The leading female protagonist, Blanche Dubois, serves as an allegory for the loss of the Old South, representing the genteel society of Southern plantation owners through the nineteenth century. The DuBois sisters serve as remnants of Southern aristocracy. After the loss of Belle Reve, all that remains are idealistic pretensions. It is these pretensions that Blanche uses as a foundation to construct a new reality for herself. In contrast the character of Stanley suggests that the reality of a changing society is not a kind or merciful one. Williams displays deterioration of Blanche, and the sexual corruption of Stella, to represent the inability for manners and femininity to survive in a new society which criticises the loss of tradition of …show more content…
Blanche uses her illusions to impress those around her, to cope with the actual reality of her life and restore a sense of identity. As the play progresses, Williams explores Blanche’s mind and why she cannot ‘bear very much’ of anything. Her character is continually delirious and reliant on substances. In scene one she was ‘[nervously tampering her cigarette]’ and describes how she ‘was on the verge of lunacy’. Her ignorance to her psychological derail alongside obvious alcoholism, damages the creditability of her character. Therefore, blanches character can constantly be questioned and criticised due to the stage directions continuingly coining her as ‘nervous’ and erratic. In truth, her reality is that she was run out of Laurel for promiscuity. Her refusal to accept and confront her past explains why Blanche, especially, constructs her own reality, and how Williams characterised according to individual realities differing to articulate one living environment. An environment which is essentially dysfunctional and corrupting to the weakest in humankind. Whilst it is in human nature to avoid reality, to some extent Blanche seeks to confront the reality of her sexual need; through instigating sexual favours with Mitch and the ‘young man’ from the Evening Star, alongside flirting with Stanley in the Scene One. Blanche is constantly searching for sexual gratification, and a southern gentleman which doesn’t exist in reality. Even her perception of herself is false as she presents herself as a virgin, a facade which she desperately exploits to ineffectively protect her from the realities of her life. The gradual reveal of Blanche’s past is dramatically effective and shows a development in her character. By learning about her former husband, Alan Grey, it shows how he couldn’t bear the reality of his homosexuality. In addition, Stella describes its impact on
Blanche’s immoral and illogical decisions all stem from her husband's suicide. When a tragedy happens in someone’s life, it shows the person’s true colors. Blanche’s true self was an alcoholic and sex addict, which is displayed when “She rushes about frantically, hiding the bottle in a closet, crouching at the mirror and dabbing her face with cologne and powder” (Williams 122). Although Blanche is an alcoholic, she tries to hide it from others. She is aware of her true self and tries to hide it within illusions. Blanche pretends to be proper and young with her fancy clothes and makeup but is only masking her true, broken self.
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it. She was passionately in love with Alan; but after discovering that he was gay, she could not stomach the news. When she revealed how disgusted she was, it prompted Alan to commit suicide. She could never quite overcome the guilt and put it behind her. Blanche often encountered flashbacks about him. She could hear the gun shot and polka music in her head. After Alan’s death, she was plagued by the deaths of her relatives. Stella moved away and did not have to deal with the agony Blanche faced each day. Blanche was the one who stuck it out with her family at Belle Reve where she had to watch as each of her remaining family members passed away. “I took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths! The long parade to the graveyard! Father, Mother! Margaret, that dreadful way! You just came home in time for the funerals, Stella. And funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths—not always” (Scene 1, page 1546). Blanche lost Belle Reve because of all the funeral expenses. Belle Reve had been in her family for generations, and it slipped through her fingers while she watched helplessly. Blanche’s anguish caused her loneliness. The loneliness fueled her abundance of sexual encounters. Her rendezvous just added to her problems and dirtied her rep...
She struggles with Stanley’s ideals and shields her past. The essential conflict of the story is between Blanche, and her brother-in-law Stanley. Stanley investigates Blanche’s life to find the truth of her promiscuity, ruining her relationships with Stella, and her possible future husband Mitch, which successfully obtain his goal of getting Blanche out of his house. Blanche attempts to convince Stella that she should leave Stanley because she witnessed a fight between the two. Despite these instances, there is an essence of sexual tension between the two, leading to a suspected rape scene in which one of their arguments ends with Stanley leading Blanche to the bed.
Blanche is a both a representation of his sister's and his own sexual repression because of the way she expresses herself sexually. Take, for instance, the scene with her seductive exchange with the newsboy. She blatantly comes on to him and mentions that he "makes her mouth water" and she wants to kiss him "just once, softly and sweetly" on his mouth. (Williams 2332). This scene shows the evident tension between her southern demeanor regarding how she was raised and her very hidden sexual self.
Although audience members are already aware that Blanche had a romance with a now-dead man, they are, at this point, unaware of the role Blanche played in her husband’s death. Blanche’s intricate ability to relate to Mitch’s romance on a deeper level is not revealed until later in the film, when she discusses her husband’s death. Blanche’s sympathetic reaction gives viewers the impression that, despite placing a high value on as superficial a factor as one’s appearance, Blanche is capable of seeing beyond one’s appearance and relating to their intimate personal experiences related to heartbreak and
Subsequently, he confronts Blanche and unravels the lies that she has constructed in an attempt to convince others, and herself, of. When Blanche discovers that others have realized the truth of her situation, she is unable to cope with reality. Her fantasies, along with her hope of any future happiness, crumble. Blanche finally acknowledges that she cannot avoid her circumstances and achieve happiness through fantasies; this awareness becomes destructive to her mental and psychological health. Similarly, Blanche’s delusions had intended to provide her happiness, but instead, they cause her to lose sight of real contentment.
In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, main character Blanche Dubois to begin with seems to be a nearly perfect model of a classy woman whose social interaction, life and behavior are based upon her sophistication. The play revolves around her, therefore the main theme of drama concerns her directly. In Blanche is seen the misfortune of a person caught between two worlds-the world of the past and the world of the present-unwilling to let go of the past and unable, because of her character, to come to any sort of terms with the present.
Blanche slowly starts to fall in the past and soon is stuck there without “the principle of reality” (Thomieres1). On the other hand Stella is perfectly aware of her reality the moment she took the decision to leave Belle Reve. For this reason Stanley never believed Blanched and always had his doubts, this led him to investigate about Blanche’s past. He discovers that in Laurel, Blanche had been “ living a promiscuous life at the Flamingo Hotel”(Thomieres1). Subsequently Stanley cruelly rapes Blanche after Stella gave birth to his child.
Firstly, the reader may initially feel Blanche is completely responsible or at least somewhat to blame, for what becomes of her. She is very deceitful and behaves in this way throughout the play, particularly to Mitch, saying, ‘Stella is my precious little sister’ and continuously attempting to deceive Stanley, saying she ‘received a telegram from an old admirer of mine’. These are just two examples of Blanches’ trickery and lying ways. In some ways though, the reader will sense that Blanche rather than knowingly being deceitful, actually begins to believe what she says is true, and that she lives in her own dream reality, telling people ‘what ought to be the truth’ probably due to the unforgiving nature of her true life. This will make the reader begin to pity Blanche and consider whether these lies and deceits are just what she uses to comfort and protect herself. Blanche has many romantic delusions which have been plaguing her mind since the death of her husband. Though his death was not entirely her fault, her flirtatious manner is a major contributor to her downfall. She came to New Orleans as she was fired from...
One of the first major themes of this book is the constant battle between fantasy and reality. Blanche explains to Mitch that she fibs because she refuses to accept the hand fate has dealt her. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make life appear as it should be rather than as it is. Stanley, a practical man firmly grounded in the physical world, disdains Blanche’s fabrications and does everything he can to unravel them. The relationship between Blanche and Stanley is a struggle between appearances and reality. It propels the play’s plot and creates an overarching tension. Ultimately, Blanche’s attempts to rejuvenate her life and to save Stella from a life with Stanley fail. One of the main ways the author dramatizes fantasy’s inability to overcome reality is through an explorati...
was lobotomised in his absence and later institutionalised leading. many critics to believe that the character of Blanche may have arisen. from events in his own life. Blanche's tragic past involving both the death of her "young" husband and her consequent promiscuity with. The "young men" created an overwhelming amount of emotion for Blanche.
...es and thinks that her hopes will not be destroyed. Thirdly, Blanche thinks that strangers are the ones who will rescue her; instead they want her for sex. Fourthly, Blanche believes that the ones who love her are trying to imprison her and make her work like a maid imprisoned by them. Fifthly, Blanche’s superiority in social status was an obscure in her way of having a good social life. Last but not least, Blanche symbolizes the road she chose in life- desire and fantasy- which led her to her final downfall.
One cant imagine how it must feel to lose the ones they love and hold dear, but to stay afterwards and mourn the loss of the many is unbearable. Blanche has had a streak of horrible luck. Her husband killing himself after she exposed her knowledge about his homosexuality, her advances on young men that led to her exile and finally her alcoholism that drew her life to pieces contemplated this sorrow that we could not help but feel for Blanche throughout the drama. Blanche’s desire to escape from this situation is fulfilled when she is taken away to the insane asylum. There she will have peace when in the real world she only faces pain.
Blanche uses her fantasies as a shield; and her desires as her motivation to survive. Her fading beauty being her only asset and chance of finding stability. Stella’s relationship with Stanley also emphasis the theme Williams created in this book. They’re only bond is physical desire and nothing at all intellectual or deep rooted. Tennessee Williams exemplifies that their relationship which only springs from desire doesn’t make it any weaker. He also creates a social dichotomy of the relationship between death and desire.