In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire the evidence of this despairing loneliness is as evident as it ever was in any of T.S. Elliot’s poetry, and even more visible then in the works of Mr. Hemingway. With Blanche’s arrival in the first act, Mr. Williams makes reference to and foreshadows the hell that these people live in as well as the torture that will come after.
Blanche [with faintly hysterical humor}:
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!
Tennessee Williams is basically saying that by falling to desire one is lead to the cemeteries, or death, and from there they travel to the Elysian fields, which can be construed as one of two locations: The Hellenistic Greek heaven, or Limbo, from Dante’s Divine Comedy. As a learned man Williams could realistically be referencing either location, however the society the characters live in infers to us that Williams Elysian Fields are a bad place, connecting it more to Limbo, which is Dante’s first ring of Hell, a false heaven, disjointed from God. That describes Williams Elysian Fields perfectly: a Hell were the people are so wrapped up in there own problems, or reveling in there own lust that they don’t realize: they’re in Hell.
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10 March 2008 at 4:52 pm
mopo07
The points you brought up in this blog were points that i believe are often overlooked. You did a great job with describing the scene at the beginning
“Blanche [with faintly hysterical humor}:
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!”
This was great. It made the title of the story easier to understand.
10 March 2008 at 4:58 pm
ashcp4
You know things high school juniors should not. You did a good job diving in to these symbols and allusions. bueno. And that comment on jeff’s page about gemmah was definately from me. =]
10 March 2008 at 5:03 pm
Kel
A valid point that loneliness is evident, each person in A Streetcar seems to be on their own in a specific way. The whole psychological aspect of them is every man for himself, in a way. Yes, they care about each other, but it almost seems insincere.
My question is, how are you so sure that the reference Williams is trying to make is to Hell? You say that the “seeming cautionary form of the path” I need evidence of this. Explain.
**”realize: there in Hell.” they’re*
11 March 2008 at 2:30 am
sirero
The question your asking is one that is exceptionally diffucult to answer. your saying prove its limbo as opposed to a Helenistic greek paradise. what im trying to say by “cautionary path” is that in general, modernist literature deals with a world devoid of god. Since the world the charachters in Streetcar live in is, atleast in reality, a predominantly christian societythe thought of an afterlife devoid of gods presence would be horrific as opposed to joyous, thereby defining the difference between Helenistic greek Elysian Fields, And Dante’s Limbo, do you follow me?
11 March 2008 at 2:19 pm
lawnka
AH HAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS SO MARROW! anyways i think this is deep.. i really don’t know what to say to your blog. SORRY MS. BAZ… but I’m speechless. this is really mind boggling
16 March 2008 at 2:10 am
bgemme
very good morrow, viewing the whole play as them in a hellish place. and the whole play screams it too, with desire, and cemeteries, and elysian fields. there were a few grammar mistakes though, but other than that, this was deep. you defiantely have a good understanding of streetcar.
16 March 2008 at 10:24 pm
Evan
Morrow, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with all this nonsense about some Dante guy and Limbo. But your connection to the setting of Streetcar being like a hell on earth is correct, and Williams definitely meant to make this connection. If they are in Hell, is Stanley the devil?
16 March 2008 at 10:30 pm
goaltender35
Morrow good job with this blog. One thing though you might want to go back and see if you can find any other instances of your element later on in the novel. Also try and make some other connections to hell with the characters within the story. Over all though well done.
16 March 2008 at 10:33 pm
kyle91
I disagree with your view on the setting from the first act. Everyone was happy for once. After Blanche’s arrival, now that’s when it went to hell and arguments broke loose.
16 March 2008 at 11:21 pm
jcroteau
That a good point you make saying that Tennessee is hinting at in the first scene that desire will lead to your grave. I never thought of it that way but it does make sense.
18 March 2008 at 1:43 am
cfw23
I liked how you used the context from the first act when Blanche arrived at her sister’s doorstep to predict and generalize the whole story and setting of the play. Something I am incapable of really wrapping my mind around, but I think I can understand what you are saying in my own interpretation. Good job Andrew! I like to read and listen to the words you have to say and the theories or conclusions you come up with because alot of the times they are legitimate and intelligent.
22 March 2008 at 2:36 am
sirero
evan: I would not say stanley is the devil, merely another individual caught in his own hell unaware of his predicament.
Kyle: That generalization right there is exactly why it is so precisely hell. They’re happy because either they are unaware of there damnation, or, in Stella’s case, choose not to see it. It really doesnt matter wich, there damned in either scenario.
Matt: unless Ms. Baz comes down here personally and asks me to add more examples im going to leave it. I feel like this statement is more powerful now, with a small taste of the depth of there damnation, then it would be if I went through the entire play and rehashed obvious details that are so blatantly obvious that you could not miss them.
and I DO NOT want to
summarize
the play for you.
wich is exactly what I would be doing.
ps. that was suppose to arrange in very fitting way on the page but this setup wont let me do it.