Streetcar named desire..

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Blanche is haunted by the deaths of her ancestors, which she attributes to their “epic fornications".

.She calls attention to her body and her femininity through her appearance and the way she dresses. She cannot live without helping that desire.

"There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant"

She seems to believe that by asserting her sexuality, especially toward men younger than herself, she will be able to avoid death and return to the world she experienced before her husband’s suicide and discovering that he was homosexual.

Stanley’s voracious carnal desire culminates in his rape of Blanche.

Blanche’s husband’s “unacceptable” homosexual desire leads to his suicide.

Stella is attracted to Stanley's animal sexuality although he behaves in a violent way. Stanley's description:

"Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens."

They are together because of that sexual link they have. Stella explains to Blanche that the things that a man and a woman do together in the dark maintain their relationship. "There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant."

When Stanley rapes Blanche he shows to her the power he has. He thought this sexual act was predestined that there was not a way to escape from that. "Tiger–tiger! Drop the bottle-top! Drop it! We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!"

- FANTASY AND DELUSION

- INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR APPEARANCES

The tense relationship between what is on the outside and what is on the inside throughout the play is a fact since the beginning of the story when the street and the houses are presented as opposite points of view.

"The exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in New Orleans which is Named Elysian Fields and runs between the L&N tracks and the river. The section is poor but, unlike corresponding sections in other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses are mostly white frame, weathered grey, with rickety outside stairs and galleries and quaintly ornamented gables. This building contains two flats, upstairs and down, faded white stairs ascend to the entrance of both"

As the exterior and interior descriptions blend in Blanche's perception, so also is the distinction unclear between subjective and objective reality. The split between her fantasy world and reality goes in crescendo to every character in the play except Blanche, for whom the interior and exterior worlds become increasingly blurred.

Blanche gets frightened and states: “I don’t want realism. …. Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth …” (Williams 545). She clearly states that she believes in her own created illusion and she expects others would believe it too.

Social and class distinctions also point to the tension between interior and exterior. In order to maintain her own sense of social superiority, Blanche calls Stanley a "Polack" and makes remarks about the state of their apartment. Although she is falling inside, Blanche thinks that maintaining a social status and a great appearance is vital and the people around her know that:

"STELLA: And admire her dress and tell her she’s looking wonderful. That’s important with Blanche. Her little weakness! "

The music is a very important motif in this theme because it signals the boundary between the interior and the exterior. For example:

- The blue piano expresses the feelings occurring inside the characters.

- The Varsouviana Polka brings Blanche's fantasy into reality and the whole play.

OTHER THEMES:

- Marriage

- Madness

- Mortality