Why Scene 1 Forms an Effective Opening to the Play

A Streetcar Named Desire

Why Scene 1 forms an effective opening to the play

1. It establishes the setting:

a)New Orleans, a city in Louisiana near the gulf of Mexico. The time is in 1940s after World War 2 – but the play is timeless. New Orleans was a multicultural city long before Civil Rights movements of the 1960s.

b)New Orleans represents the dawn of the New America – free from racism and its associations with slavery. It is very different to the deep south of America (represented by Blanche). It is “a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town”.

c)The main events are set in Stella and Stanley’s downstairs flat which has “two rooms” and a “bathroom”. This small flat set in the “humid” atmosphere of New Orleans becomes a pressure cooker as tension grows between Blanche, Stella and Stanley. The audience sees a very tight, small setting and witnesses the interaction of the characters in this small space.

1. It establishes the main characters: the differences between them suggests they will be in conflict with each other.

a)Stanley

‘about twenty-eight or thirty years old’

‘roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes’ – symbolising his working class roots

‘a red-stained package from the butcher’s’ – he is the hunter / gatherer, the cave-man returning with the meat (suggests he is primitive)

“Meat!” ‘He heaves the package at her’ (word choice ‘heaves’ suggests his latent aggression)

b)Stella

‘a gentle young woman, about twenty five, and of background obviously quite different from her husband’s’

‘Stella complies reluctanctly’ (word choice ‘ complies’ suggests she is used to giving in to Blanche)

c)Blanche

‘daintily dressed in a white suits … white gloves and a hat’ – there is the suggestion of a Southern Belle and a hint of innocence and naivety about Blanche

‘she is about five years older than Stella’

‘her appearance is incongruous to this setting’(word choice ‘incongruous’ suggests she doesn’t fit in – she shouldn’t be here)

‘there is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggest a moth’ (like a moth is attracted to a flame so too Blanche is often attracted to danger)

1. It establishes some of the themes:

a)Desire

“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields!”– this suggests that if you step on to desire the inevitable and tragic terminus is death

b)Family Conflict

-The differences between Blanche and Stanley

-Blanche’s attempts to get Stella to choose her over Stanley

-“I’m afraid I’ll strike you as being the unrefined type”

c)Not fitting into society

-Blanche is ‘incongrous’ to her society

d)Deceit (unreliable character)

-“You haven’t asked me how I happened to get away from the school before the spring term ended.”

-“your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard…”

e)Death

“Belle Reve? Lost, is it? No!”

“I let the place go! I let the place go? Where were you? In bed with your – Polack!”

“Death is expensive …”

“The boy – the boy died.”

f)Alcoholism

“liquor goes fast in hot weather”

“I rarely touch it” (Blanche)

“Some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often” (Stanley)

g)Vanity

“You see I still have that awful vanity about my looks even now that my looks are slipping! (She laughs nervously and glances at Stella for reassurance)”

1. It sets up some important questions – which the play will resolve

a)What led to the death of Blanche’s young husband? And what part did she play in it?

b)What caused Blanche to leave the school? Was she merely ‘unwell”?

c)What will be the result of Blanche’s presence in Stella and Stanley’s home? Will people of such different backgrounds be able to fit in with each other?

d)What unhappiness is Blanche covering up with her drinking?

e)How was Belle Reve lost? – Is Blanche telling the truth?

I Yule 2015