Set Design

This is my drawing of the imaginary stage of 'a streetcar named desire'. I would set the stage so that a white-grey-ish brick wall with a cross ladder is encircling the actual stage, which is reduced to a kitchen with a table and a cupboard (with the rum hidden in it) and a foldable bed for Blanche in the closet, separated from the bedroom by a flowered curtain (Blanche exchanged it with a plain one because she wanted to bring more color into the apartment). The bedroom has a bed only, accompanied by a radio and a night lamp. The lamp is currently hidden by the bed, on the other side of it. The radio was stored in the cupboard by Stella because of her husband's bad temper. The bathroom also has a door to the bathroom with a bathtub in it. The bathroom door can be opened, but won't see much happening there. The main action will always happen in these two rooms. On top of the brick wall you can see the two windows of Eunice's apartment. Whenever people are upstairs, the lights will go on and shadows will be visible at the windows but never clear faces or bodies. The reason why the table is the biggest object in the kitchen, is because whenever something important happens, someone will be either having a drink at the table, playing cards or sitting down. The trick with this awesome stage is that when the action only happens in the kitchen, the whole bedroom can be pushed to the side with the curtain, so that it looks like the view is just on the kitchen, but more focused. This will only happen when Blanche's foldable bed needs to be out, or more people have come over for poker, so that there isn't a space issue.
When the action happens on the streets, an extended brick wall can be let down to hide the rooms and let the audience focus on the street. The streets are drawn on the stage in front of the rooms so that it gives the play a sense of motion even though they live in a very enclosed area. 

Rien A Voir

The setting of A Streetcar Named Desire is impressively well described by the Author, Arthur Miller. The stage descriptions are full of adjectives and comparisons, such as 'raffish charm' (3), 'faded white stairs' (3), 'red-stained package' (4), 'shocked disbelief' (5) and many more. The author wants the reader to have a perfect visual of the setting and the actions of the characters. This way, actors and directors working with the play can put a play on stage that would look closely like the author had envisioned it to be. The descriptions above set the mood of the play, by using positive or negative diction to accompany nouns to further improve the visual of the play in one's mind. One not only sees the scene but also forms opinions, emotions and begins to emphasize with the characters. The author therefore uses such insightful descriptions right in the beginning of the play, to grasp the readers attention and to make the stage settings as realistic as possible.
By using techniques such as the describing actions with 'as if...' is intended to give the reader or actor further elements to work with to eventually imaging or create the whole scene to the point. On page 10, Blanche is described: 'Blanche sits in a chair very stiffly with her shoulders slightly hunched and her legs pressed close together and her hands slightly clutching as if she were quite cold'. First of all, Miller uses vivid descriptions to describe the scene by writing that Blanche sits 'stiffly' and that her shoulders are 'slightly hunched' and her legs 'pressed close together'. He then exaggerates the description a bit further by saying that Blanche is clutching her hands slightly as if she were quite cold. What is important about these details in description, is that they evoke emotions and vivid images for the reader. On the same page, it says that Blanche 'begins to speak with feverish vivacity as if she feared for either of them to stop and think'. At this point the 'as if' has an even bigger function. It implies Blanche's feelings and foreshadows that there is some sort of conflict between the two of them. In this stage direction it is also interesting to see that Blanche is said to speak with feverish vivacity because it hints to the fact that she is someone that likes to go over the top and seems to be slightly hysterical.
Overall the descriptions are very full of images and comparisons. Every action and movement of the characters is addressed, so that the actor knows exactly how to act and the reader knows exactly how to imagine the scene. Arthur Miller emphasizes on these vivid description, and lets the descriptions speak when there is nothing the character could say to make his point more clear. For example in the scene where Stanley overpowers Blanche, the action is described as follows: ' She moans. The bottle-top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed. The hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces sound loudly'. The characters don't have to say anything for the scene to be very clear to the reader, even though it is very vague at the same time. In this particular moment in the play, the reader or the audience is forced to imagine what exactly happened between Blanche and Stanley. The author uses the tool of imagination to keep the story interesting and mysterious. The use of music in the descriptions is also intended to give the scenes a mood, or speak for the words. (discussed further in Love and other drugs.)

Love and other drugs

Blue Piano + Trumpet/Drums
The blue piano as well as the trumpets and drums accompany the characters through the story. As they initially serve the purpose of creating tension and engaging with the audience, they have their own meanings and themes that they emphasize on.
The trumpet and drums have different meanings for different occasions. One of the main character trait that this music possesses is the sexual tension. The music reminds the audience of a tribal environment, with people dancing around a fire, drinking their alcohol made from horse milk and following their natural sexual instincts. It seems as though this image is portrayed when Stanley and Blanche have sex after an on-going series of moments where the reader can practically feel the tension that is between the two. It is ironic that the drums and trumpet get louder and louder as Blanche gives up and lets Stanley take over control against her will (which, of course, can be interpreted in different manners). If the trumpet and drums were intended to represent the serenity of Blanche’s mind, this would be the part when it fades irreversibly; she has lost her mind.
Both trumpet and drums also have the function of setting the mood in more joyous scenes, like when Stanley comes back home and shouts out his friend’s names. This is the scene where the audience is introduced to the characters, giving them an immediate impression of Stanley: What a man! The trumpet and drums could therefore also represent his manhood and possibly his status of a ‘lion’, ‘king’ and ‘animal’. This thesis would then relate back to the scene where his sexual ego overwhelms Blanche and wins the fight they both were avoiding.
The blue piano’s function is a bit harder to determine, as it serves a lot of roles. It is clear that the blue piano introduces conflicts as well as tensions, but they are of various kinds. The piano sets the mood of the life on the setting, but most importantly Blanche’s life. In German, when someone is blue (blau) that means that they are drunk. Maybe the color blue has a bigger significance than it seems to have? Whenever Blanche is in a state where she plays a different role of her confusing life, she almost seems drunk. Additionally, she does drink a lot and alcohol plays a very penetrating role in her life. The alcohol saves her in a way from awkward situations, just like the piano plays when she’s on set.
An observation can be made from the links the trumpets and drums have to Stanley, and the blue piano has to Blanche. He represents strength and sex, while she represents a broken heart with a hint of pretentious purity. The ultimate collision happens when Stanley assaults her: The music of the blue piano fades (p.99) indicating that her melody is over. She has lost her part of the tension, and the music of the trumpets and drums grow louder and louder, showing that Stanley is now the only party with power in the relationship.
In the end, the piano as well as the drums and trumpet represent a lot of things, but it all comes down to the piano being associated with Blanche and her character and the trumpets and drums playing whenever Stanley is in action.


Blanche’s Singing

Throughout the play, Blanche spends a lot of time in the bathroom – while only two scenes have her being overheard singing from the bathroom, Stanley makes an allusion to the fact that she spends hours bathing. In a sense, it has become Blanche’s shelter from reality, an area where her illusions are at their greatest. The songs Blanche sings reveal her illusions and dreams of youth and desirability. However, Tennessee also used them to reflect the plot.

        In Scene 2, Stanley and Stella discuss the loss of Belle Reve for the first time. Blanche has yet to meet Stanley and is in the shower, singing the song “From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water” (Jazz version).

From the Land of the Sky-blue Water

They brought a captive maid;

And her eyes they are lit with lightnings

Her heart is not afraid!

But I steal to her lodge at dawning,

I woo her with my flute;

She is sick for the Sky-blue Water,

The captive maid is mute.

While Blanche only sings the first two lines of the song, it foreshadows the entire plot (the audience of the time would have been familiar with the lyrics). The progression of plot is established in four points of two lines each. The first two lines are Blanche’s arrival at Elysian Fields, from what she claims is a life of luxury and wonder. Her captivity is due to both the setting, which she despises, and her economic situation, which has forced her there. Lines 3 to 4 suggest an eargerness for discovery, much akin to Blanche who has decided to ‘conquer’ and seduce the men at Elysian Fields. Bringing the charade too far however, leads to Stanley raping and breaking her, as reflected in lines 5 and 6. Finally, Blanche retreats into herself and her illusions, longing for her “Sky-blue water” (luxurious life, desirability) and becoming “mute” (unheard and silenced) in an asylum (lines 7 and 8).
        The second time Blanche sings is in Scene 7, during which Stanley reveals Blanche’s lies to Stella. Their argument is interspersed with Blanche’s singing of “It’s Only A Paper Moon.” The lyrics she sings are as follows:

•       “Say, it’s only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea- But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me!” (120)

•       “It's a Barnum and Bailey world, Just as phoney as it can be- But it wouldn't be make believe If you believed in me.” (120)

•       “Without your love It's a honky tonk parade! Without your love, It's a melody played in a penny arcade...” (121)

•       A repetition of the first two quotes on pages 121 and 122

The soft quality and naivety of these lyrics dismisses any doubts that the reader may have about Blanche; she has built herself a world of illusions. As Blanche admits however, her house of cards only remains standing as long as society around her continues to believe and encourage her lies. Grasping at these straws is ironic given Stanley’s rejection of her on the other side of the bathroom door. In this case, the lyrics serve to heighten the irony as well as the tension in the scene. Stanley and Stella’s argument would be valid without Blanche, but wouldn’t be as antagonistic without the audience’s acknowledgement that Blanche will be destroyed by Stanley’s revelations.
        There is also a great irony in the music that Blanche chooses to sing. The first song was adapted from a “tribal melody” and converted into several styles, including Jazz. The second song was also a Jazz song. Considering that Blanche arrives at Elysian Fields with racial prejudices, she would likely have scorned at singing ‘African American music’ such as Jazz songs; these would logically have been taken out of her repertoire. However, depending on the version of “From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water” that the director chooses, this has several implications for Blanche’s character. If she sings the popular version, the singing is consistent with Blanche’s invented persona, and makes her fall into disillusionement and singing Jazz songs only harder. But if she sings the jazzy version, this serves to increase her deceiving persona from the start. Considering that Blanche arrives at Elysian Fields with racial prejudices, singing Jazz songs only serves to increase the image of a deceiving persona. This further separates her real character from her illusions and reveals her to be just as ‘common’ as the people she despises.

Polka Music

Whenever the Polka music is evident is almost always evident in scenes that have something to do with Blanches past, and more than often it is when her husband is involved. Blanche will begin to think about what has happened in her past, and as a result the stage directions will prompt the polka music to play in the background. The music will start t play before Blanche begins to talk about her dead husband, and as soon as the story has been finished the music will die down. During the first few scene’s of the play it seemed as though the music was in fact being played in the background of the city in which the characters are placed. However after its first appearances, one begins to notice that it only ever plays when Blanche is talking about her husband. One could simply say that Williams uses it to give a warning or a sign of sorts to the audience that Blanche associates something about the music with the memory, or it could simply be a sign in a changing of emotions. As the music appears again and again, however, one begins to notice that it is always in the same tune. Blanche identifies it as “Varsouviana”, and the pattern begins to get a little odd. It is only in scene 9 where the reader/audience is shown the true nature of the music. Judging from the reaction of Mitch and Blanche in scene 9 it is clear that Blanche is the only one who can hear the music. When talking to Mitch, Blanche is slowly moving down the path of a mental breakdown. Her life has been ruined and her reputation has been made known to Mitch. With her life collapsing around her she sense’s something is wrong. She says “The ‘Varsouviana’! The polka tune they were playing when Allan - Wait! … There now, the shot! it always stops after that”. The reader can clearly see that the memory attached to the music is that of the night her husband shot himself. She can predict when the music starts and stops because the music is within her. The feverish music is a sign of not only her guilt of the death of her husband, but also how it has affected her mentality. The guilt has turned her mind somewhat unstable, and she is beginning to collapse into insanity. Williams uses the music to show the audience that Blanche is in fact slowly breaking down mentally, and soon her insanity will take over.

Somebody to love

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men might strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,–I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!–and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
- Elizabeth Barret Browning


The sonnet relates directly to the character of Blanche in a Streetcar named Desire, as she tells Mitch that the lyrics engraved on the cigarette box that he has, are part of her favorite sonnet by Barret. It is ironic because the box comes from his old love that died, and Blanches big love died too, forming another connection between the two of them. The sonnet describes the life of Blanche very precisely when it states that 'I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose'. Her old griefs are the loss of her husband, as well as the loss of her pride and youth. The childhood's faith refers to a time where she was still able to love and trust someone with all her heart. The sonnet talks of losing this love, which relates directly to Blanche's inability to love again. She too, has loved someone as she has never loved anyone before in her life, and she describes: "It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in the shadow, that's how it struck the world for me." More than the memory of being in love, she remembers very well to what extent she has been hurt by this 'young' man. She found out that he was homosexual after thinking that he was the love of her life, shattering her into little pieces. It seems as though Blanche has never gotten over the fact that she might be in some way responsible for the suicide of her dead husband, which is why she never found a man to trust again. Hence the line "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers" (178).
The sonnet is also a projection of Blanche's dreams, as she wishes more than anything to have somebody to love. She wants to marry, and not be an old maid forever. This is why the inscription on Mitch's box comes like a sign to her that he is the right man for her. They're in a similar situation, but history seems to repeat itself a little bit, as Mitch is described to us as a man that still lives with his mom, that isn't as manly as his friends, and who actually shows emotions and the wish to marry. Blanche chose again a man that is more sensitive, a man that resembles her homosexual dead husband. The poem represents a perfect love story of someone who loves someone unconditionally, portraying an unlikely and surreal situation, especially in the context of Blanche's life. She is mentally damaged but she still dreams of something pure and perfect. The sonnet emphasizes on the contrast between dream and reality just like Blanche is playing different roles to fit an ideal and ends up destroying herself.


Saumya touched on a very interesting point in her blogpost Pay no Rent about the sonnet in relation to the play. She says that the poem reflects the struggle that Blanche deals with in her life. She deals with death, heartbreak and loss and all these feelings and obstacles are reflected in the poem. I didn't think of it this way before, so I was very grateful for Saumya's blog post. Go check it out!

Sexism

Stanley:

1. Master Sergeant (pg. 18)

2. primitive (pg. 39)

3. animal thing (pg. 62)

4. madman (pg. 73)

5. ape-like (pg. 83)

6. pig (pg. 131)

7. king (pg.131)

Stanley is portrayed as a very masculine figure. He is the Alpha male, he is strong, muscular and attractive. All words related to him make him look like an animal, like something overpowering and unpredictable. He is described to be a Master Sergeant and a king, he is the ruler of his household as well as of all his friends. Everybody listens to Stanley, the everlasting leader of the crew. There’s something about him that makes him so primitive and almost ruthless. He is certainly attractive but he also comes from a working class and he is foreigner. This gives him something exotic, something women are looking for. The language associated with him shows that men are supposed to be the man of the household and the more powerful sexe.

Stella:

1. honey (pg. 12)

2. as fresh as a daisy (pg. 49)

3. old maid (pg. 60)

4. canary bird (pg. 127)

5. queen (pg. 131)

Stella is mostly portrayed as something sweet and breakable. She seems fairy like but at the same time weak. To be called an ‘old maid’ isn’t exactly flattering. Though the language associated with her seems sweet and innocent (like sweet and daisy), it isn’t in her favor. She doesn’t get to have a say in anything and she can’t really be someone even though her and Stanley have fights often. She argues with her husband to gain some sort of power, but in the end she is still called a sweet little woman, a canary bird. The language related to her is certainly sexist and makes her look like she isn’t of a big value but more like something nice to look at.