A Streetcar Named Desire scene 1 to 11 non-chronological notes

Streetcar

Epigraph ‘And so it was I entered the broken world...to trace the visionary company of love, its voice...An instant in the wind (I know not wither hurled) But not for long to hold each desperate choice’ (“Hart Crane's Epigraph for "A Streetcar Named Desire" [Epigraph of the ...”) 

- Acts as a metaphor for the poetic moods and themes of love and loss that Williams wanted to present. 

- ‘Broken world’ - represents Blanche’s journey to the new world (New Orleans), for her a broken world. 

- Ending of the epigraph is cryptic, ‘desperate choices’ are made throughout streetcar. Hints the note of desperation and dramatization.  

- There are two broken worlds within the play; ‘elysian fields,’ ‘Belle Reve’ 

- Epigraph calls attention to both the poet and the words of the poem. It foreshadows the major events which are yet to occur.  

- Themes and the characters weaknesses are expressed through ‘each desperate choice’ and ‘visionary.’ 

- Captures love as a transitory illusion or a gambler’s ‘desperate choice.’ 

- The fleeting nature of love is expressed which for Blanche was only ‘an instant in the wind,’ the boy that died + mitch who left her, although he was her second chance. 

- Highlights the setting of ‘Elysian fields,’ desperation, fading hopes, grotesque abnormalities of language, personal relations/value 

- Both worlds have attractive names and promise opportunity, but neither are able tobenefit Blanche. Wiliams constantly contrasts these worlds. 

- Allan from the streetcar and Hart Crane the writer of the epigraph, both committed suicide – Streetcar's Allan may have been inspired by Crane who had committed suicide and was also a homosexual. 

Scene 1: 

- Setting – New Orleans – Elysian Fields which means paradise in Greek. Blanche arrives dressed as an elegant, refined woman of upper class. An immediate contrast of class is portrayed.

- Openingestablishes Stella/Stanley's relationship – Stella is dependent upon Stanley who is the provider. Their relationship is driven through sexual chemistry.  

- Blanche is the intruder who holds values of a Southern Belle, she does not fit in the society of elysian fields. 

- Blanche’s vulnerability for her family is shown through her need to spring up and run to Stela with a wild cry upon seeing her. 

- Blanche and Stanly conflict – Stanley makes a crude joke, but Blanche is not amused. 

- The symbol of Belle Reve is a plantation which is lost due to being unable to keep up with the expenses. This is also a representation of Blanche's much valued upper-class status and traditions. 

- Stanley is a working man; his status is shown through the stage directions which state ‘roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes’ 

- Stella described as a ‘gentle, young woman about twenty-five.’ This shows an immediate contrast between…