Essay about Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche can be very conceited at times during this book, especially when it comes to the argument between her and Stella about the family plantation. For example, Blanche said “I know that you’re bound to reproach me, but before you do take into consideration you left! I stayed and struggled!” (Scene 1 Pg. 20). In this part, Blanche is almost blaming Stella like it is her fault that their plantation is gone because she left. Stella had decided that she wanted to leave and start a new life way before things to a turn for the worst at the plantation. An example of this would be when Stella says,” The best I could do was make my own living. Blanche” (scene 1 Pg. 20). Blanche could have done the same thing if she wanted, but she chose to stay. Then she goes on to say, “I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!” (Scene 1 Pg. 20) At this point, Blanche is being very dramatic with it as though she was the only one that was going through challenging times. She is only thinking about herself and how she feels, not how Stella may feel about the situation.

She had invited Mitch to her birthday dinner, but Stanley had already told him all the bad things about her past. This is when she starts to slip. She tries to make conversation and tell jokes with Stanley, but obviously, he isn’t having it. The point where it is evident that she is really slipping is when Stanley says he has a gift for her. “Oh, have you [a gift for me], Stanley? I wasn’t expecting any, I—I wasn’t expecting any. I—I don’t know why Stella wants to observe my birthday! I’d much rather forget it—when you—reach twenty-seven! Well—age is a subject that you’d prefer to—ignore!” (Williams 135). Blanche is thirty years old. This goes back into the fantasy idea. She uses it as a coping mechanism. Finally, there is something going good in her life, and that is roughly

The audience always had the feeling that Blanche was a little nuts, but we see her condition worsening as the play goes on. During the final scene we see Blanche go with a doctor and nurse to, presumably, a mental hospitable. Eunice

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

Blanche repeatedly lied to make herself look pure to others. It only served as a masquerade to hide her dirty, sinful reality. She lied about her age, alcoholism, promiscuity, and why she had to leave Laurel. When Stanley asked her if she wanted a shot, she replied, “No, I—rarely touch it” (Scene 1, page 1548). She could not confront her reality, so she retreated to her world of illusion. This was Blanche’s most prominent flaw. If she could have accepted things for what they are, she could have salvaged her sanity. If, from the beginning, she had been truthful to Stanley’s friend Mitch, he could have forgiven her. Dismally, Mitch would not trust her after finding out everything she said was fabricated. “I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it” (Scene 9, page 1590). Blanche feared lights which symbolized her fear of reality. She claimed that with Alan’s death, all light had gone out of her life. “And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this—kitchen candle.”

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

She tries to hold on to him but is unable to keep him attracted. Blanche is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her out own fantasies. She has no concern for anyone’s well being, including her own. Thus, this is her utter most harmful demise. She has no realistic outlook for the future.

In the opening of the Play, Williams portrays Blanche to be a hugely outgoing and vibrant character, which is made more evident by the contrast between herself and her sister, Stella.To the audience, as Blanche seems so energetic, she comes across as almost hysterical portraying an underlying nervousness in her character which is portrayed through stage directions and the way she interacts with other characters.Initially, Blanche appears to be very outspoken as she franticly talks to Stella when they meet. She proves to be energetic in her nature when Stella states ‘I never had anything like your energy, Blanche’ and is further proven between the contrast of herself and Stella, who is much more ‘controlled’ and calm. The feverish nature of her speech, although suggesting excitement and energy, also reflects how she feels a sense of fear or nervousness. When Blanche is first introduced she speaks ‘with faintly hysterical humour’ which gives the audience the impression that she is very on edge, and even perhaps uncomfortable with meeting Stella after she left Belle Reve. Although she asks questions to Stella, she does not give her a chance to speak, as Stella says ‘You haven’t given me a chance to, honey!’. This implies she fears the answers Stella has for her, as Blanche asks ‘What are you doing in a place like this?’ and as Stella begins to answer she interrupts with ‘Oh, I'm not going to be hypocritical’, not allowing Stella to answer her question. This implies that she does not want Stella to think she is judging her (although she is) as she wants her to think highly of her, and this interaction with her sister portrays to the audience her fear of the answers Stella has to give. This is also shown through her boastful manner which is reflected in the quotation ‘I want you to look at my figure!’ and when she begins to doubt her looks she ‘ Laughs nervously and glances at Stella for reassurance’

Blanche makes it seem as if she disproves of her sisters relationship Stella has but in reality Blanche is just as dirty, she uses it for her gain. “Blanche waltzes to the music with romantic gestures. Mitch is delighted and moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear.” (Scene 3) She feels as if this is her only power move so she uses it to her fullest capability.

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

Another character in the play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" that is used to present disturbing behaviour is Blanche. The writer uses her to present disconcerting behaviour due to her susceptible alcohol problem. Blanche is presented by the writer to the audience to be a quite unstable character, that comes across to be strangley covert. At the early stage of her visit to her sister Stella, Blanche 'rushes to the closet and removes the bottle', Tennessee Williams then begins to show her unstableness when she starts 'shaking all over and panting for breath.' This clearly reveals that Blanche has an unconventional reliance on alcohol in order to calm her 'nerves'. Blanche obviously doesn't feel comfortable for some reason without drinking some sort of alcohol and its

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

In the play A Streetcar Named Desire the tragic hero Blanche Dubois is a “Southern Belle” from Mississippi who was born to a wealthy family. Blanche is a former schoolteacher who says that she lost Belle Reve (family estate) due to cost of the funerals and deaths of family members, but she avoids the fact that she does not have a job or money when she goes to stay with her sister Stella and bother in law in New Orleans. She seems to be on the run from her past because of her husband’s suicide after she expressed her distaste on his sexuality. She later had many affairs trying to numb her grief on the death of her husband.

Blanche comforts herself with the thought that she’s always going to be admired for her looks by lying about her age. This truth comes out when in the play, Williams writes the dialogue between Stella and Blanche, where Blanche says “I want to deceive [Mitch] enough to make [Mitch]-want me…” (Williams 125). In Blanche’s dialogue, it’s evident that she lies about her looks and age just so she can make the men she encounters with fall in love with her. This is a part of her madness where she creates this fantasy that her looks is everything and with her looks, she has no problem in making men fall in love with.

Before one can understand Blanche's character, one must understand the reason why she moved to New Orleans and joined her sister, Stella, and brother-in-law, Stanley. By analyzing the symbolism in the first scene, one