Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Themes
Evidence and Analysis
Directions: A theme is a concept or idea that an author explores in a literary
work. For each theme, collect 5-6 details from A Streetcar Named Desire (such as
specific plot points, symbols, or quotes) that the author uses to explore that
theme and enter them in the Evidence section of the table.

Next, use the evidence you’ve collected to write a Theme Description that explains the role of the
theme in A Streetcar Named Desire. Your Theme Description should be 1-2 paragraphs. Here are
some questions to consider as you write each Theme Description:

 How do the ideas or actions of the main characters reflect different aspects of the theme?
 Does the theme develop or change over the course of A Streetcar Named Desire? If so, how?
 If your evidence includes symbols, explain how the author uses those symbols to explore the
theme.
 If your evidence includes specific quotes from the text, explain how those quotes provide
examples of how the theme applies to A Streetcar Named Desire?

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Fantasy and Delusion

Evidence
1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Theme Description
In Scene One, Blanche takes a streetcar named Desire through Cemeteries to reach Elysian Fields,
where Stella and Stanley live. Though the place names are real, the journey allegorically
foreshadows Blanche’s mental descent throughout the play. Blanche’s desires have led her down
paths of sexual promiscuity and alcoholism, and by coming to stay with the Kowalskis, she has
reached the end of the line. Blanche’s desire to escape causes her to lose touch with the world
around her. By the end of the play, Blanche can no longer distinguish between fantasy and real life.
The tension between fantasy and reality centers on Blanche’s relationship with both other characters
and the world around her. Blanche doesn’t want realism––she wants magic––but magic must yield to
the light of day. Although Blanch tries to wrap herself in the trappings of her former Southern belle
self, she must eventually face facts, and the real world eclipses and shatters Blanche’s fantasies.
Throughout the play, Blanche only appears in semi-darkness and shadows, deliberately keeping
herself out of the harsh glare of reality. She clings to the false, illusory world of paper lanterns and
satin robes: if she can keep up the appearance of being an innocent ingénue, she can continue to
see herself in this fashion rather than face her checkered past and destitute present. By maintaining
an illusory exterior appearance, Blanche hopes to hide her troubled interior from both herself and the
world at large.
When Stanley tells Stella the sordid details of Blanche’s past, Blanche is offstage bathing and singing
“Paper Moon,” a song about a make-believe world that becomes reality through love. But Blanche’s
make-believe world does not overtake reality: her fantasy version of herself crumbles. At the end of
the play, Blanche is taken to a mental asylum, permanently removed from reality to her own mind.

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Interior and Exterior Appearance

Evidence
1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Theme Description
The audience of Streeetcar sees both the inside of the Kowalskis’ apartment as well as the street,
which emphasizes the tense relationship between what is on the outside and what is on the inside
throughout the play. The physical attention to inside versus outside also symbolically demonstrates
the complicated relationship between what goes on in the mind versus what occurs in real life. As the
play progresses, the split between Blanche’s fantasy world and reality becomes sharper and clearer
to every character in the play except Blanche, for whom the interior and exterior worlds become
increasingly blurred.
Social and class distinctions also point to the tension between interior and exterior. Blanche is trying
to “keep up appearances” in all aspects of her life. She surrounds herself in her silks and rhinestones
and fantasies of Shep’s yacht to maintain the appearance of being an upper-class ingénue, even
though she is, by all accounts, a “fallen woman.” Blanche also calls Stanley a “Polack” and makes
snide remarks about the state of the Kowalski apartment in order to maintain her own sense of
external social superiority.
Williams uses music to play with the boundary between the interior and the exterior. The “blue
piano” that frequently plays outside evokes tension and fraught emotions inside the apartment.
Although the blue piano is a part of the exterior world, it expresses the feelings occurring inside the
characters. Blanche sings “Paper Moon” in the bath offstage while, onstage, Stanley reveals to Stella
Blanche’s hidden and sordid history. Music also allows the audience to enter Blanche’s head. When
she hears the Varsouviana Polka, the audience hears the polka, even though it is only playing in her
mind. Just as Blanche’s fantasy blurs into reality, Blanche’s point of view and the perspective of the
whole play become blurred.

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Masculinity and Physicality

Evidence
1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Theme Description
Masculinity, particularly in Stanley, is linked to the idea of a brute, aggressive, animal force as well
as carnal lust. His brute strength is emphasized frequently throughout, and he asserts dominance
aggressively through loud actions and violence. Even his clothing is forceful: he dresses in bright,
lurid colors. Stanley’s masculinity is deeply connected to the “sub-human.” Williams describes him as
a “richly feathered bird among hens” and a “gaudy seed-bearer.”
Much emphasis is placed on Stanley’s physical body: he is frequently seen stripping his shirt off;
cross at Blanche for not letting him spend time in the bathroom (where the audience cannot see
him, but can imagine his naked form). Stanley asserts his masculinity physically as well as
psychologically. Physically, he bellows in a sort of animal mating call at Stella. He also forces himself
upon Blanche. Psychologically, he investigates Blanche’s sordid past and brings it into the limelight,
airing Blanche’s dirty laundry (both literally and metaphorically) to affirm his position as not only the
alpha male but also the head of the household. Yet although Stanley is aggressively animal in his
male nature, his masculinity also asserts itself in his response to the feminine. He has tender
responses to Stella’s pregnancy; his tone shifts suddenly both when he breaks the news to Blanche
and when Stella tells him that she is in labor. He also breaks down when Stella leaves him after he
hits her.
Stanley is a prime specimen of manhood, but he is not a gentleman. Stanley represents the
powerfully attractive but powerfully frightening threat of masculinity, whereas Mitch represents
masculinity as a trait of comfort and refuge. If Stanley is the alpha male, Mitch is a beta male: still a
masculine force, but not asserting the same kind of physical dominance over the space. But Mitch
still finds his power through physical assertion. Mitch brags about his body to Blanche and insists on
his precise measurements (six foot one, two hundred seven pounds). Even though Mitch isn’t as
violently male as Stanley, he is just as imposing a physical specimen. Blanche sees Mitch as male
enough to radiate a carnal attractiveness, but not physically or psychologically dangerous in the way
that Stanley is.

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Name: __________________________________ Date: ___________________ Period: ______

Femininity and Dependence

Evidence
1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6.

Theme Description
Blanche and Stella demonstrate two different types of femininity in the play, yet both find
themselves dependent on men. Both Blanche and Stella define themselves in terms of the men in
their lives, and they see relationships with men as the only avenue for happiness and fulfillment.
Blanche is a fading Southern belle who clings to coquettish trappings, preferring “magic” and the
night to reality and the light of day. She performs a delicate, innocent version of femininity because
she believes that this makes her most attractive to men. Blanche insists that Stella should attempt to
get away from the physically abusive Stanley, but her solution also involves dependence on men, as
she proposes that they contact the Dallas millionaire Shep Huntleigh for financial assistance.
Blanche’s tragic marriage in her youth has led her to seek emotional fulfillment through relationships
with men, and men have taken advantage of her nervous, fragile state. Even though Blanche’s first
marriage ended disastrously, she sees marriage as her only path. Blanche views Mitch as a refuge
and a way to rejuvenate her shattered life. Although Blanche’s sexual exploits make the other
characters perceive her as a shameful, fallen woman, these same characteristics are seen as
conferring strength and power in Stanley.
Stella’s femininity is based not on illusions and tricks but on reality. She does not try to hide who she
is nor hide from her present circumstances. Stella’s pregnancy asserts the real, physical, unmasked
nature of her conception of herself as a woman. Stella chooses her physical love for and dependence
on Stanley over Blanche’s schemes. Even though Stanley hits her, she is not in something she wants
to get out of, as she explains to Blanche. Eunice demonstrates a similar, practical reliance on men,
and she convinces Stella that she has made the right decision by staying with Stanley rather than
believing Blanche’s story about the rape.