A Streetcar Named Desire: Tennessee Williams's Background
Tennessee Williams’ Background to
A Streetcar Named Desire
• From an early age, Williams used writing as “an escape from a world of reality in which [he] felt acutely uncomfortable”.
• He wrote about the human condition as he saw it; unafraid to tackle topics such as incest, rape and madness.
• He believed that “we are all savages at heart”. Which of the characters in Streetcar prove or disprove this?
• 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.
• We find, in this play, an implicit condemnation of homosexual behaviour. Was this his attempt to pacify those who disagreed with homosexuality or influenced by the fact that he was a homosexual but extremely uncomfortable with his sexuality?
• He also has a preoccupation with physical ugliness and the inevitability of death. He suffered a crisis in 1946 when he believed, incorrectly, that he was suffering from incurable cancer. Is this why Blanche is so afraid of the light?
• His sister Rose suffered a breakdown in 1937 and was admitted to a mental hospital and, not long afterwards, she was lobotomised. Williams suffered from depression throughout his life and lived in fear that he too would go insane.
• In the mid-twentieth century, Americans were fascinated and charmed by the idea of the South, a place they associated with a landed elite in elegant houses, flaunting their inherited wealth and studied gentility. For Williams, the South stood for strong cultural values whilst the North was greedy and sordid. Thus we can see that Blanche and Stanley are opposites.
• Williams was influenced not only by American drama, including that of the South, but also by European culture. Like
A Streetcar Named Desire
• From an early age, Williams used writing as “an escape from a world of reality in which [he] felt acutely uncomfortable”.
• He wrote about the human condition as he saw it; unafraid to tackle topics such as incest, rape and madness.
• He believed that “we are all savages at heart”. Which of the characters in Streetcar prove or disprove this?
• 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.
• We find, in this play, an implicit condemnation of homosexual behaviour. Was this his attempt to pacify those who disagreed with homosexuality or influenced by the fact that he was a homosexual but extremely uncomfortable with his sexuality?
• He also has a preoccupation with physical ugliness and the inevitability of death. He suffered a crisis in 1946 when he believed, incorrectly, that he was suffering from incurable cancer. Is this why Blanche is so afraid of the light?
• His sister Rose suffered a breakdown in 1937 and was admitted to a mental hospital and, not long afterwards, she was lobotomised. Williams suffered from depression throughout his life and lived in fear that he too would go insane.
• In the mid-twentieth century, Americans were fascinated and charmed by the idea of the South, a place they associated with a landed elite in elegant houses, flaunting their inherited wealth and studied gentility. For Williams, the South stood for strong cultural values whilst the North was greedy and sordid. Thus we can see that Blanche and Stanley are opposites.
• Williams was influenced not only by American drama, including that of the South, but also by European culture. Like