Stella and Blanche in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire

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.

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

This qualm is created when Stanley notes that her extravagant possessions are as lavish as the contents of ‘the treasure chest of a pirate’, which could not be afforded on ‘teachers pay’ .This allows the audience to question the true nature of the loss of Belle Reve, and may even foster distrust towards Blanche henceforth. It provides as particularly significant when Stanley notes that Blanche’s belongings are what is left of the plantation. This could be symbolic of a changing America, notably developments away from slavery and inequality, as the wealth that remains from a plantation is now (under the Napoleonic code) indebted to a Polish immigrant. It is this modernising America which has worsened Blanche’s state, perhaps presenting Blanche to be a victim of a changing society. When Blanche enters the scene, she is dressed in a ‘red satin robe’ which alludes to the Scarlett Woman in Revelation 17,and also presents a much more sexualised Blanche in contrast with her white purity shown previously. Blanche ‘airily’ claims that she feels like a ‘brand new human being’, perhaps suggesting that her bath has washed away the façade of purity almost like a baptism, revealing her true nature, which is so incredibility conflicting with her presentation of virtuous southern Belle that it feels to be a individual being .In addition to this, Blanche’s almost addiction with bathing maybe related to her need to constant consideration of her looks; Samuel Tapp once claimed that ‘ Blanche is a victim of the mythology of Southern Belle’ and I feel that her fixation with her appearance and her need to remain pure are the most prominent manifestations of

Her passivity is shown on several occasions throughout the play. Blanche constantly commands Stella, ‘I like to wait on you Blanche’ , and this shows that Stella is considered inferior to Blanche. Moreover, her submissiveness is shown when Stanley hits here at scene three, this action is shown through stage directions ‘Stanley charges after Stella (…). There is a sound of a blow’. If Stella was a strong-willed character instead of a passive and submissive one she would have left Stanley for what he had done, but she chose to continue suffering domestic violence. In addition, it may be argued that her financial dependency on her husband is also one of the reasons she continues with her husband, this is linked to the Marxist theory as this the economic class of the character affects her personality and action. In addition, her subordination is also linked to a satisfying sexual life, ‘But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark – that sort of make everything else seem – unimportant.’ This is linked to the Freudian theory as it shows that sexual pleasure affects her decision to keep tolerating Stanley’s abuse. The representation of Stella as the subordinating submissive housewife is a representation of the women in the 1940s, who lived in a patriarchal society and in some occasions suffered domestic

1. Blanche who is homeless, comes to her sister’s house at the beginning. Blanche had been a schoolteacher, married Allan, a man she later discovered to be gay. Her reactions to his sexual orientation caused him to commit suicide. Lonely, she becomes a prostitute, who loses her teaching career when her sexual relationship with a teenager is found out. After the family plantation Belle Reve is lost, she turns to her little sister Stella, who lives in with her husband Stanley in a poor area of New Orleans. She is a very deluded character; She hides her past and fragility behind her Southern aristocrat clothes and manners and is very harsh and mean to Stanley, calling him

While Blanche represents hope of women being able to be free and outspoken, however she also represents the idea that women are very dependent on men for everything. The idea of representing Blanche to be both proper and improper with the society’s rules and regulations is because Williams may have wanted to prove the idea that despite being independent, women will still somehow be dependent on men. Stella represents the submissive nature of women during that time period and is conveyed to be a submissive character, as Williams wanted her to represent what society thinks of women that time. Williams ultimately represents these women in this way in order to infer to the message of shattered dreams, which A Streetcar Named Desire also

In this play Blanche has a praxis: She must get a companion to share her life with who can provide her with shelter, food, and financial support and that’s what makes the whole story happen. This praxis is created when two things happen: First, Blanche finding out that the man she married was having an affair with another man and he decided to shoot himself after she confronted him, and second, the loss of her house in Mississippi. These two things create her need of a shelter, financial support and food therefore she decides to stay with her sister Stella.

He abuses his wife Stella physically and emotionally as he strikes and hits his pregnant wife while Stella represents the self-deprecating, submissive wife who tolerates and excuses her husband behavior. Another central theme in Williams’ play is the theme of illusion; Blanche lives in a fantasy world of sentimental illusion. She exerts efforts to maintain the appearance of being an upper-class young innocent woman, even though she is a fallen woman. Another theme is the theme of loneliness as Blanche is lost and alone in the world and she desperately seeks protection and companionship in the arms of strangers. Mitch is another character who is a victim of loneliness and he needs to find a woman to love him the way his mother does. The theme of sexual desire is related to destruction. Blanche wants to be a lady but she continually tripped up by her sexual desire. Stanley leads a violent brutal desire and views Stella as a sexual object and his final act as he rapes Blanche emphasizes his lustful desire. The theme of hatred is prevailed throughout the play as Blanche’s insult and insolence aroused the hatred of Stanley. The play focused on the feeling of repulsion between

Blanche's devistating past is just one of the reasons I felt sympathy for her. Troubled from her past, Blanche has a sence of falseness, which increasingly becomes apparent to Stanley. Her secrets are revealed, and this unveals a haunting past, and insecurities which were unknown to Stella. It would appear that the lies and desperate clutches to hold onto

Desire is prominent in Stella and Stanley’s relationship; Stella is drawn to Stanley because he has a strong male sexuality and he is drawn to her because of her traditional feminine sexuality. Stanley abuses Stella, and when Blanche finds out she is perplexed. Stella explains that, “there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark—that sort of make everything else seem—unimportant.”(1.4). Stella and Stanley stay together because they use sex to smooth out their disputes. Stanley views sex as an important aspect in marriage (Panda ). He views women as sexual objects; Williams gives an insight on Stanley, he says, “[Stanley] sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing through his mind”(1.1). Stanley ends up raping Blanche at the end of the play; thus causing Blanche to lose her sanity. Although Blanche’s husband is only mentioned a few times in the play, the audience is able to see that his own sexual desire leads to his

Stella, too, is a major character who lives in a world of hopes and fantasies. Stella’s tears over her sister as Blanche was taken away at the end of play reveals that Stella’s fantasies have been crushed by Stanley’s brutality. Stella calls her sister, “Blanche! Blanche! Blanche!”(142) , as if she does not want to let go of her sister. In spite of the fact that Stanley tried to justify and to relief her, Stella knows that something acquitted and abandoned had banished. She knows that her happy and humble world and her sister’s hopes had gone. Through her fantasy world, she thinks she could keep her sister for ever, but fantasy does not always work and makes life appear as it should be rather than what reality is. Also, Blanche imagines the doctor as a gentleman who is going to rescue her from a life that she imagines it as a life that does not want to accept her. Blanche finishes the play by saying, “Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (142). Blanche’s irony is demonstrated for two reasons. First of all, the doctor is not a gentleman; he came to take her to a mental health care. Second of all, strangers are not kind to her; they are kind only for trade of sex. Instead, they feel sympathy for her for creating a world where she is the victim. Blanche never perceives stranger’s kindness as something that people take advantage of. Instead, she thinks that Stanley is the one who does not treat her well, although he wanted

DP1: Despite Blanche telling Stella that Stanley raped her, she still decides to remain with him. One of the main reasons of why she remains with him is that she sees how her sister is a liar and both emotionally and mentally unstable. After Stanley tells her of the horrible reputation Blanche has created for herself in Laurel and about her involvement with a 16 year old high school boy, she no longer sees Blanche as the innocent sister that she left at

From the conception of being the opposite gender to fighting for the love and loyalty of Stella. Stanley is the typical macho man. He’s dominant, rough, mean, sexual and not to mention very handsome. Whilst many women would find this bad boy aura “sexy” its usually a very flawed situation if you marry someone like this. Stella fell in love with Stanleys characteristics and didn't have a problem with it, but once Blanche moves in the way how Stella looks at Stanley is a whole new thing. Blanche stuck in the old ways tells Stella that a lady shouldn't be manhandled and that Stanley's like an ape. The more Blanche would tell Stella things like this the more she was starting to believe this. Finally Stella having enough of Stanleys attitude she confronts him on being such an animal but immediately this comment comes to spit back in Stellas face to remind her that she fell in love with these animal characteristics . In a strange way both Blanche and Stanley are also sexually attracted to each other. You can see this in the movie when the guys are playing poker and once Blanche comes out everyone stops to look at her. Stanley then yells at them to pay attention to the game but it doesn't take much brains to know that Stanley was truly jealous. Throughout the movie you can feel the sexual tension between Blanche and Stanley, but also notice the animosity towards each other. What stops them from actually going through with what

Blanche ends up paying a visit to her younger sister Stella Kowalski and her husband Stanley, However Blanche doesn't understand how her younger sister Stella could have picked a husband that she believes is a good for nothing commoner – “Oh, I guess he’s just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume” this is one of blanches first attempts to show her feelings about Stanley to Stella without being outright rude.

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