Passion in Streetcar named desire and Enduring love
‘Desire is both liberating and imprisoning’. Compare and contrast the ways in which two of your chosen writers present relationships in the light of this comment
Tennessee William’s ‘A Street Named Desire’ explores and contrasts two settings, the more accepting, and open minded society and the ‘Southern Belle’ in urban New Orleans 1940, while Ian McEwan’s ‘Enduring Love’ is about endurance, or survival, and sets love in its different forms, from unconditioned, romantic, idealised and obsessive. In contrast to William’s play, McEwan’s novel is set in late twentieth century Britain, aiming at dealing with timeless concerns such as morality and love, while the play focuses on social realism. Associating the main characters, both texts involved different forms of love as its ‘liberating and imprisoning’.
Interlopers appear in both texts, creating a triangle of characters of which change the dynamics of a stable relationship and test the essence of their love. While McEwan’s novel ‘Enduring Love’ focuses on the theme love, it also emphasises how love can be obsessive and intimidating as it can be supportive and redeeming. In many ways, the novel is a compelling study of an individual who has to endure love that is unreciprocated. Williams’ ‘A Street Car Named Desire’ is a mixture of sex, violence and morality. As some reviews make clear, it was to some extent a ‘success de scandale’, dealing with sex and desire something at that time was not encouraged till the emergence of this play. In the opening chapter in ‘Enduring Love’, Joe explains running towards a balloon as ‘sprinting away from our happiness’ revealing the significance of the event. Infact from that point onwards, the relationship of Clarissa and Joe deteriorates just like the balloon quickly gets out of control and dives into danger, so does their relationship. Similarly to William’s play, the infiltrator is Blanche, her appearance is made significant as she beholds clear class snobbery, with the
Tennessee William’s ‘A Street Named Desire’ explores and contrasts two settings, the more accepting, and open minded society and the ‘Southern Belle’ in urban New Orleans 1940, while Ian McEwan’s ‘Enduring Love’ is about endurance, or survival, and sets love in its different forms, from unconditioned, romantic, idealised and obsessive. In contrast to William’s play, McEwan’s novel is set in late twentieth century Britain, aiming at dealing with timeless concerns such as morality and love, while the play focuses on social realism. Associating the main characters, both texts involved different forms of love as its ‘liberating and imprisoning’.
Interlopers appear in both texts, creating a triangle of characters of which change the dynamics of a stable relationship and test the essence of their love. While McEwan’s novel ‘Enduring Love’ focuses on the theme love, it also emphasises how love can be obsessive and intimidating as it can be supportive and redeeming. In many ways, the novel is a compelling study of an individual who has to endure love that is unreciprocated. Williams’ ‘A Street Car Named Desire’ is a mixture of sex, violence and morality. As some reviews make clear, it was to some extent a ‘success de scandale’, dealing with sex and desire something at that time was not encouraged till the emergence of this play. In the opening chapter in ‘Enduring Love’, Joe explains running towards a balloon as ‘sprinting away from our happiness’ revealing the significance of the event. Infact from that point onwards, the relationship of Clarissa and Joe deteriorates just like the balloon quickly gets out of control and dives into danger, so does their relationship. Similarly to William’s play, the infiltrator is Blanche, her appearance is made significant as she beholds clear class snobbery, with the