Original artwork, not a still
A Streetcar Named Desire • 1949
I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Blanche has lied, flirted and drunk her way through the play to keep the world at arm's length, and here she is led off with a stranger's arm and a moment of grace. It is the play's heartbreaking last note, and the line has outgrown the stage as a way of describing faith in luck and in people you have not met. Marlon Brando's Stanley is the famous shout; this is the quieter line fans remember.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for A Streetcar Named DesireShow the scene
These are Blanche DuBois's last words in A Streetcar Named Desire, which premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in New York on 3 December 1947. In the final scene, after Stanley's assault and her collapse into fantasy, a doctor and a matron arrive to take her to an asylum while the poker game carries on in the next room. Blanche resists the matron, but goes willingly with the doctor, and says the line to him.
Sources (1)
- Wikipedia: A Streetcar Named Desire (play)Synopsis; ProductionsReference checked
Context reviewed
