The Role of Symbol in Delivering the Theme of Conflict between Reality and Illusion in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire

Abstract

Symbols for Williams not only are the pure language of drama but also a poetic device to add aesthetic dimension and say more without utilizing many words. It goes without saying that they maintain important position in the architecture of his plays particularly in his monumental work, Streetcar Named Desire. So far, various critics have analyzed the play from numerous approaches. However, they neglected to explore the relationship between the symbols and the themes in the play. Therefore, the current article attempts to show how central symbols in A Streetcar Named Desire move ahead the theme of conflict between illusion and reality.

Dialogue Model, Conflict, and Context in Drama Text Works by Arifin C. Noer

“…It is not surprising if you want to understand the conflicts of a drama text, you must be able to uncover behind the symbols in the conflict. This is in accordance with the opinion of Kolin (in Masoud, 2011) that the symbol is very important in the critical discourse of the drama. The main function of the symbol is to build an emotional bridge with the audience.…”