In the book A Streetcar Named Desire there are a lot of social occasions that bring out who certain characters really are. For example in scene five, a 16 year old paperboy came to the house Blanche was staying at and Blanche started flirting with the young boy and kissed him on the lips. Earlier in the book we found out that Blanche was a teacher and she wasn’t working for the school anymore for some reason. This scene suggests that maybe she was fired from her job as a teacher for maybe having sexual relations with her students. Also throughout the book Blanche often tries to keep the image that she has a whole bunch of friends and has all of this money when really she owns cheap dresses and tiaras, she wears cheap cologne, and she doesn’t …show more content…
They tend to consistently lie to most of the people they know and strangers for no personal gain. Blanche often tells tales from her personal fantasies rather than reality. For example in the beginning of the book Blanche says the she is taking a "leave of absence" from her job at a school but, later in the book other things she says and does show evidence that she was fired probably for having an inappropriate relationship with a student. Also Blanche tries to appear young to a character in the story named Mitch to try to seduce him into marrying her but covering her face and trying to only be seen in dim lights so he cannot see all of her facial features. But at the same time Blanche is emotionally unstable due to the fact that she feels guilt over her first love killing himself. That is why she tries to have inappropriate relationships with young boys, to rekindle the love she had for her first love. She also pursues inappropriate relationships with under age boys to feel young again and not accept the fact that she is growing old. I believe that Blanche is a woman that is emotionally wrecked, is too caught up in delusions, and can’t distinguish fantasy from …show more content…
Stanley has a unpleasant relationship with Blanche especially towards the end of the book. Stanley feels as if Stella should just stay home all day, cook him food to eat, and take care of him even when company is over. Problems first started with him and Blanche when she first arrived due to her criticizing him. He also feels that Stella's attitude towards him will change due to Blanche's arrival. Blanche also tries to convince Stella to leave him multiple times. Stanley also likes to play poker with his friends and drink while doing it, but that changed after Blanche comes into his life because she tries to get his friends attention and occasionally flirts with Mitch. She turned her music on the radio up so loud while Stanley was trying to concentrate that he threw it out a window and hits his Stella. Whenever they get into a heated fight or argument they always have make-up sex to ease the tensions which is mostly the reason why she stays with him. Now that Blanche is there he can't make-up with her the way he wants to and he want their relationship to go back to normal. Later in the story when Stanley and Blanche are talking they and Stanley starts screaming at Blanche and then takes her to the bedroom to rape
However Blanche is unable to get attention or protection throughout the story be cause of all the lies she's told. She also ends up hurting the people who are closest to her when she tries to hide who she really is. For example when she says " I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes magic!
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.
Stanley oftenly abuses Stella whenever he is drunk. One night, Stanley brings his friends over for a poker night. Mitch leaves the table in order to talk to Blanche. Stanley begins to get furious since Mitch is no longer playing. As more and more interruptions keep occurring, Stanley is furious and breaks the radio Blanche and Mitch were using. Stella then calls Stanley an animal. “He advances and disappears. There is a sound of a blow. Stella cries out.”(57) Stanley is usually abusive when he's either drunk or frustrated. After Stanley strikes her, Stella leaves the house and goes to her neighbors house. Blanche follows her sister upstairs to support Stella so she does not feel alone. Stanley then calms down and calls for Stella to come back. She returns and falls into Stanley's arms. Stella is very loyal to Stanley, she stays with him because he is her husband and does not want to change that. This is why she ignores her sister's pleas. Stanleys actions prove to the reader that he is an abusive husband to Stella and that Stella tolerates
While watching A Streetcar named Desire, the character of Blanche Dubois at first appeared to be a weak self-absorbed southern woman, when really what started coming from her character was a flawed personality. What is not known is whether this is something that runs in the family, or has only shown itself through Blanche. Since this was during a time when mental illness was not yet studied deeply, the way Blanche is treated while succumbing to her illness and how she was sent off to the mental hospital was rather archaic. Blanche is the central character and the movie shows her spiraling down into the abyss of mental illness apparently escalated by the loss of family, her home and the treatment by Stanley.
In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' we focus on three main characters. One of these characters is a lady called Blanche. As the play progresses, we gradually get to know more about Blanche and the type of person she really is in contrast to the type of person that she would like everybody else to think she is. Using four main mediums, symbolism and imagery, Blanche's action when by herself, Blanche's past and her dialogue with others such as Mitch, Stanley and the paperboy, we can draw a number of conclusions about Blanche until the end of Scene Five. Using the fore mentioned mediums we can deter that Blanche is deceptive, egotistical and seductive.
... ignorance; and this was the undeniable tragedy that caused her downfall in the end. Stanley was angry when Blanche told Stella that she did not like him, but he never gave her a chance. Stanley despised her from the beginning. Neither Stanley nor Mitch was intelligent enough to comprehend that not everything is black and white. They perceived her as a deceitful whore. Stella chose her violent husband over her sister. Also, Mitch could not overlook her mistakes. Mitch focused on her flaws which blinded him from seeing the beauty and love Blanche had to offer. Blanche wanted their love, but each of their individual flaws sunk her deeper into a hole. The people around Blanche were unwilling to change and develop an open-minded way of dealing with her situation. Blanche needed kindness and affection, but nobody was able to give it to her when she needed it the most.
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.
Her first problem is with the heroine of the play, Blanche DuBois, who, she claims, is "ironically made guilty for her own victimization. No longer fully human, she is simply a metaphor of all that is vile about women. Blanche cannot, then, claim tragic stature or even our sympathy precisely because she is a victim of rape. And as she becomes responsible for her own victimization, Stanley is left to glory in his ascendancy. This aspect of Streetcar arises from the misogyny which colors the play…" (Lant 226). Admittedly, Blanche does flirt with Stanley briefly at the beginning of the play—just as many women playfully flirt with their brothers-in-law. But as her relationship with Stanley deteriorates, she makes it quite obvious to him that she loathes the sight of him. Though the world in which Lant lives may be one in which a woman, playfully sprinkling her brother-in-law ...
Blanche Dubois proves herself to be mentally unstable throughout the play. She is mentally unstable due to the fact that she is considered a pedofile, lies to extreme measures, and has a lot of strange things going through her head. Blanche was fired from her job because she got caught in an engagement with a teenage boy, who also happened to be one of her students. After that ordeal she still seemed to lure and attract young boys. For example, in the play a delivery boy came through and she could not contain herself around him. “You make my mouth water… Come here. I want to kiss you, just once, softly and sweetly on your mouth.”(Williams p.88). After she kissed the young man it is almost as if she were in a trance and she suddenly woke up from it with, “now run along, now quickly!
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...
Blanche is the main character of the play, she is Stella’s older sister, and comes to stay with Stella while Stella is pregnant. Blanche, after being reunited with Stella, meets Stanley and Mitch. Stella is torn between her sister and Stanley because of Stanley’s dislike of Blanche. Stanley is a lower class citizen who is devoted to his friends and adores his wife, but he is cruel to Blanche. Mitch is Stanley’s friend and poker buddy.
...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.
Everyone goes through different events in their life that has changed the person they are today. In the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" one of the main character Blanche tries to hide her past trauma, but it ends up being too much for her to handle. Although many people are quick to judge Blanche as crazy, she is just a victim of her traumatic and emotional past.
It is understandable as to why she kept her “job” confidential. Not only was it taboo for women to work, but a career such as prostitution is shameful and could have caused her only living family to denounce her. Keeping secrets and creating this alter ego proves her intelligence as well as Blanche’s capabilities; she is not as weak as everyone thinks. This behaviour, though does infringe on Blanche reaching self-actualization as she is not secure with the ideas of her true self and represses those memories. Altogether, Blanche’s behaviour noticeably demonstrates resistance to societal norms depicting that she does not act like a typical lady and showcases her insecurities discouraging her self-actualization.
One of the most known characters in "A Streetcar Named Desire," is Blanche DuBois, Stella's sister who has just arrived from Mississippi. As the book goes by, the reader will discover a series of events that caused her to lose mental health choosing magic instead of realism. Blanche managed to build herself a new reality in a new world causing her to lose the people she loved and most cared about. The death of her husband if one of the main reasons she change dramatically trying to find attention somewhere else and even becoming an alcoholic. Not having her conscience pure, she tries to find ways to deal with her past by satisfying herself and remaining happy. The ways of coping with her problems are not quite the best, further she feels