Tennessee Williams & Streetcar Named Desire. Tennessee Williams March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983 Born Thomas Lanier.

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Tennessee Williams & Tennessee Williams & Streetcar Named DesireStreetcar Named Desire



Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams• March 26, 1911 – March 26, 1911 –

February 25, 1983February 25, 1983• Born Thomas Lanier Born Thomas Lanier

Williams, in Columbus, Williams, in Columbus, MississippiMississippi

• Moved to Louisiana, Moved to Louisiana, setting of setting of StreetcarStreetcar

• Eventually settled in Eventually settled in Key West, FloridaKey West, Florida

• Prolific Southern Gothic Prolific Southern Gothic Writer, most famous for Writer, most famous for his plays. his plays.







Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams• Troubled Troubled

family/childhoodfamily/childhood• Abusive fatherAbusive father• 2nd to brother, Dakin2nd to brother, Dakin• Mentally unstable mother Mentally unstable mother

& sister& sister• Sister, RoseSister, Rose

– schizophrenic, schizophrenic, institutionalized after failed institutionalized after failed lobotomy left her lobotomy left her incapacitatedincapacitated

– Devastated TennesseeDevastated Tennessee





Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams• Openly gayOpenly gay• Long term Long term

relationship w/Frank relationship w/Frank Merlo until Merlo’s Merlo until Merlo’s deathdeath

• Never truly recovered Never truly recovered • Gay bashed in FL by Gay bashed in FL by

group of teen boysgroup of teen boys• Works sometimes Works sometimes

criticized for criticized for “excess,” merely “excess,” merely attack on his attack on his sexualitysexuality





Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams

• Broken manBroken man• Feared insanity Feared insanity • Self-medicated with Self-medicated with

alcohol/drugsalcohol/drugs• DepressionDepression• Broken characters Broken characters

mirrored his broken mirrored his broken lifelife

• Died in hotel room, Died in hotel room, choked on bottle choked on bottle cap…I’ll explaincap…I’ll explain







Streetcar Named DesireStreetcar Named Desire

• Perhaps his most Perhaps his most famous play, winning famous play, winning a Pulitzera Pulitzer

• culture clash between culture clash between two iconic characters: two iconic characters: Blanche DuBois, a Blanche DuBois, a fading relic of the Old fading relic of the Old South, and Stanley South, and Stanley Kowalski, a rising Kowalski, a rising member of the member of the industrial, urban industrial, urban working classworking class





Cast of CharactersCast of Characters• Blanche DuBoisBlanche 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





Blanche, cont.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



Stanley KowalskiStanley 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.





MitchMitch• 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





Stella KowalskiStella 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





Pablo/Steve & EunicePablo/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.



Tennessee Williams & Streetcar Named Desire. Tennessee Williams March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983 Born Thomas Lanier.

Documents

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tennessee williams streetcar

madness slide

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iconic characters

urban working class

broken lifebroken characters

famous play