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Scene One of A Streetcar Named Desire
What is the dramatic significance of scene one of the play A Streetcar
named Desire?
Scene 1 of this play has great dramatic significance. In this essay, I
will be looking at key points throughout the scene that reveal the key
features of the plot, characters, theme and imagery plus how it is
used to give the audience a taster for what is to come.
Scene one is set in New Orleans, I feel this is used because in
peoples mind beforehand it has a strong emotional presence and is
often associated with many types of genres such as music. Sight and
smell are often used in plays to help people get a sense of atmosphere
and this is no exception. Cleverly as always to make something stand
out in the media eye Williams takes this one step further by combining
the strong senses of glorious unbelieving sights of New Orleans and
the vast cultural display of music to create a strong, atmospheric
potion. It offers a romantic vision of dingy life(referring to the not
so perfect world they live in). The mix of characters demonstrates the
way that New Orleans has changed to other southern American cities. It
was originally a catholic settlement while most southern cities were
protestant
The music of the blue piano is cleverly used in the background to
portray to feel of changing life throughout the city, while seemingly
also reacting to the changing moods in the play through hate and anger
of Blanche’s arguments with Stanley to love and forgiveness when
Blanche arrives to stay with Stella. I feel it is also used to take
the sting out of the feel of poverty.
The polka music displays its original musical style, whilst being used
for far more striking and startling incidents su...
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...nough’ in
many situations to get his point across.
Stanley’s middle-scene entrance with meat underlines his primitive
qualities as if he were taking it back to his cave fresh from the
kill. It also displays a strong sexual bond between him and Stella
which is also shown as noticeable by other characters. Stanley shouts
“Catch!” as he throws the meat to the negro woman who yells “Catch
What?”. The negro woman and Eunice see this as sexual and hysterical
in his act of tossing the meat to a delighted Stella.
This is a very cleverly thought out & structured first scene as this
certainly prepares the audience for what is to come. Many class
conflicts and clashes with high tempo drama from all sides of the
story are certainly expected to remain throughout while a classic
twist could and hopefully will be to carry on the great start could be
on the cards.
The music correlates to the images because the slow-playing violin and soft-playing woodwinds complement the nefarious activities shown; therefore, molding a creepy and ominous tone in order to demonstrate the credulous attitudes of the audience. When thinking of demonic activities, the soul of an individual is automatically frightened, which is what the composer manipulates in the opening scene. Fenton takes advantage of this and incorporates melodic dark music to further intensify the fear of the “so-called” villain, Abigail Williams, in the
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses the suicide of Blanche's husband to illuminate Blanche's insecurities and immoral behavior. When something terrible happens to someone, it often reveals who he or she truly is. Blanche falls victim to this behavior, and she fails to face her demons. This displays how the play links a character’s illogical choices and their inner struggles.
During the time period Tennessee Williams, author of the play A Streetcar Named Desire, lived in, men were typically portrayed as leaders of the household. Through Williams' usage of dialogue, specific descriptions of each characters, as well as sound, he illustrates to readers of today's society how differently a man and woman coexisted in the mid-1900s, compared to today. Through the eyes of a topical/historical theorist, who stresses the relationships between the story and the time period it takes place, the distinction between today's society and that of five decades past, can be observed with depth and precision.
Or, as Mary Ann Corrigan later puts it [as does Judith J. Thompson, 38], the Blanche-Stanley struggle is purely an external dramatization of what is going on inside Blanche’s head: “the external events of the play, while actually occurring, serve as a metaphor for Blanche’s internal conflict” [Corrigan, 392]. Critics who share Sharp’s and Corrigan’s views feel that Streetcar is essentially a psychological drama about Blanche’s internal struggle with herself.”
When discussing the notion that “Love can often lead to the creation of an ‘Outsider’." there are cases in our literary examples that would agree with the statement, and some that would not. Outsiders in Much Ado About Nothing, Pride and Prejudice and A Streetcar Named Desire are created by both love and other themes, whether it be class, power, disinterest or a scandal.
He embodies the traits found in a world of old fashioned ideals where men were meant to be dominant figures." It was also justified with the scenes that included the interactions between Stanley and the other women in the play. In the first scene Stanley tosses the meat at Stella which displays his barbaric side. This behavior can be compared with the characteristics of a caveman that brings dead meat into the cave after a good
During the confrontation during the poker game, which immediately ends it, readers are exposed to the reality of Stella and Stanley’s
In Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire the characters represent two opposing themes. These themes are of illusion and reality. The two characters that demonstrate these themes are Blanche, and Stanley. Blanche represents the theme of Illusion, with her lies, and excuses. Stanley demonstrates the theme of reality with his straightforward vulgar ness. Tennessee Williams uses these characters effectively to demonstrate these themes, while also using music and background characters to reinforce one another.
Branching from that, Stella has an inner conflict because she does not know whether to side with her husband or her sister in each situation. Blanche and Mitch have a conflict because their original plans of getting married are destroyed when Stanley reveals her past.... ... middle of paper ... ... Blanche came to town on a streetcar because she was ostracized in her old home as a result of her desires.
Isn't it true the relationship between Stella and Stanley is praiseworthy, since it combines sexual attraction with compassion for the purpose of procreation? Isn't it true that as opposed to Stanley's normalcy in marriage, Blanche's dalliance in sexual perversion and overt efforts to break up Stanley and Stella's marriage is reprehensible? Isn't it true that Stella's faulty socialization resulting in signs of hysteria throughout the play meant that she probably would have ended her life in a mental hospital no matter whether the rape had occurred or not?
Tennessee Williams has said, “We have to distrust each other. It is our only defense against betrayal.” Betrayal is prevalent in life and literature and creates uncertainty. According to Williams, without questioning people, one will eventually be betrayed. Characters deceive each other and, occasionally, themselves as they try to mend their lives. In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, betrayal is evident in every relationship — Blanche and Mitch, Blanche and Stella, and Blanche and Stanley — and contributes to the theme of uncertainty in the novel. Blanche Dubois is the ultimate example of betrayal because she ends up being betrayed and betraying others throughout the play, which serves as a basic model of the effects betrayal can have on a person.
Stanley does not take notice of his wife’s concern, but instead continues on his original course, asserting his own destiny, without any thought to the effect it may have on those around him. This taking blood at any cost to those around him is foreshadowed in scene one, with the packet of met which he forces upon his wife. It is through actions such as these that Stanley asserts power, symbolic of the male dominance throughout patriarchal society. He also gains a s...
Death in A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams uses the theme of death continually in the play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ through the use of dramatic imagery and literal references. The characters of Blanche and Mitch are used the most frequently to express Williams’ own obsession with death. Though neither of the characters actually obsesses about death, Blanche’s life has been smothered by the deaths of those she loves and the coming death of Mitch’s mother is an obvious motivation for his actions. Blanche first voices the theme of death in the very first scene whilst discussing the fate that has befallen Belle Reve.
she was told "to take a streetcar named Desire, and then to transfer to one
The seven deadly sins are well established as being detrimental; nevertheless, humanity naturally gravitates towards the inhuman. The life of Blanche DuBois, the protagonist of Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire is derailed by lust: the lechery of her ancestors causes the loss of the family home, her husband’s lust leads to suicide, and her own sexuality forces her to leave her occupation and her hometown in disgrace. After taking the streetcars Desire and Cemeteries, Blanche seeks refuge from reality in the home of her sister Stella and her masculine and somewhat barbaric husband Stanley. Despite her attempts to start an unblemished life with a new persona and love interest, Mitch, Blanche’s dark past begins to resurface after