Tennessee Williams

2. According to Williams, the play is about:
“the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society”

4. Tennessee Williams Born March 26, 1911 Columbus, Mississippi
Died February 24, 1983 New York City
Occupation Playwright
Genre Southern Gothic
Influences Anton Chekhov, D. H. Lawrence, August Strindberg, Hart Crane

5. Who was Tennessee Williams?
Williams is thought to have been able to identify with a fragility and vulnerability in women and once said: “I draw every character out of my very multiple split personality. My heroines always express the climate of my interior world at the time in which those characters were created.”
From an early age, Williams used writing as “an escape from a world of reality in which [he] felt acutely uncomfortable”.
He lived in New Orleans from 1938, a bohemian place where all manner of behaviour was tolerated, if not encouraged. It was here that he was inspired to create Streetcar. It is said that he saw, on the Vieux Carré, two streetcars. One was named “Desire” and the other “Cemetery” – which he thought was somehow symbolic of life itself.

6. The When and the Where
·  The play takes place in the late 1940s in New Orleans
·  Industrialization and urban growth flourished in many cities, while plantations continued to decline and decay. The southern social hierarchy continued to break down.
·   Post World War II society
- Women generally went back to working inside the home after the war.
- Baby Boom started

7. Elysian Fields - In Greek and Roman mythology, Elysium was the place of rest for the dead who were blessed by the gods. Eventually, it became the destination of anyone who had lived a righteous life. The Kowalskis live on Elysian Fields Avenue.

8. Elysian Fields Avenue

9. Streetcar

10. Characters Stanley Kowalski – Stella’s husband
Stella Kowalski – Stanley’s wife, Blanche’s younger sister
Blanche Dubois – Stella’s older sister
Harold Mitchell (Mitch) – Stanley’s friend
Steve Hubbell – Friend of Stanley, lives above the Kowalskis
Eunice Hubbell – Wife of Steve, friend of Stella

11. Cultural Conflict
Williams is an almost completely non-political writer. He began to move away from writing about the large political issues to writing about the emotional burdens of everyday life.
The tensions in this play come partly from cultural conflict – the worlds of Stanley and Blanche are so opposed that neither can understand the other.
Stanley = New South, American dream
Blanche = Old South, rigid views on society

12. Theatrical Elements
Expressionist features (eg music, lighting used to represent the workings of the protagonist’s inner mind) allow the audience to experience the psychic condition of the central character
Symbolism: Williams structures Streetcar using a vast array of imagery arranged in patterns of opposition. As Williams himself said ‘symbols are nothing but the natural speech of drama…the purest language of plays’

13. Movie Trailer

14. Vocabulary Scenes 1-3
1. Raffish – adj. gaudily vulgar; cheap 2. Cosmopolitan – adj. familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures. 3. Incongruous – adj. not in harmony; inconsistent 4. Dubiously – adv. doubtful; questionable

15. Vocabulary Scenes 1-3
5. Highbrow – adj. intellectual; scholarly 6. Implicit – adj. unquestioning; absolute 7. Abscond – v. to depart in a sudden and secret manner, especially to avoid capture and legal prosecution

16. Vocabulary Scenes 1-3
8. Reproach – v. address someone in such a way as to express disapproval or disappointment 9. Indolently – adv. lazy; wanting to avoid activity 10. Portiere - n. a curtain hung over a doorway

17. Vocabulary Scenes 4-6
Earnest – adj. resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction
Serene – adj. calm; peaceful; untroubled
Deluded – v. impose a misleading belief upon (someone); deceive; fool

18. Vocabulary Scenes 4-6
4. Narcotized – v. to make dull; stupefy; deaden the awareness of 5. Sentimental – adj. of or prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia. 6. Stolid – adj. (of a person) calm, dependable, and showing little emotion or animation.

19. Vocabulary Scenes 4-6
7. Coquettishly – adv. (of a woman) characteristically flirtatious especially in a teasing, lighthearted manner. 8. Bohemian – adj. a person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices.

20. Vocabulary Scenes 4-6
Temperamental – adj. given to erratic behavior; unpredictable
Effeminate – adj. (of a man or boy) having traits, tastes, habits, etc., traditionally considered feminine

21. Journal #1
In a well written journal, respond to the following prompt. Reference specific details from the text to support your ideas and analyze this text critically. PROMPT: Select 3 characters from the play and discuss -what each character desires -how these desires are seen in their words & actions -what you predict will happen later in the plot based on these desires

22. Vocabulary Scenes 7-11
Saccharine – adj. excessively sweet or sentimental
Contemptible – adj. deserving contempt; despicable
Degenerate – n. an immoral or corrupt person.

23. Vocabulary Scenes 7-11
4. Recrimination – n. an accusation in response to one from someone else 5. Uncouth – adj. lacking good manners, refinement, or grace 6. Repertoire – n. the collection of dramas, operas, parts, pieces, etc., that a company, actor, singer, or the like, is prepared to perform

24. Vocabulary Scenes 7-11
7. Sinuous – adj. having many curves and turns 8. Malarkey – n. meaningless, foolish talk 9. Inert – adj. lacking the ability or strength to move 10. Prodigious - adj. remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree