Blanche Dubois False Reality

The False Reality of Blanche Dubois
In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams it exaggerates the contrast between the traditional southern lifestyle and the new industrialized southern lifestyle. Traditionalists like Blanche Dubois are unable to adapt to the changes that have occurred. As a coping method, Blanche lies to those around her to deal with the loss of her youthfulness, her husband and the family home, Belle Reve. During the play Blanche mirrors Belle Reve through the years once a beautiful and respected plantation that slowly became a lost piece of the family.
The play begins with Blanche coming into New Orleans to visit her sister Stella and her husband Stanley; She rides two streetcars one named Desire and the

other Cemeteries. Desire becomes a constant theme throughout the play especially concerning Blanche. “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and the transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields!(page 15)”. The streetcar named desire represents Blanche’s sexual desires throughout her life. Her desires have ultimately caused her to lose her grip on reality, “killing” what is left of her sanity which is represented by the streetcar named Cemeteries.
In Blanche’s mind the only way to escape the death of her beauty is to become a symbol of sex and love. Ironically Blanche’s astrological sign is Virgo the virgin, her past in the Flamingo hotel clearly shows she is not. She prides herself on telling lies to make herself seem as though she is still a virgin, experiencing love for the first time. The characteristic of her sign is inconsistent which is shown through the lies and sense of reality which are unreliable and lack consistency. “I don’t want realism, I want magic! [..] Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! (page 116)”. The quote represents how Blanche does not understand what reality is anymore and that she wants to escape into her mind away from all the pain and sadness that she faces on a daily basis.
The sanity began to slip away from Blanche when she lost Belle Reve, which in French means beautiful dream.

The family plantation is another symbol of Blanche’s tendencies to cling onto her illusions. “After all, a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important I tell the truth, and this is the truth: I haven't cheated my sister or you or anyone else as I have lived (page 41)”. This is ironic because all Blanche does throughout the play is cheat people by lying to them using her charm and illusion. Once Belle Reve was lost Blanche’s “beautiful dream” of living in luxury and being taken care of was crumbled into dust. In addition to the loss of Belle Reve the loss of her good reputation contributes to Blanche’s insanity. This all starts when her young husband cheats on her with another man. Blanche feels embarrassed and ashamed of him after she witnesses this happening. Then to make matters worse for Blanche he commits suicide which she cannot even think about without hearing polka music and gunshots playing repeatedly in the back of her mind. Another major factor in Blanche’s lost grip on reality is her getting involved with her seventeen year-old student at the high school that she teaches at. Teaching was the only other thing Blanche had to focus on besides for Allan so in away another part of her had died. With no job, no husband, and no place to live Blanche turns to the Flamingo hotel. She becomes a “permanent” resident there and commits very

sexual acts with the strangers that she meets. As Stanley and Stella discover later she is almost as famous as the president of the United States is in the town that the Flamingo is in. Blanche is beyond ashamed of her past which is part of the reason she lies to all the people she meets in New Orleans. She lies to create a better reality than the one she is currently living in. She fears that her newly found friends will not accept her for what she is which is why she becomes obsessed with her illusory and false charms and builds a web of lies and creates a “new” Blanche.
The end of Blanche’s sanity truly is when Stanley rapes her.

Stanley grows tired of Blanche lying to him and Stella and to get revenge for all the chaos she has caused in their lives he rapes her. He asserts himself to show that men are truly dominant over women; this causes Blanche to lose what is left of her mind. All of her memories of the past torment her in this moment causing her the greatest pain that she has experienced in her life. The fantasy disappears from Blanche when this happens because it brings her back to a reality where there is no happiness just pain and suffering caused by people around her. “ I have always depended on the kindness of strangers (page 142)”. This is an example of tragedy that is seen throughout the play because Blanche considers an act of kindness to be desire. In the end Blanch was not desired and cannot face the reality of being a victim of rape so she retreats into her delusionary world of fantasy and

desire.
In conclusion the play, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams it shows the difference between the new and old south. Those who live in the old south like Blanche Dubois are unable to cope with the changes. As a result Blanche lies to those around her to deal with the loss of her youthfulness, her husband and the family home, Belle Reve. During the play Blanche mirrors Belle Reve through the years once a beautiful and respected plantation that slowly became a lost piece of the family.