Brutality and Deceit in A Streetcar Named Desire Essay

The reader may view Blanche as someone who tried to escape her sordid past in Laurel and wanted to start a new life with her sister, yet due to the continuous investigations from Stanley, was unable to do so. Stanley reveals Blanches’ lies and deceits, commenting on them as her ‘same old act, same old hooey!’ This tells the reader that his research of Blanches’ past is way of stopping her from finding a new life. Blanche attempts to redeem her life by finding love with Mitch, yet Stanley again reveals to Mitch that she was not ‘straight’, resulting in Mitch not wanting to be with her and also contributing to her fate. Stanley, after mercilessly divulging all her truths and bringing her to the edge of her mental capacity, rapes Blanche which brought about her final collapse. The reader may view Stella as someone at blame for her sisters’ fate, as though she shows some moral support of Blanches’ situation and listens to what she has to say, Stella continuously throughout the play neglects to notice Blanches slow mental deterioration and ignores Blanches’ outcries and incessant need for attention. Stella chooses Stanley over Blanche, despite her warnings about him being ‘volatile, violent and sub-human which represents not

Similar to Stanley, Blanche also faces a power struggle. Her ultimate downfall is a result of Stanley’s cruelty and lack of understanding for human fragility. Comments about Stanley’s ‘animal habits’ and ‘sub-human’ nature act as the agent of Blanche’s downfall. Stanley cannot deal with her mocking him in his own home and is fed up with her lies. During the final scenes his

and self - pitying ways from the death of her husband and the lies of

The themes of A streetcar Named Desire are mainly built on conflict, the conflicts between men and women, the conflicts of race, class and attitude to life, and these are especially embodied in Stanley and Blanche. Even in Blanche’s own mind there are conflicts of truth and lies, reality and illusion, and by the end of the play, most of these conflicts have been resolved.

“Stella has embraced him with both arms, fiercely, and full in the view of Blanche. He laughs and clasps her head to him. Over her head he grins through the curtains at Blanche.” (Williams 73) A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams exemplifies the theme of a struggle to attain happiness. The play not only portrays this theme in its characters and setting, but through the literary devices of Foil, Imagery, and Intertextuality. Williams took great care in applying each of these literary device techniques to the theme as he presents an intriguing contrast between Blanche and Stanley, vivid images both animalistic and broken, and imploring the use of the Odyssey to further

In A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche’s flaws that lead to her downfall are abundant. If we are to view Blanche Dubois as a tragic heroine, then it is in scene six that her tragic flaws are especially evident, and in particular desire. They are so prevalent here as it is arguably the beginning of Blanche’s demise and as in Shakespearean tragedy; it is in the centre of the play that we see the beginning of the protagonist’s downfall. Desire, as her harmartia, is represented in several ways in scene six.

It seems that Williams has made it seem that Stanley did not cause Blanches downfall to much extent that he only sped up Blanche’s decline as she was already on a decline, regardless of Stanley’s added affects. However it can be argued that although Blanche was on the verge of a downfall she would have recovered as she had the strength to go to her sister for help. Yet it can be said that Stanley stopped Blanche recovering and aided her downfall to continue. Williams shaped Stanley’s character as a dominant, prideful and somewhat possessive one... I believe that he is mainly sexually possessive as once Blanche questioned Stella on why she loves Stanley she admitted that it was because, he fulfils her sexual and sensual desires with a steady life. ‘Remember what Huey Long said-`Every Man is a King!' And I am the king around here, so don't forget it!’ Stanley was the dominant character between him and Stella however, with the arrival of Blanche Williams disrupts their simple life; Blanche criticizes his private life his character, his views and beliefs. Therefore Stanley turns against her this could be argued the cause for Stanley to start breaking her down, wanting

Stanley overhears these comments as they are ‘unaware of his presence’ (S4:pg.164*; and wants to dispose of Blanche to protect his marriage as Blanche has a hysterical determination to urge Stella to leave Stanley. Stanley refuses to accept Blanches’ conduct as she had no right to intervene and arbitrate as a guest in Stanley’s home supporting the idea that Stanley was preparing her downfall all along.

‘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.

Stanley is a character in this play, whose perspective is clearly reality based. Since Blanche’s outlook on life is fantasy based, there is a lot of hostility between the two characters. Stanley is the one that always exposes the lies that Blanche is always hiding behind. He is constantly trying to get her to accept his perspective. When she finally begins to understand him, it’s too late. With such a huge change, she loses her mental state. Her personal beliefs get interchanged between fantasy and reality, to such an extent, that it seems as if she no longer realizes what is true or what is malign.

Tennessee Williams was a thriving playwriter with many of his ideas coming from actual events in his life. Growing up with a father that was an alcoholic and known for gambling led him down the same path (Parry 304). In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Blanche, who is trying to get away from her erroneous past goes to New Orleans to visit her sister Stella. Seeing that she is in a place where no one knows her, she hopes to make a new life for herself. During her visit, Blanche clashes with Stella’s husband Stanley and the biggest difference between them would be the way they were brought up. When Stanley starts to figure out that Blanche has a shady past, he is on a mission to uncover her past and expose her for who she really is. This makes things very hard for Stella because Stanley and Blanche see each other as enemies and they both are trying to get her away from the other. Throughout the play many disturbing issues will arise. Alcohol is brought up in the play approximately thirty-two times and violence around twenty-four (Williams). Tennessee Williams brings awareness of the characters through alcohol and violence to create a dynamic downfall into the mental state of Blanche.

Blanche’s unexpected arrival at the entrance of the play is what stirs an even bigger monster in Stanley. Upon her entrance, she immediately causes trouble due to her and Stanley’s differences. Blanche is a southern belle from a very wealthy background. She is very proud of being brought up in the upper class while Stanley is proud that he lead his own life through the working class. This makes him a very rude and animalistic man with a lower level of education. Even their first conversation

She raises her arms and stretches, as she moves indolently back to the chair.” Blanche’s use of her only tool, her sex appeal to gain an influence over Stanley, is a contrast to his masculinity. This contributes to the tragedy that unfolds towards the end of the play. Williams again uses irony just before the rape of Blanche, as Stanley tells her that they have “had this date with each other from the beginning.” As the sexual tension between Stanley and Blanche, and Blanche’s mental state reaches its climax, the reader experiences her tragic

I agree that characters in the book A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, use lying and deception to fuel their social status. These lies develop trust and relationship issues and threaten the wellbeing of everyone involved. Blanche, was a high school english teacher in mississippi who was forced to leave her life behind there. With nowhere to go Blanche moves in with her sister Stella and husband Stanley, who has a suspicion about Blanche's past life which lead to some unwanted events.

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