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Even if you’re not a feminist, the treatment of women in A Streetcar Named Desire is probably going to get you down. But Tennessee Williams wasn’t interested in simply wallowing in 1940s female misery. Check out his second theme to see why A Streetcar Named Desire is actually a call for change.

Video Transcription:

Let’s face it: This play is pretty depressing. On the bright side, all the horrible things that happen to and between the characters actually do have a purpose. We’ll talk about what that purpose is when we discuss Theme Two.

One of the things that makes this play so grim is that its female characters are completely at the mercy of men. Stanley is abusive to Stella, but even when Blanche pleads with Stella to leave him, it’s easy to see that Stella won’t be convinced.

That’s because, in the 1940s, when this play is set, women were still very much dependent on men. And not just for their financial stability. Blanche’s many liaisons reveal another problem with male-female relationships during this era: Women were also dependent on men for their happiness and their self-image.

So that’s theme two in this play: Dependence on men. And part of the purpose of this play is to highlight this dependence—and to criticize it.

Williams wasn’t blaming men for the kind of male-female dynamic that plays out in A Streetcar Named Desire, but he was calling for change. The fact that Blanche’s only escape from her circumstances is either a man, or a descent into a world of utter fantasy, allows Williams to offer up a criticism of a society that he saw as desperately in need of change.