Tennessee Williams – A Streetcar Named Desire – Exam Based MCQs
1. A Streetcar Named Desire is written by: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Arthur Miller
B) Eugene O’Neill
C) Tennessee Williams
D) Edward Albee
Ans: C) Tennessee Williams
2. A Streetcar Named Desire was first produced in: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) 1945
B) 1947
C) 1949
D) 1951
Ans: B) 1947
3. The play first opened on Broadway at the: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) Shubert Theatre
B) Ethel Barrymore Theatre
C) Globe Theatre
D) Provincetown Playhouse
Ans: B) Ethel Barrymore Theatre
4. The play is written in: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) one act
B) two acts
C) three acts
D) five acts
Ans: C) three acts
5. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Fiction
B) Drama
C) Poetry
D) Biography
Ans: B) Drama
6. The central female character of the play is: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Stella Kowalski
B) Eunice
C) Blanche DuBois
D) Mitch’s mother
Ans: C) Blanche DuBois
7. Blanche comes to live with her sister: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) Eunice
B) Stella
C) Flora
D) Belle
Ans: B) Stella
8. Stella’s husband is: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Mitch
B) Steve
C) Stanley Kowalski
D) Pablo
Ans: C) Stanley Kowalski
9. The play is mainly set in: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) Chicago
B) New Orleans
C) Boston
D) Memphis
Ans: B) New Orleans
10. The area of New Orleans associated with the play is the: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) French Quarter
B) Wall Street district
C) Harlem district
D) Beacon Hill
Ans: A) French Quarter
11. Blanche’s ancestral home is called: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Sweet Home
B) Belle Reve
C) Tara
D) Cold Mountain
Ans: B) Belle Reve
12. Blanche has lost Belle Reve because of: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) war damage
B) debts and family decline
C) Stanley’s cheating
D) a legal gift to Stella
Ans: B) debts and family decline
13. Blanche’s husband, Allan Grey, dies after: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) an accident
B) illness
C) suicide
D) murder
Ans: C) suicide
14. Allan’s death is central to Blanche’s: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) financial success
B) emotional breakdown and guilt
C) political ambition
D) dislike of Stella
Ans: B) emotional breakdown and guilt
15. Blanche’s suitor in the play is: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2018; PGTRB 2019)
A) Pablo
B) Mitch
C) Steve
D) Young Collector
Ans: B) Mitch
16. Mitch’s full name is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Harold Mitchell
B) Harold Kowalski
C) Henry Mason
D) Arthur Bell
Ans: A) Harold Mitchell
17. Stanley’s dominant trait in the play is his: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) gentleness
B) brute force and possessiveness
C) poetic imagination
D) spiritual calm
Ans: B) brute force and possessiveness
18. Stanley is often seen as representing: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) old Southern gentility
B) raw modern energy and realism
C) religious idealism
D) comic absurdity
Ans: B) raw modern energy and realism
19. Blanche is often associated with: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) brutal realism
B) decaying Southern gentility and illusion
C) industrial capitalism
D) scientific logic
Ans: B) decaying Southern gentility and illusion
20. A central conflict in the play is between: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) poetry and science
B) illusion and reality
C) church and state
D) village and city
Ans: B) illusion and reality
21. Blanche avoids bright light because: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) she has weak eyes only
B) it symbolizes her fear of truth, age, and exposure
C) Stanley forbids it
D) Mitch dislikes it
Ans: B) it symbolizes her fear of truth, age, and exposure
22. The paper lantern in the play symbolizes: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) war
B) Blanche’s need for illusion and softening reality
C) Stanley’s power
D) Stella’s marriage
Ans: B) Blanche’s need for illusion and softening reality
23. Stanley investigates Blanche’s past and learns about her: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) royal ancestry
B) scandals in Laurel
C) secret wealth
D) political career
Ans: B) scandals in Laurel
24. Blanche had been dismissed from her teaching position because of: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) poor teaching only
B) an inappropriate relationship with a student
C) theft
D) political controversy
Ans: B) an inappropriate relationship with a student
25. Stanley destroys Blanche’s hopes with Mitch by: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) challenging him to a duel
B) revealing Blanche’s past
C) stealing her letters
D) forcing Stella to leave
Ans: B) revealing Blanche’s past
26. The play reaches its most violent climax when Stanley: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) kills Mitch
B) rapes Blanche
C) burns Belle Reve’s papers
D) leaves Stella forever
Ans: B) rapes Blanche
27. After the assault, Blanche: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) runs away successfully
B) becomes mentally shattered
C) marries Mitch
D) kills Stanley
Ans: B) becomes mentally shattered
28. The doctor and matron come at the end to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) arrest Stanley
B) take Blanche to an asylum
C) bring news from Laurel
D) help Stella move house
Ans: B) take Blanche to an asylum
29. Blanche’s famous final line is: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) “Stella for Star!”
B) “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
C) “I don’t want realism.”
D) “Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.”
Ans: B) “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
30. Another famous Blanche line is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) “I don’t want realism. I want magic!”
B) “Attention must be paid.”
C) “The play’s the thing.”
D) “I am not your stage.”
Ans: A) “I don’t want realism. I want magic!”
31. The play’s dramatic style blends realism with: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) lyrical symbolism and expressionistic effects
B) epic narration only
C) documentary journalism
D) classical chorus
Ans: A) lyrical symbolism and expressionistic effects
32. Music in the play, especially the “blue piano,” generally suggests: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) military discipline
B) the emotional and sensual life of New Orleans
C) courtroom order
D) religious ritual only
Ans: B) the emotional and sensual life of New Orleans
33. The Varsouviana polka in the play is associated with: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) Stella’s wedding
B) Blanche’s traumatic memory of Allan
C) Stanley’s poker nights
D) Mitch’s mother
Ans: B) Blanche’s traumatic memory of Allan
34. A major theme of the play is also: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) desire and sexual violence
B) pastoral farming
C) sea adventure
D) political revolution
Ans: A) desire and sexual violence
35. Which statement is TRUE about A Streetcar Named Desire? (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) It is a 1947 play by Tennessee Williams that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
B) It is a comedy of manners
C) It is set entirely in Boston
D) Blanche is Stanley’s sister
Ans: A) It is a 1947 play by Tennessee Williams that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama
36. Stella’s position in the play is tragic because she is divided between: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) religion and politics
B) loyalty to Blanche and attraction to Stanley
C) New York and Boston
D) poverty and wealth
Ans: B) loyalty to Blanche and attraction to Stanley
37. Mitch differs from Stanley because he is more: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) brutal
B) sensitive and hesitant
C) wealthy
D) educated in Europe
Ans: B) sensitive and hesitant
38. The play is often interpreted as a clash between: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) the Old South and the New America
B) Asia and Europe
C) religion and atheism only
D) law and crime only
Ans: A) the Old South and the New America
39. The play is NOT mainly about: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) illusion versus reality
B) desire and destruction
C) class and gender conflict
D) medieval knighthood
Ans: D) medieval knighthood
40. Blanche’s greatest weakness is her dependence on: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) strict realism
B) illusion, fantasy, and male protection
C) business success
D) political influence
Ans: B) illusion, fantasy, and male protection
41. Stanley’s power in the play rests mainly on: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) legal knowledge
B) physical force and social confidence
C) money only
D) poetic language
Ans: B) physical force and social confidence
42. The best short description of the play is: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) a modern tragic drama of desire, illusion, and brutality
B) a detective mystery
C) a pastoral romance
D) a war epic
Ans: A) a modern tragic drama of desire, illusion, and brutality
43. Tennessee Williams’s dramatic method in the play is notable for: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) combining realistic dialogue with symbolic stage effects
B) rejecting all symbolism
C) using verse throughout
D) relying only on comedy
Ans: A) combining realistic dialogue with symbolic stage effects
44. The play belongs most clearly to: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2020; UGC NET 2021)
A) modern American drama
B) Restoration comedy
C) epic theater
D) absurd farce
Ans: A) modern American drama
45. Blanche’s tragedy lies in the fact that she: (UGC NET 2020; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) cannot survive in Stanley’s harsh world of reality
B) rejects all love
C) becomes politically ambitious
D) willingly leaves Stella
Ans: A) cannot survive in Stanley’s harsh world of reality
46. The emotional power of the play comes largely from: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) comic timing
B) the destruction of a fragile personality
C) war scenes
D) mystery plot twists
Ans: B) the destruction of a fragile personality
47. The play is especially useful for discussing: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) gender, desire, illusion, and modern tragic drama
B) detective logic only
C) medieval morality allegory
D) political revolution only
Ans: A) gender, desire, illusion, and modern tragic drama
48. The title A Streetcar Named Desire symbolically points to: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) the literal transport route only
B) desire as a driving force leading to ruin
C) Mitch’s career
D) Stanley’s business
Ans: B) desire as a driving force leading to ruin
49. Which statement is TRUE about A Streetcar Named Desire? (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019; PGTRB 2020)
A) It centers on Blanche DuBois, whose illusions are crushed in Stanley Kowalski’s brutal world
B) It is a comic play of social manners
C) It ends with Blanche happily marrying Mitch
D) It is set in rural Mississippi
Ans: A) It centers on Blanche DuBois, whose illusions are crushed in Stanley Kowalski’s brutal world
50. The overall message of the play is that: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2022)
A) illusion and desire may offer temporary shelter, but brutal reality can destroy the fragile self
B) realism always brings happiness
C) love solves all social conflict
D) the Old South survives unchanged
Ans: A) illusion and desire may offer temporary shelter, but brutal reality can destroy the fragile self
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