| Universally acclaimed as one of the most celebrated American playwrights of the twentieth century, Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) created what his fellow dramaturge David Mamet calls "the greatest dramatic poetry in the American language" and animated the American theatre with his original theatrical imagination. At the core of his drama is his profound concern about humanity-especially about "individuals trapped by circumstances". Williams instilled elements of psychological perspicacity and expressivity into his theatre, and called for more understanding and sympathy for the ostracized people struggling in their broken world.A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams's all-time masterpiece, is threaded by this concern about humanity. The play centers on the tragic experience of Blanche, and the present thesis intends to pinpoint Williams's insight into human psyche through a multi-perspective study of this" character, together with a survey of Williams's vast repertoire of theatrical techniques.The thesis is composed of two parts, plus the "Introduction" and the "Conclusion".The "Introduction" briefly traces Williams's achievements as a prominent American playwright as well as the status of Streetcar, and introduces the thematic messages in his plays. He had as his major theme "the destructive impact of society on the sensitive non-conformist individual".The first part "Thematic Duets" has five chapters.In the first three chapters I will talk about the many-faceted Blanche through a scrutiny of her interaction with the other three major figures during her stay in New Orleans, namely: Stanley, Blanche's antagonist, Stella, Blanche's sister, and Mitch, Blanche's beau. Chapter One "Blanche and Stanley: Two Polar Opposites" traces the development of the inevitable and forceful antagonism between these two major characters in Streetcar, and discusses on a greater level the conflicts it epitomes, to wit: Fantasy Vs. Reality, Old South Vs. New South, and Civilized Vs. Primitive. The antagonism culminates in Stanley's rape and total destruction of Blanche.Chapter Two "Blanche and Stella: Two Southern Gentlewomen" handles the sisterly bond between the two women, and the discrepancy in their attitudes towards life and its bedrock: desire. One's is overt hypocrisy and covert debauchery; the other's is healthy and straightforward.Chapter Three "Blanche and Mitch: Two Lonely Souls" deals with the short-lived romance between the two characters. Mitch gives Blanche hope of salvation and thenkills it in her face. Though of vastly different upbringing, they share something that transcends class and upbringing: loneliness. What ruins the romance is Blanche's insincerity and mendacity in dealing with Mitch and her past. She is a role-player in her own drama.These three chapters are an attempt to define the many aspects of Blanche through her contact with the three persons that are to change her life. Chapter Four "Ambiguity in Streetcar" discusses the complexity and ambiguity of Williams's attitude toward a character that is equally complex and ambiguous. And Chapter Five "Blanche and Williams: Two Fugitive Aliens" goes back to the psychological core of that complexity and ambiguity. This chapter points out that as sensitive non-conformist individuals, Williams and Blanche share much the same psychic experience and the only way out for them is the achievement of compassion and understanding between vastly different human beings.Williams ranked among the foremost experimenters on the 20lh-century American stage. The dramatic expressivity of the play is crucial to the exposition of his thematic concern. Part II "The Dramaturgical World", consisting of four chapters, is a probe into Williams's theatre.Chapter One "Death, Desire, Dementia-Blanche's Journey of Symbolism" tackles the interaction among the main symbols in the play-death, desire and dementia that effectively underpin Blanche's life journey.Chapter Two "Theatrical Imagery" categorizes the multifarious and recurring images that pervade the play...
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