Tennessee Williams Use of Dramatic Devices To Create Contrast And Conf

Tennessee Williams Use of Dramatic Devices To Create Contrast And Conflict In A Streetcar Named DesireTennessee Williams uses a number of dramatic devices to highlight theconflicting worlds of the old and new American South. These can bedivided into quaternity categories staging, character and language, andprops and costumes. I will be using these categories for reference inthis essay. A Streetcar Named Desire is an example of the genrerealism. Realism is fiction that is overtly zippy and realistic,showing real people in real situations, and also comments on the stateof the world at that time. The play is set shortly after the AmericanCivil War, which was fought over the right to keep slaves the Southwanted to keep slaves on their plantations, working for free, but theNorth wanted them to work in their factories, for a wage. The North(confederate) won the Civil War and immediately set aboutindustrializing the South. The play is set in New Orleans, one ofthese newly industrialised a reas. In this essay I will examine howTennessee Williams used these devices to create conflict betwixt themain characters, to provide a social commentary on a changing America,and how these changes affect the main characters of the play.Tennessee Williams stages A Streetcar Named Desire extremelyeffectively, with much of the play set in the small, confined room ofthe apartmentStella With only two rooms... (p.9)This flat creates and intensifies tension because all thecharacters are forced to be close together there is no privacy.When Blanche first enters the play, she is instantly incongruous andout of placeshe looks wish well she is dressed for a tea party (p.3)This contras... ...character she too is obsessed with the idea of death, and aging.Tennessee Williams even said once I am Blanche, which shows he hasbased her character hard on himself they both view men asuncultured brutes, both have an obsession with death. Blanche has thisobsession because she had to witness her famil y, and her old way oflife, dying slowly. straight it seems to her like that time in her life wasall just a dream of illusion. This is illustrated in the translationof Belle Reve, which means literally Beautiful Dream. Blanchelosing Belle Reve represents her losing an illusion of life and cosmosbrought back down to earth.In conclusion, through careful use of staging, props, costume andlanguage, Tennessee Williams creates a powerful portrait of conflictbetween the old and new South, between death and desire, and betweenBlanche and Stanley.