music in Streetcar Named Desir
In Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley and Stella Kowalski, newlyweds, live in a neglected but amiable part of New Orleans. One day Blanche, Stella's sister, comes to visit, setting up the conflict of the play: an emotional struggle between the tough, harsh, blunt Stanley and the fragile, delicate gentility of Blanche. Blanche and Stella used to live on a Southern plantation, but Stella gave up the ways of the Southern gentry when she met the uncultured Stanley. Meanwhile, Blanche watched the family estate, Belle Reve, slip through her hands and into foreclosure. Blanche claims to be on leave of absence from the high school where she teaches. She expects things to go smoothly once she arrives, using her wit and humor to charm her way into Stanley's heart, but things do not go as planned. She quickly develops contempt for Stanley and the way of life her sister has chosen, especially when he strikes Stella in a fit of drunken rage. Stanley's attitude is not much better. He is repulsed by what he perceives as her fake southern gentility and is galvanized to anger when he overhears her label him brutish and animal-like. One person seems to stand above the Kowalskis in grace and refinement: Mitch.
From the moment Blanche enters the first scene, the audience is immersed in melodies of memory and pain. In this case Blanche mentions her husband's passing before breaking into tears. One such occurrence immediately follows the one referred to in the paragraph above. Blanche is now completely fixated on alcohol, trying to drink away the pain of the memories. Williams writes in the stage directions: 'The rapid, feverish polka tune, the 'Varsouviana,' is heard. Because the Varsouviana was playing at the Casino at that time, it always appears in conjunction with memories of that fateful day. It is the sad, melancholy Blue Piano, because everyone, with the exception of Stanley, now experience what a soul in pain feels like. This offers the audience a little glimpse into the world that she had left, a world full of "intimacies with stranger. " In Blanche's mind, the Varsouviana is associated with impending, inevitable misfortune; for that reason it always plays in Blanche's mind when she is confronted with her wild, wanton past; a past she would rather forget. The music weaves in and out of the scene in which Mitch confronts Blanche with his knowledge of her background. Blanche is severely disappointed by Mitch's absence, Stanley's annoyance of Blanche is growing. The "hectic breakdown" of the Piano continues until the middle of the scene, symbolizing the near-collapse of Blanche's world. Blanche is slowly starting to spiral into the dementia that will be her ultimate fate. In short, the Varsouviana plays at each critical juncture of Blanche's character. The music is merely a figment of Blanche's memory, and therefore is only there when Blanche is.
Common topics in this essay:
Blue Piano,
Belle Reve,
Stanley Blanche,
Kowalskis Blanche,
Laurel Mississippi,
Stanley Varsouviana,
Blanche DuBois,
Mitch Mitch,
Named Desire,
Allan Soon,
belle reve,
blue piano,
streetcar named desire,
streetcar named,
blanche scene,
named desire,
blanche's mind,
blanche's past,
varsouviana fades,
music play,
piano heard,
blue piano heard,
music plays vital,
describing blanche's mood,
varsouviana fades scene,
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Acceptance Essays
