A Streetcar Named Desire

Drinks flowing, shouts ricocheting off the walls of apartment buildings, and the sound of the late night streetcar named Desire running its path. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, author Tennessee Williams uses many symbols and motifs as a technique to illustrate the relationship between sexual desire and death. Williams, throughout his play expresses his symbolic genius in a variety of ways, from the Streetcar itself, to the blue piano, every page of the play is filled with hidden meaning.

At the opening of the play, Blanche as we later understand, has had a complete mental collapse at the death of her husband Allan. She has become inappropriately promiscuous in order to cope with her recent loss. “After the death of Allan-intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with…I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection-here and there, in the most-unlikely places-even, at last, in a seventeen-year-old boy…” (Blanche, 1224) The death of Allan was caused by Blanche’s distaste and disapproval of his sexual preference in men. Right away we are introduced to this ongoing theme of the relationship between sexual desire and death. Following the intimacies with the young boy, Blanche is driven out of the Belle Reve. We start the story with a symbolic representation of Blanche’s life. “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at-Elysian Fields!” (Blanche, 1167) The name of the streetcar, Desire, relates to Blanche’s sexual desires, and the fact that she must transfer to one-called “Cemeteries” highlights Allan’s death as a result of Blanche’s desire for a “normal” husband. Finally, Blanche must go to the very last stop, Elysian Fields. This being the last stop, mirrors the fact that Blanche is now at the last stop in her life in society. However more interestingly, Elysian Fields in Greek mythology, is a place such as heaven, where heroes go when they die. The Elysian Fields are symbolic in the sense that they bring forth the strong theme of death that encompasses the play.

On the night that Allan shot himself, polka music was playing in the background; similar music is used throughout the play from the “Blue piano.” In any scene where Blanche’s delusional world comes too close to reality, the music from the Blue piano grows louder and floods Blanche’s head with anxiety. “The music of the “Blue Piano” grows louder. Blanche touches her handkerchief to her forehead.” (Williams, 1173) The “Varsouviana,” is the specific music that was played when Allan committed suicide, and when heard by Blanche in the play, brings her mind back to her past, where as the “Blue Piano,” brings her mind closer to the present reality. “The rapid, feverish polka tune, the “Varsouviana,” is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her, and she seems to whisper the words of the song.” (Williams, 1221) One technique not often discussed is the use of color in the play. Blanche dresses in white clothing, owns white fox furs, and on her birthday, celebrates with a white cake. White, can be seen as a symbolic meaning for the purity Blanche ever so desires, or the upper class demeanor she still hangs on to. Where as the color blue, is symbolic for reality, the blue piano, and Stanley’s blue denim work outfit, identifying his lower class status compared to Blanche, and yet at the same time, his dominance as a male in this time period. Oddly enough, towards the end of the play, Blanche wears for the first time, a blue dress. “You’re both mistaken. It’s Della Robbia blue. The blue of the robe in the old Madonna pictures.” (Blanche, 1234) The fact that Blanche is defensive about the specificity of the color is symbolic of her last grasps for her once affluent lifestyle.

The most encompassing symbolism of all, which often is seen as a motif, is the reoccurrence of poker. Poker was not only present in the household, but was also present at the death of Blanche’s husband Allan, as his suicide took place at the Moon Lake Casino. Throughout the duration of the play Stanley and Blanche are in their own game of poker, however they each have their own way of playing. “When I’m losing you want to eat! Ante up! Openers? Openers! Get y’r ass off the table, Mitch. Nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey.” (Stanley, 1184) Stanley is clearly an aggressive character, and poker player. He always is seeking the truth, and what cards are being dealt. He is a king, as Stella and Blanche are the pair of queens.

Blanche is clearly the deceptive type, and rarely shows her true cards. “I want to deceive him enough to make him-want me…” (Blanche, 1203) She never truly opens up and never reveals herself in the spotlight. She is constantly bluffing throughout the play, whether it is searching for liquor bottles when she already knows where they are, or boasting about her rescue plan with Shep Huntleigh, Blanche plays a game of illusion, and regardless of the other players at the table, Stanley and Blanche are going head to head. Poker is such an encompassing symbolism in the play; it is evident in even the smallest of details. When Stanley talks to Stella about Eunice’s whereabouts after her fight with Steve, we learn that she is getting a drink at the “Four Deuces.” (Stanley, 1200) The Four Deuces is a local bar visited often by characters in the play, and again raps the theme of poker into the play.

Poker has an unusual relationship to the theme of sexual desire and death. Poker is a game of risk, where it is increasingly tempting to continue betting, and in the end, you can loose everything. Similarly, Blanche’s sexual desires have cost her the death of her husband, and she has lost everything in the aftermath. Williams has done an excellent job at showing the reader the expenses of temptation. Blanche is simply just a gambler at a poker table, who through loosing everything throws herself into a delusional collapse. When she tries to win back a new life, she falls into the same tendencies, and ultimately looses to King high over queens, Stanley then claiming his physical prize as her final ounce of dignity.

In conclusion, A Streetcar Named Desire is a masterpiece by Tennessee Williams, which through the use of symbolism and motifs convey the relationship between sexual desire, and death. Williams illustrates the desperation of a gambler who looses everything she could possibly risk and more. Through the interesting technique of hidden importance, Williams depicts the unusual story of desire in a culturally vibrant setting. Overall, A Streetcar Named Desire is way more of a story than what the words on the page read. “This Game is seven-card stud.” (Steve, 1238)

Works Cited

Williams, Tennesse. “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. 10^th Edition. Ed. Peter Simon. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2011.         1165-1238.