‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and Isolation.

The isolation of desire was overwhelmingly present in a post-war America. William’s captures this feeling through the problematic genre of his play: ‘A Streetcar named Desire.’ Through the inclusion of kitchen-sink drama elements he is able to show the isolation of desire present in a nuclear family, with the southern gothic elements building atop this with more uncanny fixations on self-imposed isolation. Self-isolation is a key part of William’s writing, he introduces the character of Blaunch to be a reflection of repressed desires resulting in a self destruction. Being a closet gay man, Williams would have faced a similar sense of isolation, he is then forced to repress his sexuality isolating him from those free to express it. Moreover streetcar shows the mental isolation of characters such as Stella, who reflects cycles of abuse and how isolating it becomes; Stella’s dissociation with the abuse she faces isolates her further as she falls victim to a hegemonial misogynistic 1940s America. Williams’ play serves to not only showcase how isolating the world was at the time but reflects a more timeless approach demonstrating how our self imposed restrictions on desires — such as Blanches’ self imposed isolation from what is real, to Stella isolation at the hands of abuse, to Allan’s isolation at the hands of sexuality or Mitch’s at his own susceptibility to dominating sense of masculinity— by showcasing both a wider range of isolation through the way the world shuts down desires, juxtaposing this with a personal sense of isolation coming from the characters themselves. William’s creates isolation to be a beathing character in streetcar, with it being omnipresent, it creates and challenges every action the play then takes.

Blanche’s self-imposed isolation can stem from her past. Blanche tends to metaphorically latch onto ghosts, the “long parade to graveyards” is written to present a feeling of a celebration of the dead — as “funerals are pretty” suggests that Blanche herself has become so used to the idea and the presence of death that she fixates on it — William uses “long” to drag out the sense of death which Blanche feels. Death, in itself, is extremely isolating. Death symbolises the end of something and severing the physically connection between two people. Blanche is unable to let go of this, her repeated use of “I,I,I” can be read as emphaising Blanches own connection to death. One may stage Blanche’s repeated “I,I,I” as her struggling to speak due to overwhelming emotions, however Williams may have intended for it to be moreso Blanches reminder to Stella, and the audience, that she is alone; Blanche claims with exlamatories “I saw! Saw! Saw!” this builds Blanche to be on her own, she is the only one that saw. Death at Belle Reeves was only witnessed by her. Blanche’s character is riddled with imagery of death throughout. She begins by arriving at “Elysian Fields” which is the utopia for Greek warriors who come here after death. Williams foreshadows the end of Blanches character with her own arrival. Blanche arrives “incongruous to this setting” because she is alone. Through Blanche’s inability to change to the setting around her, she is stuck being “incongruous,” with her “white body” being treated as something that will be stained — or as Mitch see’s her being “too dirty” —this results in her being isolated by society. Much like others who failed to obey to social normalities, such as Williams himself, we see her isolation being exemplified, Blanche loses a sense of community being ostracized for her ostentatious nature. William’s use of plastic theatre through the polka music builds upon Blanche’s southern belle trope and adds onto the uncanniness of the southern gothic. The polka music serves as a piece of dramatic irony. Through, creating a tone which shifts from “silent” to “hectic” in mere seconds demonstrates how alone Blanche is. With the polka tune only stopping after “the shot!” allowing Blanche to be “relieved,” this suggests that for Blanche to stop the noise which is constantly “rapid” and “overwhelming” she must relive a death. The death of her husband, making her feel once again more alone at all points. Blanche’s metaphorical death at the hands of archetypal machismo Stanley Kowalski sees that the music is part of the actual scene with the “Four Deuces sound[ing] loudly.” Williams further adds to the terror of this scene as “inhuman voices” being to overwhelm as well. The addition of music and voices would typically make you feel as part of a community, the opposite of being alone. However, William’s use of “inhuman” and the setting of the scene plays into the music making Blanche feel even more alone than she was before, with “inhuman” clearly creating the sense that Blanche is not like others and even in her moment of metaphorical death she dies alone, surrounded not by loving human voices but “inhuman jungle voices.”

Isolation in ‘Streetcar’ can also stem from social sterotypes of 40s America. Characters such as Stella are built by Williams as a direct representation of the lives many women in the 40s had to live, with the husband being presented as predatorial. Stanley’s introduction direclty suggests the isoltion of stella, his “red package” suggests predatorial control and Stella presentation as being timid through speaking “midly” juxtaposing the “bellowing” of Stanley sets the scene to see that Stella is unable to stand up for herself. The nuclear family can be shown as suffocating Stella, yet she chooses to believe she is “not in anything [she] wants to get out off” as she is reliant on Stanley, there is nothing she can do to get out of this even if she wanted. Hence why the play ends with a Stella “complete[ly] surrender[ed]” and sobbing with “inhuman abandon” and as she does this Stanley’s “fingers find the opening of her blouse.” Williams use of sexual assault here also makes Stella even more isolated, as sexual assault was prevalent in the 1940s, often being exacerbated by wartime turmoil; the lack of support for victims lead to social stigmatism, leading many to suffer in silence, with legal protections being insufficient and often ignored. William ends the play with Stella being completely isolated and “abandon[ed]” yet still vulnerable to Stanleys predatorial sexual drive to which she has no way of getting out. The movie changes the ending of the play with Stella running away with her baby, however this goes against Williams intentions of showcasing how, in 40s America, Stella is trapped. No matter what Stella does she is unable to escape in the play, presenting a horrific message (explaining why the film would want to demonstrate hope for those struggling) but Williams does this to represent the more horrific side of life in the 40s and how normally people in Stella’s situations would not be able to get out and would be isolated. Financially and emotionally she is abused throughout the play, through her reliance on Stanley which is only further controlled via the circumstances of 1940s America. Stanley, alongside the society of 40s America, coerced Stella into being reliant on him. The constant infantilization of “baby” or “lamb” by Stanley treats Stella as being less than him, his misuse of the “Napoleonic code” is an attempt to try and bring his own intellect above Stella’s as a way to demonstrate control and subject her to complete reliance — leading to isolation. After the moment of abuse in the play, which Williams had seen first hand abuse due to his father and with 40s America not seeing domestic abuse as a crime, leads to Stella not being able to escape. The claim of “she is not coming back this time” is proven false as by the next day Stella is back to be with Stanley. Williams use of “this time” suggests the repetitive cycle of abuse that Stella falls victim too, and with no legal help and the grown reliance on Stanley leads to her being isolated. Stella serves as a juxtaposition to Blanche, where Blanche is isolated due to her inability to move on from the past or grow past her fictitious world and match with society, Stella is isolated due to fitting sociatal norms. By demonstrating both sides, Williams builds 1940s America to be trapped in a perpetual loop one which is focused on the prevention of women, resulting in their isolation.

1940s America was centrelised around the celebration of white men, and post war creation of the superpower it wanted to become, with women and minorities being pushed down. However, for men like Williams and Henry Crane (who wrote the epigraph for ‘Streetcar’) who were both gay men. This is something which the society of 1940s America did not like. Allan, whose surname is “grey” connecting him directly to the feeling of melancholy and isolation, is a closeted gay man in ‘Streetcar’ and his inclusion here reflects the feeling of having desires repressed resulting in isolation. Allan’s character arch is seen through being “a sweet boy who wrote me poems” to a man driven to suicide. Allan’s presence in the story haunts Blanche as he serves to be the reason for the Polka music; his loneliness is immortalised through Blanche’s trauma. Allan represents a man who does not abided to the masculine image which America had wanted; by serving to be an anomaly he is isolated, ridiculed and driven to his own death. In a lighter way, Mitch also represents something similar. Mitch is seen to be soft, he “cares a lot” about his mother. Even, in Mitch’s worst moments he has his mother on his mind, “to bring back to my mother.” This love is seen as being more feminine than that of any other male characters. Yet, by the end he falls to the same level as them, calling Blanche “dirty” he loses the thing that made him the “magic” which Blanche wanted, in a way losing himself. Mitch’s changed is represented by Williams to be due to Stanley, his domineering personality aligns with 1940s Americas wants and in that way he changed Mitch. Mitch after this change is even more unhappy even “collapsing on the table, sobbing” a very juxtaposition of the 40s image of a man, being vulnerable. Mitch is isolated, not because he is different: he plays poker, he is strong he, was part of the army, he is what a man was wanted to be by 40s America; expect, Mitch wasn’t. Mitch felt things and that went against what was celebrated, his own feelings isolated him. William demonstrates that in 40s America that isolation was not only limited to women but also through the slightest difference in a man would lead to them being completely isolated, with toxic masculinity being something not even thought of men were forced to align or be isolated.

Overall, Williams works go to demonstrate that a post-war America would force any autonomy differing from the abusive norm into isolation. Blanche and Stella are representation towards the fact that women were almost always isolated, through Blanche not fitting in to Stella who does. Both of their stories may vary in ending, but both are left to be isolated, with Blanche having a forced lobotomy and Stella trapped with an abusive man. Whereas, Mitch and Allen are used to demonstrate how even men are victims of the hegemonial system created. All four characters are isolated for feelings they cannot control and are led down a realistic 1940s path being forced to succumb to the destructive system.