A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche DuBois, a fading Southern belle, arrives in New Orleans to stay with her sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Haunted by her past and clinging to illusions of grandeur, Blanche clashes with the brutish Stanley, who sees through her pretenses. She finds brief hope in a romance with Stanley’s friend, Mitch, but Stanley exposes her secrets, leading to her rejection by Mitch and ultimately a violent confrontation with Stanley.

The play ends with a mentally broken Blanche being led away to a mental hospital, uttering the famous line: “I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

Winner of the 1948 Pulitzer Prize, the play explores themes of desire, delusion, and the decline of the Old South.