Street Car Named Desire Essay

PRACTICE ESSAY

"truth is a mutating, subjective figure in streetcar with each of the principals having   different relationship with the idea of truth"
How does Tennessee Williams express these relationships and what role do they have on the narrative?

    • Make sure you think carefully about the play, details, allusions, themes of the play that you can incorporate
    • Undermining the academics of the play
    • Have insights from the play that leak into your own ideas and narrative

Stanley’s attitude towards truth- he actively seeks truth
Stella blocks truth out and doesn’t want to see it, hiding and twisting the truth
Blanche manipulates the truth, interpreting some things and twisting it into her own new perspective. Blanche covers the truth up, hiding it being paper lanterns, constantly bathing, dressing it up in what she wants it to be, believing she has the power of bending reality to her own will and manipulating the truth to suite her own personal needs.

Stanleys role is to peel away, blanches layer of illusion, and stella is caught inbetween; aware of lies but choosing to imitate her sisters way of dealing with reality by changing it to suit her life

Choose three incidents in the play and try to write at least three paragraphs exploring this. E.g Stanley finding papers in stellas trunk about loss of belle reve and effect of it, rape scene primal man how is he shown this way, final scene of blanche being taken away to the mental asylum, blanche refuses to acknowledge that she is crazy.

Always refer to dramatic devices, symbolism of poker and music reflecting blanches state of mind. Stage directions used as dramatic devices.

When stella says “ I couldn’t believe balnche and go on living with Stanley”

Streetcar

Blanche’s transfer of the Belle Reve papers into Stanley’s “big capable hands” (scene3), may symbolise the end of the rural, agrarian Old South and all its values (represented by Blanche), and its replacement by a... [continues]

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