Comparing A Streetcar Named Desire And Blue Jasmine

Having read the play “A Streetcar named Desire” by Tennessee Williams and watched the film “Blue Jasmine” directed by Woody Allen, I believe that Williams ‘ character Blanche deserves more sympathy than Allen’s character Jasmine. “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Blue Jasmine” similarly tell the story of a socialite who faces an epic downfall in life. Woody Allen’s film manages to parallel Tennessee’s original “A Streetcar Named Desire” whilst adding a modern twist and subtle adaptations. Despite the similar experiences of the two characters, Blanche faces shame, embarrassment, and guilt to a greater extent compared to Jasmine and therefore is more deserving of our sympathy.
Blanche and Jasmine face similar situations such as massive financial loss and heartbreak, which resulted in, shared experiences and feelings of embarrassment, shame, and guilt. Blanche and Jasmine both face a drastic change in lifestyle (financially and reputational). However, a very

evident difference can be seen between the two characters; Jasmine is more focused on achieving wealth and socialite status, whereas Blanche retains a more emotional, personal need. The main reason I feel more sympathy for Blanche is because she is so emotionally vulnerable and is faced with an instigator such as Stanley.
Throughout the play, Stanley is skeptical and untrusting towards Blanche. As a result he digs deep into Blanches past to confront her and her fake persona. Stanley confronts Blanche about her lies and previous relationships and makes sure that everyone knows it, especially Mitch, Blanche’ s new love interest. Mitch quickly rejects Blanche and states that she is too dirty to bring in a house with his mother, which furthermore contributes to Blanches mental instability. The friction between Blanche and Stanley aggressively picks at Blanche’s fragile state and her need for a caring companion. Eventually the tension climaxes between the two, and Stanley rapes Blanche, in which her previous lies result in a ‘ The boy who cried wolf’ scenario. Stella refuses to believe Blanche’s accusations against Stanley stating: “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley”(Williams, 165). The play ends sadly with Blanche being admitted to a mental hospital and Stella staying with Stanley.
Blanche is so hungry to be loved and protected and in a desperate attempt to rekindle the relationship between herself and Mitch, she even states so: “I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection” (Williams, 146). Despite the company of her sister, Stella, Blanche was alone, trying to protect herself with false personas and fibs.
Jasmine, on the other hand, cared about wealth. When presented with seemingly suitable bachelors, Jasmine rejected them as a result of unmet financial standards. The film reveals that when Jasmine was younger, she gave up her education to marry Hal (a very wealth man), which paralleled to her newer relationship with Dwight (another very wealthy man). Jasmine used wealthy men to feed her materialist and luxurious needs and so when she ended up alone in the end, I found it hard to feel sympathetic.
Another important factor that really drives my sympathy for Blanche more Jasmine is Blanche’s rape.

Jasmine didn’t face the same sexual assault that Blanche encountered with Stanley. Personally, as women, sexual assault and abuse awareness is common recurrence in everyday life and I feel that women, especially in today’s world, have so much knowledge on how to protect yourself, and when you see that women, even with so much knowledge, are still sexually assaulted it’s terrifying. Although Blanche is character in a 1947 play, she really ignites the realization that she is no more or less likely to face sexual assault than I am, or anyone I know, whether or not it’s 1947 or 2015. I also feel that it is easier to sympathize with Blanche because she had to experience a horrible thing such as sexual assault and was admitted to a mental institution by her own sister. Compared to Jasmine, whom just ended up alone on a bench, Blanche got the short end of the stick in life and I would say, deserves more of our

sympathy.