To what extent is the play a conventional tragedy?

Question 1

how does William’s use the greek tragedy conventions?

Answer 1

William’s plays with the Greek Tragedy tropes and manipulates them to suit the contexts of the time (1940)
Not conventional in this way, but keeps many of the traditional elements e.g., hamartia and hubris in the tragic heroine.

Question 2

does the play follow the conventional tragic arc?

Answer 2

Arguably no clear-cut climax or turning point and so the play doesn’t follow the typical tragic arc. Argued there are several points of climax or turning points (e.g.Mitch learning the truth, Stanley’s investigation, the rape in Scene 10) and no peripeteia in the traditional sense (here’s a gradual erosion of Blanche’s world) so this lack of clarity from Williams could be used to suggest that the tragedy is inevitable and that no specific moment can have the power to change the course of the play entirely, rather a series of events lead up to tragedy or events before the play even starts may predetermine the play’s tragic end.

Question 3

how far does the plays ending conform to the tragic conventions ?

Answer 3

Argue that a play’s ending is often what characterizes it as a tragedy – or not a tragedy. The ending acts as the determiner. Typically, tragedies end in irreversible catastrophe, or death. While we do see catastrophe at the end of Streetcar, it is questionable how tragic the ending is as no-one dies, as the audience may expect. Also, there is a sense of victory for Blanche, which is conflicting for the audience. What I mean by this is that Blanche is so unaware of what is happening to her, she almost suffers the least out of the characters present in the final scene.
Furthermore, perhaps most tragic aspect of this scene is how Stella has to live in illusions much like her sister now, as she is aware that Stanley raped Blanche, but chooses to ignore reality ‘I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley.’. Maybe, the tragedy has only begun and the real victim here is Stella.

Question 4

overall judgement -

Answer 4

Overall, the play is a tragedy, just not a conventional one.