Streetcar+themes+-+FATE

 ** FATE AND THE DANGERS OF PASSION **
 * One of the prerequisites of a tragedy in the classical sense is that the tragedy itself is inevitable. For example, Romeo and Juliet are not merely unlucky; they are “star crossed lovers” and __fated__ to die. This may be due to inherent flaws in their own character which lead to tragedy when combined with certain events (Macbeth’s ambition, Hamlet’s indecision) or because of destiny itself. **
 * Fate plays a huge part in this play. The play’s central symbol is the streetcar named Desire itself. Moving along on rails, unable to change its course, it becomes a powerful symbol of human beings heading towards an unavoidable fate. The streetcar’s destination, Desire, develops the metaphor further. Desire (or sexual passion) is the force which carries Blanche to her fate. In scene IV (p. 162) the DuBois sisters use the metaphor to describe how they have both submitted to sexual desire: **
 * BLANCHE: What you are talking about is brutal desire – just – Desire! – the name of that rattle – trap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another. **
 * STELLA: Haven’t you ever ridden on that streetcar? **
 * BLANCHE: It brought me here… **
 * The reason, of course, that Blanche has had to come to New Orleans is sexual desire and the trouble it has got her into, blindly following her desires like a streetcar on a track. Her first comment on her arrival in New Orleans (“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then to transfer to one called Cemeteries and … get off at Elysian Fields!” introduces another theme – death (Elysian Fields is Greek mythology’s equivalent of Heaven), which is the inevitable fate of those who follow their desires blindly. **
 * Another version of the “streetcar” symbol is associated with Stanley – the train. This is a powerful, violent object, but it is on tracks just like a streetcar. The implication seems to be that the two characters are on collision course, heading unavoidably towards a violent and tragic conflict. **
 * Is Williams trying to say, then, that sexual desire is the force which drives us __all__ towards our fate? Certainly, he was extremely promiscuous throughout much of his own life. Note at the end of the play when Stella, blinded by her passion for her husband, chooses the physical love he can give her rather than the ugly truth of her sister’s rape, thus betraying Blanche and sealing her tragic fate. Again, sexual desire determines the way in which a character acts. Probably, however, Williams meant to imply a broader truth – we are motivated by passions of some sort (not necessarily sexual) and it is these passions which dictate our fate (Whether good or bad). Blanche’s nymphomania – to her, a means of connecting with people and, perhaps, of blocking out the horrific memory of her husband’s death – is simply her own overriding passion. **
 * The helplessness of the individual against the fate towards which their passions lead them is symbolised also in the image of the moth, fatally attracted to the flame (of passion?); Blanche is similarly attracted towards sexuality (specifically, Stanley’s sexuality) and throughout the play we see her being drawn closer and closer towards bright lights with a mixture of horror and fascination. Williams apparently believed, then, that there was some sort of fate in people’s lives; that events in one’s life, coupled with flaws or qualities in one’s personality, conspire to drive people towards unavoidable destiny. To put it bluntly, he seems to say that we are not really in control of what happens to us but that we are controlled by a subconscious, irrational drive which he calls Desire. **

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