Symbolism, imagery & allegory in A Streetcar Named Desire

Symbolism, imagery & allegory in A Streetcar Named Desire

1. Symbolism: Alcohol as an escape

   • One of the first things Blanche does when arriving at Elysian Fields is "look around for some liquor" (Streetcar p.120), just as she looks for an escape from her own past.
     • This symbolism puts new meaning in Blanche's line "[looking down at the glass, which shakes in her hand]: You're all I've got in the world, and your not glad to see me!" it leaves one wondering whether she is talking to Stella or to the liquor at this point.

2. Symbol: Allan as a symbol of an idealised past to Blanche

   • However this image is betrayed by expressionist features such as the Varsounova which reminds Blanche and the audience of the darker side to her past.
     • Blanche lies to the other characters to create her ideal past, in her own words, she tells what "ought to be the truth" (Streetcar p.204). If Allan is the symbol of an ideal past then Shep Huntleigh is most definitely the symbol of her ideal future, a future where she can be appreciated for her "beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit" (Streetcar p . 211).
       • Belle Reve, which means beautiful dream, is a strong symbol of Blanche's unattainable past. Eunice sums it up perfectly when she says, "A place like that must be awful hard to keep up". By these standards, the rest of Laurel represents Blanche's real past.
         • It is also symbolic that Stella left Belle Reve for Stanley's new world, in other words she left Blanche's dream to face reality. Stella repeats this symbol at the end of the play when she chooses her future in Stanley's world at the expense of Blanche's.

3. "Stanley represents the future: progress through hard work and single minded ambition. The Dubois way of life, the old southern aristocracy ... has ended."

   • Stanley is allegorical of the `American Dream' at a workingman's level with his realist, hardworking persona and his new motto, "Every man is a king" (Streetcar p.195).

4. Blanche is allegorical of illusion whereas Stanley is allegorical of reality.

   • "Stanley's animalistic and realistic approach to life contrasts with Blanche's genteel and illusionary way of life" (Li.On.).
     • Blanche's illusion is obvious in her song (p.186-7). Ultimately Blanche's illusions of past, present and future are shattered by Stanley's harsh reality.

5. Belle Reve's white columns are symbolic of Blanche's `pure dream'; the irony lies in the fact that it was gradually lost through the desire of her family's "epic fornications" (Streetcar p.140).

   • One of our first images of Stella is of her with something spilt on her white lace collar (p.122). This may be symbolic of Stella's sexual maturity or perhaps her sexual dependence on Stanley. When Blanche stains her white skirt she gives "a piercing cry" (Streetcar p.170), this is symbolic of Blanche's own tainted purity, the reaction being one of fear and revulsion of the symbolic reminder of her real past.
     • Later on Blanche dreams of a pure death, buried in a "clean white sack" (Streetcar p.220). This is because her past has been tainted by desire, her present and future tainted by her past, now the only purity she has to look forward to is in death.

6. Stanley is described in animal terms quite deliberately throughout the play.

   • The first time we see him in Streetcar he is reminiscent of an animal bearing food after a kill in the jungle. We get a description of his animal sexuality in Scene 1: "Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre 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 ... his emblem of the gaudy seed bearer" [italics Williams'] Streetcar p.128)
     • At one point, Blanche tries to both literally and metaphorically tame the male beast by taking his masculine air away: "[She sprays herself with the atomizer; then playfully sprays him with it. He seizes the atomizer and slams it down on the dresser..." Her attempt to take his masculinity away literally by spraying him with women's perfume and metaphorically by trying to weaken him with her flirting fails since he is not interested in her illusion.