Essay Comparing A Streetcar Named Desire And The Night Cafe

It is common for artists to utilize light and dark to symbolize goodness and evil. The use of light is very powerful and sometimes helps the audience to determine whether a certain aspect of the artwork is pure or tainted. “A Night Cafe” by Van Gogh includes a unique interaction between light and darkness to show the mysterious qualities about people. This concept can similarly be used in written works so that the setting reflects the characters. “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams highlights the journey of a woman that tries to escape her past and convince to herself and to everyone else that she is pure. The way the light and shadows interact with each other in “The Night Cafe” reflects the setting and characters of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Both works ultimately prove that light can be used to show sanctitude, and that the absence of light displays malevolence.
In the beginning of the play, the setting had similar lighting to the one in “The Night Cafe” painting. The painting shows three lamps on the ceiling that are shining brightly, but the room isn’t fully lit. The corners of the room are still dark, and there are many shadowy areas of the room in “The Night Cafe.” In the intro of the play, Williams begins to describe Stella’s living area as a “dim white building” (Williams 1). This short but informative description of Stella’s apartment conveys that Williams wanted to set a certain mood when she was
Both works integrate light in their works in order to illustrate which characters are pure or tainted. This concept is important to consider when analyzing different works because making connections between character traits and the setting can deepen the meaning of the text to the reader. In artwork, having an understanding of this concept could also deepen the audience’s knowledge of the story that the artist tries to