Analysis of "a Streetcar Named Desire"

Analysis of "A Streetcar Named Desire"

The setting of "A Streetcar Named Desire" is in a part of New Orleans called Elysian Fields. The area is poor, but also has a "raffish charm" (1165). As the play takes shape we see that indeed there is a streetcar called Desire that brings a traveler to the city. This traveler is the protagonist, Blanche DuBois, whom comes to the city seemingly to escape the past and start anew. From very early in the play it is easy to see the controversy that surrounds this woman, but the way everything unfolds is full of surprises.

Blanche settles in with her sister Stella and husband Stanley for an unforeseeable time period after being given leave from work due to high stress. The apartment is cramped after Blanche's arrival and she proceeds to be intensely critical about her living conditions. There is a psychological part of Blanche, the writer shows, which is somewhat snooty, in that she really expects high class treatment by those around her. The attention that Blanche requires takes a definite toll on her sister and becomes a huge annoyance to Stanley. This tension builds further during a poker game in which Stanley reveals himself in the story as a rather abusive and violent antagonist. This is seen through him hitting his pregnant wife and throwing a radio out the window without hardly any reason. In scene 3, where this takes place, it becomes absolutely apparent there is less peace to Stella and Stanley's marriage than Blanche had first believed. During the same poker game that Stanley become violent during, we see that one of his poker buddies, Mitch, has an attraction to Blanche.