A Streetcar Named Desire Character Analysis

Mental instability refers to mental health conditions that affects mood, behavior, and thinking. There are many disorders that affect these parts of people, In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche suffers from borderline personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This is a direct result from not being able to cope with stress and emotional pain, she would much rather cover it up than to solve the problem. She develops these disorders as a direct result of psychological trauma she experienced when she was younger. She finally cracks at the end of the play due to tension piling up on her. Throughout her life she has suffered, and has developed defense mechanisms to combat the pain resulting from all her problems.

Blanche starts believing her own fairy tales and seeing reality as how she wants to see it, not how it is. In scene eleven when Blanche speaks with the doctor “Whoever you are ― I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (178), she sees the doctor as the gentlemen rescuer Shep Huntleigh whom she has been waiting for forever since arriving in New Orleans. This is the final remark that showcases Blanche’s mental illness, she has lost sense of all of reality and is detached perceiving only what she wishes. Blanches dependence “on the kindness of strangers” has been because she offered sexual pleasures. That is the reason of her downfall, everyone believes the lies she weaves until she’s caught and exposed, during this crucial time of vulnerability she is raped by Stanley and no one believes her. The truth is just thrown into one of the lies and part of the mental illness she has. Blanche thinks she deserves sympathy due to the sexual exchanges, and when she isn’t shown any sympathy from Mitch, Stanley, etc., she falls into her fantasy world believing her own

She tries to imitate the rich life she once had, and present herself as upper class. She can’t stop looking into mirrors, and always putting lamp shades over light due to her attempts to cover her age and maintain her public image as well as looking for compliments; even from Stella’s husband Stanley which is very inappropriate as it’s her brother in law. Blanches energy and attention seems to be all over the place, and is never really grounded like Stanley is. Blanche embodies the fantasy side of life, and Stanley embodies the reality side of life. The point where Stanley rapes Blanche is a pivotal point in the play, because “reality” won over “fantasy”, and that’s when Blanche goes mental. All the previous pressures she carried toppled her over, no one believed a word she said and sent her to a mental hospital to be taken care of before she hurts herself or anyone around her. If it were not for Blanche’s mental illness she developed as a consequence of traumatic experiences like her husband’s suicide that snowballed her into more negative experiences. Her young age and naïve character suffered heavily during her husband’s suicide, she searched for a replacement through sexual encounters with other men, and even teenage boys at her high school. She was shamed by society, due to her promiscuity with men and boys, losing her status