Abstract:

Tennessee Williams is one of the greatest dramatists in the 20th century in the United States. He has created plentiful works leaving precious spiritual legacy for American literature. A Streetcar Named Desire, successfully performed in New York in 1951, is known as Williams’ best, having won a Pulitzer Prize, a Drama Critics Circle Award and Donaldson Award and so on. The story describes a Southern belle, Blanche DuBois, who, as a representative of the declining aristocracy in the American South, degenerates herself physically and spiritually into a selfish, useless, conceited person until the final destruction becomes inevitable. Through the image of Blanche, the play outlines the reality of the people in the era of great changes and reflects women’s efforts in pursuit of self-worth in the patriarchal society. And meanwhile the playwright pours out his compassion and sympathy for Blanche and emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, self-esteem and independence for women both in economy and mind.
For more than half a century since the publication of the play, literary critics and scholars home and abroad have taken great interest in this work and achieved a great number of research findings. They focus on its themes and characters mainly in the perspective of literary ethics, psychoanalysis or alienation. There is not much study either about Blanche’s tragedy or about the feminist connotations of the play. The present paper attempts to study Blanche DuBois’ tragedy in the perspective of feminist literary criticism, especially with the help of Virginia Woolf’s and Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar’s feminist theories. By looking into the causes and analyzing the manifestations of Blanche’s tragedy, the present author unfolds the charm of the drama and the unique world outlook of the dramatist’s, and discovers the feminist meanings so abundant and enlightening in A Streetcar Named Desire.
 
Key words: Tennessee Williams; A Streetcar Named Desire; women’s tragedy; feminism

摘 要：

田纳西·威廉斯是美国20世纪最伟大的戏剧家之一。他一生创作了大量的作品，为美国文学留下了宝贵的精神财富。《欲望号街车》 于1951年在纽约上演后获得巨大的成功，曾获得普利策奖、戏剧评论奖和唐纳森奖，也因此被认为是威廉斯最好的一部作品。《欲望号街车》描写了美国南方败落贵族，所谓的“南方淑女”布兰奇的悲剧人生，展现了她在现实世界中的挣扎、精神和肉体的堕落及其最终毁灭，勾勒了处于时代巨变中的普通人的生活状态，反映了父权制社会里女性对自我意识、价值和尊严的努力追寻。威廉斯对布兰奇倾注无限怜悯和同情的同时，强调了女性拥有自我意识、自尊自爱、经济和心里独立的重要性。
   自出版半个多世纪以来，该剧一直受到中外学者的关注，研究成果颇丰。迄今为止，国内外学者们主要从伦理学、精神分析、异化研究等角度对该剧的主题及人物形象进行解读，而在女性悲剧命运方面的研究较少，因此本课题以女性主义文学批评理论为研究导向，特别借助弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫、桑德拉·吉尔伯特和苏珊·古芭相关的女性主义思想观点，对《欲望号街车》进行女性主义的解读，展现剧作家独特的世界观和戏剧魅力，进而揭示剧作家威廉斯通过布兰奇的悲剧意欲传递的丰富的启示性意义。

关键词：田纳西·威廉斯；《欲望号街车》；女性悲剧命运；女性主义思想