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You’re not hearing things. There’s lots of music in A Streetcar Named Desire. But those tunes don’t just help evoke the New Orleans setting. In A Streetcar Named Desire, music is a symbol.

Video Transcription:

Even if you’re reading this play instead of watching it, you won’t be able to miss the songs in A Streetcar Named Desire. Which is a good thing, because they’re symbols.

The Varsouviana Polka and “It’s Only a Paper Moon.” If you wanted an indication that Blanche is losing her grip on reality, these songs are it.

Remember that The Varsouviana Polka was the song that was playing in the last moments before Blanche’s young husband’s suicide. Since then, Blanche has heard the Polka whenever she’s feeling sorry about his death, and her role in his death.

But the Polka isn’t just a song that symbolizes Blanche’s remorse; it also symbolizes her descent into fantasy. The emotional trauma she suffered as a result of the suicide has been taking its toll, and as the play goes on and Blanche becomes more insane, the Polka plays more frequently.

By contrast, we only hear the song about the paper moon once—in Scene Seven. But the lyrics couldn’t be any more explicit. They’re all about fantasy, and what can turn what’s merely make-believe into something real.

Just another indication that in A Streetcar Named Desire, song symbolizes the permeable boundary between what’s real and what isn’t … not to mention Blanche’s tendency to ignore that boundary altogether.