A Streetcar Named Desire: Theme & Key Quotes: Desire

Theme - Desire

Pervasive Influence: Desire is a pervasive theme in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. It serves as a driving force for the characters, especially Blanche DuBois, dictating their actions and decisions.
Destructive: Williams explores how desire can destroy individuals and relationships. Blanche’s extravagant desires led to her downfall and alienation, while Stanley’s carnal desire led him to actions of brutality and contention.
Symbolic: The streetcar named ‘Desire’ that runs through the French Quarter symbolises the raw, carnal desire that leads characters into situations of conflict and tension, serving as a pathway to ruin and devastation.
Dichotomy: The dichotomy of pure versus carnal desires is represented through the characters of Blanche and Stanley respectively. This disparity intensifies the conflicts and characterizes the intimate drama.

Key Quotes

“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!” - Blanche’s journey snakes through Desire, with a haunting end in Cemeteries, implying her destructive path in the pursuit of her desires.
“I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can’t be alone!” - Blanche’s desperate pleading reveals a loneliness and raw desire for companionship, acting as a window into her vulnerability.
“Physical beauty is passing - a transitory possession - but beauty of the mind, richness of the spirit, tenderness of the heart - I have all these things.” - Through Blanche, Williams articulates the distinction between the soul’s desire for something more profound than mere physical desire.

Lessons from the Theme of Desire

The theme of desire in the play provides insight into the characters’ traits, motivations and ultimate downfall.
Williams uses ‘desire’ to highlight gender dynamics, class struggle, and the harshness of reality, thereby breaking from traditional representations and connotations associated with ‘desire’.
Understanding desire in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ enables the understanding of the characters’ internal struggles, relation to the societal norms, and their battle between illusion and reality.

In analysing the theme of ‘Desire’, one should consider the societal norms imposed on the characters, and the repercussions faced by them when societal expectations are defied in the pursuit of their desires. This exploration is central to a detailed analysis of the cause-effect relationships within ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.