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A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.
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Analysis of the character of Blanche DuBois in the Tennessee Williams play.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Analysis of the character of Blanche DuBois in the Tennessee Williams play. Blanche's duality; her illusions vs. reality; conflicts between her sexual & spiritual longings. Blanche's threat to the domesticity of Stella and Stanley. Clash between Blanche and Stanley regarding her insistance on illusion and his on reality. Stanley's belief that Blanche's illusions are ruining his home, and his rape of her to shatter her illusions. Blanche's destruction. Stella and Stanley to live with illusion that he did not violate Blanche.
Paper Introduction:
In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche DuBois is a character whose duality becomes apparent as the play progresses. She holds herself out to be one sort of person with one sort of background, but in fact, her life has been very different from what she pretends. For her, the illusion is a necessity in order to continue to live. For her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, the illusion is an affront and has to be exposed. In the character of Blanche, the duality derives from a conflict between sexual longing and the spiritual side of her nature in a world that sees the two as separate, when in fact they are combined in every person.
Blanche sees herself as a martyr and is always referring to the way life has treated her. The loss of her and Stella's childhood home is a key reference point. Blanche's character is
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He is rough and crude, but he is alsohonest and open. A key conflict in the play is thethreat Blanche poses to the domesticity of Stanley and Stella, and fromStanley's point of view this is bound with his belief in reality ascontrasted with Blanche's desire to live by illusion. He says what he means and challenges anyone to disputehim. He tosses her apackage of raw meat, emphasizing his brute nature and the sexualrelationship always between them. The first line of the play is Stanley yelling upat his wife, "Hey, there! She may suspect thatStanley has actually raped her sister, but if she ever admits this toherself, she will have to leave him. For that matter, Stanley now has his own lie touphold, the lie that he did not touch Blanche. Not once did you pull any wool over this boy's eyes! In the character of Blanche, the duality derivesfrom a conflict between sexual longing and the spiritual side of her naturein a world that sees the two as separate, when in fact they are combined inevery person. For Stanley, truth is important, which is why it is ironic at theend that he and Stella remain together in essence living a lie, the liethat Stanley did not rape Blanche. Blanche DuBois has withdrawninto the illusion of the genteel Southern lady, something she was raised tobe but is not, something that may not really exist but that has served forgenerations as an ideal. (Williams 14 ). He will himself now live a lie, though, by notadmitting what he has done and by pretending that all has returned to thestate it was in before Blanche came to visit. Blanche's character is revealed as it contrasts with thatof Stanley -- Blanche aspires to the spiritual, and Stanley just acceptsthe animal and denies the spiritual. Stanley is happy with his domestic life as it is, and Blanche entersand changes all that. For her, the illusion is a necessity in order to continue tolive. She holds herself out to be one sort of person with one sortof background, but in fact, her life has been very different from what shepretends. Blanche sees herself as a martyr and is always referring to the waylife has treated her. Blanche, on the other hand, never faces realitybecause it makes her so unhappy, and yet the illusion does little more thanhide her unhappiness for a short time. He jeopardizes his marriage in this action, and the irony at theend is that Stella now has to live by an illusion of her own in order tostay with him, something that was never true before. (Williams 127).Stanley here cites different things with which Blanche covers up reality,from a paper cover for the lights to perfume and powder. He is presented always asan elemental force, and subtlety is beyond him. Blanche believes in her illusion sothat she can never admit to herself what her own life has been like.Stanley, however, can see through her and also investigates to learn thetruth. A Streetcar Named Desire. For Stanley, though, the act was notrape but the shattering of an illusion and an act of self-defense againstan invasion of his home and a challenge to his sense of manhood and self. Stella tries tomake this clear after poker night: "I said I'm not in anything that I havea desire to get out of" (Williams 65). He throws his knowledge into her face andshatters this illusion in the only way he knows how, by forcing himselfupon her. You come in here and sprinkle the place with powder and spray perfume and cover the light-bulb with a paper lantern and lo and behold the place has turned into Egypt and you the Queen of the Nile! The major conflict in the play is between Stanley and Blanche, andBlanche is the loser. The loss of her and Stella's childhood home is a keyreference point. Hetells Blanche that he has known from the start that she was not what shehas said she was: I've been on to you from the start! From the beginning of the play he ismade to seem elemental. He is reality, and he forces that reality to prevail over herillusions. New York: Signet, 1947. Stanley sees theworld without powder or cover of any kind, and that is the way he prefersit. Stanley exposes Blanche to Mitch and ruins her chances with him, andhe does so to protect his friend from any illusion, from any falsehood. Stanley wins, but his winning is tempered by thefact just noted, that Stella must accept a lie in order for Stanley tocontinue as before. Stanley manages to reclaim his home and assert his idea of reality.He denies the illusions brought by Blanche, even if he must destroy her todo it. For her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski, the illusion is an affrontand has to be exposed. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, BlancheDuBois is a character whose duality becomes apparent as the playprogresses. Therefore, she will ignore reality.The reality that Stanley thinks he has reclaimed is a reality now touchedwith this major illusion, the only thing keeping the household together. Yet, Blanche has thrown an aura of illusion around his own home, andhe does not like it at all. Each of these three characters has faced various family traumas,deaths, and crises, and each has failed to adapt to those crises and hasinstead withdrawn into an illusion that all is well, that the world is atfault for their problems, that they can indeed live by the illusions theyhave created and in effect incorporate other people into those illusions.Each finds that other people are not that malleable and do not conform tothe illusion and may even be hostile to it. You want the lantern? Again and again in the course of the play we seeBlanche trying to bring Stella into her view of the world and failing tosee that Stella is sincere and happy in her domestic life. When Blanche is leaving, Stanley again cites the illusions bywhich she has tainted his home and makes certain she takes those illusionswith her: You left nothing here but spilt talcum and old empty perfume bottles--unless it's the paper lantern you want to take with you. Stella, baby!" (Williams 13). He does not accept it inothers any more than he tries to use it himself, and he is instead directand usually honest. The spiritual has lost in the face of Stanley's animal spirit, butin fact, Blanche was lost long before in the struggle between herspirituality and her sexual being. Work CitedWilliams, Tennessee. Stanley is acharacter who is open and direct. In truth, it has not, andthere is always a residue of Blanche and her illusions that will be leftbehind.
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