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Character portrayal in the streetcar named desire
Compare and contrast the major characters in the streetcar name desire
Compare and contrast the major characters in the streetcar name desire
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One of the main themes expressed by Tennessee Williams in his play, A Streetcar
Named Desire, is to condemn those who display cruelty and harshness in their
treatment of others, especially those who are weak and vulnerable. Three
characters who demonstrate these insensitive qualities are Blanche, Mitch, and
Stanley. Whether the cruelty is deliberate or not, it results in the
destruction of others, both physically and mentally.
Blanche Dubois, the central victim of mistreatment in the play, was herself,
dealing out her share of insensitivities during her younger days. When Blanche
was 16, she had a very handsome lover named Allan Gray. She was very much in
love with him and decided to marry him. But by total surprise one night,
Blanche found her lover in bed with another man. She tried to pretend that
nothing had happened. However, she was unable to hold what she saw inside, and
told Allan "I saw, I know, you disgust me…"( p.96). To Allan, Blanche seemed to
be a person who accepted him for who he was in a society where homosexuals are
discriminated against. What Blanche said completely devastated Allan and he
found no reason to continue living. Although Blanche had no intentions of
hurting Allan, enough damage was done to prompt Allan to shoot himself, his mind
and body destroyed.
The harsh treatment dealt by Mitch to Blanche near the end of the play is
strikingly similar to Blanche's treatment of Allan Gray. Mitch is a friend of
Stanley's whom Blanche falls for during her visit to New Orleans. The
relationship between Blanche and Mitch had been developing steadily. Both
characters felt the need to settle down in life and both saw the image of
marriage at the outcome of their relationship. It did seem as though the image
would become reality, until Stan interfered. Stan filled Mitch's mind with
unfavourable stories of Blanche's checkered past and the relationship quickly
turned sour. Mitch had not believed Stan at first, but when he received
confirmation of the truth to Stan's accusations, he became heart-broken and
enraged. Mitch goes to confront Blanche personally and accuses her of being a
prostitute and lying to him. Mitch also says that Blanche is hiding something,
as he has never seen her in broad daylight. He then tears the paper lantern off
the light bulb, representing a tearing away of Blanche's shield from realism.
Blanche admits to the accusations but reasons that she has changed her ways and
never did lie in her heart. Mitch appears to forgive her as he goes to kiss
Blanche. But in the midst of the embrace, Mitch blurts out, "You're not clean
How do Blanche Dubois’s interactions with males in A Streetcar Named Desire lead to her self-destruction?
The pathos of the commercial can be broken down from the beginning. The ad begins on what appears
The wall street crash was bad for every one in America at the time and
...e story that soon brought us to the anticipated tragic ending. If not noticed before, it should be brought to attention that everything bad that happened in the story started to come to play right after the wedding that the Friar made possible. Things were going swell for Romeo, he had just gotten married and everything was just fantastic until the death of Mercutio and Tybalt, where things started to get worse. If the wedding would not have happened so fast or at all, the story would not have been about two star-crossed lovers, but maybe two lovers who fought their judging families for love to have a satisfactory ending. This is not how the story of Romeo and Juliet gets its fame though. The tragedy is what makes up the story, all thanks to the Friar. This is why the Friar should be at blame for the ending of Shakespeare's "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet".
class are key issues for the time, but at the time at which the novel
Blanche had a desire for sex in general to cope with her divorce and the loss of her family; she just needed to feel loved. Stanley expressed his hidden desire for Blanche by being cruel to her through the whole story, and then having sex with her. Mitch showed his desire for Blanche by asking her to marry him. Stella had a desire for Stanley’s love and for Blanche’s well-being. The play is a display of the drama involved in families, and it shows that sometimes people have to make decisions and choose one relationship over another.
Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century. Most of his plays take us to the southern states and show a confused society. In his works he exposes the degeneration of human feelings and relationships. His heroes suffer from broken families and they do not find their place in the society. They tend to be lonely and afraid of much that surrounds them. Among the major themes of his plays are racism, sexism, homophobia and realistic settings filled with loneliness and pain.1 Tennessee Williams characters showed us extremes of human brutality and sexual behavior.2 One of his most popular dramas was written in 1947, and it is called A Streetcar Named Desire.
By 1929, the U.S. economy was in serious trouble despite the soaring profits in the stock market. Since the end of WWI in 1918, farm prices had dropped about 40% below their pre-war level. Farm profits fell so low that many farmers could not pay their debts to the banks; in turn this caused about 550 banks to go out of business. The nations illusion of unending prosperity was shattered on Oct. 24 1929. Worried investors who had bought stock on credit began to sell it. A panic developed, and on October 29, stockholders sold a record 16,410,030 share. By mid-November, stock prices had plunged about 40%. The stock market crash led to the Great Depression, the worst depression in the nation’s history (until…2014 ☺). It was a terrible price to pay for the false sense of prosperity and national well being of the Roaring Twenties.
Blanche’s developmental history or character development points to her diagnosis. Blanche comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella after being fired from her job as a schoolteacher due to having an inappropriate affair with a teenage student. When she arrives to see her sister, she is consumed with insecurities regarding her appearance and is condescending to her sister’s humble lifestyle. Stella’s husband Stanley immediately has distrust and dislike for Blanche and treats her
Stella states that Blanche’s life has been heavily affected by the death of her husband, Allan. Blanche’s marriage “killed her illusions” which can be interpreted literally. Blanche states that she fell in love “all at once and much, much too completely,” however, her love was unrequited since instead of returning the love Blan... ... middle of paper ... ... o have experienced some sorrow,” which Mitch agrees with, thus revealing that he has been affected by the loss of this girl.
To conclude, the author portrays Blanche’s deteriorating mental state throughout the play and by the end it has disappeared, she is in such a mental state that doctors take her away. Even at this stage she is still completely un-aware of her surroundings and the state she is in herself.
This essay will describe whether or not Blanches’ unfortunate eventual mental collapse was due to her being a victim of the society she went to seek comfort in, or if she was solely or at least partly responsible. The factors and issues that will be discussed include, Blanches’ deceitful behaviour and romantic delusions which may have lead to her eventual downfall, the role Stanley ended up playing with his relentless investigations of her past and the continuous revelations of it, the part society and ‘new America’ played in stifling her desires and throwing her into a world she could not relate to or abide by.
Stanley’s treatment of Blanche leaves her alone once again, with what little dreams of returning to her previous status destroyed like the paper lampshade that once gave her the shield from the real her she desperately craved. Stella, the one person Blanche believed she could rely on, sides against her husband after Blanche’s ordeal, leading Blanche to be taken away, relying on the “kindness of strangers”. This final image that Williams leaves us with fully demonstrates that Blanche has been cruelly and finally forced away from her “chosen image of what and who” she is, leaving an empty woman, once full of hope for her future.
As such, the commercial uses a pathos charged song with deep sentimental situations to aide in its rhetoric.Extra argues that because this young couple found happiness through Extra Gum, anyone can. Originally, Sarah and Juan were strangers but they became closer and closer to each other because of the bond they shared through Extra gum. They met in
Tennessee Williams has mastered the idea of plastic theater throughout the plays he was written and “A Streetcar Named Desire” is no different. He incorporates many elements of plastic theater throughout this play to take you through a journey unlike any other. One of the main elements of plastic theater that is heavily used is the music. The music plays a vital role in this play in setting the moods for each scene. The “Blue Piano” and The “Varsouviana Polka” are prime examples for playing major roles in the scenes Williams used them in.