What themes are there in A Streetcar Named Desire?
A Streetcar Named Desire Themes
- Sexual Desire. Many critics believe that Williams invented the idea of desire for the 20th century.
- Fantasy and Delusion.
- Interior and Exterior Appearance.
- Masculinity and Physicality.
- Femininity and Dependence.
Who does Stella embrace at the end of Scene 4 Why is this significant?
Under cover of another passing train, Stanley slips out of the apartment, and enters it again noisily. Stella runs to Stanley and embraces him fiercely.
Why does Stanley tell Blanche that Stella is pregnant?
He revealed Stella’s secret of being pregnant, he did this to get Blanche to stop flirting with him, Blanche is happy and tells Stella she flirted with Stanley.
What is the symbolism of the streetcar that Blanche mentions in her conversation with Stella?
Stella defends her relationship with Stanley through their sexual chemistry. Blanche uses the streetcar named Desire symbolically, saying that carnal desire is not a way to run a life. But Blanche herself has ridden Desire to arrive in New Orleans; in other words, her own lust has taken her to the end of the line.
Why does Stella love Stanley?
The play begins when Blanche comes to visit Stella and Stanley in New Orleans after having lost their family home, Belle Reve, and her job as a teacher in Laurel, Mississippi. It is clear in the play that Stella is attracted to Stanley’s passionate, animal nature, and that is why she stays with him.
Why did Stella leave Belle Reve?
Blanche tells Stella that she lost Belle Reve, their ancestral home, following the death of all their remaining relatives. She also mentions that she has been given a leave of absence from her teaching position because of her bad nerves.
Why does Stanley get out his silk pajamas?
Why does Stanley get out his silk pajamas? He said that he would take them off and wave them around if he got a call saying he had a son. He only wears them on special occasions. What lie does Blanche tell about Mitch?
What does Red Hot mean in A Streetcar Named Desire?
Red hots refer to the wares of the tamale seller in the street below Stanley and Stella’s apartment.
What does Blanche symbolize?
Blanche DuBois appears in the first scene dressed in white, the symbol of purity and innocence. She is seen as a moth-like creature. She is delicate, refined, and sensitive. She is cultured and intelligent.
What happens in Scene 4 of A Streetcar Named Desire?
A Streetcar Named Desire Scene 4 Summary & Analysis. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Streetcar Named Desire, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The next morning, Stella lies tranquilly in bed when Blanche, wild from a sleepless night, comes in.
How do you track themes in A Streetcar Named Desire?
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Streetcar Named Desire, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. The next morning, Stella lies tranquilly in bed when Blanche, wild from a sleepless night, comes in. Blanche is relieved to find Stella safe, but horrified that she has spent the night with Stanley.
What metaphor does Blanche use to describe the streetcar?
When telling Stella that sheer desire is no basis for a marriage, Blanche points out that there is a streetcar in New Orleans named “Desire” that “bangs through the [French] Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another.” She invokes the streetcar as a metaphor for what she believes Stella feels.
What does Stella ask Blanche about the street car?
Stella asks whether Blanche had ever ridden on that street-car, and Blanche admits that she has, that it’s what brought her here. Stella tells her to stop being so superior in that case, but Blanche still thinks such emotions are the stuff of brief affairs, not a marriage and a life.