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The Importance of Setting in A Streetcar Named Desire

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In Tennessee William's play, "A Streetcar Named Desire," setting is a significant contributor to helping the audience understand the characters eventual growth or downfall and to further develop the conflict between Blanche and Stanley. From the very beginning, Blanche was already told her destiny by the route she had to take to reach Stella's apartment. "They told [Blanche] to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries. This represents Blanche's fate showing that only disaster will strike. She was forced to leave Laurel due to her desires. After being heartbroken by finding out her husband was gay (and him later shooting himself) she lost the ability to love leading her to desire kindness from strangers and having sexual affairs with multiple men. This gave her reputation a bad name causing her to be forced to leave Laurel. Her desires lead to her downfall in Laurel. The setting foreshadows the later events of the play. Blanche had to later "ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields , Stella's apartment. Elysian Fields means paradise meaning that to Stella and Stanley their home at Elysian Fields is their paradise however ironically for Blanche, Elysian Fields is where her attempt of redemption fails miserably. She arrives to renew herself but instead she continues her lies and to her dismay she is caught. The paradise of marriage for Stanley and Stella was interrupted by the interference of Blanche. The destruction of paradise in Elysian Fields creates even more tension between Stanley and Blanche as the paradise of marriage has been halted by the intrusion of Blanche. In Roman mythology Elysian Fields is where souls exist in before they come back down to earth. This symbolises how after desire is death and after death are cemeteries and after that is the place where souls are kept before they are free. Blanche was stuck with her sister as she had no one else. The rape and being taken to the me

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