“A Streetcar Named Desire” is one of the most popular plays in the US history. Along with two other plays – “Glass Menagerie” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” – it brought its author Tennessee Williams tremendous success and fame. The themes opened in the story help the audience to understand the life in the middle of the twentieth century with its social challenges and relationship difficulties. The movie by Elia Kazan is an impeccable revelation of the outburst of feelings and emotions depicted in the play. While reading gives an opportunity to imagine the characters by oneself, the film presents a lot of impressions the reader would not have thought of: movements, intonation, gestures, glances – everything comes alive in a way the person could not imagine while reading the text.
The play gives insight to the life in the 1950s – it illustrates the issues of marriage violence, homosexuality, mental illness, and inappropriateness in the relationships. These themes were probably the reason why the play was so successful: it unveiled many of the then forbidden topics and allowed the audience to get a glimpse of the real life stories.
Homosexuality in the play led to its being censored once it was made into a movie. In the play, Blanche’s husband commits suicide when his gayness is discovered. She describes to Mitch how she found it out: “By coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty – which wasn’t empty, but had two people in it… the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years” (Williams 95). Blanche’s description of her husband in youth gives a hint to his homosexuality, which he was forced to hide behind a marriage because of the society’s strict norms and boundaries. She remembers that “There was something different about the boy, a nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn’t like a man’s” (Williams 95). This theme was not spoken of at that time, and the scene was cut out from the movie. Mentioning it in the play, however, aroused active discussion on the society.
The theme of mental illness is another important line in the story. The first indication of Blanche’s madness is her frightened look and her words “I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can’t be alone!” (Williams 23). Further, the probable reason for her illness is revealed. She tells her sister about the pain caused by many deaths, and this is what has caused her behavior: “Funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths – not always” (Williams 26-27). In the course of the play, Blanche’s state is clearly depicted as seriously damaged. At the end of scene three, she says to Mitch, “Thank you for being so kind. I need kindness now” (Williams 61). It is an indication of her retreat into her fantasy world: she thanks him for kindness while she has just witnessed a scene of brutal violence.
Self-deception motif in the story is also connected with Blanche’s character. She lies to others and herself in order to put herself in better conditions at least in her imagination. In the beginning, she says that she took “a leave of absence” (Williams 21) from school when, in fact, she was fired. Later, she does not only deceive others but becomes self-delusional. For example, she makes up a story about receiving a telegram from her old beau and believes it herself (Williams 123-127). It seems like she has been lying to others for so long that she started believing in her own stories.
The issue of family violence and inappropriate relationships is the most brightly expressed in the play and further in the movie. From the very beginning, the author describes Stanley as a brutal man: “Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes” (Williams 29). He does not walk but “stalks into the bedroom” (Williams 35). When treating his wife, he is not too courteous: “Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh” (Williams 48). In fact, in one of the scenes, when Blanche is terrified by the quarrel between Stanly and Stella, Mitch tells her “Ho-ho! There is nothing to be scared of” and “don’t take it serious” (Williams 61). Mitch’s words presuppose that such scenes are so frequent in the family that the neighbors have got accustomed to them. In fact, it is not only this couple who often has violent quarrels. The relationships between Eunice and Steve also include the notes of brutality. During one loud scene, Stella tells Blanche “Eunice seems to be having some trouble with Steve” in a calm voice as if fighting is a usual phenomenon (Williams 74). These scenes depict the general relationship pattern between the men and women living in Elysian fields.
Tennessee Williams raised many acute questions in his play. The text itself is powerful, and the movie makes the ideas even stronger and more prominent. Whether it is a book or a film, the audience will find it challenging and impressive. The characters represent the life in the middle of the twentieth century with its ups and downs and give the readers and viewers much food for thought.
Works Cited
A Streetcar Named Desire. Directed by Elia Kazan, performances by Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, Warner Brothers, 1951.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. A Signet Book, 1974.