A Streetcar Named Desire by https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar What does the inclusion of this episode tell us about desire? en-us 2018-03-05 01:13:52 UTC 2020-05-25 12:53:57 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f914.png Emily https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553442709 Desire is illustrated as inescapable throughout the play. The ending of scene 5 is William's final attempt at telling us how desire often drive people desperate and ultimately make irrational choices. For Blanche, her desires lead her to become flirtatious and often vulnerable to seek admiration and attention. Her promiscuous behavior lead to her lose many things including her family mansion, Belle Rev, and herself as a person. Although desire is often believed to lead to happy endings, it really just blinds those characters. This can be seen with Stella and her love for Stanley, despite the violence she has to suffer through. ]]> 2020-05-05 23:30:31 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553442709 Jasmine https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553452141 This episode builds upon the playwright’s beliefs – he doesn’t believe that desire leads to anything good. Though some of the characters believe that desire is a good thing, and they succeed when leading their lives by their desires, Williams’ makes the opposite clear through the misfortune and consequences his character’s face. For example, Stella’s desire for a thrilling relationship with Stanley causes her to accept the violence she experiences in her home. Additionally, Blanche’s desire for a loving, honest relationship causes her to give herself to a numerous amount of men, therefore exiling her from her community and demolishing any hope that she could have this relationship. ]]> 2020-05-05 23:37:22 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553452141 Seerat https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553461014 This episode tells us that desire is difficult to control and goes hand in hand with destruction. On the one hand, she longs to find romantic love and to marry a man who will protect her from life's harsh realities. On the other, her husband's death has driven her into a world of sexual promiscuity (as scene in this scene when she can’t help but flirt with the young man).  Blanche’s pursuit of sexual desire has led to the loss of Belle Reve, her expulsion from Laurel, and her eventual removal from society. ]]> 2020-05-05 23:46:34 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553461014 Aksithi https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553462890 The ending of scene 5 once again highlights the uncontrollable nature of desire. Although Blanche understands that sexual desire is not a basis of a relationship and is destructive, she still cannot stop herself in regards to the ‘young man’. In terms of Blanche’s desires, this scene reveals her hypocrisy, as she too is similar to Stella in acting on her desires despite her reproving Stella and Stanley's relationship. The interactions between Blanche and the young man just before Mitch arrives places emphasis on sexual desires as temporary.

]]> 2020-05-05 23:48:28 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553462890 Breanna https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553475076
The inclusion of this episode tells us how William illustrates the idea on how sexual desire leads people to become desperate, and make irrational choices, since for instance, in the apartment, Blanche ends up flirting with the man collecting the money for the newspaper, saying that he looks like an ‘Arabian prince’, even though she is meeting Mitch soon. Similarly, Williams also portrays this idea in Stella, who stays with Stanley also he has violent outburst as Stanley fulfils her sexual desires. This may relate to Williams struggles with being homosexual in the past, as it was illegal and may illustrate the desperateness of William to find intimacy, and how he is struggling to make a rational choice to avoid going to jail.]]> 2020-05-06 00:00:19 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553475076 Kaya https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553476180 Williams' inclusion of this episode reveals how the characters desires leads themselves, and the people around them, to destruction. Although desiring to be in a loving relationship, Blanche instead brought upon an insecure life of lies, where she greatly fears the truth. The consequences following her husband's death led to Blanche becoming a prostitute, despite its label, in order to deal with her sexual desires. Nonetheless, her life became impure, lost Belle Reve, and ultimately ruined her highly-valued dignity. Thus, the encounter with the Young Man and her inability to stop herself, acknowledges the uncontrollable power of desire. ]]> 2020-05-06 00:01:33 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553476180 Jamie G https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553487986 The ending of scene 5 is ultimately Williams’ final means of conveying the effects that uncontrollable desires play within people’s lives. For Blanche, these desires lead to her promiscuous habits of flirtation and sexualisation of the self in order for her to seek admiration.  By doing so, Blanche’s promiscuous behavior and self-indulgence have led to the loss of Belle Rev and her self-inflicted societal exile. This is Williams’ message of how desires lead down no good road, and how the inevitability of our desires can be the breaking point of when we self-destruct as seen by Blanche’s story. 

]]> 2020-05-06 00:13:10 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553487986 Nia https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553553391 Williams suggests that romance is fleeting as a result of sexual desire. The exchange between Blanche and the young man is evidence of this. Blanche’s longing for a relationship with Mitch is contradicted when “she crosses quickly to him [the young man] and presses her lips to his”. Blanche’s behaviour in this scene reveals that she is still promiscuous and not the old southern bell with morality that she is trying to embody to impress Mitch. Through the encounter between the young man and the older sister, the playwright conveys that desire is just a synonym for impulsivity.]]> 2020-05-06 01:15:13 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553553391 Audrey audrey_mj_wang https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553610083 Through this episode with Blanche and the young man, Williams exposes how desperation and desire ultimately causes Blanche’s downfall. Blanche lost her reputation and Belle Reve due to her flirtatious nature and string of promiscuous encounters, but even in New Orleans she continues to succumb to her sexual desires. It is because of Blanche’s behaviour that leads to Mitch refusing to marry her, thus causing Blanche’s sense of reality to collapse further. Using Blanche as the prime example of the negative consequences of desire, Williams warns his audience against succumbing to desire because it leads to nothing but more problems. The ending of scene 5 also shows that Blanche is a hypocrite because she berates Stella for staying with Stanley out of desire, but lets herself be controlled by her own sexual desires, as seen when Blanche kisses the young man. ]]> 2020-05-06 02:10:16 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553610083 Amy https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553620057 In the conclusion of scene 5, Williams presents Blanche's desire for youth and beauty, her 'perfect' illusion. The young man represents Blanche's desperation for eternal beauty. Upon greeting the young man, a stranger, Blanche's repetitive, "Hey!", to keep his attention represents her actions in wanting to hold unto her fading youth because he reminds her of her time with her young husband. Blanche also kisses him, wishing that, "It would be nice to keep [him]", alluding to her youth and the manifestation of her illusion, but fully knowing that she can not. Through her actions, Williams suggests the destructive nature of a life driven by pure desire. Blanche lives a ‘half-dimmed’ life. In wanting to 'freeze' her time, Blanche indulges in seducing young men in hopes that it would affirm her vanity. However, to the people she does know, Blanche portrays an innocent and chaste image, in hopes to deny her 'dark' self and affirm her desperation for purity. It is in this scene that Williams conveys how insatiable desire leads down to a blinded path of a never-ending cycle. ]]> 2020-05-06 02:19:44 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553620057 Nayan https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553662975 Blanche’s fate had been rooted in desire the moment William’s decided she would arrive to new Orleans in ‘desire’ (the streetcar). Throughout the play we see Blanche struggle to keep up her act of being a well-kept, refined lady, in this scene, through Blanche’s direct flirtation with the young man, William’s foreshadows the affair with the student that we later learn was the real reason she lost her job, and reveals the scandalous, uncontrollable sexual appetite that Blanche tries to keep hidden.  Williams is portraying Stanley and Stella’s relationship as an earthy sort of love, where the focus is on sex, and where the woman is willing to accept that the man is raw and rough. Williams is portraying Stanley and Stella’s relationship as an earthy sort of love, where the focus is on sex, and where the woman is willing to accept that the man is raw and rough. Blanche condemns Stanley and Stella’s purely sexual relationship, but we see that her urges are every bit as strong as Stella’s. Both sisters had to find outlets for their desires, Stella found hers in Stanley, but Blanche, even though she condemns their relationship, is worse, as she is unable to find a stable outlet for said desires and thus indulges in morally and socially unacceptable acts, which in turn ruin the façade she has created about her life. 

]]> 2020-05-06 03:06:52 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553662975 Kate https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553700736 Through this demonstration of Blanche’s inability to control her desires, William’s demonstrates the power of free will and destiny. This episode highlights Blanche’s quintessential need to be liked and have power over others, thus emphasizing her relationship with desire. Throughout the play, William’s makes mention of the ways in which desire can create consequences within one’s life. For Blanche, her continuous flirtation and obsessive vanity illustrates how her desires have caused significant loss in her life. Furthermore, Williams utilitises this episode to convey an integral message, that the element of desire is what determines one’s pathways, relating to themes of choice and free will. 

 

]]> 2020-05-06 03:47:52 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553700736 Rachael https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553813716 Williams suggests that desire is a deep-rooted part of human nature that may be suppressed, but cannot be forgotten. Blanche’s interactions with the young man reveal her true sexual desires as the conservative Southern Belle facade crumbles. Blanche’s numerous affairs each ended in her losing a part of herself. Her sexual escapades led to the destruction of her reputation, the love she had for her husband broke her heart and her attraction to the student ended her career. By repeating her behavior with the young man, it shows that she is predestined to repeat the cycle of desire and destruction. 

]]> 2020-05-06 06:00:51 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/553813716 Viv https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/554201951 In this scene Williams portrays the overwhelming control the desire has on a person’s actions. At the incursion of this episode Williams reveals that desire can be meaningless, as shownin the interaction between blanche and the young man she throws herself at him before a real connection has been established highlighting blanches reliance on strangers and the uncontrollable power that desire has which ultimately, she serums to. Blanche describes the young man as a prince from the Arabian nights, blanche is attempting to sweep the boy in to her world of illusion and make-believe where she finds comfort escaping the hardships of reality.  At the end of this scene blanches flirtatious nature is shown in her interactions with the young man, she is aware of her seductive powers throughout the interactions turning the boy’s innocent words into sexuality charged comments demonstrating blanche dominance and sexualization controlled by her desire.]]> 2020-05-06 09:20:10 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/554201951 Joshua https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/554353656 Blanche's flirtatious and lascivious actions towards the young man defines Blanche's inability to control her sexual desires. As Blanche shamelessly flirts with the young man, telling him that he looks like "a young Prince out of the Arabian Nights." and kissing him demonstrates the strong correlation between beauty and youth which are the qualities she believe to be approved by the society and her attempt and desire to re-capture her youth. Blanche is a person who feels sexually drawn towards young individuals, flirtation with the young boy foreshadows her affair with a student that we later learn as the real reason she lost her job, revealing her uncontrollable sexual desire that she tries to keep hidden. Although Blanche admits that she ‘want(s) Mitch…very badly!’ this suggests more of a hunger for protection and shelter rather than a sign of passion and love. In accordance, Blanche states that, "I want to rest! I want to breathe quietly again! Yes—I want Mitch." implies her direct and desperate desire to attract Mitch as she wants to rely on someone who can relieve her pressures of life and her experiences. ]]> 2020-05-06 10:29:12 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/554353656 Xavier https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/554401663 This scene shows us that she is concerned of how people perceive her age. This scene also shows us that she is aware of her damaging past possibly via that actions of those she loved around her. It also shows us that Blanche has a type/ specific desires. Along with the inconclusiveness of this scene it also leads us to ask if Blanche is aware of the fact that she may not be able to hold down a serious relationship but however does attempt so anyway because of her desires. ]]> 2020-05-06 10:55:19 UTC https://padlet.com/gpr/streetcar/wish/554401663