The world of today sees sexual abuse as only a disturbing and disgusting trait that some humans contain; but, in the realm of writing, sexual abuse can be used even more as a weapon or deadly illness to the characters in the realm. In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire the author, Tennessee Williams, portrays sexual abuse not only as a theme, but as well as both a character flaw and foil within the play. However, without the character Blanche DuBois, sexual abuse may have never taken as such an important role within the play. Blanche’s incitement of sexual abuse plays a signature role for many of the relationships and interactions that Blanche is a part of to fulfill drama needs and character development in the play. First and foremost, the …show more content…
reason of sexual abuse partakes as a large character flaw within Blanche is the death of her young husband Allan Grey. This traumatic event influences Blanche’s thinking process, changing it to one where she believes that only young men are compatable with her, rather than men her age. By this change of thought process, Blanche only desires men around the age of Allan when he died or younger. This becomes her greatest character flaw for she is cast out of her home town of Laurel after sexually abusing a student in her class, “A seventeen-year-old boy she’d gotten mixed up with!” (Williams 122). Once coming to New Orleans, her flirtation, or rather sexual harassment towards younger men, becomes stronger and more prevalent as the play continues, “I want to deceive him enough to make him-want me…” (Williams 95). It even comes to the point where she is daring enough to touch a boy whom she just met, “You make my mouth water (She touches his cheek)” (Williams 98). Blanche is self-aware of this flaw, one of being a succubus and cougar-like person within most of her male relationships. Blanche, after realizing her sexual advances on the boy she touched in the previous quote, tells herself, “I’ve got to be good--and keep my hands off children”(Williams 99). By doing this it is shown she is trying to actively change this character flaw but is miserably failing. This sexual flaw is then used a foil to bring out the dark side of the men that she interacts with. Previous to meeting Blanche the action of sexual abuse was never apparent with any of the supporting characters; but, after meeting her, the sexual abuse is present. One of the most drastic foil changes is with the character Mitch, a kind man who was courting Blanche at a point in the play. Mitch’s interactions only being sweet and caring to Blanche, “Can-I-uh-kiss you-goodnight?” (Williams 102); “Just slap me if I ever step out of my bounds”(Williams 108). With this quote Mitch makes it apparent to let Blanche know that if his actions ever turn into ones that she does not agree with she may do whatever she must to stop it. Upon hearing this Blanche proves to the readers that she finds Mitch to be a true, caring man as stating: “You’re a natural gentleman” (Williams 108). Although the readers are familiar Mitch’s sweet side, it is all changed once he hears of Blanche’s acts of sexaul abuse in Laurel. Hearing these rumors, Mitch’s character turns dark and twisted which Blanche heavily takes note of when Mitch no longer wishes to court her. This is only known once when Mitch says, “I wasn’t going to see you any more” (Williams 142). Wondering the reason to why his sudden change Blanche attempts to flirt with him once more to get him back to his original foil with her. This action only backfires and leads to her attempted rape. “(Dropping his hands from her waist) You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.” (Williams 150), before the sexual abuse could happen, Blanche is able to scare Mitch away. Sadly, this is not her last encounter with the chance of sexual abuse. Blanche’s flirtation and sexual movements towards Stanley come to reality when he comes home drunk “Come to think of it-maybe you wouldn’t be bad to-interfere with…” (Williams 161) Stanley forces her into bed, raping her stating, “We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!” (Williams 162). By Blanche being the one sexual abuse victim rather than being the one sexually victimizing, composes both their foil and relationship. Not only does this change their foil, but also makes Stanley the first man in the play to ever overpower her. This is all foreshadowed by Blanche at the beginning of the play after a session of sexually catcalling Stanley: “Go to bed with him! And that’s your job-not mine!” (Williams 79). Blanche’s sexual abuse holds a contributing influence upon her overall character as a whole - her actions are known to everyone in Laurel and slowly becomes known to the people in New Orleans.
“Our supply-man...she is not respected by any party!”(Williams 119), the people that have been to Laurel are only telling the truth to Stanley and the rest of the people in New Orleans. From this spreading rumor, drama is added quickly by Blanche’s attempts to hide the horrible truth giving way to her second character flaw of lying. However, this fails as Stanley only investigates more into the matter and tells Stella of her sister’s actions, “They kicked her out of that high school...A seventeen-year-old boy she’d gotten mixed up with!” (Williams 122). Blanche then asks who was responsible for spreading the rumor of her, all of the rumor spreaders being men. Williams’s choice of only having men such as the supply man, Stan, Mitch, a male Merchant and then even the boy whom she sexual abused earlier was a choice to provide drama. By the male community’s awareness of Blanche’s actions before any member of the female community within the play, provides drama by making Blanche to be portrayed as a serious threat of sexual abuse with the males in the play. Once hearing of her sister’s actions and realizing that Blanche has been lying to her about a number of things from steaming off her sexually abusive ways, making Stella’s trust towards Blanche diminishes completely. Stella is put into a state of denial after Blanche tells her of Stanley raping her. This denial turns into Blanche’s downfall in the play. Stella realizing her sister ways states, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 165), and finds that the only solution is to call a mental institution to take Blanche away. This brilliant effect of drama created by Williams by slowly making all the characters turn against Blanche to eventually send her to the mental institution is all lead back
to the theme of sexual abuse. With all this in mind, it is clear that Blanche’s character allows sexual abuse role in the play to increase with time. The sexual tension between character and the struggle of resisting the sexual abuse adds drama to the play. Sexual abuse also opens a way to have interesting plot twists, such as when Stanley raping Blanche; or, how the desire for the abuse between characters changes one of their nature for this is the case for Mitch and Blanche’s relationship. The character flaw of sexual abuse a within Blanche comes to the base of her character as it is one of the main reasons for her many other flaws.“A Streetcar Named Desire” is able to make sexual abuse as an ugly, distasteful societal concept, as well as heart wrenching by having sexual abuse happen in it. In this realm of writing, the role of sexual abuse plays a larger part than modern society. This is a time where not living in the realm of imagination is a wonderful thing, for strangers are not always kind to everyone in need.
Tennessee Williams was one of the most important playwrights in the American literature. He is famous for works such as “The Glass Menagerie” (1944), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)”. As John S. Bak claims: “Streetcar remains the most intriguing and the most frequently analyzed of Williams’ plays.” In the lines that follow I am going to analyze how the identity of Blanche DuBois, the female character of his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, is shaped.
In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, main character Blanche Dubois to begin with seems to be a nearly perfect model of a classy woman whose social interaction, life and behavior are based upon her sophistication. The play revolves around her, therefore the main theme of drama concerns her directly. In Blanche is seen the misfortune of a person caught between two worlds-the world of the past and the world of the present-unwilling to let go of the past and unable, because of her character, to come to any sort of terms with the present.
In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, a main theme was domestic violence and how women were not respected before the 1970’s. Beating your wife was considered “family matters” and many people ignored this huge issue. Women were supposed to take care of the situation by themselves or ignore it. Ruby Cohn argues that Stanley is the “protector of the family” and that his cruelest gesture in the play is “to tear the paper lantern off the light bulb” (Bloom 15). Even though critics tend to ignore the ongoing domestic violence occurring in the play, it is a huge issue that even the characters in the play choose to ignore. This issue does not surface because of the arrival of Blanche and her lunacy. While the audience concentrates on Blanche’s crumbling sanity, it virtually ignores Stanley's violence.
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’s developmental history or character development points to her diagnosis. Blanche comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella after being fired from her job as a schoolteacher due to having an inappropriate affair with a teenage student. When she arrives to see her sister, she is consumed with insecurities regarding her appearance and is condescending to her sister’s humble lifestyle. Stella’s husband Stanley immediately has distrust and dislike for Blanche and treats her
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses the suicide of Blanche's husband to illuminate Blanche's insecurities and immoral behavior. When something terrible happens to someone, it often reveals who he or she truly is. Blanche falls victim to this behavior, and she fails to face her demons. This displays how the play links a character’s illogical choices and their inner struggles.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play founded on the premise of conflicting cultures. Blanche and Stanley, the main antagonists of the play, have been brought up to harbour and preserve extremely disparate notions, to such an extent that their incompatibility becomes a recurring theme within the story. Indeed, their differing values and principles becomes the ultimate cause of antagonism, as it is their conflicting views that fuels the tension already brewing within the Kowalski household. Blanche, a woman disillusioned with the passing of youth and the dejection that loneliness inflicts upon its unwilling victims, breezes into her sister's modest home with the air and grace of a woman imbued with insecurity and abandonment. Her disapproval, concerning Stella's state of residence, is contrived in the face of a culture that disagrees with the old-fashioned principles of the southern plantations, a place that socialised Blanche to behave with the superior demeanour of a woman brain-washed into right-wing conservatism. Incomparably, she represents the old-world of the south, whilst Stanley is the face of a technology driven, machine fuelled, urbanised new-world that is erected on the foundations of immigration and cultural diversity. New Orleans provides such a setting for the play, emphasising the bygone attitude of Blanche whose refusal to part with the archaic morals of her past simply reiterates her lack of social awareness. In stark contrast Stanley epitomises the urban grit of modern society, revealed by his poker nights, primitive tendencies and resentment towards Blanche. ...
The characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, most notably Blanche, demonstrates the quality of “being misplaced” and “being torn away from out chosen image of what and who we are” throughout the entirety of the play.
Throughout Tennessee Williams’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end. Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it.
Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most popular plays in American history. The play contains this theme of Old South versus New South where old southern ideals and way of life clashes against newly formed ideals of the late 19th and early 20th century. The distinctions between the Old South’s emphasis on tradition, social class, and segregation versus the New South’s emphasis on hard work can be seen throughout the play. It is manifested in the main characters of the play. Blanche DuBois’s civilized and polished nature makes her a symbol of the Old South while Stanley Kowalski’s brutish, direct, and defying nature represents the New South. Tennessee Williams uses the characters of his play to present a picture of the social, gender role, and behavior distinctions that existed between the Old South versus the New South. Furthermore, the two settings provided in the play, Belle Reve and Elysian Fields can also be seen as different representations of the Old versus the New with the way both places are fundamentally different.
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.
Tennessee Williams gives insight into three ordinary lives in his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” which is set in the mid-1930’s in New Orleans. The main characters in the play are Blanche, Stanley, and Stella. All three of these characters suffer from personalities that differentiate each of them to great extremes. Because of these dramatic contrarieties in attitudes, there are mounting conflicts between the characters throughout the play. The principal conflict lies between Blanche and Stanley, due to their conflicting ideals of happiness and the way things “ought to be”.
After two world wars, the balance of power between the genders in America had completely shifted. Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a harsh, yet powerful play that exposes the reality of the gender struggle. Williams illustrates society’s changing attitudes towards masculinity and femininity through his eloquent use of dramatic devices such as characterization, dialogue, setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing.
Tennessee Williams explores in his play” A Streetcar Named Desire”, suggests the main protagonist, Blanche, who has ruins her reputation due to her adversity. She is kick out of Laurel. She have no choice, but to move to her sister’s house. This place can allow her to create a new identity and new life. However when Blanche is revealed , it cause her to choose to live in her own fantasy world , because she cannot face the harsh reality. The Play” A Streetcar Named Desire”, by Tennessee Williams illustrates that sensitive people may succumb to fantasy to survive when they faced adversity, ,which forsake their identity to find an acceptable existence.
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