“Streetcar” – Ending question

Choose a play where the ending is effective.

Discuss the means by which the dramatist ensures a successful ending.

Paragraph 1:

e.g. “A Streetcar named Desire” was written by Tennessee Williams. The play charts the confrontation between a Southern belle Blanche Du Bois and her arrogant brother in law Stanley Kowalski in mid-forties New Orleans. It is clear by the end of Scene 11 that the playwright has utilised a variety of means to ensure an effective conclusion to the drama.

Paragraph 2: One means by which Williams ensures an effective ending is through the use of resolution. Indeed resolution is conveyed by the fact that:

  1. Blanche is sent away. This is fitting as she is out of place in this setting andin this neighbourhood.

Evidence 1:

  1. The play also begins and ends with the symbolism of the Blue Piano music which illustrates the cosmopolitan/exotic mix of the neighbourhood and of the newAmerica. Blanche has no place in this new world as indicated by her whitefancy clothes (which suggest she is going to a cocktail party in Sc1) or by the discomfort she clearly displays in this environment so shehas to go.

Evidence 2:

  1. In addition, the repetition of the music again at the end of the play suggests that the playhas gone full circle and that things are now as they were at the beginning again.

Evidence 3:

Paragraph 3: Williams also creates an effective ending by the fact that conflict and tension, however, unfairly are resolved.

Evidence 1: Blanche has been defeated, Stanley has won.

Quotation and analysis needed, including the old world of the South has been defeated

and the new cosmopolitan mix of the South has won.

Evidence 2: Illusion has been defeated, Reality has won. Quotation and analysis needed.

Paragraph 4: In addition, the fact that order is restored also ensures that the ending is successful.

Evidence 1: The play opens with the "Blue Piano". This emphasises the cosmopolitan

mix of the neighbourhood. The play ends as it began with this music. This symbolises that things have

returned to as they were before. Blanche, however, was alienated in this environment, but Stella

survives because she is willing to intermingle her blood with the "new" blood of Stanley.

Evidence 2: Stella and Stanley resume as a couple. Stanley, Stella and the baby are back

to being the family unit they were (minus the baby) before Blanche's arrival. Ironically the lasting

impression the audience have of Stanley is of a family man comforting his wife. We know, however,

that this impression is wrong.

Paragraph 5: Moreover the fitting end for the Protagonist as well as some of the other characters also ensures the effectiveness of the ending.

Evidence 1: Protagonist - Blanche.

  • Sadly her world of illusion belongs in a mental asylum.

Her world of illusion is kept up to the end. She thinks that she is going on

a cruise with Shep Huntleigh, but she has been committed to a mental

asylum.

  • Her behaviour in Sc.11 indicates how unstable she is and just how far she haslost her grip on reality. Pg 117 - "I can smell the sea air". "I'll be buried at sea".
  • Yes. Her insanity is seen to have reached new depths, "The Varsouviana is filteredinto weird distortion" (pg 120). This is important as throughout the play the soundof the Varsouviana has always indicated Blanche's departure from the real worldinto her world of insanity. The use of "distorted" shows just how unstable herworld of insanity has become.
  • "Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes". This is

reflective of the rape scene in Sc.10 when shapes first appeared on the wall.

The fact that they appear once again reminds us of the rape which led to

Blanche's final descent into her world of insanity. Their symbolism here is to

remind us of that final descent and also to indicate that there is perhaps no

escape now from this world of insanity.

  • Blanche represents the old South and the genteel world of the old America.

She has no place in this new world and cannot be seen to belong to it.

Antagonist - Stanley

  • A fitting end for Stanley. Sadly, he represents the new American in the new world. He hasto be seen to survive and emerge as the victor.

Paragraph 6: The ending is also made effective by the fact that the atmosphere

at the start is seen to be relevant.

Evidence 1: Stanley's aggression is suggested at the beginning of the play - the

butcher's package (Quotation needed) and by the end he has raped

Blanche (Quotation needed).

Evidence 2: At the beginning there is a sense of conflict between Stella and Blanche.

(Quotation needed). This is shown at the end of the play when Stella

chooses to believe Stanley over Blanche. (Quotation needed).

Evidence 3: Blanche was alienated in Stanley and Stella's world. (Examples needed).

In the end she has to go.

Paragraph 7 : Finally, Williams ensures a successful ending by the fact that by the end of the drama, audience sympathies are shown to be appropriate?

  • The audience have felt increasingly sorry for Blanche throughout the play. (Give examples). She is the victim for whom there is no happy ending. Stanley is violent and aggressive but he is the victor. (Quotation needed)
  • There is no happy ending for Blanche. She is raped and then sent to a mental asylum.

Paragraph 8: In conclusion it is clear that in “A Streetcar named Desire” by Tennessee Williams that the playwright has created a successful ending by …