Character Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire

1151 Words3 Pages

Tennessee William was born in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911. William describes his childhood as happy and carefree. He loss this sense of wellbeing when his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Here he channeled his energy into writing because he was passionate with his work. His sister diagnosed with schizophrenia, he followed and visited her often. After, many attempts at having relationships with woman, William accepted his homosexuality. As he progressed through his life, he battled depression and became more dependent on alcohol and drugs. William died at the age of 71, his death caused from his lifelong use of alcohol and drug abuse. The play and Tennessee William’s life go hand in hand, as his major character, Blanche Dubois is faced
This statement is believed to depict within his short story “A streetcar named desire.” Blanche’s ex-husband becomes suicidal after Blanche tells him “You disgust me” (Mays 1819). Blanche describes the scenario prior to her husband’s unfortunate death. “By coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty-which wasn’t empty, but had two people in it. . . the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years. . .” (Mays 1819). “The experience of this single event, participation in the titanically destructive power of cruelty, burrowed into Blanche 's soul and irreversibly changed her from what she once was. Whether or not we think that she was cruel and that her words provoked her husband 's suicide, Blanche believes-as her words ‘It was because’ tell us-that his death was caused by something that she said. Thus, Blanche is looking for redemption, for forgiveness, in the arms of a young-boy like her husband-and in her confession to Mitch. She wants Mitch to absolve, forgive, release her from the great cruelty of her past, because like her husband Allan Grey, Blanche wants to be loved for who she is” (Linda, Costanzo
William’s life a reflection of his troubled life. Alcohol and drugs, being present in most William’s life, is well depicted in the poker games, on how the two main characters use alcohol differently. Stanley using alcohol recreationally to have fun, while Blanche uses it numb herself, to forget her troubles. The battling role Blanche and Stanley play as the protagonist and antagonist. It is clear that their rivaling nature is on purpose. Blanche’s madness is key to William’s control on his own life. His battle with depression and homosexuality caused his own life to be chaotic. Class and society, the norms of what are supposed to do within a society. Tennessee William’s life opposed all of what one is supposed to do in a normal

Open Document