Main Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire :: English Literature

Main Themes in A Streetcar Named DesireFantasy/Illusion Blanche dwells in illusion conjuring trick is her primarymeans of self- justification. Her deceits do non carry any feature of malicerather, they dumbfound from her weakness and inability to confront thetruth head-on. She tells things not as they are, but as they ought tobe. For her, fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from thetragedies she has had to endure. Unfortunately, this defense is frailand will be shattered by Stanley. In the end, Stanley and Stella will too resort to a kind of illusion Stella will gouge herself tobelieve that Blanches accusations against Stanley are false.The Old S appearh and the New South Stella and Blanche come from a worldthat is rapidly dying. Belle Reve, their familys ancestralplantation, has been lost. The two sisters, symbolically, are the brave outliving members of their family. Stella will mingle her blood with aman of manual(prenominal) stock, and Blanche will enter the w orld of madness.Stanley represents the new order of the South valiancy is dead,replaced by a rat race, to which Stanley makes several proudillusions.Cruelty The simply unforgivable crime, according to Blanche, isdeliberate cruelty. This sin is Stanleys specialty. His final assaultagainst Blanche is a merciless attack against an already-beaten foe.On the other hand, though Blanche is dishonest, she never lies out ofmalice. Her cruelty is unintentional often, she lies in a vain effortto plays. passim Streetcar, we see the full range of cruelty, fromBlanches well-intentioned deceits to Stella self-deceiving treacheryto Stanleys deliberate and ungoverned malice. In Williams plays,there are many ways to hurt close toone. And some are worse than others.The Primitive and the Primal Blanche often speaks of Stanley asape-like and primitive. Stanley represents a very unrefined manhood, aromantic idea of man untasted by civilization and its effeminizinginfluences. His appeal is clear Ste lla cannot resist him, and evenBlanche, though repulsed, is on some level drawn to him. Stanleysunrefined nature also includes a terrifying amorality. The service ofhis desire is central to who he is he has no qualms about driving hissister-in-law to madness, or raping her.Desire Closely associate to the theme above, desire is the centraltheme of the play. Blanche seeks to deny it, although we learn subsequentin the play that desire is one of her driving motivations her desireshave caused her to be driven out of town.