I wasn't expecting to read a play in this class but I guess I should have. I had never heard of "A Streetcar Named Desire" before but I really enjoyed the play and overall thought it was, for lack of a better word, pretty good. The movie wasn't half bad either. It had ended on a darker note than I was expecting though. Based on the title, the play doesn't foreshadow just how violent the conflict is. The arguing between Stanley and Blanche increasing was one thing but I never thought that it would end in sexual abuse.
One of the things that I found really interesting about "A Streetcar Named Desire" was that the play was based around a game of poker. The two player were Blanche and Stanley, and Stella was the dealer. Stella wasn't just the dealer though, she was also the prize. Blanche wanted to take Stella away and Stanley wanted to keep her. Poker is a game of luck with a bit of strategy involved; having to know when to hold or play your cards and also knowing how to bluff. Blanche was the best at bluffing, but it was by a stroke of luck that Stanley knew a guy who had known Blanche, which lead to her downfall.
I didn't have a favorite character from the play, none of them really stuck out to me, but if I had to pick my least favorite it would have to be Blanche. It wasn't so much of what she did or tried to do that bothered me, but I just didn't like her personality.
Overall, I enjoyed the play, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Then again, drama isn't my genre of choice. It was better than some of the other plays that I have read. I never did get into Shakespeare and didn't enjoy Arthur Miller's "The Crucible". It was a play symbolizing McCarthyism and its flaws and irrationality involving the Salem Witch Trials but I just didn't really care much for it. Some of the character developments were fantastic but altogether... meh. Getting back to "A Streetcar Named Desire", if "The Crucible" were a zero and "Noises Off" were a ten, I'd rate it at a six, maybe seven.
I like how honest you are Brett, and how well you explain yourself and your liking, or disliking, of the play. In practically every way I agree with you; Blanche was probably my least favorite character, but then again, I really didn't care much for Stanley either. They both were pretty bad, to me, and both of them need some pretty major "help". But one thing that I did not see, which you pointed out, was how the whole story is wrapped around a poker game, and each character is a player in it. It is so true! Blanche is playing the game with Stanley, and Stanley is playing the game with Blanche, and poor Stella is right in the middle of it! I never saw the connection before with that, so I thank you for awesome insight! You know it is true thought that games of chance, usually don't turn out well in the end for either party, unless you are a really good fake, or just know how to play the cards. It looks in this case, Blanche was the one who lost out. I don't think she was very good at playing the game.
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