Characteristics And Representations In 'A Streetcar Named Desire'

1. Characteristics of “A Streetcar Named Desire” in context of Naturalism

1. What are the characteristics of “A Streetcar Named Desire” that make it a piece of naturalist literature?
2. Blanche and Stella both view Stanley very differently – how do they see him and what does this view say about themselves? What causes Stella to continue to return to Stanley? Does she really trust him? Does she ultimately sacrifice her sister for him?

The very first question has been concentrating on the description of the characteristics that has clear reflection of the concept ‘Naturalism’.  The major characters are Blanche, Stella, Stanley, and Mitch. The interaction between these central characters has been portraying the reflection of the naturalistic approaches throughout the entire story. The setting reflected in the story is completely featuring the sequences that people can see in everyday’s life. The characters look real itself, which made the readers feel like the real story. While defining herself, Blanche presented the view of an ordinary woman who seeks for a pleasant life. However, unlike others, she also had to face the crucial and tragic part in her life. Blanche found herself as a needy woman all of a sudden after being defeated. The character of Stanley represents the real-life egoistic male who is ruled by his own commands. The character of Mitch is also quite realistic and it showed when she abandoned Blanche after knowing the dark side of her past life. Therefore, the character of Mitch did not reflect any shining armor rather a realistic character. The author did not portray his character as a man who will sacrifice to accept Blanche even after knowing the dark past of her life. On the other hand, the character of Stella represented the common society woman who cannot stand any broken marriage or leave their husbands. Each of the characters had portrayed the naturalistic images that are commonly seen in the daily lives. Hence, the story made a clear picture of the Naturalism.

Tennessee Williams in his play A Streetcar Named Desire has portrayed the central personage of a woman named Blanche Du Bois. At the very beginning of the play she attracts out attention by being a sincere and fragile woman in the society. The major difference between the real character and the pretensions of Blanche is that she always prefers to live in a world of illusions, which reveals the illusionistic image of her own at last. The picture illustrated by Williams is reflecting the contradictory nature of Blanche and Stanley, who likes to reside in a world full of reality. Throughout the entire play, Blanche has been trying to rescue herself from immense brutality whereas Stanley ends it up by reflecting his naturalistic worldview.

After the death of her husband she never tried to involve with any other person. However, while staying at Stella’s home, she started to make an intimate relationship with Mitch. Even in this scenario too, she highlighted an illusionary image of her dark past and revealed the truth to Mitch. Even before, she had gone through the worst kind of pains that was quite unbearable for her. She explained her grief towards the death of her family. She said, “All of those deaths! The long parade of the graveyard! Father, mother!” Her agony towards being alone is also appeared through her statement. She exclaimed to her sister, “I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can’t be alone”. Her inner pain reflected when she expressed her anxiety. She replied, “I want to rest! I want to breathe quietly again! Yes- I want Mitch...very badly! Just think! If it happens”. The way of her expressiveness revealed her dependency on people and she cannot stay alone. Hence, she always tried to belong to an imaginative world be freed from the immense pain she got in her past relationship.