Between Script And Stage-An Analysis Of The Art Of A Streetcar Named Desire

As an up-and-coming star rising gradually after World War II, American playwright Tennessee Williams has drawn critics' attention since he first got his fame in 1944. A Streetcar Named Desire is one of his most famous and most popular plays, which wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Donaldson Awards and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards, the first work ever to win all three. Under the basis of the script, this dissertation focuses on Williams' writing process, analyzing from the script to the stage the artistic features of A Streetcar Named Desire.This dissertation begins from current studies on Williams and his masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire. After summing up predecessors' studies, chapter one points out that drama and script are two completely different concepts and the dramatic form of drama cannot be neglected, but should be taken into full consideration by the playwright while writing. Chapter two examines the script under the theory of Reader's Reception, and concludes that A Streetcar Named Desire is by all means a fascinating script. Chapter three explores from the perspective of symbolism. Different from the traditional realistic writing techniques, Williams makes use of symbols audaciously in his realistic play. These symbols not only bring vigor to the script but help the heroine Blanche to appear vividly as the inbreaking, the escapee and the raped. Exempting from the tedious explanation, Williams employs succinct symbolic language and concise symbolic movement, however, endows the script with plenty connotation, and also exhibits marvelous stage effects it will bring. Chapter four evaluates the script with an eye to stage light, music and sound. Williams' brilliant use of these subsidiary theatrical devices adds color to the psyche of the characters and arises similar emotions in readers as well.