Nov 2011 paper
A Streetcar named Desire
Q)Explore the dramatic techniques through which Williams creates the atmosphere of the play.
A) Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a play that is spilling with dramatic scenes throughout. He uses a wide variety of techniques which help heighten and emphasize the drama in the scenes. These techniques include the use of music such as the “Blue Piano” and “The Varsouviana Polka”, Animalistic Images that appear throughout the play, language, and his use of personality clashes of the characters and their individual mannerisms such as Blanche and Stanley.
The Blue Piano is a mood setter. It usually is present when Blanche is talking about the loss of Belle Reve and her family. The blue piano stands for Blanche’s loneliness and depression and longing for love. The blue piano grows louder in scenes where Blanche is usually hysterical with some saddening remembrance, such as the loss of Belle Reve, and the deaths she had to deal with or present occurrences that grieved her such as the time Mitch reverted his decision to marry her because of her past. The blue piano helps to add drama to such scenes as it grows louder with her increasing mournfulness and hysteria and emphasizes her emotions. It is an embodiment of her emotions and grows louder when her emotions are spiraling out of control. It contributes to the drama in the scenes as it heightens the dramatic effect with its drumming up louder and louder in scenes gripped with tension, such as the scene in which she is attacked by Stanley, When Blanche gets desperate or fearful the blue piano is heard such as when her hopes are rising while she is calling Shep Huntleigh or the time she suspects something has happened between Stanley and Stella while she was bathing.
The Varsouviana Polka is another music that William’s uses as a technique to help increase drama in the scenes. The varsouviana polka seems to be associated with death. It was the same