1. Scene 1

2. Symbolizes the crumbling grandeur of Southern plantations
Blanche
Symbolizes the crumbling grandeur of Southern plantations

3. Blanche : frivolous, hysterical, insensitive and self-obsessed individual who derides her sister’s lesser social status
has a craving for drink and attempts to disguise her drinking – dishonest
“Moth” attracted to light – desires glamour. Destructive – light kills moths. Will her desire for life and glamour lead to her destruction?

4. Blanche Dubois
She is aware of social distinctions; looks down on those she considers her inferiors - Eunice and the neighbour – expects them to behave a certain way toward a “lady.”
Her attitude towards these women foreshadows her criticism of Stella and Stanley’s way of life.

5. Blanche Dubois She is vain and needs flattery.
Afraid of growing old and losing her looks; relies on flattery to banish these terrors – fantasy and denial.
Vulnerable, yet she is very much the older sister, treating Stella as a child and expecting her to run errands.

6. Stanley Stanley is the new American in the new America
He is an immigrant who believes he can achieve the American Dream

7. Stanley Kowalski Stanley makes an impact
The description contained within the stage direction “gaudy seed-bearer” conveys his sexual magnetism and his masculinity
His entrance with the package of meat symbolises his primitive qualities as it is if he were bringing it back to his cave fresh from the kill

8. Stanley Kowalski
Stanley’s cocky interactions with Blanche show him to be insensitive - he barely lets Blanche get a word in as he quickly assesses her beauty
Yet, he is unpretentious and has a zest for life (more sympathetic than the snobby Blanche?)
An intense sexual bond with Stella

9. Setting - New Orleans

10. Setting
New Orleans - cosmopolitan city where all races mingle freely – the New America, represented by the character of Stanley (a mix, not elitist)
Refinement mixed with the grit of poverty and modern life; decay and corruption alongside the regenerative powers of desire and procreation.

11. Setting
Elysian Fields - in Greek mythology, the equivalent of paradise or the home of the blessed dead (the heroes)
Irony - Stanley is clearly at home in Elysian Fields, but the Kowalskis’ home and neighbourhood are not Blanche’s idea of heaven

12. A streetcar named ‘desire’ takes Blanche to ‘Elysian Fields’(the afterlife, or heaven)
Does Blanche “desire” death?

13. Setting
Windows and door of the apartment are left open - Stanley and the others leave everything out in the open.
Belle Reve translates as “beautiful dream”. Appropriate since the “dream” is now all that remains of it.

14. Stage Directions
Stage directions contrast with the uneducated language used by most of the characters on the stage (except Blanche and Stella)
Blanche’s quotation from Poe’s poem reminds us that she is an English teacher

15. Blanche / Stanley

16. Symbolism/Imagery Blanche:
white clothes - virginal connotations (irony)
constant drinking symbolises her inability to cope with reality and her desire to forget the past
aristocratic and sensitive - symbolises the old South
hearing the Polka - thinking about her dead husband
obsession with her appearance - inability to cope with reality

17. Symbolism/Imagery Stanley:
animal sexuality is symbolised by numerous stage directions
butcher’s package - blood, danger, violence and his primitive qualities
brash, loud and arrogant - symbolic of the New South

18. Plot
Blanche – critical of poor conditions Stella lives in; disapproves of Stanley
Belle Reve has been lost – sentimental Blanche stayed in the South; Stella abandoned it (moving on)
Blanche, though just as poor as Stanley and Stella, looks down on them with pretentiousness (tension)

19. Plot
Desire is central to the play. Blanche is unable to come to terms with her desire. She is repelled and fascinated by Stanley at the same time (partly jealous of Stella’s escape from the South)
Obsessed with the idea of Stella sleeping with her "Polack." Stella has chosen a life built around her sexual relationship with Stanley.

20. He appraises women based on their physical looks (sex objects)
Plot
Stanley is comfortable with desire and satisfying his physical needs. Sex is part of what makes him tick.
He appraises women based on their physical looks (sex objects)

21. Plot
The play is haunted by mortality. Desire and death and loneliness all combine.
Decay in setting - the dying Old South and the dying DuBois family
Blanche's first monologue is a graphic description of tending to the terminally ill.
The specter of Blanche's husband, who died when they were both very young; Blanch still refers to him as a "boy."
Rot underneath the surface – Blanche (mental and moral)

22. Conflicts Introduced: Stanley’s jealousy and suspicion
Scene Two
Conflicts Introduced:
Stanley’s jealousy and suspicion
Blanche’s ignorance of the effect her behaviour has on people

23. Blanche
Compassion for Blanche:
Destitution
All her belongings equal a trunk full of cheap dresses, fake furs and costume jewelry

24. Baths Blanche needs baths to “calm her nerves”
Symbolizes her need for spiritual, mental and emotional cleansing
She feels “dirty” or “soiled” in some way

25. This habit is irritating to others – tension
Foreshadows the revelation of her sordid past – impurity
Wants to start clean; get rid of social blemishes and her previous reputation

26. The red bathrobe Flirting and provocative
Arouses Stanley’s suspicions (and something else)
More a prostitute than a school teacher
“If I didn’t know that you were my wife’s sister I’d get ideas about you!”

27. Stanley Becomes suspicious of Blanche
Hostility due to his awareness of the class differences between himself and Blanche (and by extension Stella)
Wants to pull Blanche down to his level

28. Thinks Blanche has cheated him and Stella out of $$
Thinks she spent it on herself
Not aware that Blanche’s costume jewelry is fake
Feels insecure when Stella mocks him for it

29. Napoleonic Code References – forbids privileges based on birth
Show Stanley’s ignorance
Belle Reve, in Mississippi, would not fall under New Orleans law
Gender showdown – Stanley feels that as a man, whatever Stella has belongs to him
Hates that Blanche is a woman with a higher social status than him – must bring her down

30. Symbolism Red robe – the scarlet woman of the Bible (Revelations 17)
“The blind are leading the blind” (Matthew 15:14) – impending disaster
Stella tells Stanley how to treat Blanche – ashamed at her husband’s behavior
The baby – unites the Kowalskis but isolates Blanche
Blanche’s trunk – a façade, fantasy of riches

31. Symbolism of letters Business papers = reality (Stanley handles them)
Love letters = fantasy (Blanche handles them) – maintains her illusions of the past.

32. The Poker Scene

33. Scene 3 – Pivotal Scene Cements Stanley’s role as the villain
Highlights the primal nature of Stanley and Stella’s relationship
Stanley dominates over his friends, making all the decisions
Tenderness of friends – look after the drunk Stanley
Stella chooses Stanley over Blanche

34. Blanche Her vanity makes her lie about Stella’s age
Her inability to deal with reality makes her say that she’s come to help Stella
Her lies are NOT malicious; she lies to protect herself

35. Seductive posturing when men are around – flirts instinctively
She’s half undressed in the gap
Contradiction:
genteel lady: expects men to stand up when she comes in; can’t stand a rude remark or vulgar action
cheap seductress

36. Chinese Lantern
Blanche puts the lantern over the harsh light bulb – symbolic of her inability to face reality
Light threatens to reveal her lies
Chinese lanterns have a softer light, more fantastical

37. Stanley
Stanley is loud and domineering; wears loud shirts – emphasizes his manliness
Stanley throwing down the watermelon emphasizes his disregard for the house and Stella – FORESHADOW VIOLENCE
Stanley drinking – destructive behavior (domestic violence)

38. Shower symbolizes his attempt to wash his sins away (hitting Stella)

39. Stella and Stanley
Stella and Stanley’s reunion conveys their desire for one another
Stella’s desire for Stanley is so great she is willing to forgive anything
Their “animal-like” moans when they embrace on stairs = “animal-like” passion

40. There is a sense of King Kong, or a brute, about Stanley when he carries Stella away - Primitive

41. Even though Stanley is abusive, something about Stanley excites Stella when he is at his most beast-like.
Their making-up is completely wordless: no plea for forgiveness, no promise of better behavior.
They make up by coupling like animals. The bond between Stanley and Stella is not intellectual, but physical.

42. Blanche and Mitch
Mitch is the opposite of Stanley: kind, understanding, shy, sympathetic
Their conversation shows their class differences – Mitch is trying to overcome the gap
Description of dancing symbolizes that they are ill suited for one another: “Mitch dances clumsily, mimicking Blanche’s grand movements.

43. Scene 4
Turning Point:
Stanley overhears Blanche’s opinion of himself
Will not rest until he has destroyed and disposed of her

44. There is no turning back for Blanche
Streetcar Metaphor
There is no turning back for Blanche
Headed for disaster

45. Blanche
Blanche tells Stella that sheer desire is no basis for a marriage. The streetcar “that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another” is what she believes Stella feels
Blanche fails to understand Stella’s passionate relationship with her husband. It seems that with all her sexual experience she has never experienced true love.

46. “{The streetcar} brought me here, where I’m not wanted and where I’m ashamed to be……”
Literally, Blanche arrived on a streetcar named “Desire”
Metaphorically, Blanche’s search for sexual desire led to her expulsion from Laurel; her family’s need to shroud desire and cover up “epic fornications” led to the break-up of the Belle Reve estate and impoverishment

47. Blanche is a cold cynic
Doesn’t believe in love
Laughs at Stella’s attraction and affection for her husband
Uses money and men – calculating and selfish

48. One of Blanche’s most famous speeches: “There’s even something – sub-human - something not quite to the stage of humanity,” meaning: Stanley is too much of a beast for the evolved Stella.

49. Stella Lost patience with Blanche’s hysterics; becomes ironic
“I’m not in anything I have a desire to get out of”
Lost patience with Blanche’s hysterics; becomes ironic
The difference in the sisters’ attitudes to passion shows that despite their common background and social values, they are very different characters

50. Scene 5
A threatening undertone runs throughout this scene
Opens with a violent row between Eunice and Steve

51. Blanche Fear of truth: her telegram to Shep (all lies)
Past catches up with her (Stanley has investigated):
Nights at a hotel of ill repute with men
Sought comfort in men, physically
Stained purity, just like her stained white dress
Less healthy desire than the marriage?

52. Blanche and the Young Man
Emphasizes Blanche’s loneliness and inappropriate desire – desperate and destructive
Wants to marry Mitch, but risks her future to flirt with a boy
Can she settle down with one man? Is that why she is jealous of Stella?

53. Hypocrite: She condemns Stanley and Stella’s sexual relationship, but she is prepared to engage in a inappropriate sexual encounter with a young boy. Her behavior with him makes Stanley and Stella’s relationship appear almost normal

54. Astrology Ironically, Blanche’s sign is “Virgo,” the virgin
Does she want to reclaim her virginity, spiritually and emotionally? A new life
Stanley’s sign is Capricorn – ‘the ram’ – goats are supposed to be promiscuous and stubborn. He is both.
Capricorn and Virgo are opposites – they either conflict or…opposites attract?

55. Stella Also escapes to fantasies:
Stops listening whenever Blanche is morbid
Puts up with an abusive husband
Reads comics - childlike