Destined Tragedy—Analysis On The Major Characters In A Streetcar Named Desire From The Perspective Of Naturalism

Tennessee Williams is the greatest Southern playwright in American literary history. In his life time, Williams has created so many excellent works that most have been highly praised and have kept arousing heated discussion among critics all over the world. William is quite good at portraying characters, especially women characters in his plays. The theme he is always concerned about is the alienation between man and nature during the period of social transformation, the lack of communication among people as well as the individual’s helpless search of self-value in such a chaotic society. This thesis attempts to analyze the tragic root of the major characters in Williams’most outstanding play---A Streetcar Named Desire from the perspective of naturalism. The thesis aims to argue that one’s fate is predetermined by both the external force---one’s living environment, and the internal force---one’s hereditary personality. Meanwhile, the thesis is meant to encourage people to conquer hardships in life cheerfully, to become the master of one’s own fate, and to struggle for one’s ideal and self-value.This thesis consists of five parts.In the introduction, Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire and the related researches abroad and in China are introduced. Then, the significance of the thesis is pointed out:by applying the theory of naturalism, the thesis analyzes the tragic root of the major characters:Blanche, Stella, Stanley, and Mitch.The first chapter explains how the living environment affects one’s fate, such as Blanche’s seductive environment, Stella’s helpless environment, Stanley’s jungle environment, and Mitch’s invalid environment.The second chapter discusses the personality of the major characters:Blanche’s insatiable desire, Stella’s adhesive dependency, Stanley’s brutality, and Mitch’s Oedipus Complex. The third chapter mainly deals with the tragedy of the major characters, Blanche’s complete insanity, Stella’s continuous submission, Stanley’s triumph as a king and Mitch’s spiritual loneliness.In the conclusion, the thesis sums up the main points and reveals that people should become more conscious of themselves, conquer hardships in life, and be the master of their own fate..