Analysis of Modern Play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire

The years between 1945 and 1960 make up one of America’s most conservative periods, especially concerning sexuality. With his envelope-pushing plays, Williams is often credited with normalizing the portrayal and discussion of sexuality in American theater. For the most part, however, the characters who resist accepting traditional sexual norms wind up lonely, frustrated, and disturbed. This is particularly true of Williams’s gay characters. How does American society deal with sexuality differently now than it did in 1947, when Streetcar was first produced? What similarities between then and now do you see?

It is essential that you provide quotes from the original text of your play to support your arguments and details. An essay that does not use any quotes from the original play will be graded down for lack of original examples.

You should incorporate research from 3 scholarly articles and 2 books into your essay. Use paraphrases, quotes, and in-text citations to illustrate your research. You should demonstrate how each of the articles informs and strengthens your thesis and the main claims that you are making in the essay. Cite each article appropriately, so it is clear which ideas are yours, and which ideas are borrowed from a scholarly source. Your essay must be 2000 words of length at minimum. An essay which does not meet this length requirement will be graded down.  

Make sure that you use literary terms throughout your literary analysis essay. You are expected to use the following terms: the protagonist, the plot, the antagonist, the conflict, the climax, the epiphany, a dynamic/static character, a point of view, character, motivation.