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Recommended: The American Dream
A Streetcar Named Desire is a brillant play which expresses America as a corrupted and desolate world. Through the eyes of Blanche DuBois, an incongruous figure in the play, she constantly lies to escape the harsh reality of her past and present. However, Stanley Kowalski, an animal breathing brute, tears down her vision and destroys her every last bit of hope of her dreams. Tennessee Williams intends to reveal the ruthless state that America has now become. He wants to illustrate that the people’s desires are violent, shallow, and submissive. Many people, such as Blanche, still hang on to the past and have a hard time distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Williams uses different strategies to enhance these ideas in his play. He commonly …show more content…
Blanche has the desire to stay young and pure. When Blanche arrives to Stanley and Stella’s house, she is often “bathing...her dress, a flowered print, is laid out on Stella’s bed” (32). In the past, Blanche used to be involved in several sexual acts for comfort after her husband died and her long and frequent baths symbolizes her want to constantly “cleanse” herself from these sins and shame. She wants to continue feeling innocent and rid of any nerves she feels. Williams has her do this offstage to indirectly present his character as someone who cannot face reality and will do anything to keep herself immersed in her fantasy. Furthermore, the death of her husband has left her mentally scarred as music is heard offstage whenever she is anxious or tense. During Blanche’s conversation with Mitch as he confronts her for her lies, “She touches her forehead vaguely. The polka tunes starts up again...a distant revolver shot is heard” (114). The music heard by the audience is actually all in Blanche’s head. Throughout the play, Blanche undergoes a lot of anxiety and stress trying to keep her fantasy real but ultimately fails as she breaks down and starts hallucinating in her past, thinking they are reality. The polka music is specifically used because it relates to when she and her husband were listening to before he committed suicide; the continuous music through the play just …show more content…
To keep her image of being wealthy and of high class, Blanche owns a lot of fake jewelry. As Stanley rummages through Blanche’s trunk, he questions about her accessories, “Pearls...bracelets of solid gold, And diamonds! A crown for an empress! A rhinestone tiara!” (36). Stanley sees right through Blanche’s phony world and searches for evidence to prove it. Williams use of props to portray fake jewelry dramatically illustrate Blanche’s dream of youth as she continues putting these on because of its illusion to happiness but the fakeness of them only confirm that her fantasy will never exist in this new America. Consequently, Blanche also avoids light. When Mitch first meets Blanche, she has him take the “little colored paper lantern...and put it over the light bulb” (55). The light in this case represents truth and reality. Blanche will not face the light directly and often shades it with a lamp cover. She intentionally avoids showing her real face and age in fear of losing her persona. After meeting Mitch, she realizes that he could be a possible suitor for her in her fantasy world and has him cover it to create shadows and illusions that hide the reality. Near the end of the play, Blanche starts to worry about the cleanliness of things she has consumed. Several weeks after the rape, Blanche continues taking baths and became hysterical about an “unwashed grape” that was offered
Blanche’s immoral and illogical decisions all stem from her husband's suicide. When a tragedy happens in someone’s life, it shows the person’s true colors. Blanche’s true self was an alcoholic and sex addict, which is displayed when “She rushes about frantically, hiding the bottle in a closet, crouching at the mirror and dabbing her face with cologne and powder” (Williams 122). Although Blanche is an alcoholic, she tries to hide it from others. She is aware of her true self and tries to hide it within illusions. Blanche pretends to be proper and young with her fancy clothes and makeup but is only masking her true, broken self.
In this play the character blanche exhibits the theme of illusion. Blanche came from a rocky past. Her young husband killed himself and left her with a big space in her heart to fill. Blanche tried to fill this space with the comfort of strangers and at one time a young boy. She was forced to leave her hometown. When she arrives in New Orleans, she immediately begins to lie and give false stories. She takes many hot bathes, in an effort to cleanse herself of her past. Blanche tries also to stay out of bright lights. She covers the light bulb (light=reality) in the apartment with a paper lantern. This shows her unwillingness to face reality but instead live in an illusion. She also describes how she tells what should be the truth. This is a sad excuse for covering/lying about the sinful things she has done. Furthermore, throughout the story she repeatedly drinks when she begins to be faced with facts. All these examples, covering light, lying, and alcoholism show how she is not in touch with reality but instead living in a fantasy world of illusion.
This gradual fall and loss of her sense of reality is truly tragic. Blanche is a person largely driven by the part of her that wants to be liked and be accepted. She cares greatly about how she is viewed and how she looks which is seen throughout the play. Even at the end when she’s living almost completely in the imaginations of her mind she asks Stella and Eunice how she looks before being taken away to an insane asylum. Tennessee Williams, the author of the play, uses all the conflict between Blanche and others, specifically Stanley, to show that fantasy is unable to overcome reality. Stanley and Blanche are both the epitomes of fantasy and reality. Stanley is a man focused on sexual drive, work, and fighting. He is exhibited as animalistic and strongly driven by his desires which is shown when he says, “Be comfortable. That's my motto up where I come from.” Stanley loves and searches after reality which is why he is so set on breaking down the facade he sees in Blanche. Blanche on the other hand is running from her reality and her past. Her fantasy of being high class and chaste is the exact opposite of her reality which is why she wants a life like that so badly. She wants marriage and stability, two things she was jealous of Stella having after arriving in New Orleans. Her fantasy she was building in her new life is shattered when Stanley is able to learn of her past and bring reality crashing down on her. Williams
Superficial is the first impression that Blanche gives when she enters the play. Consumed by appearance and face value, she is unable to see that Stella’s new lifestyle is not as horrid as she imagines. In comparison to Belle Reve, it is true that these New Orleans slums may not meet Dubois standards, but Blanche is unable to see beyond the way things appear in order to realize that Stella’s world does not revolve around material items. This flaw is intertwined with her vanity and her need keep up appearances. On the surface, Blanche appears to be snobbish and conceited.
Blanche had a desire for sex in general to cope with her divorce and the loss of her family; she just needed to feel loved. Stanley expressed his hidden desire for Blanche by being cruel to her through the whole story, and then having sex with her. Mitch showed his desire for Blanche by asking her to marry him. Stella had a desire for Stanley’s love and for Blanche’s well-being. The play is a display of the drama involved in families, and it shows that sometimes people have to make decisions and choose one relationship over another.
Isn't it true the relationship between Stella and Stanley is praiseworthy, since it combines sexual attraction with compassion for the purpose of procreation? Isn't it true that as opposed to Stanley's normalcy in marriage, Blanche's dalliance in sexual perversion and overt efforts to break up Stanley and Stella's marriage is reprehensible? Isn't it true that Stella's faulty socialization resulting in signs of hysteria throughout the play meant that she probably would have ended her life in a mental hospital no matter whether the rape had occurred or not?
During scene one, the audience is introduced to Blanche as Stella's sister, who is going to stay with her for a while. Blanch tries her best to act normal and hide her emotion from her sister, but breaks down at the end of scene one explaining to Stella how their old home, the Belle Reve, was "lost." It is inferred that the home had to be sold to cover the massive funeral expenses due to the many deaths of members of the Dubois family. As Blanche whines to her sister, "All of those deaths! The parade to the graveyard! Father, mother! Margaret, that dreadful way!" (21). The audience sees this poor aging woman, who has lost so many close to her, and now her home where she grew up. How could anyone look at her, and not feel the pain and suffering that she has to deal with by herself? Williams wants the audience to see what this woman has been through and why she is acting the way she is. Blanche's first love was also taken from her. It seems that everyone she loves is dead except for her sister. Death plays a crucial role in Blanche's depression and other mental irregularities. While these circumstances are probably enough for the audience to feel sympathy for Blanche, Williams takes it a step further when we see Blanche's...
She works so hard to hide at this, that she begins to believe in some of the lies that she tells to other people. Her charade drives her to madness. Williams emphasizes Blanche’s attempts to hide her true nature by showing her trying to change her surroundings, when she is lying or omitting the truth. This can be seen in the paper lantern that she uses to cover up the lamp, which prevents others from seeing her properly. Williams also uses Blanche’s perfume to indicate to his audience when Blanche tries to hide her past. Williams demonstrates this when Stanley threatens to expose Blanche. When Stanley mentions the flamingo, a darker part of Blanche’s past, she begins to spray herself with perfume. She even mentions that it cost “Twenty-five dollars an ounce...” and that she is “...nearly out” (77). This quote shows that Blanche has covered up her past often. Blanche’s constant concern about her past drives her to madness, which Williams represents with the Varsouviana music that Blanche associates with her dead husband. This Polka music, that runs through Blanche's head, prevents her from hearing correctly. In addition, the music is accompanied by human like shapes that cannot be seen properly, which shows another form of both Blanche’s blindness, as well as her
In order to feel worthy, Blanche must feel wanted, so she welcomes adoration of any kind. Thus, Blanche desperately grasps onto the fact that she “excited some admiration” in her youth (Williams 38). Consequently, Blanche seeks the companionship of younger men, possibly to hold onto her golden years of “admiration.” She seduces one of her students and initiates an affair with him. After being caught and sent away from Laurel, Blanche finds herself on a streetcar named Desire to her sister Stella’s home in Elysian Fields. Once in Elysian Fields, it is obvious Blanche has not learned her lesson. Even though she admits that she has “got to be good - and keep my hands off children,” she flirts with a young man by touching his shoulders, telling him “You make my mouth water… Come here. I want to kiss you, just once softly and sweetly on your mouth!” (Williams 96). She then kisses him without waiting for his approval, proving that Blanche succumbs to her
Blanche also becomes disconnected from reality because of her delusions of music and gunshots from her husband’s death. She seeks relationships with strangers in the hopes of recreating the love she had for her husband. When the relationship fails to satisfy her craving for love, she sinks further into her fantasy. When Mitch rejects her, saying “I don 't think I want to marry you anymore.” (Williams 131) she once again finds comfort in her fantasy. She has sunk so far into her fantasy that she has a response to all of Stanley’s questions. She is no longer up holding the illusion for others. She truly believes her delusions enough to maintain the façade while she is
Blanche 's part in the suicide of her husband cause her to be wracked with guilt. Blanche reveals to Mitch she found out about her husband’s affair with another man. Blanche reveals her angry remark, her husband’s motivation for suicide, as she states, "It was on the grounds that on the moving floor not able to stop myself-I 'd abruptly said-I saw! I know! You nauseate me… '" (Williams 96). Understandably, Blanche rapidly endeavors to pursue another life. She quickly alters her life and hides her truth. Not long afterwards the accurate details of her life not only become blurred, they also become concealed to her friends and family who surround her but to Blanche herself; genuine reality seems inconvenient and difficult to her. Blanche goes from the place where she grew up to her sister, Stella 's, home in New Orleans. This trek introduces an ideal time for Blanche to get a clear slate to write another life and all the while pick up backing from Stella. By utilization of her psychotic untruths, it is here in New Orleans that Blanche changes occasions of her past and her identity. Blanche shrouds her genuine self behind a veil. She acts and depicts a
This obsession with beauty is another major theme. According to Stella, these are important to Blanche and “her weakness (Williams 18).” However, Blanche instead points out her sister has “put on some weight (Williams 7)” before learning she is pregnant. Blanche dresses in costume jewelry and furs despite her humble setting. She will not let a character see her in full light, and hides her true age from everyone. Given her history, it is interesting that Blanche “can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or vulgar action (Williams 37).” It is not until Scene nine when Mitch holds her face to the light that he was never upset she was older, just that her sexual escapades were
Firstly, the reader may initially feel Blanche is completely responsible or at least somewhat to blame, for what becomes of her. She is very deceitful and behaves in this way throughout the play, particularly to Mitch, saying, ‘Stella is my precious little sister’ and continuously attempting to deceive Stanley, saying she ‘received a telegram from an old admirer of mine’. These are just two examples of Blanches’ trickery and lying ways. In some ways though, the reader will sense that Blanche rather than knowingly being deceitful, actually begins to believe what she says is true, and that she lives in her own dream reality, telling people ‘what ought to be the truth’ probably due to the unforgiving nature of her true life. This will make the reader begin to pity Blanche and consider whether these lies and deceits are just what she uses to comfort and protect herself. Blanche has many romantic delusions which have been plaguing her mind since the death of her husband. Though his death was not entirely her fault, her flirtatious manner is a major contributor to her downfall. She came to New Orleans as she was fired from...
Blanche is presented as a sensitive and delicate character that symbolizes purity and innocence. In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Blanche suffers terrible loss, tells compulsive lies, and is driven to insanity. She has reached a place with the nightmares in her mind, but she can’t bear the interruption of ugly reality into her make-believe world. Stanley's disclosures of her past, Mitch's rejection of her as "not clean enough" and his clumsy attempt at raping her, and finally her rape by Stanley on the night when her sister is giving birth to his child - all these destroy our protagonist and her mind gives way. She retreats into her make-believe world, making her committal to an institution inevitable.
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who is in misplaced circumstances. Her life is lived through fantasies, the remembrance of her lost husband and the resentment that she feels for her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Various moral and ethical lessons arise in this play such as: Lying ultimately gets you nowhere, Abuse is never good, Treat people how you want to be treated, Stay true to yourself and Don’t judge a book by its cover.