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Human relationships in a streetcar named desire
How is the significance of death present in the play a streetcar named desire
Suffering in a streetcar named desire
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Recommended: Human relationships in a streetcar named desire
Scene I
“Funerals are quite, but deaths- not always. Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, “Don’t let me go!” Even the old, sometimes say, “Don’t let me go.” As if you were able to stop them! But funerals are quiet, with pretty flowers (Williams 27).”
• This quote is significant because of my experiences with people passing away. The careful wording and language you speak leaves a significant mark on one’s heart. Describing the process of death is extremely agonizing even when funerals are formal and well planned out events. The ceremony is filled with tears and pain, words cannot fully describe exactly what it feels like. All we can hope for is for them to have a good afterlife.
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She begins to act as if she is living her last soul and does not have anywhere to do. She also feels unwanted even living with her sister. However, when Blanche visits her little sister Stella, Blanche meets someone named Mitch who is also in the same situation as herself. Mitch is someone who is also weak with his soul and feels like no one is going to accept him ever again. In the beginning, it seems as if Blanche and Mitch were meant to be, but towards the end, Blanche’s unknown past ruins it all for both of them. The story progresses and becomes devastating from Mitch’s perspective since he does not have anyone to bring home to his dying mother.
Scene 4
“Yes, you are, your fix is worse than mine is! Only you’re not being sensible about it. I’m going to do something. Get hold of myself and make myself a new life (Williams 65)!” (BlancheStella)
• Blanche says to Stella that she is not perfect herself, so she should not be telling her to fix her problems when Stella was the one not making an effort to fix her own issues with Stanley. Blanche believes that Stella should be treated better than how Stanley treats her. It disgusts me how Stanley hits Stella and always being so violent towards her. Stella does what she can to be a devoted wife and is a dedicated caretaker towards her husband’s needs.
Scene 5
“ I want his respect. And men don’t want anything they get too east. But
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And I need somebody too. Could it be you and me Blanche (Williams 96)?” (MitchBlanche)
• Mitch started to become interested in Blanche. However, it is because his mother is dying and she wishes to see him settle down with a wife. It is unknown whether or not Mitch has full fallen in love for Blanche. From what I am reading, it seems like the situation is more about fulfilling each other’s needs instead of finding true love.
Scene 7
Stanley: “And for the last year or two he has been washed up like poison. That’s why she’s here this summer, visiting royalty, putting on all this act…(Williams 100).”
• When Blanche arrived at Stella’s house, Stanley saw right through her and figured she was a deceitful women who had no morals. Blanche was portrayed as a leech. She was someone who would feed off from everyone else around her. And once she finishes “poising” one town, she will get back up and go to the next, and continue that cycle. Not only does she mooch off of other people in a normally mannered way, she does it all in high fashion.
Scene
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
Some critics may consider Mitch to be two dimensional in the sense that although he was partially to blame for Blanche’s unstable state of mind at the end of the play, he was not the main cause of it. Blanche appears to be slightly mad when Mitch comes to see her in scene nine, however she still has some control and is coherent enough to defend her past actions. However, after Stanley has raped her, she appears to be completely unaware of what is really going on around her ‘she’s got it mixed in her mind with Shep Huntleigh’. This shows that it was the rape which finally destroyed her, not Mitch breaking up with her.
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...
After Blanche loses her husband, her life spirals down in every matter. Soon after death, Blanche begins to seek help in all the wrong places. Rather than seeking professional help, she relies on relationships with other men, and when one is over, she moves on to another. This trend leads to her developing a reputation in her small town of being promiscuou...
To begin, Blanche fails to keep her sanity because of all the lies she has told to others about her past. Blanche told small lies throughout the play but she also told big lies that causes no one to believe her even when she is telling the truth. A small lie that she tells is when she first meets Mitch and says, “she doesn’t drink and that Stella is older than her” ( Williams scene 3). Even though she does drink and is actually older than Stella. However, as the play progresses people begin to question whether everything
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.
... ignorance; and this was the undeniable tragedy that caused her downfall in the end. Stanley was angry when Blanche told Stella that she did not like him, but he never gave her a chance. Stanley despised her from the beginning. 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 violent 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. Blanche wanted their love, but each of their individual flaws sunk her deeper into a hole. The people around Blanche were unwilling to change and develop an open-minded way of dealing with her situation. Blanche needed kindness and affection, but nobody was able to give it to her when she needed it the most.
Blanche also becomes disconnected from reality because of her delusions of music and gunshots from her husband’s death. She seeks relationships with strangers in the hopes of recreating the love she had for her husband. When the relationship fails to satisfy her craving for love, she sinks further into her fantasy. When Mitch rejects her, saying “I don 't think I want to marry you anymore.” (Williams 131) she once again finds comfort in her fantasy. She has sunk so far into her fantasy that she has a response to all of Stanley’s questions. She is no longer up holding the illusion for others. She truly believes her delusions enough to maintain the façade while she is
Superficial is the first impression that Blanche gives when she enters the play. Consumed by appearance and face value, she is unable to see that Stella’s new lifestyle is not as horrid as she imagines. In comparison to Belle Reve, it is true that these New Orleans slums may not meet Dubois standards, but Blanche is unable to see beyond the way things appear in order to realize that Stella’s world does not revolve around material items. This flaw is intertwined with her vanity and her need keep up appearances. On the surface, Blanche appears to be snobbish and conceited.
One cant imagine how it must feel to lose the ones they love and hold dear, but to stay afterwards and mourn the loss of the many is unbearable. Blanche has had a streak of horrible luck. Her husband killing himself after she exposed her knowledge about his homosexuality, her advances on young men that led to her exile and finally her alcoholism that drew her life to pieces contemplated this sorrow that we could not help but feel for Blanche throughout the drama. Blanche’s desire to escape from this situation is fulfilled when she is taken away to the insane asylum. There she will have peace when in the real world she only faces pain.
Her mental and physical state isn’t present for most of the play. This is due to the loss of her young husband and losing her family home, Belle Reave. Blanche is left helpless with only her sister to turn to for help, she is shocked by how and where her sister is living. As Stella and Blanche are catching up, Stanley comes home. This is where tensions begin between Blanche and Stanley. While Stella is out of the house running errands for her sister, Blanche flirts with Stanley. Stanley tells Blanche, “If I didn't know that you was my wife's sister I'd get ideas about you!” This statement by Stanley suggests that he would be willing to get with Blanche, even if Blanche is Stella’s sister. Later in the same scene, Blanche tells Stella, “I called him a little boy and laughed and flirted. Yes, I was flirting with your husband!” This raises the question further, if Blanche didn’t get with Stanley, did she also dream up this entire
She looks for empathy in all the wrong places. She looks for it when with strangers, with Stanley, Mitch, and Stella. The tragedy of Alan’s death is a leading cause for Blanche’s desire for attention and empathy. After his death he becomes involved with the hotel “flamingo”. It is here where she mistakenly thinks that sex, is a form of empathy. This empathy causes her character to have a blackened image of how to gain empathy from others. Once she gets run out of the flamingo she attempts to gain attention from Stanley. “It 's mine, too. It 's hard to stay looking fresh. I haven 't washed or even powdered my face and here you are!” Blanche understands that Stanley is a man who can at least support his wife. She flirts with Stanley, in a desperate need to feel, safe and cared for. Stanley understands that Blanche is manipulative, and he does not give empathy towards her. The tragic Irony with Blanche is that she does not recognize true empathy when it is given to her, Mitch has a deep care for Blanche, to the extent that he is willing to marry her. “You need somebody. And I need somebody, too. Could it be—you and me, Blanche?” Mitch shows a great amount of compassion towards Blanche, but blanche cannot recognize this empathy and sees it more as an opportunity to manipulate him, which doesn’t turn out well in the end. Stella is the
Although Stella is very obedient and a quite push-over, she can come across as a passionate character. Whenever Stanley has a proposition, she usually goes along with whatever he has to offer. But in Scene Seven, when Stanley is telling Stella all the rumors he has heard about Blanche around town, Stella exclaims with much fed-upness, “What--contemptible--lies!” (Williams 120). When it comes to her sister, Stella stands up for Blanche. She will not listen to such accusations and lies put upon her own blood. She respects and cares for Blanche and feels almost insulted Stanley would judge and treat her so unkindly because he doesn’t know the Blanche Stella does. Although these actions show Stella as a very loving character towards her sister, it also makes her very naive. It is almost as if she doesn’t think enough sometimes and generally takes what she wants to believe out of a situation. For example, after Blanche was raped by Stanley, Stella explains to her neighbor Eunice “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 165). This quote indicates Blanche had told Stella of the rape and she decided to consider her options:
Using dialogue, William’s establishes a power dynamic between Mitch and Blanche driven by Mitch’s dominance. After having discovered the truth behind Blanche’s past, Mitch confronts her about only wanting to meet with him in the
The conflict between Stanley and Stella climaxes in scene ten. In this scene Stanley openly takes Blanche apart piece by piece he begins with unenthusiastic comments such as "Swine huh?