theme of a streetcar named desire essay

A Streetcar Named Desire: Theme & Key Quotes: Dependence

A streetcar named desire: theme & key quotes: dependence, theme: dependence.

Dependence on Men : Blanche constantly seeks male companionship, remaining dependent on men for her economic, emotional and societal survival. This dependency underlines her inherent vulnerability and is pivotal to her eventual downfall.
Dependence on Alcohol : A recurring theme in the play, alcohol dependence serves as Blanche’s coping mechanism, blurring her realities and providing her an escape. This dependence further exacerbates her fragile psychological state.
Dependence on Illusion : Trapped in a perpetual cycle of reality and delusion, Blanche relies on her fantasies as a psychological reprieve. Her tragic end underscores the dangers of such dependence on illusion.

Characters and Dependence

Blanche DuBois : Her dependence on men for emotional stability and her incessant need for assurance underscores her suspect mental health.
Stanley Kowalski : He depends on his physical prowess to assert power and dominance, reflecting his basic instincts and animalistic nature.
Stella Kowalski : She is shown to be reliant on her husband, Stanley, even tolerating his aggressive behaviours out of her love for him and need for him.
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” - Blanche . An iconic quote revealing her hopeful yet desperate dependence on others.
“Even when he’s rude and common and treats me roughly. I drop the poker night, see?” - Stella . Illustrates her dependence on and devotion to Stanley despite his brutality.

Literary Techniques

Use of symbolism : Visual elements like the Varsouviana polka — a symbol of Blanche’s guilt and the loss of her young husband — help outline Blanche’s increasing dependence on her past.
Foreshadowing : Blanche’s constant dependence on others foreshadows her eventual reliance on a mental institution for survival.
Dramatic irony : The audience is aware of Blanche’s increasing fragility and dependence, yet other characters remain oblivious, particularly Stanley. This heightens the audience’s empathy for Blanche.
Tennessee Williams uses vivid imagery and strong dialogue to portray Blanche’s desperate dependence on men and her romantic illusions.

In your essay, adequately build on these points and interlink them to produce a comprehensive analysis of the theme of dependence in “A Streetcar Named Desire”.

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A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 1
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 2
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 3
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 4
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 5
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 6
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 7
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 8
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 9
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 10
A Streetcar Named Desire: Novel Summary: Scene 11
A Streetcar Named Desire: Character Profiles
A Streetcar Named Desire: Metaphor Analysis

A Streetcar Named Desire: Theme Analysis

A Streetcar Named Desire: Top Ten Quotes
A Streetcar Named Desire: Biography: Tennessee Williams

Loneliness Apart from her sister, Blanche is alone in the world. She loved once, and deeply, but since the death of her husband, the world has had no love in it for her. She longs for a deep connection with another human being. But her pathetic attempt to find love through sexual affairs with casual acquaintances has only made her situation worse. The attraction she feels toward very young men (the young man who come to the apartment for newspaper money, for example) is an attempt to reproduce the one magical, fulfilling thing Blanche had found in life—her love for her young husband. The more desperate Blanche becomes in her loneliness, the more deeply she digs herself into it. Mitch is lonely too. He only has his mother and he is shortly to lose her. The brief moment of hope that he and Blanche share, when it seems as if they might find happiness together, is a poignant and tender moment in a world that will not sustain such romantic hopes for long. At least it will not do so for Blanche, and probably not for Mitch either, who also seems bound for failure and continued loneliness in life. Blanche’s isolation and loneliness is contrasted with the hearty embrace that Stanley gives to life. He enters into male friendships with an easy camaraderie, and he effortlessly wins and retains Stella’s love. Unlike Blanche, he is well adapted to his environment. So are Steve and Eunice. They belong where they are; it is only Blanche who is rootless, unable to find her own niche. Illusion and Reality Blanche is sufficiently self-aware to know that she cannot survive in the world as it is. Reality is too harsh, so she must somehow create illusions that will allow her to maintain her delicate, fragile hold on life. “A woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion” (scene 2) she acknowledges to Stanley. And then when Mitch wants to switch the light on so that he can get a realistic look at her, she tells him that she does not want realism, she wants magic. This means that she seeks to manipulate reality until it appears to be what Blanche thinks it ought to be. She wants life to be lived in a permanent romantic glow, like the light that lit up the entire world when she first fell in love. But in this play, reality dominates. The realism of the setting, with its down-to-earth characters and the sounds of the busy life of this corner of New Orleans, suggests that Blanche’s illusions are not going to be sufficient. The fact that Blanche is probably aware of this too is what wins her the sympathy of the audience. Eventually, her thin hold on reality disappears altogether and she takes refuge in an illusory world in which she is about to go on a trip with her imaginary rich beau. Passion, Sex and Death The audience is given an early clue to the theme of sex and death when Blanche in scene 1 describes the directions she was given to reach her sister’s house. She was told to take a streetcar named Desire, and then take another called Cemeteries. The theme is stated again in scene 9, when Blanche says that the opposite of death is desire. Blanche means love as well as sexual desire— the need for connection with another person. She does not admire the raw desire embodied by Stanley, even though it is sexual passion that makes Stella and Stanley (as well, in a lesser way, as Steve and Eunice) so fully alive in a way that Blanche is not. Stanley and Stella know how to keep the “colored lights” going, which is their term for rewarding sexual relations. Everything about Stanley suggests that sexual fulfillment is the center of his life. The playwright emphasizes this in the stage direction that accompanies Stanley’s first appearance: “Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes.” His sexuality is the “complete and satisfying center” of his life. Blanche, on the other hand, finds that her desires are continually frustrated. She is associated with death—the death of her relatives at Belle Reve, and the death by suicide of her husband, which still haunts her. Reminders of death keep popping up to torment Blanche—the inscription on Mitch’s cigarette case, the Mexican woman who sells flowers for funerals. It was to stave off this death-impulse that Blanche indulged in promiscuous sex after her husband’s death. This was simply an attempt to keep life going, to stop her from withering inside, and to try to rekindle the transforming love and desire she had felt for her husband. But sensitive Blanche is no healthy animal like Stanley, which is why she is bound for failure and madness, while the final sight of Stanley is of him comforting Stella and reaching inside her blouse.

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