Abstract:

Tennessee Williams is one of the most brilliant writers of the twentieth century and his works are very popular around the world. His masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire has gained universal recognition after its first performance in New York in 1947. And A Streetcar Named Desire has been regarded as the best play ever written by Williams. The play is set against the background of people’s living conditions and mental changes after the Civil War of the US. And it vividly reflects the cultural conflicts between the South and the North. This thesis attempts to gain insights into this play and its authorial intent by analyzing the main character Blanche’s psychological traits from the perspective of social environmental factors.

Key words: Tennessee Williams; A Streetcar Named Desire; Blanche; psychological traits; social environmental factors.

摘要：

田纳西•威廉斯是20世纪美国著名的作家之一，他的作品在全世界都很受欢迎。他的作品《欲望号接车》于1947年在纽约上演后便获得巨大成功。此作品被认为是田纳西•威廉斯最成功的一部戏剧作品。整个故事以美国内战后人们的生活状况以及思想观念为背景，充分的展现了南北方文化上的冲突。《欲望号街车》中的女主人公布兰奇的心理及其性格特征，深入研究女主人公是如何在种种外界因素影响下，不堪承受残酷的现实，最终成为一个精神分裂者。在研究的过程，本文也将结合作者的生活经历来解读女主人公，进而深入地揭示作品的意义与内涵。

关键词：田纳西•威廉斯；欲望号接车；布兰奇；心里特征；社会背景

1. Introduction
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983) is an American playwright and the author of many stage classics. He is one of the most brilliant writers of the twentieth century and his works are very popular around the world. In his long literary career, he has produced more than 60 plays, over 9 film scripts, 2 long stories, 7 short stories, 2 collections of poetry and so on. Williams became famous with The Glass Menagerie (1944), closely reflecting his own unhappy family background. This heralded a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Orpheus Descending (1957) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959). These successful works won him two Pulitzer Prizes, four New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, and lots of other honors. Most of Tennessee Williams’ works explore such themes as insect, nymphomania, promiscuity, homosexuality, and cannibalism, which are related to his personalities. No matter whether he has got certain notoriety or acquired a worldwide fame for these themes, Williams’ plays have absorbed a wider audience than any other American dramatist, and he is absolutely one of the most influential dramatists in American and world literature.