A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

947 Words2 Pages

In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, he evaluates Blanche’s struggle to accept reality. Williams brings to the attention of the audience that Blanche has psychological issues; therefore, she cannot decipher between fact and fiction, or is it her choice to deny reality? Blanche DuBois, Williams’ most famous Southern belle finally resolves a lifetime of psychological conflicts (Rusinko 2738). Blanche tries to live a life of both desire and decorum (Riddel 17), thus driving her to insanity. Sigmund Freud would characterize Blanche’s psychological problem as id v. ego and superego (Riddel 17). The id is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. The ego develops in order to mediate between the unrealistic id and the external real world. The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are learned from one's parents and others (McLeod). Williams psychological approach to his characters is most evident in the character of Blanche DuBois. Blanche is both a representative and victim of a tradition that taught her attractiveness, virtue, and gentility lead to happiness (Corrigan 56). The time period that Blanche grew up in forced her to think that she was to have a sense of poise and grace. She should never let anyone think that she was anything less than a lady. Blanche represents the Southern traditions; therefore, she was expected to be a woman of eloquence (Bigsby 45). However, once Blanche leaves Belle Reve her image is completely destroyed. Williams portrays Blanche as a Southern woman who cannot find herself or grip reality due to this illusion she has created. Blanche needs reassurance that she is beautiful to due her insecure nature brought on by the passing of her husband. She tries... ... middle of paper ... ... Alvin B. "Truth and Dramatic Mode in A Streetcar Named Desire." Modern Critical Views Tennessee Williams. By Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 9-11. Print. McLeod, Saul. "Id Ego and Superego." Simply Psychology. Simply Psychology, 2008. Web. 26 Jan. 2014. O'Connor, Jacqueline. "Babbling Lunatics: Language and Madness." Bloom's Modern Critical Views: Tennessee Williams. By Harold Bloom. New York: Infobase, 2007. 11-26. Print. Riddel, Joseph N. "A Streetcar Named Desire-Nietzche Descending." Modern Critical Views Tennessee Williams. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. 13-22. Print. Rusinko, Susan. “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Magill’s Survey of American Literature. Ed. Steven G. Kellman. rev. ed. Vol.6. Pasadena, Ca.: Salem Press, Inc., 2007. 2734-2739. Print. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: New Directions, 1947. Print.

Literary Analysis Of A Streetcar Named Desire
860 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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How Are Dominate Women Presented in A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller and A Streetcar by Tennessee Williams
562 Words | 2 Pages
In Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, its form of a Southern Gothic enables the playwright to base the play on sexual identity and judgement and the female characters all experience their struggle to liberate from their current position. For example, Blanche is notably known for her situation – The ‘polka dot’ which recurs throughout the play as a testimony to Blanche’s past. The playwright presents these situations using the play’s structure of a recurring cycle of a daily life of the characters. Unlike Alfieri in A View from the Bridge, A Streetcar Named Desire has no narrator and mostly focuses on the characters to establish Williams’ point of view. Perhaps, t...
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A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
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Blanche Dubois the main character of the play, was an English teacher in Mississippi. She presents herself as a very prim, proper, and prudent person. She once proudly told her sister Stella that her name in French meant white woods. Blanche Dubois is also overly concerned with her appearance, accessories, bathing and age. She was very disturbed by the light, and usually preferred to be in the dark. Many believe it was to prevent people from noticing her real age. Deep inside she was hurt and destroyed. All of this pain was caused by the death of the love of her life. She was married to a young man named Allan, and they loved each other very much. Until one day Blanche found out that Allan was sleeping with another man. Once she confessed to him she knew his secret he committed suicide. Ever since, Blanches’ life was never the same again.
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A street car Named Desire
849 Words | 2 Pages
Early in Blanche’s life before she arrived at the Kowalski’s residence, Blanche already led a life of promiscuity and alcoholism, which is exhibited when “she pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down.” Additionally, Blanche loses her job due to an inappropriate relationship with a student, and her excessive drinking throughout the play was triggered when she unknowingly married a homosexual man that later committed suicide after the discovery of his sexual preference. These events show who Blanche is as a person and how she operates in the world. She relies on her ability to act as an object of male sexual desire since her interactions with the males in the play always commence with flirtation. This is demonstrated when Blanche tells St...
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A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
734 Words | 2 Pages
Tennessee Williams gives insight into three ordinary lives in his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” which is set in the mid-1930’s in New Orleans. The main characters in the play are Blanche, Stanley, and Stella. All three of these characters suffer from personalities that differentiate each of them to great extremes. Because of these dramatic contrarieties in attitudes, there are mounting conflicts between the characters throughout the play. The principal conflict lies between Blanche and Stanley, due to their conflicting ideals of happiness and the way things “ought to be”.
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A Streetcar Named Desire: Sympathy for Blanche
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The arts stir emotion in audiences. Whether it is hate or humor, compassion or confusion, passion or pity, an artist's goal is to construct a particular feeling in an individual. Tennessee Williams is no different. In A Streetcar Named Desire, the audience is confronted with a blend of many unique emotions, perhaps the strongest being sympathy. Blanch Dubois is presented as the sympathetic character in Tennessee William's A Streetcar Named Desire as she battles mental anguish, depression, failure and disaster.
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Essay on Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire
1696 Words | 4 Pages
Donahue, Francis. The Dramatic World of Tennessee Williams. New York: Frederic Ungar Publishing Co., 1964.
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Blanche's State of Mind in Tennessee Williams’ Play, A Streetcar Named Desire
963 Words | 2 Pages
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.
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Streetcar Named Desire essay
650 Words | 2 Pages
A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams, is a social realism play that takes place during the 1940’s in New Orleans. Williams uses this play to directly question inherent ideologies of human nature. He uses plot, narrative techniques, motifs, and contrasting values to directly challenge the reader’s perspective.
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A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennesse Williams
1851 Words | 4 Pages
Hagopian, K. (n.d.). Film Notes -A Streetcar Named Desire. Film Notes -A Streetcar Named Desire. Retrieved April 26, 2014, from http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/filmnotes/fns04n5.html
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A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
1266 Words | 3 Pages
Williams, Tennessee. “A Streetcar Named Desire.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013.1815-1881. Print.
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A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
824 Words | 2 Pages
Tennessee Williams uses motifs to help convey his idea that Blanche is deceiving, narcissistic and seductive. One can note how Blanche repeatedly wears extravagant white dresses or her red robe when she is acting particularly seductive, so that she makes people ponder that she is in fact guiltless and wholesome. Blanche's white dress is blemished which is representative of the fact that Blanche if far from being pure and wholesome even though the dress is a symbol of purity. Her world clings on misapprehension and trickery as can be understood by her emptying her heart out to Stella in scene three, "soft people have got to be seductive make a little temporary magic". She feels as if is it crucial to trick and deceive in order to persist in a world where she is "fading now" and her youthful beauty is departing. Tennessee Williams depicts Blanche as uncertain, self-conscious and hides behind her semblance of superficial beauty. With the use of the motif lighting, we can see how Blanche disappoints to live up to the facade that she po...
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Theme Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire
866 Words | 2 Pages
In conclusion, “A streetcar named Desire” in which a central character is flawed but nevertheless gains your admiration. Williams firstly effectively shows this through his use of characterization creating a contrast which leads to conflict thus bringing out sympathy and admiration. This conflict also draws the audience’s attention to Blanche’s flawed character. Secondly, Williams’ use of aspects of staging also draws out admiration for Blanche from the audience. Finally, Williams’ use of key scenes further relates to Blanche’s flaw and successfully extends the audience’s admiration for her
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The Real Blanche DuBois
1715 Words | 4 Pages
From the first moment the Williams introduces Blanche, it is evident that she believes herself to be of a higher class, and this is shown with how uncomfortable she is around those of a lower class. When Blanche is shown an act of kindness from Eunice, “Why don’t you set down?” her response to this person of a lower class than herself is dismissive, “…I’d like to be left alone.” She instantly expects too much from a place called ‘Elysian Fields’. Blanche feels uneasy about being around those that are of a lower class, especially of those who she does not know, which is clear when she is reunited with her sister. She immediately becomes ostentatious in her actions, and begins to speak with “feverish vivacity”, “Stella, Oh Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!” Perhaps she is relieved to be with her sister once again, or it could be that she feels she now has someone to be dominant over, since she has little control over her own life. Blanche comes across as being very motherly towards Stella, “You messy child” in spite of the fact that Stella is soon to beco...
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Use of Symbols and Colors in Tennessee Williams' Street Car Named Desire
989 Words | 2 Pages
Written in 1947, A Streetcar Named Desire has always been considered one of Tennessee William’s most successful plays. One way for this can be found is the way Williams makes major use of symbols and colours as a dramatic technique.
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A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Literary Analysis Of A Streetcar Named Desire

How Are Dominate Women Presented in A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller and A Streetcar by Tennessee Williams