A Streetcar Named Desire: Full Play Summary

Introduction

• Setting: New Orleans apartment of Stella Kowalski
• Arrival: Blanche DuBois, Stella’s sister from Laurel, Mississippi
  • Plans to stay for an indefinite period
  • Claims to have lost their family home, Belle Reve
  • On leave from her teaching job due to "bad nerves"

Plot Overview

Blanche's Arrival and Tension with Stanley

• Blanche's Situation: Financially strained, disdainful of Stella's living conditions
• Stanley’s Suspicion: Believes Blanche deceived Stella over the family inheritance
  • Belle Reve lost due to foreclosure
  • Blanche hides her heavy drinking

Conflict in the Kowalski Household

• Poker Night Incident: Stanley becomes violent during a poker game
  • Conflict: Stanley beats Stella; she returns to him despite Blanche's protests
  • Mitch’s Support: Comforts Blanche

Blanche's Troubled Past

• Attempts to Escape: Blanche suggests seeking help from Shep Huntleigh
• Stanley’s Knowledge: Overhears Blanche’s conversation; knows about her past
  • Past Revealed: Blanche’s promiscuous past becomes known; fired from teaching for an affair with a student

Climactic Confrontations

• Birthday Disaster: Stanley reveals Blanche’s history to Mitch
  • Mitch’s Rejection: Won't marry Blanche; attempts to force himself on her
• Stanley's Assault: Confrontation leads to Stanley raping Blanche

Blanche's Downfall

• Mental Breakdown: Blanche loses grip on reality, believes she’s leaving with Shep Huntleigh
• Commitment to Asylum: Doctor arrives to take her away; Blanche finally leaves with dignity

Conclusion

• Final Scene: Stella, unable to believe Blanche’s story of rape, remains with Stanley
• Emotional Turmoil: Stella sobbing, but Stanley comforts her

Themes

• Reality vs. Illusion: Blanche’s struggle with reality
• Desire and Destruction: Impact of Blanche and Stanley’s desires
• Social Class and Pretense: Class struggle between Blanche and Stanley

Characters

• Blanche DuBois: Fallen from grace; seeks solace in illusion
• Stella Kowalski: Torn between sister and husband
• Stanley Kowalski: Brutal realist, catalyst for Blanche's downfall
• Mitch: Represents potential escape for Blanche

Key Takeaways

• Blanche’s tragic trajectory highlights her inability to adapt to harsh realities.
• The play examines the destructive power of unchecked desire and delusion.