Streetcar Named Desire

It is clear from the beginning that Blanche is not a very honest character. She lives in a fantasy world of her own design. One of the very first things she does when she enters Stella’s

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

Established as one of the most prolific playwrights of the 20th century, Tennessee Williams used his writing as a form of therapy. The author came from a troubled background consisting of alcoholism, mental breakdowns, and general unhappiness; Williams exploited these unfortunate events and allowed them to motivate his literature. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois’ struggles represent the reality of people’s lives, “an enduring concern of [Williams’] throughout his writing career (Henthorne 1). Blanche captures our focus with her seemingly sincere and fragile nature, but it is later revealed that this is just an illusion within her own mind. She resides in a world of fantasy to shield herself against the harsh threats of reality and her own fears. Blanche’s main objective in the play is to keep herself from falling apart in a world of cruelty through alcoholism and illusion. Through the characterization of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams depicts the coping mechanism of fantasy and its detrimental repercussions by exploring the specific experiences that eventually impede her happiness.

Blanche’s fear of becoming undesirable has caused her to create an illusion in an attempt to revive her youth. Throughout the entirety of the play, Blanche is constantly worried about her appearance and looks for compliments from others. When she is first introduced, “her appearance is incongruous to this setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district”

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.

In the opening of the play Blanche says, “They told [her] to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at—at Elysian Fields!”(1.1). This sentence sets the theme for the entire play. The streetcar “Desire” brought her to Stella’s home, but symbolically it shows that Blanche’s

As part of her illness, flirting and promiscuity come into play during different parts of her life. At one point in the movie, it was told by Stanley to Stella how Blanche had been asked to

Blanche has problems adapting to the “new” world, because she is stuck in the old world. This is different to Stella, who has learned that she has to adapt and accept. When Blanche lost her husband she lost a big part of her life. That she is not over the loss of her husband is shown very clear in the play. She is clearly becoming mentally ill because of the loss and that she is not able to move on. She is always bathing, from the moment we first meet her, after she has taken her baths she says that she feels like a new person. She is trying to wash off the dirt from the past, trying to clear her mind. She is constantly drinking, and she is also trying to hide it. People who are alcoholics rarely have a good life, and they are very often not satisfied with their lives, there are things that

Additionally, Blanche continuously criticizes Stanley and Stella’s lifestyle, for she acts above everyone else. It is seen that Blanche seems to have lost respect for her sister, for she married and lives in a low class lifestyle. When Blanche says: “he acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! There’s even something—sub-human—something not quite to the stage of humanity yet!” shows that Blanche hates the fact that Stanley is poor; thus, she does not consider him human because of his low class profile.

In the Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois is first introduced having dressed in white and symbolizing chastity and innocence. As sensitive, aristocratic, and refined as it is, the beauty depicts an appearance resembling a moth. Blanche comes from a background that is aristocratic. Her job, as an English teacher, as well as her home are all lost and in turn, she comes to stay in her sister’s house for a while, Stella, who stays with her husband Stanley, a coarse polish. Her lover passed away and since then she has changed her life completely. Blanche is seen to be a misfit in the

Fantasy and reality are explored in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Prior to scene IX, a birthday party was being held for Blanche. Stanley gifted Blanche a one-way ticket back to Laurel, he disapproves of her constant bathing to calm her nerves, and Mitch doesn’t visit as he had promised. These events emphasize just how undesirable Blanche is; her unwelcomed presence is her reality. It severely contrasts with how desirable she aches to be; her fantasy.

She has no choice but to live with her sister because she ran out of money living in a motel. As she’s living in the Kowalski’s household, she a relationship with Mitch Stanley’s friend gets ruined and gets raped by her brother-in-law. She drinks even more after this entire situation because her sister takes her husband’s side. Describing a relationship between two sisters can be complicated. Sisters may argue and pretend to distance themselves, but when it comes to outsiders disrespecting one or the other, sisters stick up for each other. Stella on the other hand did not. Stella was in denial over everything. Stella was in the middle of every conflict that went down with Blanche and Stanley. When Stanley was insulted by Blanche of their living space Stella did not say a word. She’s stuck in between the two because she does not want to seem like she’s choosing sides. Usually a sister would have their siblings back but Stella did not because she was too in love with sexual relationship she had with her husband and she realized that if she took her sister’s side then her husband would leave her meaning the sexual activities would be gone.The relationship between Stella and Blanche seemed off. Ever since Stella moved to New Orleans the relationship between the two have been distanced and was easily able to tell, in the play, that they rarely spoke since the

The drama A Streetcar Named Desire is one of Tennessee Williams most well-known plays. Blanche DuBois seeks refuge in her sister’s home after the loss of their ancestral home, the Belle Reve plantation. Her little sister, no more than a year younger than she, shares her home with her husband. During Blanche’s stay, she attempts to escape her past, start afresh, and attract a new suitor to settle down. However, she is tormented by her aggressive, unrelenting, and honest brother-in-law who eventually destroys all her hopes.

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