Tennessee Williams relies heavily on symbolism, throughout his play "A Streetcar Named Desire." Three types of symbolism he uses are dialog, lighting, and manipulating music. Each type contributes to the way that the story unfolds. The symbolism creates different elements such as drama, suspense, and irony.
             Tennessee Williams uses dialog to show symbolism. Throughout the play, animals and barbaric creatures are used in speech to symbolize Stanley. In scene four of the play, Blanche makes a speech about how cruel Stanley is to Stella, trying to convince Stella to leave him. In this speech she says, "He acts like an animal, has an animal's habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one! There's even something--sub-human--something not quite to the stage of humanity yet! Yes, something--ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I've seen in anthropological studies!" (p. 72) Little does Blanche know, but Stanley hears a great deal of her conversation with Stella, including that speech. It makes Stanley angry when Blanche refers to him as an animal, but later in the story when Stella calls him a pig, Stanley goes crazy, throws his plate and cup to the floor, and lectures the two women. Stanley realizes that Stella has been around Blanche too long and that she is!
             picking up some of her bad habits. To fix his problem, Stanley buys her a ticket to go back to where she came from and forces Blanche to leave his home. The way that Stanley acts in this scene increases the drama of the play immensely. It makes the audience feel sorry for Stella because her sister and her husband despise each other, yet she loves them both greatly.
             Another way that Williams uses symbolism during the play is in the lighting. Stanley realizes that almost everything Blanche has told him is a lie. Blanche appears to be trying to hide from her lies in the darkness. This is symbolic of Blanche&ap...