Blanche Dubois Allusion Analysis

In the play A Streetcar Named Desire author Tennessee Williams writes about Blanche DuBois, a woman who is seeking help from her older sister Stella Kowalski. Blanche comes to stay with Stella and her husband Stanley after finding out that Blanche and Stella’s childhood home had been taken from under them. The play goes on to show the dramatic downfall of what is Blanche DuBois. Throughout the play we see her slowly break down till finally she is pushed over the edge. William's uses a great deal of allusion to convey a real meaning to why characters do what they do. It’s not just an example, each allusion has a deeper meaning to the character it’s associated with. Blanche DuBois is the character used associated with allusion. Williams uses allusion with Blanche to present how she masks her true identity to the real world, saying she’s a pure southern belle when really she is truly a lost lonely soul.
“The blind are leading the blind”(44) This biblical allusion first appears in the Bible "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."(Matthew 15:14) Williams uses this allusion to show how Blanche is headed for a tragic road. Blanche relies on Stella ,her sister, to help try to rebuild her. Blanche is so lost that she needs someone to

guide her through this dark time in her life. Since Stella is too involved with Stanley she is unable to see the pain Blanche is feeling behind her southern belle façade, she’s blind to what’s truly occurring with her sister’s mental state. Which is why Williams uses this quote, to indicate that Stella is and will do nothing to pull Blanche in the direction she needs to be going. It’s not just Stella though, Blanche is also blind. After the tragedy of her husband killing himself Blanche has been decaying inside, trying to live on by keeping it hidden. It’s the blind leading the blind to a downhill road.
One of the first thing Blanche does when she comes into the Kowalski’s home is take a bath. Blanche is known throughout the play to take baths, she says that it makes her feel like a brand new human being!.”(37) Williams doesn’t make this allusion as noticeable but he is comparing Blanche to William Shakespeare's character Lady Macbeth from they play Macbeth. Williams is specifically referring to the iconic scene where Lady Macbeth is washing her hands over and over saying “Out damn spot, out I say!” after committing murder. Lady Macbeth is trying to wash away her sing but it seems like no matter how hard she tries she can’t. The same is happening with Blanche, Williams is conveying how Blanche knows she has done something wrong and thinks that by bathing it will wash away her sins, which it does for her for a small amount of time but then it comes back each time and therefore she must bathe again. Williams is showing the readers how Blanche doesn’t want to face her problems, that she is so lost that she can’t manage to own up to her actions, so she covers them in, yet another, a steamy facade.
In scene seven Blanche is bathing while singing the song "Paper Moon." The song is Blanche voicing her true desire. "It's only a paper moon just as phony as it can be but it wouldn't be make-believe if you believed in me."(100) What Williams is showing with this allusion is that Blanche wants to go back. This song alludes to the fact that Blanche is truly living this fake life, and she knows it. This is William’s show of Blanche’s cry for help, that is what this song is. The lyrics “It’s only a paper moon just as phony as it can be”(100) is talking about Blanche’s life, how she has been making up stories and lies to cover up that she is actually truly lonely, lost and most importantly, scared. The remaining lyrics “but it wouldn’t be make-believe if you believed in me”(100) is Blanche calling to almost everyone in her life, saying that none of this would have happened if people were there to help her through all the emotional situations she has been through. Ironically Blanche is singing this song while Stanley is telling Stella all that Blanche has been hiding from them and how he wants her out of the house. That is what Williams is saying here, that if people only believed and helped Blanche she wouldn’t have turned out this lonely lost soul.
Blanche is associated with many allusions but there the first one she actually says herself is The Pleiades allusion. “Looking for the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters” (86). The Pleiades were the seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione. Unlike the Pleiades, Blanche is alone. What is most important about this allusion is that only six of the seven stars are clearly visible to the naked eye. It was told in the Greeks’ story “Lost Pleiad” that one of the sisters deserted her other sisters, to take a mortal husband. William uses this allusion to show how Stella is the lost sister and how Stella left Blanche in order to be with Stanley. So by Blanche trying to find the seven sisters she is trying to find her sister, but she can’t because she is already gone. Once again Blanche is lost and alone.
The phrase “Je suis la Dame aux Camellias!

Vous êtes- Armand” (88) which was said by Blanche is an allusion to the play “Camille” by Alexandre Dumas. The line means, "I am the Lady of the Camellias! You are Armand!" The play is about a lady who is a prostitute who abandons Armand. William is alluding Blanche with the character “Lady of Camellias” they are both weak and polluted by past loves that they are wanting attention and a new start. Williams also uses this allusion to show the outcome of Blanche and Mitch, in the play Lady Camellias leaves Armand, and since Blanche says this quote knowing the outcome of the story, Blanche herself may see no hope for

Mitch.