Abstract:Symbolism is profoundly used in Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece—A Streetcar Named Desire and plays an important role in the play by helping readers understand the concept of the theme. Since its publication in 1945, this play has become an American classic and a world renowned one. It is widely studied home and abroad. Tennessee Williams discloses the misery and the inner world of the heroine, Blanche, in his masterpiece A Street Car Named Desire through the application of a series o f symbols and the work reveals the women figures' destiny as well as the social realities and the social contradictions.This paper is an attempt to give a comprehensive analysis of specific symbols in this play and to discuss how the misery and the inner world of the characters are disclosed through the remarkable use of symbols. Symbols are profuse in the play and they help to achieve a thematic importance when combined with the romantic realism that Williams favored at the beginning of his career.

The thesis is made up of four parts. The first chapter gives a brief introduction of the author and the play. Chapter two is a thematic probe into the play based on the symbolic understandings of the different characters. Chapter three studies some particular symbols in the play, such as names,colors, etc. Finally, a conclusion is given to summarize symbolism in this play. 

Keywords: Symbolism, A Streetcar Named Desire, Symbols, Characters

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter 1 Introduction-1

1.1 The Author-1

1.2 The Play-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

Chapter 2 The Symbolic Understanding of Characters-3

2.1 The Female Characters-3

2.1.1 Blanche Dubois-3

2.1.2 Stella Kowalski-4

2.1.3 Mexican Women-4

2.2 The Male Characters-5

2.2.1 Stanley Kowalski-5

2.2.2 Harold Mitchell-6

Chapter 3 Study of Individual Symbols-7

3.1 The Symbolic Meaning of Names-7

3.2 The Symbolic Meaning of Bathing-7

3.3 The Symbolic Meaning of Light-7

Chapter 4 Conclusion-9

Reference-11

Acknowledgements-13