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"Do you think me, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?" (Bronte). In this Charlotte Bronte quote you can see that social class is a determining factor in a person's view towards another. The rich look down at the poor as obscure and worthless due to their social class. This is evident in the world famous play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams through the colliding personalities between the main characters Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois. The critical lens of Marxism can be applied to the play due to the tensions between the rich and the poor, the downfall of the old south, and different views/changes in the southern economic system.
Blanche Dubois is known as a southern belle and grew up in a rich high-class southern society with her sister Stella. Once Blanche decides to visit her sister Stella and her husband Stanley in Elysian Fields, New Orleans she is introduced as an outsider. "Her appearance is incongruous with this setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit... with necklaces and earrings of pearl" (Williams 15). Blanche's portrays her self as being a southern bell through her appearance. She dresses of wealth trying to show her social class. When Blanche first visits Elysian Fields we see the differences between social classes collide. Blanche portrays her self as high-class with wealth and is entering a difference social environment that can be seen as lower class. This causes a tension between herself and other characters in the play. This tension between classes can further seen when Blanche and Stella first meet in Elysian Fields. "Why, that you had to live in these conditions" (Williams 20). When Blanche first talks with Stella about her living conditions i...

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... that she is cheating him out of money. His desire to move up in social class and not be oppressed by the higher class leads him to this. The oppression of the lower working class like Stanley by the higher class like Blanche is a key factor in Marxism and bases the foundation of the Marxist society.
Furthermore Tennessee William's play A Streetcar Named Desire portrays the theories of a Marxist society through the colliding personalities between Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois. Marxist is based on the theories of separation of the lower and upper class through power and ruling. Which is shown through the different personality traits between the protagonists of the play.

Works Cited

"Quotes About Social Class." (17 Quotes). N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2014.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire: A Play. New York: New Directions, 1947. Print.

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