Structure of A Streetcar Named Desire

ELEVEN SCENES

• Williams wrote Streetcar with eleven scenes and no break for an interval.
• Have been speculations for his reason in doing so, maybe to keep dramatic tension. 
• Every scene ends with a punchline or dramatic gesture, the effect in each case is that of the ending of a playlet, with the players motionless in a tableau.

STRUCTURAL REPETITION

• An element of repetition in the play, deaths of Belle Reve, Blanche's husband, her fear of growing old, her passion for baths: all of these are dramatically necessary for more than one scene.
• These repetitions will strengthen the impression that these scenes stand independent of one another.
• The plays cinematic nature- We see the 'camera' witnessing one incident and moving on, and like cinema, use sensational scenes of violence and passion.

HOW DRAMATIC EVENTS ARE ARRANGED

• The play covers a period of five months.
• There is a cluster of dramatic events in May and another more dramatic cluster in September.
• By September, some relationships have crystallised: Stanley dislikes Blanche as an intruder and a potential rival for both Mitch and Stella.
• By September, the obscure references have become clear too: loss of Belle Reve, suicide Blanche's husband and the reasons for it, and why Blanche departed from Laurel.