A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Central to Streetcar is the idea that it is a part of human nature that desperation leads us to cling to whatever scraps remain of our lives and to our very grip on reality itself even if, in doing so, we lose sight of that reality. At its opening, the harshness of this is already beginning to show despite the dimness of the evening. The few street lamps are sharp and penetrating, their edges bearing down on everyone beneath. It’s not unrealistic, rather it’s very much natural. It feels like a mirror, reflecting to the world the truth. For Blanche, this reflection is too much to bear, only recently having been forced to come to terms with what her life has become. The mirror is dehumanizing, it doesn’t obey the wishes of the one looking at it, but shows them for who they are; each defect illuminated for all to see.

"Blanche Arrives"

As Blanche attempts to slip back into her habit of deceitful self-preservation, a change is beginning to occur; the world softens to her, even if only very slightly and temporarily. The mirror is now fogging up from the steam of her bath. She is like a child in her nursery, her mobile is the paper lantern she hides beneath, its gentle glow protecting her from the world she has receded from. Though washed with this warmth, there still remain shadows hinting at her lies. Her constant reminder of the past, the Varsouviana, inevitably shows the truth. The mirror, warping, now more like one found in a funhouse, distorts the world in her moments of hallucination. Purple and green replace the normal ambers of the Quarter, casting Blanche into confusion. The warmth disappears and the shadows grow where they defy all reason, freakishly streaking her face with no regard to her protector lamp.

"The Varsouviana"

At the resolution, Blanche is broken; the mirror shattered as her actual circumstances and her imagined life collide. With no real sense of what is real and what is merely a ruse or delusion, the shadows come out again more exaggerated than ever. They turn the men into giants and dwarf Blanche. There is an awkward hue, not quite right, to everything seen, the normal colors of day having been replaced by those altogether more vibrant, though garish, colors of Blanche’s mania.