Tennessee Williams employs the use of colors in various ways in his play 'A streetcar named Desire' to portray its major themes. When the heroine Blanche Dubois appears in the first scene, she is dressed all in white. 'White' (also the meaning of her name) symbolizes purity and virginity, which is ironic in Blanche's case since she has a reputation in her home town Laurel for being promiscuous. She flirts with Stanley after meeting him by asking him to button the "back" of her "flowered print dress." She kisses a young collector in the fifth scene, which is not at all virginal.
             In the third scene, while Mitch and Blanche smoke together on the steps, he shows her a silver case. It was given by a girl who knew she was going to die. The silver case is later paralleled by the silver mirror Blanche uses to search her face in Scenes 10 and 11.
             The red (color of passion) satin robe Blanche wears in the second scene is worn by her again, most memorably in the last scene, before she is taken to the asylum. It will be paralleled by to the robe Stanley wore on his wedding night and he wears that just before he rapes Blanche in Scene Ten.
             The red of Blanche's robe suggests sensuality just as the white of her dresses in Scene 1 and 10.
             In Scene 3, the poker players are dressed in shirts that are solid blue, purple, red-and-white check, a light green color - representing that they are strong men "at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colors."
             Music also plays a vital role in the play. The polka music is associated with Stanley, who is Polish. The Blue Piano punctuates the entire play, with the rising and falling of its key notes. Blanche hears the Varsouviana every time she remembers her late husband.
             Throughout the play we see that Blanche prefers to go out after dark and she wishes to stay in rooms that are dimly lit. It is only towards the end of the play when Mitch tears off the pape...