A Streetcar Named Desire

418 Words2 Pages
Oral commentary Plan The stage direction that opens the play “A streetcar named desire” foreshadows some of its/the work´s main themes. The playwright Tennessee Williams creates an atmosphere of contrasts to anticipate themes such as unbelonging and class distinctions which are closely related with the historical context, where there has been a change in the Southern lifestyle: Old South versus New South. Furthermore, Williams resorts to vivid descriptions of the senses, thus invoking a highly sensual and emotional scenery which predicts the theme of desire. Paragraph 2 Firstly, the author portrays a contrasting atmosphere by resorting to some ironic elements and diction (mainly adjectives and nouns), as well as imagery. • Explain the ironic name Elysian Fields. –> Contrasts with atmosphere of decay and poverty, and announces the arrival of an outsider: the theme of unbelonging. Appearances versus reality(wrong assumptions). • Explain the contrasting diction & visual images; white represents purity and refinement as connoting the past aristocratic way of life. “Weathered grey,” “faded” represent the fate of the aristocracy-its decadence and the new coexisting of classes and races. THEMEs: class distinctions and the Old South vs the New South • Develop diction portraying contrast and mixture of classes and races: “ cosmopolitan city”, “easy intermingling of races” THEME:new south, class dictinctions and clash of classes(conflict). • Develop the visual images depicting social class “ one white and one coloured” ,”roughly dressed” and “ blue denim clothes”. Paragraph 3 Secondly, Williams resorts to our senses to create a sensual and emotional atmosphere. • Explain the visual image of the sky “a peculiarly tender blue” and “the dark of an evening”- ominous element(“dark” and “blue”) that is attenuated by the emotional diction “tender”
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