A Streetcar Named Desire- Theatricality in Stanley

Costume
1. Scene 1
  1. 'roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes'
    1. Working class identity
  2. 'bowling jacket'
    1. Link to gaming e.g. bowling, poker
  3. 'removes his shirt'
    1. Upon meeting Blanche, he asserts his masculinity and dominance
2. Scene 3
  1. 'coloured shirts, solid blues, a purple, a red-and-white check, a light green'
    1. Contrast to the white of Blanche's clothing
  2. 'wet polka dot drawers'
    1. Sexual image
  3. 'half-dressed'
3. Scene 4
  1. 'an undershirt and grease-stained seersucker pants'
    1. Stains= corruption for Blanche
      1. Stanley represents the corrupt nature of the New America
4. Scene 8
  1. 'ripping off his shirt'
    1. Like an ape
      1. Asserts his male dominance
  2. 'brilliant silk bowling shirt'
    1. Represents vitality of New America
5. Scene 10
  1. 'vivid green silk bowling shirt'
    1. Green is sometimes associated with the military, greed and American money
      1. Linked to the industrialisation and New America- perhaps green connotes freshness?
  2. 'he unbuttons his shirt'
  3. 'he starts removing his shirt'
  4. 'silk pyjamas'
    1. Linked to his wedding night
      1. Reminder of his infidelity to Stella via raping Blanche
  5. 'brilliant silk pyjamas' - 'the tasselled sash'
6. He ends most scenes in fewer clothes- dominant manhood
7. Scene 5
  1. 'green and scarlet silk bowling shirt'
    1. Scarlet linked to sexual desire
8. Evaluative comments
  1. 'In the first half of the 19th century, due to the influence of French fashion, crimson was largely replaced with the cheaper amaranth'
    1. Amaranth is a flower that was believed to grow on Mount Olympus and never died
      1. Link to Elysian Fields- Greek mythology
    2. Red represents desire and danger (Stanley) and white represents purity (Blanche)
    3. The Polish flag
  2. While it is very doubtful that Williams was considering the connotations of the colour amaranth, as a contemporary audience and reader, we may interpret the fact that Stanley's home country, Poland, has a red and white flag, perhaps highlighting the conflict between Blanche and Stanley, as is highlighted in the play
Props, symbols and sounds
1. Whiskey
2. Ape/ caveman
  1. Lower life form compared to Blanche's aristocracy
3. 'richly feathered male bird'
  1. Cockerel with his hens
    1. Link to Steve's joke in Scene 3
4. Trumpets and drums from the Four Deuces
5. Cat screeching
  1. Stanley toys with Blanche like a cat with a mouse
6. Red-stained package of meat
  1. Red= desire/lust
7. Game imagery
  1. Poker
  2. Bowling
8. Phallic images
  1. Beer bottles
  2. Locomotive

Media attachments

Gc Polish Flag (binary/octet-stream)

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A Streetcar Named Desire- Theatricality in Stanley

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	Created by Grace Fawcitt about 6 years ago