By Tennessee Williams According to Williams the play is about the ravishment of the tender the sensitive the delicate by the savage and brutal forces of modern society ID: 682209
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Slide1
A Streetcar Named Desire
By Tennessee WilliamsSlide2
According to Williams, the play is about:
“the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, by the savage and brutal forces of modern society”Slide3Slide4
Born
March 26, 1911 Columbus, Mississippi
Died
February 24, 1983 New York City
Occupation
Playwright
Genre
Southern Gothic
Influences
Anton Chekhov, D. H. Lawrence, August Strindberg, Hart Crane
Tennessee WilliamsSlide5
Williams is thought to have been able to identify with a fragility and vulnerability in women and once said:
“
I draw every character out of my very multiple split personality. My heroines always express the climate of my interior world at the time in which those characters were created.
”
From an early age, Williams used writing as
“an escape from a world of reality in which [he] felt acutely uncomfortable”.
He lived in New Orleans from 1938, a bohemian place where all manner of behaviour was tolerated, if not encouraged. It was here that he was inspired to create
Streetcar
. It is said that he saw, on the Vieux Carré, two streetcars. One was named “Desire” and the other “Cemetery” – which he thought was somehow symbolic of life itself.
Who was Tennessee Williams?Slide6
· The play takes place in the late 1940s in New Orleans
· Industrialization and urban growth flourished in many cities, while plantations continued to decline and decay. The southern social hierarchy continued to break down. · Post World War II society
- Women generally went back to working inside the home after the war.
- Baby Boom started
The When and the Where Slide7
Elysian Fields - In Greek and Roman mythology, Elysium was the place of rest for the dead who were blessed by the gods. Eventually, it became the destination of anyone who had lived a righteous life.
The Kowalskis live on Elysian Fields Avenue. Slide8
Elysian Fields Avenue Slide9
StreetcarSlide10
Stanley Kowalski – Stella’s husband
Stella Kowalski – Stanley’s wife, Blanche’s younger sisterBlanche Dubois – Stella
’
s older sister
Harold Mitchell (Mitch) – Stanley
’
s friend
Steve Hubbell – Friend of Stanley
, lives above the Kowalskis
Eunice Hubbell – Wife of Steve, friend of StellaCharactersSlide11
Williams is an almost completely non-political writer. He began to move away from writing about the large political issues to writing about the emotional burdens of everyday life.
The tensions in this play come partly from cultural conflict – the worlds of Stanley and Blanche are so opposed that neither can understand the other.
Stanley = New South, American dream
Blanche = Old South, rigid views on society
Cultural Conflict Slide12
Expressionist features
(eg music, lighting used to represent the workings of the protagonist’s inner mind) allow the audience to experience the psychic condition of the central character
Symbolism:
Williams structures
Streetcar
using a vast array of imagery arranged in patterns of opposition. As Williams himself said
‘symbols are nothing but the natural speech of drama…the purest language of plays’
Theatrical ElementsSlide13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9YgJjSCT08
Movie Trailer Slide14
1. Raffish – adj. gaudily vulgar; cheap
2. Cosmopolitan – adj. familiar with and at ease in many different countries and cultures.3. Incongruous – adj. not in harmony; inconsistent
4. Dubiously – adv. doubtful; questionable
Vocabulary Scenes 1-3Slide15
5. Highbrow – adj. intellectual; scholarly
6. Implicit – adj. unquestioning; absolute 7. Abscond – v. to depart in a sudden and secret manner, especially to avoid capture and legal prosecution
Vocabulary Scenes 1-3Slide16
8. Reproach – v. address someone in such a way as to express disapproval or disappointment
9. Indolently – adv. lazy; wanting to avoid activity 10. Portiere - n. a curtain hung over a doorway Vocabulary Scenes 1-3Slide17
Earnest – adj. resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction
Serene – adj. calm; peaceful; untroubled Deluded – v. impose a misleading belief upon (someone); deceive; fool
Vocabulary Scenes 4-6Slide18
4. Narcotized – v. to make dull; stupefy; deaden the awareness of
5. Sentimental – adj. of or prompted by feelings of tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia.6. Stolid – adj. (of a person) calm, dependable, and showing little emotion or animation.Vocabulary Scenes 4-6Slide19
7. Coquettishly – adv. (of a woman) characteristically flirtatious especially in a teasing, lighthearted manner.
8. Bohemian – adj. a person, as an artist or writer, who lives and acts free of regard for conventional rules and practices.Vocabulary Scenes 4-6Slide20
Temperamental – adj. given to erratic behavior; unpredictable
Effeminate – adj. (of a man or boy) having traits, tastes, habits, etc., traditionally considered feminine Vocabulary Scenes 4-6Slide21
In a well written journal, respond to the following prompt. Reference specific details from the text to support your ideas and analyze this text critically.
PROMPT: Select 3 characters from the play and discuss -what each character desires-how these desires are seen in their words & actions-what you predict will happen later in the plot based on these desires
Journal #1Slide22
Saccharine – adj. excessively sweet or sentimentalContemptible – adj. deserving contempt; despicable
.Degenerate – n. an immoral or corrupt person.Recrimination – n. an accusation in response to one from someone else.
Vocabulary Scenes 7-11Slide23
5. Uncouth – adj. lacking good manners, refinement, or grace.6. Repertoire – n. the collection
of dramas, operas, parts, pieces, etc., that a company, actor, singer, or the like, is prepared to perform7. Sinuous – adj. having many curves and turns.
Vocabulary Scenes 7-11Slide24
8. Malarkey – n. meaningless, foolish talk 9. Inert – adj. lacking the ability or strength to move.
10. Prodigious - adj. remarkably or impressively great in extent, size, or degree Vocabulary Scenes 7-11Slide25
How does “The Good Wife’s Guide” relate to the characters in the play? Things to think about:-Is Stanley or society more to blame for how he treats Stella? -In what ways has Blanche disrupted the Kowalskis
’ life?-Do you think Blanche desires to be a “good wife”? Journal #2