Streetcar paragraph structure

What’s your point…?

Where’s your proof?

Explain the dramatic impact of the most telling detail.

Can you link this to other quotes in the play?

Why was that idea important at the time?

What was it important to Williams?

Which critics/ perspectives/ performances agreed/disagreed with you?

Clinch your point.

Eg

What’s your point…?

Blanche hates pragmatism:

Where’s your proof?

1) Her costume is ‘incongruous’ to the setting; 2) “I don’t want realism. I want magic!”; 3) her regular florid monologues: the opposite of practical dialogue

Explain the dramatic impact of the most telling detail.

“I don’t want realism. I want magic!”; the turgid full stop reveals the boredom she associates with reality, and the exclamation mark emphasises her love of fantasy, forcing the actor playing Blanche to show her bias towards these two opposing ideals.

Can you link this to other quotes in the play?

This is reinforced by her hysterical behaviour when confronted with Stella’s extremely pragmatic response to being beaten by her husband: Blanche’s hysterical behaviour is juxtaposed with Stella’s calm; she uses imaginative metaphors to describe the ‘ape’ Stanley, even though she claims to be giving Stella the ‘facts’.

Why was that idea important at the time?

Blanche’s hatred of pragmatism was an outright rejection of the ‘New American Male’ – inarticulate and illiterate – who, like Paul Newman and Montgomery Clift, was becoming a hero in 1940s American culture.

What was it important to Williams?

Williams himself wrote that he was ‘in a fight to the death’ against the ‘butcher, baker and candlestick-maker’ – practical trades that were the enemy of creative people.

Which critics/ perspectives/ performances agreed/disagreed with you?

Karl Malden captured the unattractive nature of pragmatic males perfectly with his ‘dancing bear’ performance, although it’s interesting to note that Marcello Mastroianni’s Mitch was far better looking, making Blanche and Williams’ pragmatic opponent a more attractive prospect.

Clinch your point.

Whether it was physically appealing or not, there is no doubt that for author and his heroine, the pragmatism that they hated so much was bound to defeat them.