In life, not everybody gets what he/she want. In the book; "A Streetcar Named Desire" the characters, Blanche and Stanley, strive to attain something important in their lives while also being antithetical to other characters. In the book, Blanche Dubois is shown to have a terrible past which drove her to a world of lust and constant lies. But her main need is for her to be desired by other men rather than the other way around. The main cause for this is shown in "I don't mind you being older...But all the rest of it Christ!" and "you lied to me, Blanche" which reveals that Blanche's lies are the only thing that keeps her from being desired by other men which, in this case once Mitch found out about Blanche's past he was no longer interested …show more content…
in her. Also while Blanche's lies have her as an unfaithful partner, she also tends to be self conscious in herself as she always resides in the dark to make her appear younger and not to mention her history of countless encounters with young men as well as bouncing around with men after men with a sense of a natural habit or addiction. If Blanche is to keep going around she may not have the patience to settle down with someone like Mitch. Her lies grow heavier in cost as demonstrated with her sister Stella, the character with whom Blanche's most antithetical. This is most evident in, "A man like that is not someone to go out with...But live with? Have a child by?" and "I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley" which reveals that while Blanche is trying to help Stella to understand the abusive behavior of Stanley, instead Stella just brushes off the situation as something normal, accepting the status quo and pretending to be happy even though Blanche sees the reality more clearly than Stella. Also, Blanche's lies had made it harder for Stella to believe that Blanche was rapped by Stanley. Thus, while both Blanche and Stella are sisters, they conflict on the ideas of the separate worlds that they live in, those ideas being Stella's ignorance of Stanley's motives and Blanche's habits of lying to get what she wants. This theme of attaining something doesn't just range to Blanche and Stella, but to most major characters in the book. The character of Stanley Kowalski doesn't provide a lot of information about his past, but his behavior and actions tell a lot about who he is and what factors could have played on why he acts this way.
What Stanley wants the most is to impose more power and be controlling of others. But things such as "That's how I'll clear the table! Don't ever talk that way to me!" and "you lay your hands on me and I'll..." which reveal that Stanley tries to assert his dominance by way of threats and physical violence, even if it means to abuse of his pregnant wife, but it backfires against him and instead leaves him to make up for the damage. The reason Stanley acts this way may be because of the time in which the characters live, being the forties, where domestic abuse is widely accepted as the norm. This is more supported when Stella does nothing about Stanley's abusive impulses because she accepts it as being the way it's supposed to be. If Stanley were to be more respectful, kind, and reasonable he would earn the respect of his friends and, more importantly, his wife. The character whom Stanley is antithetical is Mitch. This is evident in "I called him a liar at first. And then I checked on the story" and "Stanley crosses to block him" which shows that not only Stanley convinced Mitch to distrust Blanche to his own benefit but also Stanley won't allow for Mitch to help Blanche when she's being taken away, demonstrating that both characters want something opposite from the other. For Stanley to get rid of Blanche and for Mitch to have someone to fill the emptiness in his heart. This maintains the constant theme of a need in each character in the book, but in this case making a connection with two more
characters. The characters of Blanche and Stanley try to reach for something in their lives while also dealing in conflicts with other characters in the book "A Streetcar Named Desire". For a lot of the characters in the book, their needs in life tend to lead to hardships and fights with the other characters since they all have different needs that none can really help with, and so it ends up becoming something that's opposite of what they wanted. In life, many people yearn to have something to better their lives or be someone who they can be happier being as they are but end up the same or worst than before.
When Stanley beats Stella in Scene 3, the abusive side becomes noticed and readers come to the conclusion that it was not the first time that this act of violence has occurred. (Williams 40). But Stella ends up coming back to him after he cries out to her, and their relationship resumes as it did in the times prior. He is also the one who investigates the protagonists’ (Blanche’s) past; as he knows there are things she is hiding. This need to know about Blanche’s history is driven by his hatred for her aristocratic ways. Furthermore, Stanley makes his dominance apparent through the expression of his sexuality. At the end of the play, he rapes Blanche as a way to regain his dominance in the household. Throughout the play, Blanche slowly gains some control over Stella, and causes disruption to Stanley’s
In scene three Stanley is having his poker party (pg. 57). At this point he is very drunk. Blanche distracting Stanley by listening to the radio instigates him to grab it off the table and toss it out the window. Stella in a state of panic tells everyone to go home which angers Stanley so he chases after her and hits her. This type of behavior is not normal of any human being involved in any relationship. Stanley repeatedly gets what he wants by use of any means possible. In addition the person whoever threatens the existence of his poker game receives a beating, in this case his wife. This scene demonstrates Stanley’s viscous animal like traits with such violence. If what happened here was repeated in today’s society he would find himself in a jail cell with a pending divorce.
The loss of her beloved husband kept Blanche’s mental state in the past, back when she was 16, when she only cared about her appearance. That is why at the age of 30 she avoids bright lights that reveal her wrinkles. Blanche does not want to remember the troubles of her past and therefore she attempts to remain at a time when life was simpler. This is reinforced by the light metaphor which illustrates how her life has darkened since Allan’s suicide and how the light of love will never shine as brightly for Blanche ever again. Although, throughout the play Blanche sparks an interest in Mitch, a friend of Stanley’s, who reveals in Scene three that he also lost a lover once, although his lover was taken by an illness, not suicide, and therefore he still searches for the possibility of love, when Blanche aims to find stability and security.
...ices, such an attempt to elicit sympathy for this monster falls short” (Bell 2). Stanley is looked at as the monster of the play which is how he should be viewed. Luck was not on Blanches side through her life which made her make the mistakes she made. Even though her past was not clean, Stanley did not purge her of this. He tried to show her the reality of the world, but through his brutal treatment, only made her sensibility worse. Stanley is a primitive ape-like man, driven only by instinct, who views women as objects and has no respect for others. He is a wife batter and a rapist who is responsible for the crumbling sanity of Blanche who is “the last victim of the Old South, one who inherits the trappings of that grand society but pays the final price for the inability to adapt to a modern world that seeks to wipe grace and gentility out of existence” (Bell 2).
Stanley oftenly abuses Stella whenever he is drunk. One night, Stanley brings his friends over for a poker night. Mitch leaves the table in order to talk to Blanche. Stanley begins to get furious since Mitch is no longer playing. As more and more interruptions keep occurring, Stanley is furious and breaks the radio Blanche and Mitch were using. Stella then calls Stanley an animal. “He advances and disappears. There is a sound of a blow. Stella cries out.”(57) Stanley is usually abusive when he's either drunk or frustrated. After Stanley strikes her, Stella leaves the house and goes to her neighbors house. Blanche follows her sister upstairs to support Stella so she does not feel alone. Stanley then calms down and calls for Stella to come back. She returns and falls into Stanley's arms. Stella is very loyal to Stanley, she stays with him because he is her husband and does not want to change that. This is why she ignores her sister's pleas. Stanleys actions prove to the reader that he is an abusive husband to Stella and that Stella tolerates
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...
She struggles with Stanley’s ideals and shields her past. The essential conflict of the story is between Blanche, and her brother-in-law Stanley. Stanley investigates Blanche’s life to find the truth of her promiscuity, ruining her relationships with Stella, and her possible future husband Mitch, which successfully obtain his goal of getting Blanche out of his house. Blanche attempts to convince Stella that she should leave Stanley because she witnessed a fight between the two. Despite these instances, there is an essence of sexual tension between the two, leading to a suspected rape scene in which one of their arguments ends with Stanley leading Blanche to the bed.
Neither Stanley nor Mitch was intelligent enough to comprehend that not everything is black and white. They perceived her as a deceitful whore. Stella chose her husband over her sister. Also, Mitch could not overlook her mistakes. Mitch focused on her flaws, which blinded him from seeing the beauty and love Blanche had to offer.
A very important moral lesson that I gained from A Streetcar Named Desire is to always tell the truth. Telling lies ultimately got Blanche Dubois nowhere. She was lonelier than ever at the end of the play. She starts off lying intentionally. For example, she tells Stella at the beginning that the school superintendent, “suggested I take a leave of absence” from her job as a teacher (Williams 14). In reality, the principal fired her for having an affair with a student. It is suspected that she is lying and later our suspicions are confirmed. Even though a reason isn’t mentioned as to why she lies, it is probably to save herself grief from her sister or to possibly keep up her appearance. Towards the end, Blanche says she received a telegram from “an old admirer of mine... An old beau” who invited her to “A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht” (Williams 152, 153). At this point, she even begins to believe her own lies. She has lied for so long to others and even to herself that she ultimately ends up believing them. When Tennessee Williams shows us through the sound of the polka music and the shadows on the wall what is going on in Blanche’s head, we are left to wonder if something is truly wrong. She even told Mitch that she didn’t lie in her ...
Blanche is the main character of the play, she is Stella’s older sister, and comes to stay with Stella while Stella is pregnant. Blanche, after being reunited with Stella, meets Stanley and Mitch. Stella is torn between her sister and Stanley because of Stanley’s dislike of Blanche. Stanley is a lower class citizen who is devoted to his friends and adores his wife, but he is cruel to Blanche. Mitch is Stanley’s friend and poker buddy.
Blanche is driven by her sexual desire but also wishes for stability and a fresh start instead. Blanche states “It was the other little familiarity that I felt obliged to discourage, I didn’t resent it!.. I was somewhat flattered that you desired me” (Williams 87). For the first time she doesn’t succumb to her body’s physical needs for her wish to be able to settle down with Mitch. If Blanche answered her body’s need for sex she would have killed her act of being a Southern belle looking for a suitor. This again brings out the close line between death and
Stanley’s demanding that Mitch return to the poker game when he is first speaking to Blanche could suggest that Stanley doesn’t want the two to interact, and would perhaps go to any lengths to sabotage them. Additionally, Stanley also begins to pry into Blanche’s past, specifically when he brings up a man named Shaw who claims he met Blanche “…at a hotel called the Flamingo” (Williams 89). Though this speculation is denied by Blanche, a further investigation into her past could result in the discovery of incriminating information, thus resulting in sabotage from Stanley.
Another emotional factor that Blanche was a victim of was the betrayal. Blanche fell in love with Mitch and wanted to marry him, however Mitch betrayed Blanche by rejecting her “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother” (Williams 121). Blanche was a victim of betrayal as she was hurt by Mitch’s words and actions. It is clear that Blanche was hurt from her reaction to Mitch’s words, “Get out of here quick before I start screaming fire” (Williams 121). Blanche was also hurt as Mitch asked for sex after he rejected her, this to Blanche came across as selfish and harsh and victimized Blanche even further as it left her feeling more betrayed. From this, it is obvious that the emotional feeling of betrayal leads to the victimization
Since Blanche’s arrival, Stanley has questioned Blanche’s lifestyle, accused her of theft and engaged in other verbal confrontation. As Mitch’s friend, Stanley deems it necessary to share what he has uncovered about Blanche’s deception and misbehavior with Mitch. After not attending Blanche’s birthday dinner, Mitch visits Blanche late in the evening. In this passage, Mitch reveals to Blanche what he now knows about her and tears off the paper lantern so that he can expose Blanche for who she is. This passage suggests that Mitch embodies the same masculinity already established in Stanley. Utilizing dialogue, characterization, and stage directions, Williams reveals the likeness between the two men.
Stanley (Stella's husband) represents a theme of realism in the play; he is shown as a primitive, masculine character that is irresistible to Stella and on some levels even to his "opponent" Stella's sister Blanche.