Post responses here for A Streetcar Named Desire (play). Talk about how it relates to Aristotelian structure: peripeteia/anagnorisis, unities of action.
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‘A streetcar named desire’ was a great play that can be related back to Aristotelian structure. The most important thing in a play is the plot, and to have a successful plot it has to contain a unity of action. The first of eight steps is the Exposition. This is setting us up for the story, introducing Blanche, Stella, Stanley and others. The problem that arises is that Blanche plans to stay with her sister and husband for an extended period of time, with no departure date in sight. This extended stay causes major friction in Stella and Stanley’s marriage. The point of attack is when we learn that Blanche somehow lost the family home. We are left in the dark as to how it was exactly lost, and if there was any kind of money obtained from selling the property. Stanley is persistent through the rest of the play to found out about the estate along with what else Blanche is hiding. This is also foreshadowing. We are tipped off from this point on that there is a possibility Blanche could be lying or not telling the whole truth about her life. Since Stanley is so interested if Blanche is telling the truth, he talks to people from her town and found out who she really is. This leads to the crisis, of Stanley letting his best friend Mitch know that his new significant other, Blanche, has been lying to him all along. This is also the same night where Stanley and Blanche have relations while Stella is giving birth to her baby. This is the point where everything is turned upside down. Blanche is given a ticket out of town and her lies are crumbling around her. In the denouncement, Stella has called help for her sister Blanche and she is taken away. Again, this plot works wonderfully because it is able to embody each of the eight steps to create a unity of action, which is how it related to Aristotelian structure.
In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the peripeteia is profound! Once the story began to unfold there were min-turns that were at first, slightly difficult to keep up with. However, the more that was exposed about Blanche and the more she revealed about herself, I felt like she was over-the-top fanciful because of her upbringing.
Then just as I’d written Miss DuBois off as “crazy”, she reveals the details of how tragically she lost her love. I figured she’s definitely still haunted by the experience of her young husband killing himself after she’d confronted him that night. It had pretty much all come together for me—because that MUST be the reason everything about her is so exaggerated. Lo and behold, Blanche was a harlot and a pedophile! Not to mention a habitual liar. Of all the insights into Blanche’s past that she shared; looking back, the only one that isn’t doubtful is the story of how Allan died. That one event seemed to be her complete undoing. She’d gotten so lost in herself that lies amongst strangers were seemingly easier to face than her own tragic, spinster, on the shelf, reality. So halfway through the book our protagonist has gone from loony—to victim—to villain? Those were the main turning events for me.
By the end of the play however, after all the melodrama has unfolded and confused me, Blanche has the ultimate peripeteia. The woman who’d arrived, unexpectedly on a very high horse (likely preceded by a waltzing unicorn parade…in her mind); had been solemnly escorted off the premises, narrowly missing a straight jacket on her way to a mental institution. For me, Blanche’s moment of anagnorisis was when she stepped out onto the porch and came face to face with the doctor and matron who’d come to take her away.
After curtain, I thought: damn, I guess she really WAS crazy after all.
Tennessee Williams does stick to the Aristotelian model of tragedy. Each of Aristotle’s steps is present throughout the play though some parts are in a slightly different order and the climax could be from two possible scenes.
Williams starts off like any most tragedies with an introduction to the setting and the characters. While we are learning about the all of this, he begins to foreshadow the events that will come. The entire play takes place on a street named “Elysian Fields.” In ancient Greek culture the Elysian Fields was where the dead souls lived. This could be a reference to Aristotle possible too. The streetcars’ name also helped foreshadow the events. Taking one named Desire to Cemetery predicts that it was sexual desires that led to the death of Blanche’s soul.
I am mixed about where the climax of the story is though. I am torn between either scene seven when Stanley tells Stella about what he has learned, and scene eight when they have Blanche’s birthday dinner and everything starts to fall apart for her. Arguably you can even include scene nine between Blanche and Mitch. Each of these scenes showed an ultimate confrontation between two different characters. There was no turning back during all of these events and everything is now exposed.
I felt that Blanche’s rape was part of the denouement. By the time this happened she was already dead inside. When Stanley attacked her it was just the final act that snuffed out the last flame of life inside of her. The following scene was just to wrap things up for everyone to show how low she fell and that none of this affected the beast inside Stanley.
In terms of Aristotle’s “unity of action” I believe that in order to achieve all the aspects then it is not just solely about the protagonist but the actions of the antagonist as well. The protagonist being Blanche starts with the exposition, which is her reason for staying with Stella because she “left” her job. The problem is reflected more on the antagonist’s reaction to the loss of Belle Reve. This sets in motion Stanley’s point of attack by looking into Blanche’s life in Laurel. The foreshadowing is shown throughout the play with the use of the polka music which plays to show both Blanches lunacy and when something terrible is about to happen. The complication to Blanche’s world is the mentioning of Mr. Shaw, the man who knows about Dame Blanche in Laurel and who has been speaking to Stanley. The crisis is when Stanley tells Stella the truth about her sister’s life in Laurel after Belle Reve was lost. The climax then erupts when Stanley gives Blanche the ticket back to Bell Reeve which then goes into Mitch confronting Blanche about her lies into Stanley ultimately destroying her soul by raping her. The denouement ends with Stanley winning by convincing Stella to put Blanche into a mental institution so he can continue to be the alpha in the house hold, the animalistic womanizer who moments after Blanche is carried away starts putting his hands down Stella’s shirt.
The peripeteia is how Blanche was able to keep some of her mind and although most of the thoughts and information expressed was embellished she still had some sense of sanity. By the end of the play she lived entirely in a fantasy and could no longer differentiate between the truth and what she says “ought to be truth” (p117.)
The anagnorisis is shown in both how Blanche admits to Mitch her shameful past relations and reasons for her lies. This is where she finally comes clean and everything she has done is on the table. The second part is when after falling completely into her dream world she realizes that she is not going on a nice trip with an old Beau but away with strangers somewhere (it’s never actually discussed that she understands that she is going into an institute because she falls back into fantasy after the gentlemen is kind to her).
A Streetcar named desire is a play which was written by Tennessee Williams in 1947. This play has a successful plot of tragedy. It has all the elements of “unity of actions” described by Aristotle. The first element is the exposition which describes the time and place and the relationship between characters. In this play the main character Blanche comes to stay with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley. Stanley has a friend who’s name is Mitch whom Blanche desires to be married with.The problem which is the second element of unity of action and the problem is Stanley who leads Blanche’s life to insanity at the end of the play. The point of attack is the third element which appears in this play when Stanley opens Blanche’s trunk to find out the papers for her inheritance. A complication is another element of unity of actions which in this play is Stanley finding the truth about Blanche’s life after her father dies and she starts meeting strangers younger than her. The climax is another most important part of unity of actions and in this play it’s the moment when Mitch learns about Blanche from Stanley and that creates the uncertainty about Mitch and Blanche’s marriage. The denouncement is the last element which leads to a conclusion and in A Streetcar Named Desire it shows that Blanche is taken to an asylum after she is raped by Stanley. Author Mr. Williams uses one of the three aspects of tragedy which in this play is peripeteia. When Blanche first comes on the stage wearing fancy dress and dances with the song, she looks very happy. She falls in love with Mitch, they go on a date and plans to get married with each other, she finds someone who adores her and respects her. it looks like to be a happy ending. But the problem arises when Stanley found out the truth about Blanche’s meeting with different men and spending time with them in the hotel room. Also when he rapes Blanche and persuade Mitch not to marry Blanche which ultimately leads to a tragic ending of the play.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams loosely follows the format Aristotle laid out for a tragedy. The Aristotelian form of tragedy sees a reversal of fortune caused by a character flaw or mistake that leads to a downfall for the story’s protagonist. A Streetcar Named Desire follows the story of Blanche Dubois who has recently moved in with her sister, Stella and her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski after losing her and Stella’s family home. Kowalski is an angry, violent man. Stanley and Blanche come into conflict repeatedly for a variety of reasons such as Stanley’s treatment of Stella, especially while Stella is pregnant and Stanley’s belief that Blanche has swindled Stella and thus himself under the Napoleonic code out of the money he believes she’s made off their family’s home. After Stella goes to the hospital to give birth to her and Stanley’s first child these conflicts as well as Stanley’s discovery of Blanche’s former promiscuity in her old home town lead to Stanley convincing her new suitor; Mitch to break off his relationship with Blanch. Mitch breaking off his relationship to Blanch is what Aristotle might consider the peripeteia or reversal of fortunes. Blanche alone and depressed gets drunk and it is then that Stanley shows up back from the hospital and violently rapes Blanche, this would be the story’s climax. Stanley’s rape of Blanche could be considered the story’s Anagnorisis or discovery in which the protagonist makes a discovery about themselves of another character that leads to the end of the story. The discovery in this instance would be of how much a monster Stanley is. After the rape Stanley has her committed to a mental institution, a substitute in this tragedy for death.
While reading the book,as it always happens,my imagination worked to create the main characters’ appearance. Reading the reactions and actions of the heroes i was judging them in my own way and it depended greatly on author’s descriptions.
Only at the very end of the book I figured out that Blanche was really sick and had serious mental health problems. Whille reading the play my thoughts about her were the following: a lonely woman who has a very bad and sad first love experience from her youth is obsessed with men’s attention and her look. She was flirting with every male she met in the text: Stanley(her sister’s husband), Meith, the young guy who visited her once….)I was kind of anticipating her lies about her socila life and where she worked and how she spent her time, but I didnt get the idea why she did that…i was guessing that she,propably, was jealous about her sister’s happiness with Stanley…she saw how they loved each other, in spite of the fact they were argueing a lot it always ended with their warm hugs…I’m sure she missed that a lot..every woman is dreaming of a partner who will take of her and be her defender .
She was taking bath quite often because, in my opinion, wanted to look irresistable all the time. She cared about her look even too much. Her sister Stella knew that and that’s why she asked everyone in her house to say compliments about Blanche’s look. I noticed her strange behavior right away but when the doctor came to take her back I understood what everything was coming from.
Relation to Aristotelian Structure
The play shows increasing dramatic tension as the story develops. The tension starts when Stanley confronts Blanch about what happen to Belle Reeve. Everything climaxed at Blanche’s Birthday Party which led to her insanity.
Peripetia
Stanley beat up on Stella, She went back to him. When he raped Blanch, She took her bay and left him. Blanche came to Elysian Fields to escape her reputation in Laurel and that same reputation haunted her in Elysian Fields.
Anagnorisis
Stella found out what happen to Belle Reeve
She realized that Stanley was no good and left him.
Blanche’s insanity
Unities of Action
Late 1940s
New Orleans
Tone: Ironic and Sympathetic
Protagonist: Blanche Dubois (Stella’s big sister)
Stella Dubois Kowalski (Blanche’s little sister. Stanley’s wife)
Stanley Kowalski (Stella’s Husband)
Mitch (Stanley’s friend and Blanche’s Beau)
Eunice (Upstairs Tenant and building superintendent)
Two sister’s lives are forever changed because of sex
Problem
Blanche’s secret about everything that happened in Laurel.
Foreshadowing
When Stanley raided Blanches’ belongings in scene 2
Climax
Stanley mistreated Blanch on her birthday
Mitch arrived at the party and break off their relationship
Stanley raped Blanche
Crises
Stella found out about Blanches past
Stanley told Mitch about Blanches Past
Stella found out the Stanley raped her sister
Complication
Stanley exposed Blanche Past
Point of Attack
Stanley attack Blanche concerning Belle Reeve
Dénouement
Mitch left Blanch
Blanch loss her insanity
Stella took her baby and left Stanley
Stella never left Stanley or took her baby away. She choose Stanley over Blanche and stayed with Stanley because it would have been to hard to believe that he could do such a thing
The story begins with a frazzled school teacher Blanche DuBois arriving in New Orleans to stay with her sister (Stella) and brother in law’s (Stanley) home for the summer. Blanche seems to be quite unstable throughout the play while still being able to keep this superiority complex among the people she is now living among. Both of these things eventually lead to Blanche’s downfall. The main antagonist in the play is Stella’s husband Stanley. Stanley contests everything that Blanche does or says and feels like she is dishonest and that he and his wife are being swindled by Blanche.
When Blanche first arrives and speaks to Stella she tells Stella that she took an early leave of absence from the school she teachers at so she can get into a better state of mind after the loss of her family’s estate Belle Reve. This is where the Peripeteia begins. After hearing this story from Stella and seeing all the expensive things she has, Stanley starts to question Blanche’s honesty and has associates investigate Blanche’s life in Laurel.
When Stanley becomes aware of Blanches recent past he notifies Stella and his friend Mitch whom is dating and wants marry Blanche. This is the beginning of Blanches Anagnorisis. The spiral of events that occurs breaks Blanche down. Mitch no longer wants to marry Blanche since she is impure but instead comes by one night in an attempt to sleep with her. After Blanche dismisses Mitch, Stanley comes home from the hospital while Stella is in child birth. During this scene there is an altercation with Stanley and Blanche after Stanley catches Blanche lying once again. After a physical struggle it is implied that Stanley rapes Blanche.
The final scene has Stella, her landlord and Stanley convincing Blanche that her gentleman caller is coming to take her on vacation. In reality they had called an asylum to take Blanche away saying that she made up the story about the altercation with Stanley. When the Doctor is taking Blanche away she finally comes to the realization that now she will be taken care of, this is her anagnorsis.
The play “A streetcar Named Desire” had me a bit confused in the beginning of the story. I actaully started to read the play before I watched the movie. I first taught that the dialogue was between two African Americans females because of the tone of the dilogue. I actually had to read up to ten pages for me to understand what was really going on. Once i read up the part where Stella and Blanche were discussing the reason for Blanche visit everything started to become more clearer to me.
The way I view ” A streetcar Named Desire” to Aristotelian structure of the unity of action is through exposition. The expositions in the play can be depicted as in the beginning of the play when Blanche first arrival to New Orleans. She first mets a nice women who lives in the same complex as her sister Stella and husband Stanley. Eunice directs Blanche to were she can find Stella and Stanley.After Blanche happily reunited with her sister Stella blanche arrives back in the house where she meets Stanley.
The problem seem to arrive instantly, Stanley begins asking Blanche questions about her life. It dawned to me that Stanley had doubts and suspicion about Blanche reasons for coming to visit.Stanley took matters in his hands an decided to investigate about Blanche life and found out she’s been deceiving Stella And everyone else with lies. The reason Blanche had really came to stay with Stella is because she lost her job and reputation in the city of Laurel.The”Power of Attack” can be seen when Stanley taught of ways to make Blanche life an living hell.
The “Foreshadowing” can be depicted in the scene were Mitch told his wife Stella that he has told Mitch about Blanche reputation back in Laurel.After that I could have predicted that Mitch wouldn’t want to pursuit Blanche anymore as his potential wife.
The “Complications”in the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is when Blanche is left in the house alone with Stanley and he rapes her.Being that Blanche has a bad reputation of being and impulsive lier and delusional no one believes that the sexual assault actually happen.
The “Crisis”in the play can be depicted when Stanley decided that he no longer wants Blanche to stay with him and Stella.Stanley buys her a bus ticket to go back to laurel. Stanley decision was made after hearing Blanche telling Stella she should leave Stanley for his abusive ways and animal like behavior.
The “Climax” in the play can be depicted when Mitch came to confront Blanche about the lies she told him.He then breaks up with her saying that she isn’t clean enough to be married.
The “Denouements” in the play is when Blanche believes that a rich millionaire man is coming to pick her up to take her on a Caribbean cruise. Then instead, its an doctor who came to pick her up to take her in for evaluation and possiably treatment for her insane ways. Blanche is escorted nicely by the old gentlemen doctor.
The “Peripeteia” in the play is shown when Mitch first believed that Blanche was a pure good woman good enough to marry. At the end his whole perception of her change he viewed her as a “whore” instead.
The “Anagnorsis” can be seen in the play when Blanche realize that Mitch and everyone else found about the tales she has been telling.She is ashamed of herself and helpless so she drinks away her nightmare of reality.
A Streetcar Named Desire can be broken down into Aristotelian structure. The exposition of the play is demonstrated in several ways. The dynamic between Stella and Stanley is clearly shown from the beginning of the play. Stanley is shown as a macho alpha male, and Stella is a strong woman who is perfectly happy downplaying her intelligence for the sake of her relationship. Blanche appears to be a superior person in the beginning, which makes it even more dramatic to witness her fall from grace. The problem that upsets the equilibrium is the arrival of Blanche and having to live in very close proximity to one another. Tensions grow really high pretty quickly in the flat after she arrives. Williams’ point of attack is a progress in my opinion. There are little jabs that Stanley and Blanche take at each other that progressively turned into an outburst of tension. I think that when we start to see that Blanche’s mental state is not up to par, we can foresee that there are going to be more problems than we anticipated at the beginning of the play. In my opinion, there were many crises throughout the play but the one that sticks out the most is when Stanley rapes Blanche and the whole mood of the play shifts. Finally, the denouement is when Blanche leaves for the mental hospital and Stella and Stanley return to normal life (in the play). The peripeteia of the play is when Blanche goes from being a seemingly rich and superior person to one of extreme sadness and mental illness. There is a shift from feeling bad for Stella who is in an abusive relationship, to feeling pity for Blanche who is completely alone and delusional. The anagnorisis really takes place within Stella. Not only does she realize the truth about her sister, but also about her husband. She goes from ignorantly thinking her sister is just a nervous woman to realizing that she is a complete basket case who needs medical attention. She also is in denial with just how primitive her husband is and is so torn and shaken when she starts to wonder if what Blanche is true.
The play, A Streetcar Named Desire is about a woman named Blanche who comes to live with her sister. She tells her sister that she was on leave because of her bad nerves. Her sister Stella allows her to stay with her and her husband Stanley. Stanley sizes Blanche up and is suspicious of her intentions. This was the problem in Aristotle’s unity of action. The peripeteia (reversal) occurs when Stella decides to send her sister to a mental asylum. In the beginning of the play, though Stanley was still suspicious of Blanche, her sister, Stella was unaware of her dark secrets. Everyone (except Stanley) believed Blanches lies. At the end of the play, Stella didn’t even believe Blanche when she said that Stanley raped her. Anagnorisis occurred in this play when Blanche admitted to everything when Mitch came to confront her of all the things he heard from Stanley. Blanche realized the truth about her past was no longer concealed. She tries to justify her actions by telling Mitch that she just needed male companions because she was upset about her husband committing suicide. The climax was when Stanley tells everyone the truth on Blanches birthday and gives her a ticket to leave. Blanches loses Mitch and then gets raped by Stanley while Stella was having her baby. This rape was foreshadowed, when the “negro woman” ran away with the prostitutes handbag outside the house. The denouement occurs right after the climax when Blanche is being sent off to a mental asylum and Stella is being comforted by her husband Stanley while holding her baby.
Aristotle has three important parts/aspects of Tragedy; Hamartia is known to be the first and is described as a tragic mistake. Peripeteia the second is described as a reversal in the story and lastly, Anagnorists is a discovery or recognition of some sort that a character has. These aspects are illustrated in some degree in the play “A streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. For me the Harmartia in the book is the self-destruction of the main character Blanche DuBois. Blanche’s character lives in a world of her own imagination creating for herself a life that is not real.
Peripeteia is shown when Blanches’ life is reversed. Blanche comes to her sisters Stella’s home when she looses everything, she first comes in with an air of being someone that she is not and finishes off with being stripped of everything after being raped and sent to an asylum.
Finally Anagnorisis, the discovery or recognition, is not shown in this play. There is no real recognition with the main character. The play ends with Stella on the floor holding her baby still married with her husband Stanley and Blanche leaving to an asylum with no response to Stella’s cry. There were neither discovery nor recognition from any character. This is slightly different than Aristotle’s three aspects of Tragedy but I feel as if Williams wanted to leave his characters unfinished and left to be completed by its readers/Audience.
Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire is a drama about a woman trying to escape her dark past. The woman, Blanche DuBois, comes to her sister’s, Stella Kowalski’s, apartment in New Orleans, located in the poor neighborhood, where she gets shocked by conditions her sister and her husband live in. Blanche pretends to be a pure woman, but Stanley does not believe in it and tries to expose her throughout the play.
The name of the play speaks for itself. Desire is not only the name of the car that runs through the city, but also stands for a desire that rules Blanche throughout her dramatic life, and that, basically, brings her to that bad state of mind she is at. Oh desire!!! What can only it do with people?!!!
The play is written by Aristotelian drama rules. It has all its six elements of tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, and spectacle. The plot in turn, which is the most important element of the tragedy, contains a unity of action, which consists of the exposition, the problem, the point of attack, foreshadowing, complications, crises, the climax, and denouement.
Exposition, which establishes the time and the place, the characters and their relationships, takes place in the scene one in this play, where Blanche arrives to her sister’s apartment and lies to her sister about what really happened to her.
The problem – the incident that upsets the equilibrium and sets the plot in motion, takes place when Stanley and Stella have a fight and when Stanley beats her.
The point of attack, where the writer begins the plot by presenting the problem, happens when Stanley suspects that Blanche is lying, and questions her about her past.
Foreshadowing, where the writer planting clues that will allow the audience to believe of outcome, happens when Stanley tells Blanche that his co-worker knows someone like her form Laurel (the town she is from), and that that “someone” use to go in hotel named Flamingo (a hotel of a bad reputation).
A crisis occurs when Stanley tells Stella who her sister really is and what obscene life she led back in Laurel, after investigating and asking people he knows from work, that also know Blanche.
The climax, in turn, happens when Stanley confronts Blanche and as implied by the writer, rapes her, after what Blanche has a nervous outbreak.
The denouement takes place in the very end, when Stanley sends Blanche into a psychiatric facility, when a doctor and his nurse come to pick her up.
I highly recommend the book. I found it very interesting and easy to read. I was reading it with a great pleasure. It is a kind of a book, when you start reading it, you do not wish to stop, you want continue reading it.
Williams’ renowned play A Streetcar Named Desire deals with the concept of reality and the way certain types of people subjectively perceive and deal with it. The play seems to clearly follow Aristotle’s elements and aspects of tragedy in terms of the unity of action, the reversal of character, or rather confrontation of characteristic flaws, and the discovery or recognition of those flaws. This play directly relates to Aristotelian culture in a way that it follows the formula for drama and tragedy. After the exposition it is almost made clear to the reader, through foreshadowing, that a conflict will inevitably arise between Blanche and Stella’s husband, Stanley. The problem for Blanche is made evident in the beginning acts when the reader discovers she is avoiding reality and is instead living and believing in what should be instead of the way it really is. The problem is further complicated by the fact that Stanly is the complete opposite and cannot stand when the bare naked truth is not out into the light which the reader begins to understand will eventually lead to a crisis. Further complications arise when Stanly begins to realize that Stella’s sister is a threat to their marriage and subsequently their happiness as well. The climax is finally reached somewhere around the time Stanley exposes Blanche’s lies and false reality and further asserts his dominance and harsh reality by raping her. At the end of the play the reversal is then made evident when Stanley wins the battle and Blanche’s veil of falsity is uncovered and she is made to confront her past. Blanche discovers that her chances at starting over with Mitch are nonexistent, she can no longer run away from her past, and she must accept the cold and harsh realities of the world as it is, in the light.
A Streetcar named desire read of modern day disillusion. Disillusion with what one is dealt and with what one has chosen. For me it was the parallel story of two women, one content with the common and one holding out for the fantasy fairytale. I felt more for this work than labeling the contents of a tragedy but will outline these terms in what I thought was important in my essay.
The first vocabulary that stood out in defining a tragedy was the word Chatharsis: Blanche’s lies and false persona were all merely a rouge to cover her troubles. As her story unfolded and truth was forced from her, the audience felt not only the purge of emotions from the Blanche character but also a release of tension from the point of view of the spectator. One could sense it was bravado but unclear as to the cause. I felt a release of the stress and tension that had been building as I grew to dislike her character more and more, but as she finally revealed her past to Mitch I felt sympathy for her. I felt empathy for her as her world crumbled and compassion as she was taken away.
The story read as a true tragedy and followed precisely the outline that provided to explain the Unity of Action: Following the unity of action template: Street Car Named Desire begins with an incentive moment; Blanche arrives at her sister Stella’s home. She floats in on a cloud of distension and casts doubt upon Stella’s meager home and “common place” husband. Tension rises as situation after situation begin to develop. It begins with the trunk arriving in the home. Stanley a laborer has difficulty understanding the displays of wealth that the Blanche brings with her. Not only do her possessions create a blanket of wealth and class but her actions and persona are meant to be exaggerated expressions of bourgeois. He casts suspicion of swindling and seeks an answer to his questions. Stanley’s questions are met with grand displays of one could say over acting. Every action is pre-calculated; creating the illusion of a lady of great standing. Even self-admitting that charm is 50% illusion, Blanche works incredibly hard at playing a role that she believes to be entitled. Tensions begin to mount as Blanche intertwines herself into her sister’s life. She belittles her decisions and jabs insults at her choices. She perpetrates perfection as she begins new relationships. She constantly seeks others approvals and fishes for compliments even at the protest of others. Stanley seeks to unmask the rouge and Stella serves as an enabler for both her husband and her sister. As Stanley uncovers the reality of Blanch the story moves into Peripeteia, it gains momentum and the viewer begins to put the pieces together. The climax of the story is when he reveals the known information, of her recent sorted past. The story quickly escalates into Anagnorisis as Blanche’s true self begins to surface; her masks of makeup and costume of clothes no longer a shield. She bitterly reveals her truth to Mitch who also falls from grace, his once likable character shattered, as reacts by treating her like a whore. Blanche falls apart quickly which leads the story into catastrophe. Resolution ends the film as she is taken away to what one assumes is a mental institute. The story follows true to form the structure of a tragedy.
The play depicted the lifestyle of the day. It portrayed women as sex objects and men as the dominant personality. Blanche had failed miserable in her life in all areas and she thought by moving in with her sister it would be better or give her a new start.
Stanley was tough and did not trust Blanche from day one. He was out for some form of blood, no matter what. He made sure he broke up the relationship with Mitch. I guess he just did not want Blanche to be happy. When he raped her, this was the ultimate crisis that made her loose it all and became delusional.
Stella and Eunice did the right thing by getting medical help for her. Overall very good play but very sad ending.
Aristotle’s Six Elements of Tragedy
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1. The Plot – In a Streetcar named Desire it highlighted that people will go to great distances to do anything to hurt another person
2. Character – Stella always tried to please her husband no matter what.
Mitch was dedicated to his sick mother but was looking for love..
Eunice was the neighbor who was there for information and support.
Stanley was just strong, mean, and manipulating.
3.Thought – The setting in New Orleans. Ii depicted a close community.
4. Diction – The play was written using everyday expression which was easy to understand.
5.Melody – The play made constant reference to the music on the street.
6. Spectacle – The play depicted Blanche as a very fashionable person coming into the neighborhood.
Christina Radcliffe
In a street car the Aristotelian structure of course in the beginning of the book. Every one believe that Blanche is bougie and very educated younger than she really is. Every one respects her as this very nice to her and she is stand up women that demands that type of respect. She comes across in beginning as stella sister visiting for well because she hasn’t been feeling well. Stanely friend Mitchell see Blanche as an innocent and wonderful. He wants marry her she impresses him he feels he never meant anyone like her and is very taken back by her. Everyone except for stella husband stanley. He only that believes she not telling the truth which makes stanley look like the bad guy in the beginning. As the Film or book moves forward the plot thickens as they say. Things about Blanche start to come to light about her and what she really being her home town. and to me that is Peripeteia part when things start to become to light when stanley starts to tell stella about her sister.
The next part when the knowledge of Blanche is really known once mitch founds out for him self and approaches Blanche about his discovery of what stanley had told him about her. she admits to her wrong doing and thats when every one knows the truth about her and see gives detail about what happen at her job and why see was seeing different men. Also we become to realize that Blanche as been crazy since she was young after which her husband killed himself and then she had to deal with everyone death by herself and which clearly made her insane. I also believe she was obsessed youth and in some weird way is why Blanche had intercourse with one of the students because of that. All of this unfolding is what is Anagnorisis structure and in the end when they have her committed and stanley rapped her. Blanche has a complete brake now and no longer can not function in the real world anymore. And this were epiphany awareness of her true fragile state of mind and all she had been through.
A Streetcar Name Desire
I think I’m a Stella fan; I’m going to base my response on Stella’s character. According to the definition for Peripeteia, that you gave us, the change from one state of things at the beginning to the opposite state by the end. I believe that Stella’s character went through that journey of one state to another towards her husband Stanley. In bowling scene, Stanley was being yelling and fighting with one his bowling teammates. Stella thought that Stanley behavior was okay and a entertaining. Stanley hit her (Stella) and left but came back, Blanche gave her a big speak on how Stanley behavior was unacceptable but Stella wouldn’t let open her eyes and would let go of her husband. The change happened all the end of the film, where it was insinuated but that Stanley raped Blanche when Stella was in the hospital. Stella finally opens her eyes and sees Stanley disgraceful behavior and decided to take her newborn child and leave Stanley.
Anagnorisis: is a change from ignorance to knowledge. I feel that in this film there was a parallel change of ignorance to knowledge between the two sisters. But one was able to accept and the other didn’t want to accept reality. For Stella was the ignorance her husbands violent behavior, she was finally took in reality and left. For Blanche, couldn’t handle her disappointment of her life, the way that her life turned out to be, poor, no romance and aging. So, Blanche recognized her life but then went back to her illusion of her life.
The most abrupt change within the play took place the moment Stella packed Blanche’s bags and essentially sent her off with a doctor. In the preceding scenes, Stella was in denial and didn’t want to admit that her sister needed reprimanding — only understanding. And in the scene right before the one when the doctor arrived, Blanche and Stanley had been fooling around. The nature of the play basically jumped from the latter to the former, and it was obvious that Stella had had an epiphany. Or at least that’s the best conclusion that can be drawn from this sudden change since the author left out the details. In that sense, Aristotle’s aspect of tragedy that comes to mind is “anagnorisis.” Stella went from ignoring her husband’s arguments that Blanche wasn’t who she claimed to be, to acknowledging the reality of the situation and doing something about it. If I had to choose which point of the story warrants the climactic title, I would say it was when Stanley was in bed with Blanche. Again, because it was at this point there was a major shift in the narrative. Stella still obviously cared for her sister, but not enough to support her any longer and deny the fact that she needed help. The denouement is literally this point when she, Blanche, is sent off, which further supports my reasoning for choosing the last scene with Blanche and Stanley as the climax (the denouement directly follows the climax). I thought this was interesting because it wasn’t the kind of ending I expected. I thought Blanche would have eventually came to and prove herself innocent.
I believe the anagnorisis of the play is when Stanly finally found out the true story of Blanche being fired from her job for getting involved with the 17 year old boy and using her looks to mislead men and informing Mitch and Stella of his discovery of Blanche’s background of why she decided to move in with them to get away from her past. Peripeteia came into play by Stanly confronting Blanche with this information while Stella was in the hospital giving birth to their son and letting Blanche know that the stories she was telling him prior of the telegram being sent to her by an admire and that Mitch came over to ask for her forgiveness was all a lie. Leading Blanche feeling trap and trying to call for help but Stanly not allowing her to backing her up into the back room and Blanche using a broken bottle to defend herself but Stanley overpowered her and ended up raping her turning her mentally unstable and having her have to go to a mental hospital. Stanly ended up also loosing the life he use to know too by Stella leaving him for good and taking their child with her.
The play version of The Streetcar Named Desire was an interesting read. It was an easy read and filled with enough details to help visualize what was going on. To me, all major points and twists were put in a way in which the reader could easily realize and understand. This in return helps us see how the play relates to and is broken down by the Aristotelian structure.
Let’s first look at anagnorisis, which is the moment in the play when a character makes a critical discovery. I would say this moment is when Stanley finds out the truth about Blanche and her past. The next aspect to look at is peripeteia, which is the turning point. In my opinion, the turning point is when Stanley not only realizes the truth, but also confronts Blanche about this. This part of the play then leads to the rape of Blanche, which conforms as a tragic event. Things more or less fall apart after this and we start seeing this psychotic phase appear onto Blanche.
She clearly breaks down and seems to be more sensitive than usual. It’s almost as if she is in denial and refuses to accept anything she doesn’t want to hear.
Denise Villanueva
CORE 3104: Literature and Film
Prof. Martin Cloutier
February 3, 2013
The play for, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams can be based on the Aristotelian structure. The definition of an Aristotelian structure is having everything defined by their actions. “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude. A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle. And an end.” (book VI). The examples of tragedies in this play and examples will be shown below.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play in which everything was going well for everyone. Blanche and Stella reunite after years. Blanche mentions that she has been giving permission of absence from her teaching position because of her nerves. She also gets to meet Stanley, who is Stella’s husband. Blanche also finds out that her sister is pregnant, which brings joy momentarily. However, as the play goes on the audience notices things are turning upside down. Blanche makes the trip to see her sister after years because she lost Belle Reve, their ancestral home. Blanche explains that all their relatives past away. She had to use the money she was saving to do their funeral. Later in the play we find out that she was fired from her job as a schoolteacher because the principal was shocked that she had an affair with a teenage student. Blanche has a drinking problem that doesn’t tell anyone about. Throughout the play we learn that she lies to everyone only for her benefit and interest. In the end of the play, Stella was able to open her eyes and notice that she couldn’t live with Stanley no more. He was too violent and abusive to her that decides to move out and not return to his husband’s arms again. The play is a great example of peripeteia. Peripeteia is how the ending can change differently from how the story started.
Another aspect of tragedy that we see in this play is anagnorisis. Anagnorisis is changing the mentality you have from being ignorant to gaining true knowledge of things. At first Stella couldn’t believe what her husband was telling her of her Blanche. Stella couldn’t believe that after losing the DuBois mansion, Blanche moved into a secondary motel from which she was eventually evicted because she had multiple men go in and out of her room. Stanley also told Stella about the affair she had with a teenage student, which caused her to get fired. Stella leaving her husband shows that she recognizes that being with him wouldn’t be a future.
The unity of action includes: 1. The exposition, 2. The problem, 3. The point of attack, 4. Foreshadowing, 5. Complications, 6. Crises, 7. The climax, and 8. The denouement. The exposition, is how Blanche arrives to New Orleans in her sister’s household for a couple of weeks. The problem is how Blanche lies to everyone in the way she is. The point of attack is when everyone is spreading rumors of how Blanche really is. Stanley tells Stella the truth even though it will hurt her. The audience can foreshadow that the truth will soon be revealed when Stanley starts to interrogate her in the beginning of the play. It became very complicating for Blanche to recuperate Mitch back after Stanley told him the truth of her. Mitch even confirms it by doing his own research in her past. A crisis is made when Mitch finds out that she is older then what she really is. He discovers that Blanche was a prostitute in her past. She was very hurt because of her lover who suicide himself because of her. The climax was when the truth was revealed to everyone and Blanche couldn’t handle the situation correctly. The denoument for Blanche was that she was taken to a mental hospital. Stanley made that decision by himself and didn’t consult Stella. She didn’t like that at all and decided that was his last chance. Stella decided to become independent and leave Stanley because of his violent character that he had.
At the beginning of the play, when Blanche arrives in New Orleans, she seems to be just a normal person that happens to be a bit fragile because of whatever she had been through. Then the play unravels with how the country house, Bell Reve, is lost and that she had taken a leave of absence from the school where she was teaching back in Mississippi. The peripeteia is when Mitch starts to court her and she seems to become happier compared to the fragile person who first arrived in New Orleans. The play continues on and the climax (anagnorisis) happens when it’s Blanche’s birthday and Stanley begins to tell Stella of all the lies Blanche has been telling to everyone since she arrived. Some of the lies include that she was forced to resign because she got involved with a seventeen-year-old boy, and how she moved into a hotel named Flamingo where she had strangers come and go, but this is after she lost Bell Reve where there was a training camp for soldiers nearby. At first Stella seems reluctant to believe Stanley, but he insists that it’s true because he had three people swear that it was the truth. The catastrophe is when Mitch pays a visit to Blanche while Stella and Stanley left for the hospital and he tells her Stanley had explained everything to her, she cracks and confesses to everything. At the end of the play, the resolution, Stella and Stanley have a doctor come to their house to take her to a state institution because she is clearly unwell.
The very first words of Blanche set up the development of her life through the play. She said: “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields”. Therefore, the peripeteia of the story was that Blanch was living a perfect, wealthy life in Belle Reve and through her misfortune and her own mistakes she ends up being in a mental hospital. The anagnorisis of the play was Stella’s ignorance toward her sister. She was always overprotected her and did not want to think bad things about her sister. However, when Stanley who suspected something was wrong about Blanche since the beginning, finally got the proof of her real past from most reliable sources, Stella had to accept it. Another example of anagnorisis was when Mitch changed his decision to marry her. He always thought of her as an old-fashioned lady who was only kissed by her husband, but in reality he had to admit that she was very far away from this image and her words were only lies. As we can read at the end, he tells her: “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”.
The play a Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams follows the Aristotelian structure, which includes Aristotle’s six elements of tragedy. It begins with the exposition, an explicit description telling the audience that the story takes place in a place called Elysian Fields in New Orleans where the music from the “blue piano” is always playing. The story expresses very traditional ideas in which women are inferior to men and subservient while the men carry the dominant and powerful roles in society especially during that time the play takes place in. In the play, Williams starts to foreshadow the events early on that eventually break down Blanche and exposes her real problems to Stella and Stanley. The problem of the play starts when Blanche loses Belle Reeves and decides to come and live with Stella without any notice. The point of attack is also the same scene when Blanche comes to live with Stella. Throughout the entire play we are introduced to many complications that eventually bring us to the climax. Some examples of complications are when Blanche vaguely talks about losing Belle Reeve but not willing to give the details to Stella and Stanley and refuses to be honest with them. When Stanley gets really drunk and hits Stella, Stella being pregnant, Blanche lying to Mitch and flirting with him are all complications. The crisis occurs when Mitch finds out the truth about Blanche. That was when we see Blanche break down completely because she wanted another chance at starting over here in Elysian Fields but she lost even that. The climax I believe was when Stanley rapes Blanche, which also contributes the fall out of Blanche’s world. The denouement is when Blanche is taken away to the asylum. The Peripeteia is when Mitch confronts Blanche about everything turning her world upside down and then Blanche admits who she really is to Mitch. As for the anagnorisis, there is none in this play.
A “Streetcar Named Desire” is a drama story and a great play that transfers you to a different world of emotions, uncertainties, and tragedy of that time. This story can be easily transformed into Aristotelian structure of dram storytelling. The most important part of 6 Aristotelian’s elements it is Plot. A “Streetcar named Desire has all 8 parts of Aristotelian’s Plot: 1. Exposition – Author introduce us to the Characters, place and environment of that time. Ex: describing New Orleans, Poor Neighborhood where all action will take a place. Introduction to Main Characters: Blanche introduced as diluted, in a scene where she meets her sister such details as shaken hands can tell us that she drinks a lot. Stanley presented to us as brutal, vaguer, and macho type of men. 2. The Problem – the problem in this drama seemed to be from the beginning when Blanche coming to her sister and plans to stay with her as she has no other place to live. She lost their family Belle Rive as well as place where she used to live after. 3. The Point of Attack – I think the Problem and the Point of Attack is very close to each other in this drama, because as a result that Blanche lost everything she states her will to live with her sister Stella, and from now on all the conflict begins. 4. Foreshadowing – Many little details tells you a lot about characters and that time, such as Blanche’s shaken hands gives you an idea that she probably drinks a lot, a drinking itself in a whole story tells you a lot about an environment and that time, love letters that Blanche doesn’t want anyone to see or touch tells you a lot about Blanche. 5. A Complication – There are few moments made an existing conflict more complicated, first when Stanley started to questioning Blanche about how she lost Belle Rive made this conflict open. Also, when Stanley hit his wife Stella, it made it even worth, and finally when he bought tickets for Blanche to send her back where she came from, he placed the conflict on fire. 6. A Crisis – in Aristotelian’s structure crisis is where an event may go to two or more directions and decision must be made. I think in this drama crisis will be Mitch’s decision to marry Blanche (and finally he decided to not marry her). 7. A Climax – “is the peak of the plot in terms of auction”, and it’s when Stanley rape Blanche, whereupon she lost her mid completely, as she couldn’t take it anymore. 8. The Denouement – Blanche thought that Mitch will marry her and she could change her life, move from her sister, but when she realized that Mitch not going to marry her, everything fall apart.
Blanch a teacher from new Orleans comes to stay with her sister after her life had fallen apart. Her husband killed him. She lost the family estate. She is poor and unstable. She goes on this drunk rampage and gets into conflicts with everyone. She lies about why she lost her job. She tries to recreate herself and fails. Stanly rapes Blanche while Stella is in the hospital and later decides to kick Blanche out of their home. Stanley called the Asylum saying she was hallucinating. Stella realizes that perhaps the story is true and leaves with the baby.
Peripetia: Stanley beats Stella and goes right back yo him. Stanley raped Blanch, She took her baby and left him.
Anagnorisis: Mitch no longer wants to wed Blanche since she is a hoochie tries one last time to sleep with her. After Blanche says no to Mitch, and then Stanley rapes Blanche while Stella is in the hospital having Stanleys baby
Film and Literature 
‘A streetcar named desire’ was a great play that can be related back to Aristotelian structure. The most important thing in a play is the plot, and to have a successful plot it has to contain a unity of action. The first of eight steps is the Exposition. This is setting us up for the story, introducing Blanche, Stella, Stanley and others. The problem that arises is that Blanche plans to stay with her sister and husband for an extended period of time, with no departure date in sight. This extended stay causes major friction in Stella and Stanley’s marriage. The point of attack is when we learn that Blanche somehow lost the family home. We are left in the dark as to how it was exactly lost, and if there was any kind of money obtained from selling the property. Stanley is persistent through the rest of the play to found out about the estate along with what else Blanche is hiding. This is also foreshadowing. We are tipped off from this point on that there is a possibility Blanche could be lying or not telling the whole truth about her life. Since Stanley is so interested if Blanche is telling the truth, he talks to people from her town and found out who she really is. This leads to the crisis, of Stanley letting his best friend Mitch know that his new significant other, Blanche, has been lying to him all along. This is also the same night where Stanley and Blanche have relations while Stella is giving birth to her baby. This is the point where everything is turned upside down. Blanche is given a ticket out of town and her lies are crumbling around her. In the denouncement, Stella has called help for her sister Blanche and she is taken away. Again, this plot works wonderfully because it is able to embody each of the eight steps to create a unity of action, which is how it related to Aristotelian structure.
In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the peripeteia is profound! Once the story began to unfold there were min-turns that were at first, slightly difficult to keep up with. However, the more that was exposed about Blanche and the more she revealed about herself, I felt like she was over-the-top fanciful because of her upbringing.
Then just as I’d written Miss DuBois off as “crazy”, she reveals the details of how tragically she lost her love. I figured she’s definitely still haunted by the experience of her young husband killing himself after she’d confronted him that night. It had pretty much all come together for me—because that MUST be the reason everything about her is so exaggerated. Lo and behold, Blanche was a harlot and a pedophile! Not to mention a habitual liar. Of all the insights into Blanche’s past that she shared; looking back, the only one that isn’t doubtful is the story of how Allan died. That one event seemed to be her complete undoing. She’d gotten so lost in herself that lies amongst strangers were seemingly easier to face than her own tragic, spinster, on the shelf, reality. So halfway through the book our protagonist has gone from loony—to victim—to villain? Those were the main turning events for me.
By the end of the play however, after all the melodrama has unfolded and confused me, Blanche has the ultimate peripeteia. The woman who’d arrived, unexpectedly on a very high horse (likely preceded by a waltzing unicorn parade…in her mind); had been solemnly escorted off the premises, narrowly missing a straight jacket on her way to a mental institution. For me, Blanche’s moment of anagnorisis was when she stepped out onto the porch and came face to face with the doctor and matron who’d come to take her away.
After curtain, I thought: damn, I guess she really WAS crazy after all.
Tennessee Williams does stick to the Aristotelian model of tragedy. Each of Aristotle’s steps is present throughout the play though some parts are in a slightly different order and the climax could be from two possible scenes.
Williams starts off like any most tragedies with an introduction to the setting and the characters. While we are learning about the all of this, he begins to foreshadow the events that will come. The entire play takes place on a street named “Elysian Fields.” In ancient Greek culture the Elysian Fields was where the dead souls lived. This could be a reference to Aristotle possible too. The streetcars’ name also helped foreshadow the events. Taking one named Desire to Cemetery predicts that it was sexual desires that led to the death of Blanche’s soul.
I am mixed about where the climax of the story is though. I am torn between either scene seven when Stanley tells Stella about what he has learned, and scene eight when they have Blanche’s birthday dinner and everything starts to fall apart for her. Arguably you can even include scene nine between Blanche and Mitch. Each of these scenes showed an ultimate confrontation between two different characters. There was no turning back during all of these events and everything is now exposed.
I felt that Blanche’s rape was part of the denouement. By the time this happened she was already dead inside. When Stanley attacked her it was just the final act that snuffed out the last flame of life inside of her. The following scene was just to wrap things up for everyone to show how low she fell and that none of this affected the beast inside Stanley.
In terms of Aristotle’s “unity of action” I believe that in order to achieve all the aspects then it is not just solely about the protagonist but the actions of the antagonist as well. The protagonist being Blanche starts with the exposition, which is her reason for staying with Stella because she “left” her job. The problem is reflected more on the antagonist’s reaction to the loss of Belle Reve. This sets in motion Stanley’s point of attack by looking into Blanche’s life in Laurel. The foreshadowing is shown throughout the play with the use of the polka music which plays to show both Blanches lunacy and when something terrible is about to happen. The complication to Blanche’s world is the mentioning of Mr. Shaw, the man who knows about Dame Blanche in Laurel and who has been speaking to Stanley. The crisis is when Stanley tells Stella the truth about her sister’s life in Laurel after Belle Reve was lost. The climax then erupts when Stanley gives Blanche the ticket back to Bell Reeve which then goes into Mitch confronting Blanche about her lies into Stanley ultimately destroying her soul by raping her. The denouement ends with Stanley winning by convincing Stella to put Blanche into a mental institution so he can continue to be the alpha in the house hold, the animalistic womanizer who moments after Blanche is carried away starts putting his hands down Stella’s shirt.
The peripeteia is how Blanche was able to keep some of her mind and although most of the thoughts and information expressed was embellished she still had some sense of sanity. By the end of the play she lived entirely in a fantasy and could no longer differentiate between the truth and what she says “ought to be truth” (p117.)
The anagnorisis is shown in both how Blanche admits to Mitch her shameful past relations and reasons for her lies. This is where she finally comes clean and everything she has done is on the table. The second part is when after falling completely into her dream world she realizes that she is not going on a nice trip with an old Beau but away with strangers somewhere (it’s never actually discussed that she understands that she is going into an institute because she falls back into fantasy after the gentlemen is kind to her).
A Streetcar named desire is a play which was written by Tennessee Williams in 1947. This play has a successful plot of tragedy. It has all the elements of “unity of actions” described by Aristotle. The first element is the exposition which describes the time and place and the relationship between characters. In this play the main character Blanche comes to stay with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley. Stanley has a friend who’s name is Mitch whom Blanche desires to be married with.The problem which is the second element of unity of action and the problem is Stanley who leads Blanche’s life to insanity at the end of the play. The point of attack is the third element which appears in this play when Stanley opens Blanche’s trunk to find out the papers for her inheritance. A complication is another element of unity of actions which in this play is Stanley finding the truth about Blanche’s life after her father dies and she starts meeting strangers younger than her. The climax is another most important part of unity of actions and in this play it’s the moment when Mitch learns about Blanche from Stanley and that creates the uncertainty about Mitch and Blanche’s marriage. The denouncement is the last element which leads to a conclusion and in A Streetcar Named Desire it shows that Blanche is taken to an asylum after she is raped by Stanley. Author Mr. Williams uses one of the three aspects of tragedy which in this play is peripeteia. When Blanche first comes on the stage wearing fancy dress and dances with the song, she looks very happy. She falls in love with Mitch, they go on a date and plans to get married with each other, she finds someone who adores her and respects her. it looks like to be a happy ending. But the problem arises when Stanley found out the truth about Blanche’s meeting with different men and spending time with them in the hotel room. Also when he rapes Blanche and persuade Mitch not to marry Blanche which ultimately leads to a tragic ending of the play.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams loosely follows the format Aristotle laid out for a tragedy. The Aristotelian form of tragedy sees a reversal of fortune caused by a character flaw or mistake that leads to a downfall for the story’s protagonist. A Streetcar Named Desire follows the story of Blanche Dubois who has recently moved in with her sister, Stella and her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski after losing her and Stella’s family home. Kowalski is an angry, violent man. Stanley and Blanche come into conflict repeatedly for a variety of reasons such as Stanley’s treatment of Stella, especially while Stella is pregnant and Stanley’s belief that Blanche has swindled Stella and thus himself under the Napoleonic code out of the money he believes she’s made off their family’s home. After Stella goes to the hospital to give birth to her and Stanley’s first child these conflicts as well as Stanley’s discovery of Blanche’s former promiscuity in her old home town lead to Stanley convincing her new suitor; Mitch to break off his relationship with Blanch. Mitch breaking off his relationship to Blanch is what Aristotle might consider the peripeteia or reversal of fortunes. Blanche alone and depressed gets drunk and it is then that Stanley shows up back from the hospital and violently rapes Blanche, this would be the story’s climax. Stanley’s rape of Blanche could be considered the story’s Anagnorisis or discovery in which the protagonist makes a discovery about themselves of another character that leads to the end of the story. The discovery in this instance would be of how much a monster Stanley is. After the rape Stanley has her committed to a mental institution, a substitute in this tragedy for death.
While reading the book,as it always happens,my imagination worked to create the main characters’ appearance. Reading the reactions and actions of the heroes i was judging them in my own way and it depended greatly on author’s descriptions.
Only at the very end of the book I figured out that Blanche was really sick and had serious mental health problems. Whille reading the play my thoughts about her were the following: a lonely woman who has a very bad and sad first love experience from her youth is obsessed with men’s attention and her look. She was flirting with every male she met in the text: Stanley(her sister’s husband), Meith, the young guy who visited her once….)I was kind of anticipating her lies about her socila life and where she worked and how she spent her time, but I didnt get the idea why she did that…i was guessing that she,propably, was jealous about her sister’s happiness with Stanley…she saw how they loved each other, in spite of the fact they were argueing a lot it always ended with their warm hugs…I’m sure she missed that a lot..every woman is dreaming of a partner who will take of her and be her defender .
She was taking bath quite often because, in my opinion, wanted to look irresistable all the time. She cared about her look even too much. Her sister Stella knew that and that’s why she asked everyone in her house to say compliments about Blanche’s look. I noticed her strange behavior right away but when the doctor came to take her back I understood what everything was coming from.
Relation to Aristotelian Structure
The play shows increasing dramatic tension as the story develops. The tension starts when Stanley confronts Blanch about what happen to Belle Reeve. Everything climaxed at Blanche’s Birthday Party which led to her insanity.
Peripetia
Stanley beat up on Stella, She went back to him. When he raped Blanch, She took her bay and left him. Blanche came to Elysian Fields to escape her reputation in Laurel and that same reputation haunted her in Elysian Fields.
Anagnorisis
Stella found out what happen to Belle Reeve
She realized that Stanley was no good and left him.
Blanche’s insanity
Unities of Action
Late 1940s
New Orleans
Tone: Ironic and Sympathetic
Protagonist: Blanche Dubois (Stella’s big sister)
Stella Dubois Kowalski (Blanche’s little sister. Stanley’s wife)
Stanley Kowalski (Stella’s Husband)
Mitch (Stanley’s friend and Blanche’s Beau)
Eunice (Upstairs Tenant and building superintendent)
Two sister’s lives are forever changed because of sex
Problem
Blanche’s secret about everything that happened in Laurel.
Foreshadowing
When Stanley raided Blanches’ belongings in scene 2
Climax
Stanley mistreated Blanch on her birthday
Mitch arrived at the party and break off their relationship
Stanley raped Blanche
Crises
Stella found out about Blanches past
Stanley told Mitch about Blanches Past
Stella found out the Stanley raped her sister
Complication
Stanley exposed Blanche Past
Point of Attack
Stanley attack Blanche concerning Belle Reeve
Dénouement
Mitch left Blanch
Blanch loss her insanity
Stella took her baby and left Stanley
Stella never left Stanley or took her baby away. She choose Stanley over Blanche and stayed with Stanley because it would have been to hard to believe that he could do such a thing
The story begins with a frazzled school teacher Blanche DuBois arriving in New Orleans to stay with her sister (Stella) and brother in law’s (Stanley) home for the summer. Blanche seems to be quite unstable throughout the play while still being able to keep this superiority complex among the people she is now living among. Both of these things eventually lead to Blanche’s downfall. The main antagonist in the play is Stella’s husband Stanley. Stanley contests everything that Blanche does or says and feels like she is dishonest and that he and his wife are being swindled by Blanche.
When Blanche first arrives and speaks to Stella she tells Stella that she took an early leave of absence from the school she teachers at so she can get into a better state of mind after the loss of her family’s estate Belle Reve. This is where the Peripeteia begins. After hearing this story from Stella and seeing all the expensive things she has, Stanley starts to question Blanche’s honesty and has associates investigate Blanche’s life in Laurel.
When Stanley becomes aware of Blanches recent past he notifies Stella and his friend Mitch whom is dating and wants marry Blanche. This is the beginning of Blanches Anagnorisis. The spiral of events that occurs breaks Blanche down. Mitch no longer wants to marry Blanche since she is impure but instead comes by one night in an attempt to sleep with her. After Blanche dismisses Mitch, Stanley comes home from the hospital while Stella is in child birth. During this scene there is an altercation with Stanley and Blanche after Stanley catches Blanche lying once again. After a physical struggle it is implied that Stanley rapes Blanche.
The final scene has Stella, her landlord and Stanley convincing Blanche that her gentleman caller is coming to take her on vacation. In reality they had called an asylum to take Blanche away saying that she made up the story about the altercation with Stanley. When the Doctor is taking Blanche away she finally comes to the realization that now she will be taken care of, this is her anagnorsis.
The play “A streetcar Named Desire” had me a bit confused in the beginning of the story. I actaully started to read the play before I watched the movie. I first taught that the dialogue was between two African Americans females because of the tone of the dilogue. I actually had to read up to ten pages for me to understand what was really going on. Once i read up the part where Stella and Blanche were discussing the reason for Blanche visit everything started to become more clearer to me.
The way I view ” A streetcar Named Desire” to Aristotelian structure of the unity of action is through exposition. The expositions in the play can be depicted as in the beginning of the play when Blanche first arrival to New Orleans. She first mets a nice women who lives in the same complex as her sister Stella and husband Stanley. Eunice directs Blanche to were she can find Stella and Stanley.After Blanche happily reunited with her sister Stella blanche arrives back in the house where she meets Stanley.
The problem seem to arrive instantly, Stanley begins asking Blanche questions about her life. It dawned to me that Stanley had doubts and suspicion about Blanche reasons for coming to visit.Stanley took matters in his hands an decided to investigate about Blanche life and found out she’s been deceiving Stella And everyone else with lies. The reason Blanche had really came to stay with Stella is because she lost her job and reputation in the city of Laurel.The”Power of Attack” can be seen when Stanley taught of ways to make Blanche life an living hell.
The “Foreshadowing” can be depicted in the scene were Mitch told his wife Stella that he has told Mitch about Blanche reputation back in Laurel.After that I could have predicted that Mitch wouldn’t want to pursuit Blanche anymore as his potential wife.
The “Complications”in the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is when Blanche is left in the house alone with Stanley and he rapes her.Being that Blanche has a bad reputation of being and impulsive lier and delusional no one believes that the sexual assault actually happen.
The “Crisis”in the play can be depicted when Stanley decided that he no longer wants Blanche to stay with him and Stella.Stanley buys her a bus ticket to go back to laurel. Stanley decision was made after hearing Blanche telling Stella she should leave Stanley for his abusive ways and animal like behavior.
The “Climax” in the play can be depicted when Mitch came to confront Blanche about the lies she told him.He then breaks up with her saying that she isn’t clean enough to be married.
The “Denouements” in the play is when Blanche believes that a rich millionaire man is coming to pick her up to take her on a Caribbean cruise. Then instead, its an doctor who came to pick her up to take her in for evaluation and possiably treatment for her insane ways. Blanche is escorted nicely by the old gentlemen doctor.
The “Peripeteia” in the play is shown when Mitch first believed that Blanche was a pure good woman good enough to marry. At the end his whole perception of her change he viewed her as a “whore” instead.
The “Anagnorsis” can be seen in the play when Blanche realize that Mitch and everyone else found about the tales she has been telling.She is ashamed of herself and helpless so she drinks away her nightmare of reality.
A Streetcar Named Desire can be broken down into Aristotelian structure. The exposition of the play is demonstrated in several ways. The dynamic between Stella and Stanley is clearly shown from the beginning of the play. Stanley is shown as a macho alpha male, and Stella is a strong woman who is perfectly happy downplaying her intelligence for the sake of her relationship. Blanche appears to be a superior person in the beginning, which makes it even more dramatic to witness her fall from grace. The problem that upsets the equilibrium is the arrival of Blanche and having to live in very close proximity to one another. Tensions grow really high pretty quickly in the flat after she arrives. Williams’ point of attack is a progress in my opinion. There are little jabs that Stanley and Blanche take at each other that progressively turned into an outburst of tension. I think that when we start to see that Blanche’s mental state is not up to par, we can foresee that there are going to be more problems than we anticipated at the beginning of the play. In my opinion, there were many crises throughout the play but the one that sticks out the most is when Stanley rapes Blanche and the whole mood of the play shifts. Finally, the denouement is when Blanche leaves for the mental hospital and Stella and Stanley return to normal life (in the play). The peripeteia of the play is when Blanche goes from being a seemingly rich and superior person to one of extreme sadness and mental illness. There is a shift from feeling bad for Stella who is in an abusive relationship, to feeling pity for Blanche who is completely alone and delusional. The anagnorisis really takes place within Stella. Not only does she realize the truth about her sister, but also about her husband. She goes from ignorantly thinking her sister is just a nervous woman to realizing that she is a complete basket case who needs medical attention. She also is in denial with just how primitive her husband is and is so torn and shaken when she starts to wonder if what Blanche is true.
The play, A Streetcar Named Desire is about a woman named Blanche who comes to live with her sister. She tells her sister that she was on leave because of her bad nerves. Her sister Stella allows her to stay with her and her husband Stanley. Stanley sizes Blanche up and is suspicious of her intentions. This was the problem in Aristotle’s unity of action. The peripeteia (reversal) occurs when Stella decides to send her sister to a mental asylum. In the beginning of the play, though Stanley was still suspicious of Blanche, her sister, Stella was unaware of her dark secrets. Everyone (except Stanley) believed Blanches lies. At the end of the play, Stella didn’t even believe Blanche when she said that Stanley raped her. Anagnorisis occurred in this play when Blanche admitted to everything when Mitch came to confront her of all the things he heard from Stanley. Blanche realized the truth about her past was no longer concealed. She tries to justify her actions by telling Mitch that she just needed male companions because she was upset about her husband committing suicide. The climax was when Stanley tells everyone the truth on Blanches birthday and gives her a ticket to leave. Blanches loses Mitch and then gets raped by Stanley while Stella was having her baby. This rape was foreshadowed, when the “negro woman” ran away with the prostitutes handbag outside the house. The denouement occurs right after the climax when Blanche is being sent off to a mental asylum and Stella is being comforted by her husband Stanley while holding her baby.
Aristotle has three important parts/aspects of Tragedy; Hamartia is known to be the first and is described as a tragic mistake. Peripeteia the second is described as a reversal in the story and lastly, Anagnorists is a discovery or recognition of some sort that a character has. These aspects are illustrated in some degree in the play “A streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. For me the Harmartia in the book is the self-destruction of the main character Blanche DuBois. Blanche’s character lives in a world of her own imagination creating for herself a life that is not real.
Peripeteia is shown when Blanches’ life is reversed. Blanche comes to her sisters Stella’s home when she looses everything, she first comes in with an air of being someone that she is not and finishes off with being stripped of everything after being raped and sent to an asylum.
Finally Anagnorisis, the discovery or recognition, is not shown in this play. There is no real recognition with the main character. The play ends with Stella on the floor holding her baby still married with her husband Stanley and Blanche leaving to an asylum with no response to Stella’s cry. There were neither discovery nor recognition from any character. This is slightly different than Aristotle’s three aspects of Tragedy but I feel as if Williams wanted to leave his characters unfinished and left to be completed by its readers/Audience.
Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire is a drama about a woman trying to escape her dark past. The woman, Blanche DuBois, comes to her sister’s, Stella Kowalski’s, apartment in New Orleans, located in the poor neighborhood, where she gets shocked by conditions her sister and her husband live in. Blanche pretends to be a pure woman, but Stanley does not believe in it and tries to expose her throughout the play.
The name of the play speaks for itself. Desire is not only the name of the car that runs through the city, but also stands for a desire that rules Blanche throughout her dramatic life, and that, basically, brings her to that bad state of mind she is at. Oh desire!!! What can only it do with people?!!!
The play is written by Aristotelian drama rules. It has all its six elements of tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, and spectacle. The plot in turn, which is the most important element of the tragedy, contains a unity of action, which consists of the exposition, the problem, the point of attack, foreshadowing, complications, crises, the climax, and denouement.
Exposition, which establishes the time and the place, the characters and their relationships, takes place in the scene one in this play, where Blanche arrives to her sister’s apartment and lies to her sister about what really happened to her.
The problem – the incident that upsets the equilibrium and sets the plot in motion, takes place when Stanley and Stella have a fight and when Stanley beats her.
The point of attack, where the writer begins the plot by presenting the problem, happens when Stanley suspects that Blanche is lying, and questions her about her past.
Foreshadowing, where the writer planting clues that will allow the audience to believe of outcome, happens when Stanley tells Blanche that his co-worker knows someone like her form Laurel (the town she is from), and that that “someone” use to go in hotel named Flamingo (a hotel of a bad reputation).
A crisis occurs when Stanley tells Stella who her sister really is and what obscene life she led back in Laurel, after investigating and asking people he knows from work, that also know Blanche.
The climax, in turn, happens when Stanley confronts Blanche and as implied by the writer, rapes her, after what Blanche has a nervous outbreak.
The denouement takes place in the very end, when Stanley sends Blanche into a psychiatric facility, when a doctor and his nurse come to pick her up.
I highly recommend the book. I found it very interesting and easy to read. I was reading it with a great pleasure. It is a kind of a book, when you start reading it, you do not wish to stop, you want continue reading it.
Williams’ renowned play A Streetcar Named Desire deals with the concept of reality and the way certain types of people subjectively perceive and deal with it. The play seems to clearly follow Aristotle’s elements and aspects of tragedy in terms of the unity of action, the reversal of character, or rather confrontation of characteristic flaws, and the discovery or recognition of those flaws. This play directly relates to Aristotelian culture in a way that it follows the formula for drama and tragedy. After the exposition it is almost made clear to the reader, through foreshadowing, that a conflict will inevitably arise between Blanche and Stella’s husband, Stanley. The problem for Blanche is made evident in the beginning acts when the reader discovers she is avoiding reality and is instead living and believing in what should be instead of the way it really is. The problem is further complicated by the fact that Stanly is the complete opposite and cannot stand when the bare naked truth is not out into the light which the reader begins to understand will eventually lead to a crisis. Further complications arise when Stanly begins to realize that Stella’s sister is a threat to their marriage and subsequently their happiness as well. The climax is finally reached somewhere around the time Stanley exposes Blanche’s lies and false reality and further asserts his dominance and harsh reality by raping her. At the end of the play the reversal is then made evident when Stanley wins the battle and Blanche’s veil of falsity is uncovered and she is made to confront her past. Blanche discovers that her chances at starting over with Mitch are nonexistent, she can no longer run away from her past, and she must accept the cold and harsh realities of the world as it is, in the light.
A Streetcar named desire read of modern day disillusion. Disillusion with what one is dealt and with what one has chosen. For me it was the parallel story of two women, one content with the common and one holding out for the fantasy fairytale. I felt more for this work than labeling the contents of a tragedy but will outline these terms in what I thought was important in my essay.
The first vocabulary that stood out in defining a tragedy was the word Chatharsis: Blanche’s lies and false persona were all merely a rouge to cover her troubles. As her story unfolded and truth was forced from her, the audience felt not only the purge of emotions from the Blanche character but also a release of tension from the point of view of the spectator. One could sense it was bravado but unclear as to the cause. I felt a release of the stress and tension that had been building as I grew to dislike her character more and more, but as she finally revealed her past to Mitch I felt sympathy for her. I felt empathy for her as her world crumbled and compassion as she was taken away.
The story read as a true tragedy and followed precisely the outline that provided to explain the Unity of Action: Following the unity of action template: Street Car Named Desire begins with an incentive moment; Blanche arrives at her sister Stella’s home. She floats in on a cloud of distension and casts doubt upon Stella’s meager home and “common place” husband. Tension rises as situation after situation begin to develop. It begins with the trunk arriving in the home. Stanley a laborer has difficulty understanding the displays of wealth that the Blanche brings with her. Not only do her possessions create a blanket of wealth and class but her actions and persona are meant to be exaggerated expressions of bourgeois. He casts suspicion of swindling and seeks an answer to his questions. Stanley’s questions are met with grand displays of one could say over acting. Every action is pre-calculated; creating the illusion of a lady of great standing. Even self-admitting that charm is 50% illusion, Blanche works incredibly hard at playing a role that she believes to be entitled. Tensions begin to mount as Blanche intertwines herself into her sister’s life. She belittles her decisions and jabs insults at her choices. She perpetrates perfection as she begins new relationships. She constantly seeks others approvals and fishes for compliments even at the protest of others. Stanley seeks to unmask the rouge and Stella serves as an enabler for both her husband and her sister. As Stanley uncovers the reality of Blanch the story moves into Peripeteia, it gains momentum and the viewer begins to put the pieces together. The climax of the story is when he reveals the known information, of her recent sorted past. The story quickly escalates into Anagnorisis as Blanche’s true self begins to surface; her masks of makeup and costume of clothes no longer a shield. She bitterly reveals her truth to Mitch who also falls from grace, his once likable character shattered, as reacts by treating her like a whore. Blanche falls apart quickly which leads the story into catastrophe. Resolution ends the film as she is taken away to what one assumes is a mental institute. The story follows true to form the structure of a tragedy.
The play depicted the lifestyle of the day. It portrayed women as sex objects and men as the dominant personality. Blanche had failed miserable in her life in all areas and she thought by moving in with her sister it would be better or give her a new start.
Stanley was tough and did not trust Blanche from day one. He was out for some form of blood, no matter what. He made sure he broke up the relationship with Mitch. I guess he just did not want Blanche to be happy. When he raped her, this was the ultimate crisis that made her loose it all and became delusional.
Stella and Eunice did the right thing by getting medical help for her. Overall very good play but very sad ending.
Aristotle’s Six Elements of Tragedy
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1. The Plot – In a Streetcar named Desire it highlighted that people will go to great distances to do anything to hurt another person
2. Character – Stella always tried to please her husband no matter what.
Mitch was dedicated to his sick mother but was looking for love..
Eunice was the neighbor who was there for information and support.
Stanley was just strong, mean, and manipulating.
3.Thought – The setting in New Orleans. Ii depicted a close community.
4. Diction – The play was written using everyday expression which was easy to understand.
5.Melody – The play made constant reference to the music on the street.
6. Spectacle – The play depicted Blanche as a very fashionable person coming into the neighborhood.
Christina Radcliffe
In a street car the Aristotelian structure of course in the beginning of the book. Every one believe that Blanche is bougie and very educated younger than she really is. Every one respects her as this very nice to her and she is stand up women that demands that type of respect. She comes across in beginning as stella sister visiting for well because she hasn’t been feeling well. Stanely friend Mitchell see Blanche as an innocent and wonderful. He wants marry her she impresses him he feels he never meant anyone like her and is very taken back by her. Everyone except for stella husband stanley. He only that believes she not telling the truth which makes stanley look like the bad guy in the beginning. As the Film or book moves forward the plot thickens as they say. Things about Blanche start to come to light about her and what she really being her home town. and to me that is Peripeteia part when things start to become to light when stanley starts to tell stella about her sister.
The next part when the knowledge of Blanche is really known once mitch founds out for him self and approaches Blanche about his discovery of what stanley had told him about her. she admits to her wrong doing and thats when every one knows the truth about her and see gives detail about what happen at her job and why see was seeing different men. Also we become to realize that Blanche as been crazy since she was young after which her husband killed himself and then she had to deal with everyone death by herself and which clearly made her insane. I also believe she was obsessed youth and in some weird way is why Blanche had intercourse with one of the students because of that. All of this unfolding is what is Anagnorisis structure and in the end when they have her committed and stanley rapped her. Blanche has a complete brake now and no longer can not function in the real world anymore. And this were epiphany awareness of her true fragile state of mind and all she had been through.
A Streetcar Name Desire
I think I’m a Stella fan; I’m going to base my response on Stella’s character. According to the definition for Peripeteia, that you gave us, the change from one state of things at the beginning to the opposite state by the end. I believe that Stella’s character went through that journey of one state to another towards her husband Stanley. In bowling scene, Stanley was being yelling and fighting with one his bowling teammates. Stella thought that Stanley behavior was okay and a entertaining. Stanley hit her (Stella) and left but came back, Blanche gave her a big speak on how Stanley behavior was unacceptable but Stella wouldn’t let open her eyes and would let go of her husband. The change happened all the end of the film, where it was insinuated but that Stanley raped Blanche when Stella was in the hospital. Stella finally opens her eyes and sees Stanley disgraceful behavior and decided to take her newborn child and leave Stanley.
Anagnorisis: is a change from ignorance to knowledge. I feel that in this film there was a parallel change of ignorance to knowledge between the two sisters. But one was able to accept and the other didn’t want to accept reality. For Stella was the ignorance her husbands violent behavior, she was finally took in reality and left. For Blanche, couldn’t handle her disappointment of her life, the way that her life turned out to be, poor, no romance and aging. So, Blanche recognized her life but then went back to her illusion of her life.
The most abrupt change within the play took place the moment Stella packed Blanche’s bags and essentially sent her off with a doctor. In the preceding scenes, Stella was in denial and didn’t want to admit that her sister needed reprimanding — only understanding. And in the scene right before the one when the doctor arrived, Blanche and Stanley had been fooling around. The nature of the play basically jumped from the latter to the former, and it was obvious that Stella had had an epiphany. Or at least that’s the best conclusion that can be drawn from this sudden change since the author left out the details. In that sense, Aristotle’s aspect of tragedy that comes to mind is “anagnorisis.” Stella went from ignoring her husband’s arguments that Blanche wasn’t who she claimed to be, to acknowledging the reality of the situation and doing something about it. If I had to choose which point of the story warrants the climactic title, I would say it was when Stanley was in bed with Blanche. Again, because it was at this point there was a major shift in the narrative. Stella still obviously cared for her sister, but not enough to support her any longer and deny the fact that she needed help. The denouement is literally this point when she, Blanche, is sent off, which further supports my reasoning for choosing the last scene with Blanche and Stanley as the climax (the denouement directly follows the climax). I thought this was interesting because it wasn’t the kind of ending I expected. I thought Blanche would have eventually came to and prove herself innocent.
I believe the anagnorisis of the play is when Stanly finally found out the true story of Blanche being fired from her job for getting involved with the 17 year old boy and using her looks to mislead men and informing Mitch and Stella of his discovery of Blanche’s background of why she decided to move in with them to get away from her past. Peripeteia came into play by Stanly confronting Blanche with this information while Stella was in the hospital giving birth to their son and letting Blanche know that the stories she was telling him prior of the telegram being sent to her by an admire and that Mitch came over to ask for her forgiveness was all a lie. Leading Blanche feeling trap and trying to call for help but Stanly not allowing her to backing her up into the back room and Blanche using a broken bottle to defend herself but Stanley overpowered her and ended up raping her turning her mentally unstable and having her have to go to a mental hospital. Stanly ended up also loosing the life he use to know too by Stella leaving him for good and taking their child with her.
The play version of The Streetcar Named Desire was an interesting read. It was an easy read and filled with enough details to help visualize what was going on. To me, all major points and twists were put in a way in which the reader could easily realize and understand. This in return helps us see how the play relates to and is broken down by the Aristotelian structure.
Let’s first look at anagnorisis, which is the moment in the play when a character makes a critical discovery. I would say this moment is when Stanley finds out the truth about Blanche and her past. The next aspect to look at is peripeteia, which is the turning point. In my opinion, the turning point is when Stanley not only realizes the truth, but also confronts Blanche about this. This part of the play then leads to the rape of Blanche, which conforms as a tragic event. Things more or less fall apart after this and we start seeing this psychotic phase appear onto Blanche.
She clearly breaks down and seems to be more sensitive than usual. It’s almost as if she is in denial and refuses to accept anything she doesn’t want to hear.
Denise Villanueva
CORE 3104: Literature and Film
Prof. Martin Cloutier
February 3, 2013
The play for, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams can be based on the Aristotelian structure. The definition of an Aristotelian structure is having everything defined by their actions. “Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is complete, and whole, and of a certain magnitude; for there may be a whole that is wanting in magnitude. A whole is that which has a beginning, a middle. And an end.” (book VI). The examples of tragedies in this play and examples will be shown below.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play in which everything was going well for everyone. Blanche and Stella reunite after years. Blanche mentions that she has been giving permission of absence from her teaching position because of her nerves. She also gets to meet Stanley, who is Stella’s husband. Blanche also finds out that her sister is pregnant, which brings joy momentarily. However, as the play goes on the audience notices things are turning upside down. Blanche makes the trip to see her sister after years because she lost Belle Reve, their ancestral home. Blanche explains that all their relatives past away. She had to use the money she was saving to do their funeral. Later in the play we find out that she was fired from her job as a schoolteacher because the principal was shocked that she had an affair with a teenage student. Blanche has a drinking problem that doesn’t tell anyone about. Throughout the play we learn that she lies to everyone only for her benefit and interest. In the end of the play, Stella was able to open her eyes and notice that she couldn’t live with Stanley no more. He was too violent and abusive to her that decides to move out and not return to his husband’s arms again. The play is a great example of peripeteia. Peripeteia is how the ending can change differently from how the story started.
Another aspect of tragedy that we see in this play is anagnorisis. Anagnorisis is changing the mentality you have from being ignorant to gaining true knowledge of things. At first Stella couldn’t believe what her husband was telling her of her Blanche. Stella couldn’t believe that after losing the DuBois mansion, Blanche moved into a secondary motel from which she was eventually evicted because she had multiple men go in and out of her room. Stanley also told Stella about the affair she had with a teenage student, which caused her to get fired. Stella leaving her husband shows that she recognizes that being with him wouldn’t be a future.
The unity of action includes: 1. The exposition, 2. The problem, 3. The point of attack, 4. Foreshadowing, 5. Complications, 6. Crises, 7. The climax, and 8. The denouement. The exposition, is how Blanche arrives to New Orleans in her sister’s household for a couple of weeks. The problem is how Blanche lies to everyone in the way she is. The point of attack is when everyone is spreading rumors of how Blanche really is. Stanley tells Stella the truth even though it will hurt her. The audience can foreshadow that the truth will soon be revealed when Stanley starts to interrogate her in the beginning of the play. It became very complicating for Blanche to recuperate Mitch back after Stanley told him the truth of her. Mitch even confirms it by doing his own research in her past. A crisis is made when Mitch finds out that she is older then what she really is. He discovers that Blanche was a prostitute in her past. She was very hurt because of her lover who suicide himself because of her. The climax was when the truth was revealed to everyone and Blanche couldn’t handle the situation correctly. The denoument for Blanche was that she was taken to a mental hospital. Stanley made that decision by himself and didn’t consult Stella. She didn’t like that at all and decided that was his last chance. Stella decided to become independent and leave Stanley because of his violent character that he had.
At the beginning of the play, when Blanche arrives in New Orleans, she seems to be just a normal person that happens to be a bit fragile because of whatever she had been through. Then the play unravels with how the country house, Bell Reve, is lost and that she had taken a leave of absence from the school where she was teaching back in Mississippi. The peripeteia is when Mitch starts to court her and she seems to become happier compared to the fragile person who first arrived in New Orleans. The play continues on and the climax (anagnorisis) happens when it’s Blanche’s birthday and Stanley begins to tell Stella of all the lies Blanche has been telling to everyone since she arrived. Some of the lies include that she was forced to resign because she got involved with a seventeen-year-old boy, and how she moved into a hotel named Flamingo where she had strangers come and go, but this is after she lost Bell Reve where there was a training camp for soldiers nearby. At first Stella seems reluctant to believe Stanley, but he insists that it’s true because he had three people swear that it was the truth. The catastrophe is when Mitch pays a visit to Blanche while Stella and Stanley left for the hospital and he tells her Stanley had explained everything to her, she cracks and confesses to everything. At the end of the play, the resolution, Stella and Stanley have a doctor come to their house to take her to a state institution because she is clearly unwell.
The very first words of Blanche set up the development of her life through the play. She said: “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields”. Therefore, the peripeteia of the story was that Blanch was living a perfect, wealthy life in Belle Reve and through her misfortune and her own mistakes she ends up being in a mental hospital. The anagnorisis of the play was Stella’s ignorance toward her sister. She was always overprotected her and did not want to think bad things about her sister. However, when Stanley who suspected something was wrong about Blanche since the beginning, finally got the proof of her real past from most reliable sources, Stella had to accept it. Another example of anagnorisis was when Mitch changed his decision to marry her. He always thought of her as an old-fashioned lady who was only kissed by her husband, but in reality he had to admit that she was very far away from this image and her words were only lies. As we can read at the end, he tells her: “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”.
The play a Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams follows the Aristotelian structure, which includes Aristotle’s six elements of tragedy. It begins with the exposition, an explicit description telling the audience that the story takes place in a place called Elysian Fields in New Orleans where the music from the “blue piano” is always playing. The story expresses very traditional ideas in which women are inferior to men and subservient while the men carry the dominant and powerful roles in society especially during that time the play takes place in. In the play, Williams starts to foreshadow the events early on that eventually break down Blanche and exposes her real problems to Stella and Stanley. The problem of the play starts when Blanche loses Belle Reeves and decides to come and live with Stella without any notice. The point of attack is also the same scene when Blanche comes to live with Stella. Throughout the entire play we are introduced to many complications that eventually bring us to the climax. Some examples of complications are when Blanche vaguely talks about losing Belle Reeve but not willing to give the details to Stella and Stanley and refuses to be honest with them. When Stanley gets really drunk and hits Stella, Stella being pregnant, Blanche lying to Mitch and flirting with him are all complications. The crisis occurs when Mitch finds out the truth about Blanche. That was when we see Blanche break down completely because she wanted another chance at starting over here in Elysian Fields but she lost even that. The climax I believe was when Stanley rapes Blanche, which also contributes the fall out of Blanche’s world. The denouement is when Blanche is taken away to the asylum. The Peripeteia is when Mitch confronts Blanche about everything turning her world upside down and then Blanche admits who she really is to Mitch. As for the anagnorisis, there is none in this play.
A “Streetcar Named Desire” is a drama story and a great play that transfers you to a different world of emotions, uncertainties, and tragedy of that time. This story can be easily transformed into Aristotelian structure of dram storytelling. The most important part of 6 Aristotelian’s elements it is Plot. A “Streetcar named Desire has all 8 parts of Aristotelian’s Plot: 1. Exposition – Author introduce us to the Characters, place and environment of that time. Ex: describing New Orleans, Poor Neighborhood where all action will take a place. Introduction to Main Characters: Blanche introduced as diluted, in a scene where she meets her sister such details as shaken hands can tell us that she drinks a lot. Stanley presented to us as brutal, vaguer, and macho type of men. 2. The Problem – the problem in this drama seemed to be from the beginning when Blanche coming to her sister and plans to stay with her as she has no other place to live. She lost their family Belle Rive as well as place where she used to live after. 3. The Point of Attack – I think the Problem and the Point of Attack is very close to each other in this drama, because as a result that Blanche lost everything she states her will to live with her sister Stella, and from now on all the conflict begins. 4. Foreshadowing – Many little details tells you a lot about characters and that time, such as Blanche’s shaken hands gives you an idea that she probably drinks a lot, a drinking itself in a whole story tells you a lot about an environment and that time, love letters that Blanche doesn’t want anyone to see or touch tells you a lot about Blanche. 5. A Complication – There are few moments made an existing conflict more complicated, first when Stanley started to questioning Blanche about how she lost Belle Rive made this conflict open. Also, when Stanley hit his wife Stella, it made it even worth, and finally when he bought tickets for Blanche to send her back where she came from, he placed the conflict on fire. 6. A Crisis – in Aristotelian’s structure crisis is where an event may go to two or more directions and decision must be made. I think in this drama crisis will be Mitch’s decision to marry Blanche (and finally he decided to not marry her). 7. A Climax – “is the peak of the plot in terms of auction”, and it’s when Stanley rape Blanche, whereupon she lost her mid completely, as she couldn’t take it anymore. 8. The Denouement – Blanche thought that Mitch will marry her and she could change her life, move from her sister, but when she realized that Mitch not going to marry her, everything fall apart.
Yelena V Kobzar
Blanch a teacher from new Orleans comes to stay with her sister after her life had fallen apart. Her husband killed him. She lost the family estate. She is poor and unstable. She goes on this drunk rampage and gets into conflicts with everyone. She lies about why she lost her job. She tries to recreate herself and fails. Stanly rapes Blanche while Stella is in the hospital and later decides to kick Blanche out of their home. Stanley called the Asylum saying she was hallucinating. Stella realizes that perhaps the story is true and leaves with the baby.
Peripetia: Stanley beats Stella and goes right back yo him. Stanley raped Blanch, She took her baby and left him.
Anagnorisis: Mitch no longer wants to wed Blanche since she is a hoochie tries one last time to sleep with her. After Blanche says no to Mitch, and then Stanley rapes Blanche while Stella is in the hospital having Stanleys baby