On The Elements Of Carnivalization In The Play A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) is one of the best-known dramatists in the United States after World War Ⅱ. Despite the fact that there has always been a lot of studies and analysis on this great writer and his works ever since he made his first impact on the American stage, he still attracts critics and scholars with the mysterious charms of both his works and his personal life.A Streetcar Named Desire (1949) is the one that brought its author the greatest reputation, winning the Pulitzer, Donaldson and New York Drama Critics’Circle Awards, with the outstanding features of its intriguing plot, fascinating characterizations, and the playwright’s impartiality concerning his characters. Forall the penetrating criticism and studies on the play, the carnival elements of crowning/decrowning, eccentricity, inappropriateness, the extraordinary situations and so on are not given proper evaluation. Therefore, this thesis endeavors to use the carnival theory, which is put forth by a Russian scholar Mikhail Bakhtin, to prove the presence of carnivalization in the play and tries to explore its functions.The thesis falls into six parts.The introduction provides information about Tennessee Williams, the review of studies on A Streetcar Named Desire at home and abroad, and the research purpose and significance.Chapter One introduces Bakhtin’s theory of carnival briefly and lays out the theoretical framework for this thesis, mainly with three parts:the ritual of crowning and decrowning, the carnival sense of the world and the generic characteristics of memppea.Chapter Two analyzes the conflicts of Blanche and Stanley from the perspective of the ritual of crowning and decrowning of the carnival king. Each attempts to decrownthe other in order to sustain his/her authority. Blanche endeavors to keep herself crowned by pretending to be a refined lady through lying and sinking into illusion, but is eventually decrowned by Stanley through revealing her lies and breaking her illusion. Stanley gets himself crowned by his wife and friends with his violence and power of masculinity, but is decrowned by Blanche through depriving him of his privileges, of the care of his wife and friends, and of the identity of a human being.Chapter Three expounds the elements of carnivalization of the play from the perspective of the carnival sense of the world, which according to Bakhtin has been formed in the long history of carnival festivities, and is opposed to the official seriousness. The expressions of the carnival sense of the world of the play are manifested in three categories:familiar contact, eccentricity, and carnivalistic misalliance.Chapter Four mainly explores the generic characteristics of A Streetcar Named Desire-the characteristics of menippea, which is the genre of carnivalized literature. There are six menippea features manifested in the play.The conclusion part is a summary of the previous chapters. In addition, it touches on the functions of the carnivalistic elements of the play. Carnival, with its spirit of rebirth, freedom and equality helps Williams cry out his long-repressed feelings.