Blanche Dubois In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire follows Blanche DuBois, a woman in the 1950s on the search for another chance at love after the death of her gay husband. Facing these pressures and trauma from the event, Blanche develops a reckless habit of creating a facade when finding men in order to validate her desires to stay young and beautiful. While in New Orleans with her sister Stella and brother-in-law Stanley, Blanche embarks on her downward spiral into madness as she can no longer control the madness. Fantasy in Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire mainly affects Blanche out of her need to be the young and beautiful belle, but also extends to characters Stanley, Stella, and Mitch as they interact with Blanche or develop their own illusion.

On page 14 Blanche admits that she is, “so exhausted by all [she has] been through [that her] nerves broke. [She is] on the verge of lunacy.” On page 17 she further states that she must, “ be near [Stella …] be with somebody. [Blanche] can’t be alone because [... Blanche is] not very well.” Williams describes Blanche in both instances as frightened and nervous; she is uncomfortable with these confessions that she is not at peace with her reality. Within this monologue, Williams foreshadows Blanche’s insanity when she reveals that deaths are anything but quiet. Death scenes involve cries for help by phrases such as “ don’t let me go” and “hold me”. In a later monologue regarding Allan’s, Blanche’s late gay husband, death adds to the previously stated excerpt when Blanche says “[Allan] was in the quicksands and clutching at me-- but I wasn’t holding him out. [... Polka music sounds, in a minor key … Then she hears] a shot!” (Williams 114-115) The repression of truth also makes Blanche more comfortable in her environment. Statements like, “[Blanche] can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than [she] can a rude remark or vulgar action,” express that Blanche does not stand the truth. The action of shielding this light by paper lantern on page 60 serves as a way for Blanche to maintain her illusion around Mitch, her boyfriend. In a different interaction with Mitch, Blanche begs for Mitch’s mercy as

Stanley goes to far lengths to quarrel with Blanche by ways of rummaging through her belongings, interrogating Blanche, and contacting people who visit Laurel. Scene VII includes a revelation of Blanche’s promiscuous past in Laurel via conversation between Stanley and Stella. As Stanley shares the news with Stella, Blanche is overheard from the bathroom singing the tune, “It’s a Barnum and bailey world, Just as phony as it can be-- But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me.”(Williams 120) This song points out that if both parties truly believed, it would cease to be fantasy and the faith between the two would be real. This juxtaposes the harsh truth of Blanche’s vices that haunt the next room. In scene XI right before Blanche is escorted to the asylum, “[Stanley] crosses to [the] dressing table and seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light bulb, and extends it towards [Blanche]. She cries out as if the lantern was herself.” (Williams 176) At this point Blanche can no longer differentiate between fantasy and reality. She is tool that hides the truth and she crumbles when Stanley asserts his