A Streetcar Named Desire, the acclaimed play by writer Tennessee Williams, is a dark and twisted tale that deals with family and all the skeletons they hide in the closet. Throughout the play, one sees the constant bickering that occurs between Stanley and Blanche, all due to their love for fellow family member Stella. Tempers flair and insults are exchanged, proving that neither Stanley, nor Blanche get along particularly well. During these spats and other important moments in the play, music is predominant in the play’s production. Whether it is the rhythmic Blue Piano, the pulsing Varsouviana polka or the carefree, unclear blues, music and sound is an important symbol in A Streetcar Named Desire.

To commence, the Blue Piano reveals the shifting moods of the characters and plot in the story. Since the beginning of the play, the Blue Piano has been filling the scenes with its harmonious melody. Depending on the mood, the beat is either soft and pleasant or loud and fierce. For example, when Blanche and Mitch end their relationship, “The distant piano was fierce and blue” (Williams 121). At this point in the play, the disposition of the situation is very sad and melancholic, when we discover how Blanche not only lost her beau, but her innocent façade as well. Also, the Blue Piano is a focal point between the tension that exists between Stanley and Blanche. While discussing Belle Reve and the Napoleonic code, the Blue Piano “Sounds louder” (43). When the “Barely audible Blue Piano [began] to drum up louder” Stanley and Blanche have their final showdown. As the tempo grows louder, Stanley advances on the struggling Blanche, until he finally overpowers and tragically rapes her (129). As tempers rise, the Blue Piano is always there to fill the areas with its haunting tune and eerie beat.

As well, the Varsouviana polka represents Blanche’s culminating insanity in the play. Polka music, by nature, is very uplifting and melodic, which brings a sense of ease to the listener. Blanche’s inanity can be linked back to the polka music she was listening to when Mitch tried to call off their sham relationship. Blanche kept mentioning that Mitch “[Had] stopped [the] polka tune… caught in [her] head” (113). This implies Mitch, in some way, shape or form, kept her diminishing sanity in line. During the conversation, while Mitch explains that he would like to stop courting Blanche, the fervent music would start up again, almost in a panic. Every time Mitch would mention something Blanche did not want to hear, “The polka music started up again” (114). This almost desperate attempt at keeping a steady lifeline in her life can all be linked back to Blanche’s delicate ego that Stella mentions very early on in the play and the fact her heart was broken by a young man, who was not attracted to her.

Lastly, the carefree, thought raw music in A Streetcar Named Desire represents pain. Between the distorted animalistic cries and the loud pulsating drum, agony is expressed through the main characters. When Stanley arrives home from the hospital, “Honky-tonky” music is heard (122). He is drunk, which is a key indicator that something horrible is about to happen, since the readers know Stanley is an abusive drunk. Before Stanley rapes Blanche, in his drunken stupor, she fiercely fights. She even broke her precious bottle of liquor in an attempt to ward him off. All throughout the advancing attack, “The Varsouviana is filtered into a weird distortion accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” (139). The stage sounds are a representation of the fact that what is happening is very animalistic, unnatural and unrefined.

Music has always been a path to the soul. In A Streetcar Named Desire, music represents changing moods, a growing madness and a terrible agony. Characterization relied heavily on the ever-shifting melodies of the haunting pieces. Even long after the scenes end, the music still lingers on, not only in the mind, but in the heart as well.

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