Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

A Streetcar Named Desire | 2016

INTRODUCTION
The use of music and other sound effects in Tennessee Williams’ play ‘A Streetcar
named Desire’ is a very unique technique that infuses the play with an enigmatic atmosphere
that is not achievable simply through dialogue
...
The
music in the play often works in tandem with climactic scenes as well as with the inner world
of the characters
...
Through carefully crafted stage directions, Williams uses music to establish
the mood of different scenes
...
You just know that music is going to
play an extremely important role in the play
...
He uses music to foreshadow events that will happen later in
the play, but also uses it to represent a character’s personal world
...
from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated
fluency of brown fingers
...
” (Williams)
These lines are in the stage directions for the opening setting of the play
...
The music is also used to establish the general mood of happiness and contentment that
surrounds the setting and the people of the area
...

The music of the blue piano spilling over from a nearby saloon, comes and goes
throughout the entire play
...
The rise of the music before Blanche tells Stella about the
funerals of their family, foreshadows the conflicting relationship that will arise between the
two sisters
...

Thus, as suggested by the adjective blue, the tune/the mention of the blue piano signifies
Blanche’s unhappiness, loneliness, and longing for love
...
In Scene Ten, the piano grows louder as she desperately tries to get in touch with Shep
Huntleigh
...
In the last scene, when Blanche is being taken to a mental institution,
Stanley and his friends are in the middle of a poker game
...

The blue piano is seen in scenes of inordinate passion
...
Therefore, it
2

A Streetcar Named Desire | 2016

is signposted that this music should run parallel to scenes of passion in the play, such as Stella's
lustful reunion with Stanley in Scene 3 and Blanche's rape in Scene 9
...

This music is heard only by Blanche
...
The music is a window into her mind that has been opened for spectators
...

“then the polka resumes in a major key
...
”
(Williams)
In Scene Six, the polka music is playing when Blanche is relating to Mitch the story of
how her young husband killed himself because she told him that his homosexuality disgusted
her
...
When Mitch embraces Blanche at the end of Scene Six, the
polka fades out
...
Furthermore, the fact that Blanche must wait to hear the gunshot in her
head for the music to stop, highlights her increasing instability
...
Although this sound is evoked many times
in the play, it is most significant in Scene Six when Blanche narrates the tragic story of her
marriage
...
The loud noise accompanied by its powerful headlight paradoxically symbolizes the
“blinding light” of love that briefly shined on Blanche’s life before disappearing into the
darkness, much like a locomotive
...
But it sets the tone of
Blanche being unstable as she can hear strange, unnerving music that no one else seems to hear
...


3

A Streetcar Named Desire | 2016

“the rapid, feverish polka tune, the ‘Varsouviana’, is heard; she is drinking to
escape it and the disaster closing in on her
...
The scene opens with Blanch sitting stiffly in a
corner and drinking to ‘escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her’
...
The portrayal of Blanche in this way at the beginning of the scene
foreshadows her insanity in Scenes Ten and Eleven
...
The
distortion of the Varsouviana polka, interspersed with noises of the jungle, strongly reemphasises Blanche’s madness
...
The ‘hectic breakdown’ of the piano suggests the chaotic state her mind is
in
...
The sounds of a jungle suggests the violence and
brutish nature of her aggressor, and also proposes the idea that the cruelty and cold-heartedness
of society is what has caused Blanche’s fall
...
Blanche's performance of "Paper Moon" in
the bath highlights the themes of illusion and belief
...

But as the song states, to avoid the harsh realities of life, Blanche needs other people believe
with her
...
The irony of the situation is for
the audience to see that all it takes is just one person to destroy the dreams and desires of
another person
...
In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
even seemingly unimportant sounds, like the slamming of doors, has meaning
...
Tennessee Williams’ use of sound plays the
additional role of shadowing and expounding Blanche's emotions and also serves as the
foundation of a very bad memory
...
All in all, it serves the purpose of making a drama, dramatic
...
https://rohit617
...
com/2012/01/17/sounds-ina-streetcar-named-desire-by-adrienne-earhart-and-rohit-ayyagari/
...

Web
...

Castillo, Juan David Bonilla & Mauricio
...
blogspot
...
html
...
Web
...

Ossa, M
...
http://www
...
com/homework-help/how-does-tennessee-williams-uses-sounddramatic-354699
...
Web
...

Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli
...
"
Russell, Tony, Allen Brizee, and Elizabeth Angeli
...

The Purdue OWL, 2010
...

Team, Shmoop Editorial
...
" Shmoop
...
11 November 2008
...
30 July 2016
...

http://mrhoyesibwebsite
...
htm
...
d
...
30 July 2016
...
http://www
...
com/content/use-dramatic-light-and-sound-streetcar-nameddesire
...
d
...
28 July 2016
...
Chainani, Soman
...
11
August 2008
...
30 July 2016
...
A Streetcar Named Desire
...

Wong, Kaitlin
...
com/liayovgbfnbn/sound-in-a-streetcar-named-desire/
...
Web
...


7



---