A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche And Stanley Kowalski

Blanche’s financial decline, illuminating her vulnerability, links to Aristotle’s theory that the tragic heroine must fall, allowing the audience to relate to her. Her insecurities – “I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” stereotypically reflects the insecurities women feel about their appearance and age. The uses of imperatives and exclamatory sentences suggests Blanche’s obsession over her appearance, a flaw leading her to dismiss her true identity. Her inability to avoid drink and her compulsive lies, demonstrated in her frequent references to Shep Huntleigh’s letters, makes her a more authentic woman than Stella, who is described by Williams as the “gentle, mild and contented one”. Blanche’s loss of identity, dominated by her homosexual husband’s suicide, exacerbates her solitude – “The boy-the boy died. (She sinks back down) I’m afraid I’m – going to be sick!” The fragmented, repetitive speech Blanche uses illustrates her guilt and pain, whilst the physical act of “sinking” highlights the extent of her regret, giving a sense of foreboding for her downfall. Her guilt is also exacerbated by the implied physical act at the end which shocks the contemporary audience, who would not sympathise with homosexuals, evoking pity and reinforcing that “Streetcar” is a tragedy for Blanche.

Blanche is committed to a tradition and a way of life that have become anachronistic in the world of Stanley Kowalski. She is committed to a code of civilization that died with her ancestral home, Belle Reve. Stella recognizes this tradition and her sister's commitment to it, but she has chosen to relinquish it and to come to terms with a world that has no place for it. In a sense, Blanche is frantic in her refusal to relinquish her concept

Throughout Tennessee William’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end.

While exploring Blanche’s character, it is necessary to find and analyze the roots of her mental instability and unpleasant behavior. I

Blanches’ emotional state of mind is also conspicuous at the start of the play as she circumvents direct light, fearful of showing her fading looks and the light would make her vulnerable to the truth. Blanche is unable to withstand harsh light, calling the light a ‘merciless glare’(S1:pg.120*) because with Allan’s death, the light had gone out of her life and the effect this had is that she wanted dim lights hiding the reality of her painful memories. This links to the theme of dream and reality as Blanche, a delicate character, refused ‘to accept the reality of her life and attempts to live under illusion’ (*2), living on the borders of life similar to a moth which creates the image of Blanches’ fragility.

‘A Streetcar named Desire,’ is an interesting play, by Tennessee Williams. The character 'Blanche DuBois' is created to evoke sympathy, as the story follows her tragic deterioration in the months she lived with her sister Stella, and brother-in-law Stanley. After reading the play, I saw Blanche as the victim of Stanley's aggressive ways, and I also saw her as a hero in my eyes.

Blanche attempts to carry herself as a naïve youthful virginal lady, but in all honesty she is an intriguing and wise woman who has been around the block. The usage of white could also symbolize Blanche’s true nature, strength and weaknesses. She is also poetically described as being dainty like a moth which is further associated with the color white. The “Oxford English Dictionary” has one definition of “blanching” as to boil something quickly to strip away the skin. Blanche’s name alone indicates the symbolism for her complexity to be discovered by the play’s audience or the play’s readers. Further symbolism clues for the act of ‘blanching” in those terms is the many times that Blanche likes to take hot baths no matter how hot it already is, “She’s soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves”(Williams 2309). Her need to continuously bathe could also be symbolic side effect of her guilt, and every time she takes a bath she’s washing away her sins. Blanche fell in love and married when she was younger, but when she walked in on her husband having sex with another man on their wedding night she inadvertently caused him to commit suicide when she confronted him with cruelty, “He’d stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired-so that the back of his head had been-blown away!” (Williams 2338). She is also poetically described as being dainty like a moth which is further associated with the color white, “Her

Stella and Blanche grew up on a southern estate, each were implanted with respectable Southern manners that made them upper-class and showed them what place they have in society. Blanche takes this to heart never letting Stanley forget that he is below the sisters,

Everyone has fantasies but most know that is not the true reality. Defining dreams and reality are two different things. Some want to escape the real world and make their own dreams become true, due to seeking happiness. The author portrays Blanche, Stella, and Stanley as characters that are fixated on what they want to believe is the truth; however, the reason being is because they do not want face their fears. Stella and Blanche both desire to make their past non-existent and live in a perfect world, rather than accept the truth and move forward. Stanley does not let his fantasies take over his life as much as the two women. In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar name Desire the three protagonists Blanche, Stella, and Stanley exist in a fool’s paradise by using denial and fantasy to display a public facade in desire to obscure the truth; however, the characters want to escape their undesirable reality through their more desirable fantasy.

However, as we get to know Blanches character and situation, we begin to feel much sorrier for her and even begin to pity the situation she is stuck in. Having lost the family’s luxurious plantation house in Belle Reve, although we do not know whether this reclamation of the house is solely down to Blanche or just generally a family-wide debt issue that has forced Blanche from her home so cannot blame anyone specifically for this, Blanche has essentially ended up wandering around the area, looking for somewhere to stay before she ends up, literally on her sister’s doorstep at a last minute request. Her manic and slightly frenetic behaviour when she does arrive suggest that she is desperately nervous or getting increasingly desperate for support and some friendship, someone to rely on. She is however, a woman who is quite dramatic and emotional, as she is not someone who understands empathy. This is apparent when she has just arrived at Stella’s and is talking to her sister about where she lives. Now most people, when arriving in someone’s house at the last minute to stay there for an unspecified amount of time, would never dream of doing or saying something to insult the host. Yet Blanche, when asking Stella how many rooms there are in the apartment says ‘What? Two rooms did you say?’ in a quite demeaning and slightly insulting tone and to follow this comment up she laughs sharply, in an almost

In the play “A streetcar Named Desire” it centers on a women named Blanche Dubois. She travels from the railroad in New Orleans to a street formally known as Elysian Fields, where she meets her pregnant sister Stella and her husband Stanly Kowalski. Having lost her homestead, husband and fortification, Blanche turns to her only close relative for support. Reaching middle age, Blanche emotionally is unhinged and is in financial crises with the loss of her southern bell life. After explaining the bad news of the loss of Belle Reve, the family mansion. Stanly quickly accuses Blanche of cheating Stella’s share of the family’s land/profits; intern starts a conflict with her. To Blanche it was clear that her sister was happy with Stanly, but notices how abusive and ape like he can be. Although Stella and Stanly fight, their physical relationship is strong. Therefore Blanche takes it up on herself to break the two up in fear of her sister’s wellbeing, the attempts only enrage Stanly further. He latter deeply investigates Blanche’s past and discovered that she has been living off the road and has had an affair with a 17-year-old student that attended the same school she worked. Using this newfound knowledge Stanly quickly alters the playing field and slowly reviles Blanches flaws and un-southern bell actions, which leads blanche into a dismay between her imaginary life and reality. Flustered and unstable, Blanche is abused physically and mentally by Stanly, he confronts

This is brought forth by her death and deterioration as a character and its contribution to declining relationships. It becomes quite evident to the audience that Blanche “wasn't so good the last two years or so”, alluding to her promiscuous behaviour before her sudden arrival at her sister’s doorstep. The motifs employed by Williams to convey Blanche’s regret are those of bathing and alcohol. Blanche bathes many a time through the course of A Streetcar Named Desire in attempt to feel “…like a brand new human being” and cleanse herself of her past in order to try find kindness and love, particularly in Mitch, “I want to deceive him enough to make him – want me”. The irony of Blanche’s costuming at the start of the play further emphasises what she is “Putting on”. In Scene I Blanche is described as being “daintily dressed in a white suit…earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat”. Traditionally, white is the colour of purity and of “…the Virgin”, both of these “virtues” taken away from Blanche due to her tragic past. The illusion she creates for both Mitch and Stanley again, was brought forth by her own deterioration and want of creating a fantasy that “wouldn’t be make – believe if you believed in me”. Lastly, Blanche’s attempt to legitimise her fantasy is through the symbolic paper lantern. Blanche “…can’t stand a naked lightbulb” in fear of her past and her true age being exposed. In Blanche’s mind putting “…a paper lantern over the light” provides an alternative form of escape from the truth about her past. It is hence, evident that Blanche’s constant deception of those around her through her costuming, fear of the light, which is symbolic of the truth and her relentless attempts to cleanse herself are what contribute to her deterioration and hence to the decline of any possibility of having a relationship with Mitch and her rapid

Blanche has personally had a lot of loss already in her life, such as losing her husband, home estate, job, and even sense of dignity where she had lived. This dignity had been torn down by self-loathing and guilt from her husband’s death, and many rumors that were circulating about her. These rumors were a direct result of expectations and societies ideal image of how a woman should behave and look during this time. In “Overview: A Streetcar Named Desire,” Joyce Moss and George Wilson explain that as a southern woman who grew up in an area with aristocratic traditions, Blanche would have been “considered inferior to men,” but was also expected to be “virginal and morally superior to the male” (4). When gossip about her past caught up to her, she was treated unfairly because of her failure to meet these traditional standards. These standards came with many societal pressures that caused Blanche to create an image for herself; a façade to protect her from her past and judging eyes. She used this façade to maintain a sense of dignity, and it helped her to cope with the many losses from her

Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, author Tennessee Williams does a wonderful job developing the character of Stanley Kowalski. To me, his character seemed most like that of a true person. On the other hand, Stella, Stanley's wife, is mainly displayed as being the loving type, and because that is basically the only character trait she displays, it is difficult to really understand her as a person. The character of Stanley Kowalski is developed much like a real person, having numerous personality traits.

The play A Streetcar Named Desire revolves around Blanche DuBois; therefore, the main theme of the drama concerns her directly. In Blanche is seen the tragedy of an individual 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. The final result is her destruction. This process began long before her clash with Stanley Kowalski. It started with the death of her young husband, a weak and perverted boy who committed suicide when she taunted him with her disgust at the discovery of his perversion. In retrospect, she knows that he was the only man she had ever loved, and from this early catastrophe