Blog Post 3: Topic 4

By Patty Swing

Stories stimulate the imagination. They use details and dialogues and a myriad of other literary techniques just to evoke a certain mood and get the reader to feel the full impact of the plot’s purpose. As the creator, it is the writer’s responsibility to choose the best format that will achieve their goal. For “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Tennessee Williams decided drama was best suited for Blanche, Stanley, and Stella’s story, and I agree.

            Some stories are better spoken than written. These stories rely on the emphasis in the orator’s voice and the emotion placed into the words. Some stories are better written than spoken. They rely on the reader’s imagination to bring the words to life. Then there are some stories that are better to be shown than spoken or written. These stories rely on blatant visuals and the way actors literally put life into fictional characters. They rely on what is in between the lines, the little actions that might not seem important or read into if they were in a novel format or told out loud. They also put the story within a time frame that is easier to keep track of because it is the same for everyone watching the drama. In “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Williams relies on the chemistry and actions of the actors to convey his message to his audience. The sexual tension between Blanche and Stanley is a good example of this. Merely reading the script does not convey the subtle attraction as actually seeing it. I think it is also why we were shown the scene in the movie after reading the play. We, as the audience, are given more subtext through the visual and it also goes back to foreshadowing, but in a more subtle manner. Having the visuals also continues to remind the audience of the apparent differences between the characters. The sophisticated way Blanche dresses in comparison to the carelessness in Stanley’s attire communicates the class distinctions. The exaggerated and slightly dramatic manner in which Blanche moves throughout the play in contrast with the slumped and sort of arrogant fashion play a part in hinting to the reader what is about to conspire.

            To be more straightforward, having “A Streetcar Named Desire” as a drama makes Stanley raping Blanche more impactful. The playwright does not blatantly state that Blanche was raped and the audience has to look more into what is happened to know what occurred. However, as a drama, there is barely a question to what had transpired. The audience sees the predatory air that Stanley carries throughout the play. They see the wariness that Blanche starts to develop around Stanley and her urge to not be left alone with him. They get a better sense that the characters would inevitably act on that attraction, they just do not know how. But then they also see the hostility that gradually brews between the two and the way they try to tug Stella onto their side. They slander each other’s image; Blanche tells Stella of what she thinks of Stanley and Stanley breaches Blanche’s privacy when he divulges her affairs at the Flamingo to Mitch. That inevitability in the beginning seems unlikely now, and then Stella’s giving birth which leads to Stanley and Blanche being left alone in their house. Then Stanley attacks.

            The build-up of the story through the sexual tension and hostility that the actors show make Blanche’s rape and insanity more of a shocker. Watching “A Streetcar Named Desire” instead of reading it resonates the idea that there is more to what is being said, because in this story, actions speak much louder than words.

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