Blanche DuBois, a schoolteacher from
Laurel, Mississippi, arrives at the New Orleans apartment of her
sister, Stella Kowalski. Despite the fact that Blanche seems to have
fallen out of close contact with Stella, she intends to stay at
Stella’s apartment for an unspecified but likely lengthy period
of time, given the large trunk she has with her. Blanche tells Stella
that she lost Belle Reve, their ancestral home, following the death
of all their remaining relatives. She also mentions that she has
been given a leave of absence from her teaching position because
of her bad nerves.
Though Blanche does not seem to have enough money to
afford a hotel, she is disdainful of the cramped quarters of the
Kowalskis’ two-room apartment and of the apartment’s location in
a noisy, diverse, working-class neighborhood. Blanche’s social condescension
wins her the instant dislike of Stella’s husband, an auto-parts supply
man of Polish descent named Stanley Kowalski. It is clear that Stella
was happy to leave behind her the social pretensions of her background
in exchange for the sexual gratification she gets from her husband;
she even is pregnant with his baby. Stanley immediately distrusts
Blanche to the extent that he suspects her of having cheated Stella
out of her share of the family inheritance. In the process of defending
herself to Stanley, Blanche reveals that Belle Reve was lost due
to a foreclosed mortgage, a disclosure that signifies the dire nature
of Blanche’s financial circumstances. Blanche’s heavy drinking,
which she attempts to conceal from her sister and brother-in-law,
is another sign that all is not well with Blanche.
The unhappiness that accompanies the animal magnetism
of Stella and Stanley’s marriage reveals itself when Stanley hosts
a drunken poker game with his male friends at the apartment. Blanche
gets under Stanley’s skin, especially when she starts to win the
affections of his close friend Mitch. After Mitch has been absent for
a while, speaking with Blanche in the bedroom, Stanley erupts, storms
into the bedroom, and throws the radio out of the window. When Stella
yells at Stanley and defends Blanche, Stanley beats her. The men
pull him off, the poker game breaks up, and Blanche and Stella escape
to their upstairs neighbor Eunice’s apartment. A short while later,
Stanley is remorseful and cries up to Stella to forgive him. To
Blanche’s alarm, Stella returns to Stanley and embraces him passionately.
Mitch meets Blanche outside of the Kowalski flat and comforts her
in her distress.
The next day, Blanche tries to convince Stella to leave
Stanley for a better man whose social status equals Stella’s. Blanche
suggests that she and Stella contact a millionaire named Shep Huntleigh
for help escaping from New Orleans; when Stella laughs at her, Blanche reveals
that she is completely broke. Stanley walks in as Blanche is making
fun of him and secretly overhears Blanche and Stella’s conversation.
Later, he threatens Blanche with hints that he has heard rumors
of her disreputable past. She is visibly dismayed.
While Blanche is alone in the apartment one evening,
waiting for Mitch to pick her up for a date, a teenage boy comes
by to collect money for the newspaper. Blanche doesn’t have any
money for him, but she hits on him and gives him a lustful kiss.
Soon after the boy departs, Mitch arrives, and they go on their
date. When Blanche returns, she is exhausted and clearly has been
uneasy for the entire night about the rumors Stanley mentioned earlier.
In a surprisingly sincere heart-to-heart discussion with Mitch,
Blanche reveals the greatest tragedy of her past. Years ago, her
young husband committed suicide after she discovered and chastised
him for his homosexuality. Mitch describes his own loss of a former
love, and he tells Blanche that they need each other.
When the next scene begins, about one month has passed.
It is the afternoon of Blanche’s birthday. Stella is preparing a
dinner for Blanche, Mitch, Stanley, and herself, when Stanley comes
in to tell her that he has learned news of Blanche’s sordid past.
He says that after losing the DuBois mansion, Blanche moved into
a fleabag motel from which she was eventually evicted because of
her numerous sexual liaisons. Also, she was fired from her job as
a schoolteacher because the principal discovered that she was having
an affair with a teenage student. Stella is horrified to learn that
Stanley has told Mitch these stories about Blanche.
The birthday dinner comes and goes, but Mitch never arrives. Stanley
indicates to Blanche that he is aware of her past. For a birthday
present, he gives her a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel. Stanley’s
cruelty so disturbs Stella that it appears the Kowalski household
is about to break up, but the onset of Stella’s labor prevents the
imminent fight.
Several hours later, Blanche, drunk, sits alone in the
apartment. Mitch, also drunk, arrives and repeats all he’s learned
from Stanley. Eventually Blanche confesses that the stories are
true, but she also reveals the need for human affection she felt
after her husband’s death. Mitch tells Blanche that he can never
marry her, saying she isn’t fit to live in the same house as his
mother. Having learned that Blanche is not the chaste lady she pretended
to be, Mitch tries to have sex with Blanche, but she forces him
to leave by yelling “Fire!” to attract the attention of passersby
outside.
Later, Stanley returns from the hospital to find Blanche
even more drunk. She tells him that she will soon be leaving New
Orleans with her former suitor Shep Huntleigh, who is now a millionaire. Stanley
knows that Blanche’s story is entirely in her imagination, but he
is so happy about his baby that he proposes they each celebrate
their good fortune. Blanche spurns Stanley, and things grow contentious.
When she tries to step past him, he refuses to move out of her way.
Blanche becomes terrified to the point that she smashes a bottle
on the table and threatens to smash Stanley in the face. Stanley
grabs her arm and says that it’s time for the “date” they’ve had set
up since Blanche’s arrival. Blanche resists, but Stanley uses his physical
strength to overcome her, and he carries her to bed. The pulsing
music indicates that Stanley rapes Blanche.
The next scene takes place weeks later, as Stella and
her neighbor Eunice pack Blanche’s bags. Blanche is in the bath,
and Stanley plays poker with his buddies in the front room. A doctor
will arrive soon to take Blanche to an insane asylum, but Blanche
believes she is leaving to join her millionaire. Stella confesses
to Eunice that she simply cannot allow herself to believe Blanche’s
assertion that Stanley raped her. When Blanche emerges from the
bathroom, her deluded talk makes it clear that she has lost her
grip on reality.
The doctor arrives with a nurse, and Blanche initially
panics and struggles against them when they try to take her away.
Stanley and his friends fight to subdue Blanche, while Eunice holds
Stella back to keep her from interfering. Mitch begins to cry. Finally,
the doctor approaches Blanche in a gentle manner and convinces her
to leave with him. She allows him to lead her away and does not
look back or say goodbye as she goes. Stella sobs with her child
in her arms, and Stanley comforts her with loving words and caresses.
