Analytical essay on Blanche from Tennessee Williams play 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
To what extent is Blanche a victim of her past?
Written by Rhea
Written by Rhea
‘A Streetcar named Desire’ written By Tennessee Williams is a 1947 post war modern Tragedy, set in the changing America where immigration is becoming common. Blanche and Stanley’s characters symbolise the division in class. Williams establishes the character of Blanch, an ageing southern belle, through her arrogance and hubris. Her final downfall is instigated due to many reasons, her past being greatly to blame. Losing such a great deal that she loved causes Blanche to reside to illusion and fantasy. Nevertheless, this was not the cause of her final confinement. Blanche could endure Stanley’s ongoing verbal attack and to some extent got enjoyment out of tormenting him; however, when Stanley rapes Blanche she feels desecrated leading to her figurative death.
Blanche is first introduced “on a street in New Orleans” as “daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat.” This moth- like appearance is a symbol of innocence as white represents purity. She yearns for desire and although she has a negative relationship with Stanley, she still cannot keep away, like “a moth to a flame”. Her etiquette and articulate pronunciation reflects her well educated aristocratic background. Miss Dubois, appearance reflects her morals and principles of her old southern upbringing, as she wants to appear untainted although she no longer abides by her prior values. The play commences with stage directions which illustrate the Mise-en-scène, enacted within a street called “Elysian fields”, the area of the French Quarter which ironically signifies paradise. Blanche is living within a world of illusion, chasing after desire which leads her to her downfall as is foreshadowed within this opening. The stage directions allow the audience to visualize the surroundings in which Stanley and Stella live. Blanche’s “expression is one of shocked disbelief” reflecting the meagre appearance of the area in which she is situated. Furthermore, Blanche talks of transferring to “one called the cemeteries” which symbolises Blanche’s cataclysmic future. Blanche Dubois translates as ‘white one from the woods’, suggesting that she is a virtuous woman from Laurel; however, throughout the play we learn that her purity is an act to disguise the truth of her tragic past. The blue piano music is reiterated throughout the play, blue representing melancholy and masculinity and is therefore often played when Stanley illustrates dominance. It is played at the very start when Blanche makes her first entrance reflecting the atmosphere of New Orleans and the jazz culture.
Blanche’s past is an explanation to her psychological trauma. She was left to fend for Belle Reve on her own “I stayed and struggled”; after Belle Reve was lost, Blanche also lost herself. Losing Belle Reve contributes to her lunacy; therefore, she stays in a hotel where her only company is the “kindness of strangers”. This intimate behaviour with unfamiliar individuals is due to her loss of confidence after her husband’s death. She no longer feels of youth and beauty therefore by having these encounters it gives her pleasure and is also a place where she can forget about her past. Her earlier marriage was a tragic disaster; she now feels a constant guilt for her husband’s death, and he was the only man she ever truly loved. This links to her need of constantly bathing, as she feels soaking in a hot bath not only calms her nerves but symbolises her washing away her sins of the responsibility for the death of the “boy” she has only ever truly loved. She blames herself for Allan Grey’s death “I’d failed him in some mysterious way and wasn’t able to give the help he needed but couldn’t speak of!” Blanche describes her love for him like a “blinding light”. Although she will never love anyone so incandescently she needs a companion, a man who is strong and sophisticated to protect her from reality. Since his death she has not been in a light “that’s stronger than-this- kitchen-candle!” as she lives in a world of shadows, which reflects her vanity and is metaphorical of her moral decay. The loss of her husband is a constant distraction within her mentality, the polka music which is repeated throughout is a constant reminder of her husband’s suicide. Her husband’s death contributes largely to Blanche’s insanity; however, after she loses Belle Reve she becomes completely lost within her imaginings.
Blanche’s past is an explanation to her psychological trauma. She was left to fend for Belle Reve on her own “I stayed and struggled”; after Belle Reve was lost, Blanche also lost herself. Losing Belle Reve contributes to her lunacy; therefore, she stays in a hotel where her only company is the “kindness of strangers”. This intimate behaviour with unfamiliar individuals is due to her loss of confidence after her husband’s death. She no longer feels of youth and beauty therefore by having these encounters it gives her pleasure and is also a place where she can forget about her past. Her earlier marriage was a tragic disaster; she now feels a constant guilt for her husband’s death, and he was the only man she ever truly loved. This links to her need of constantly bathing, as she feels soaking in a hot bath not only calms her nerves but symbolises her washing away her sins of the responsibility for the death of the “boy” she has only ever truly loved. She blames herself for Allan Grey’s death “I’d failed him in some mysterious way and wasn’t able to give the help he needed but couldn’t speak of!” Blanche describes her love for him like a “blinding light”. Although she will never love anyone so incandescently she needs a companion, a man who is strong and sophisticated to protect her from reality. Since his death she has not been in a light “that’s stronger than-this- kitchen-candle!” as she lives in a world of shadows, which reflects her vanity and is metaphorical of her moral decay. The loss of her husband is a constant distraction within her mentality, the polka music which is repeated throughout is a constant reminder of her husband’s suicide. Her husband’s death contributes largely to Blanche’s insanity; however, after she loses Belle Reve she becomes completely lost within her imaginings.
Blanche believes that “the opposite of death is desire” as she is sexually promiscuous with many men to escape the lonely void created by the death of her young husband: “Intimacies with strangers were all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with”. She is not looking for someone to love but someone to keep her company “a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she’ll be lost!” Blanche needs someone to keep her from her own destruction, prevent her world from collapsing. Blanche’s main concern is how she appears to others; her vanity guides her to a problematic situation that destroys her last chance of happiness. Blanche’s fondness of Mitch is obvious as she sees him in the same light as her. Both their pasts curiously correspond, having both loved and lost someone. Blanche’s past keeps her in the dark as she feels worthless. Her vanity is due to her apprehension of losing her attractiveness; thus she never appears in front of Mitch in more than a dim light, representing her need rather than her affection for him. “This adorable little coloured lantern put it over the light bulb! Will you please?” paradoxically Mitch will be the one to tear off the paper lantern in order to “get a better look” at Blanche. The light signifies her hiding from her past; however, when she is forced into the brightness of the light this symbolises the fact that the truth has been confessed. Blanche misleads him into thinking she was a fine, honest, and respectful young woman because she believes “inside, I never lied”; this reflects that although Blanche had many affairs none were of value to her, she felt that it was her body that she conferred not her inner self.
Scene ten is Stanley and Blanche’s final confrontation where Blanche is raped by a man she views as an “animal”. This makes Blanche feel tainted, a character who is normally “dressed in an old faded gown and has a rhinestone tiara on her head” in a fictional world. However, Stanley is rejoicing due to the birth of his child and is aggravated by Blanche who has been “swilling down his liquor”. She appears as an easy prey for him to catch, and to verify his dominance over her. He also considers the fact that she has had many men so she is already impure. Stanley is a man of power and control and when he brutally rapes Blanche she is forced into reality where she cannot survive. Some may say that Blanche did feel some desire for Stanley as was a strong man in contrast to her past husband and therefore he could protect her. In the past she has had many acquaintances; however, she always gave consent, as they were a way for her to escape from her past tragedies. In contrast now she feels violated by the antagonist, a vulgar and primitive man. This leads Blanche to her psychological downfall.
Some may perceive Blanche DuBois to resemble similar qualities to that of the protagonist of ‘Hamlet’ by William Shakespeare. Blanche and Hamlet are both suffering from a loss which leads them to “turbulent....lunacy”; both characters throughout the plays are haunted by their past. In ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ music is used to disturb Blanche and to depict that she is looking back in retrospect at the horrifying tragedy she suffered. Hamlet, similar to Blanche, is troubled by his father’s ghost reminding Hamlet of his death. Hamlet accuses his mother of betrayal towards his father, out of an act of lust and not love she involves herself in an “incestuous” relationship. Blanche also feels Stella has betrayed her through her associating herself with a man who “acts like an animal, has animal’s habits! Eats like one, moves like one, talks like one!” conflicting with the gentlemen they associated with in Belle Reve. Blanche is a modern tragic heroine and therefore does not come to a literal death in contrast with that of the downfall of Shakespearean Tragic heroes and heroines.
In conclusion, Blanche is a character that encounters many catastrophic situations; her tragic past is melancholy and makes the reader feel sympathetic towards her. In addition, she is a victim of her past which haunts her throughout the play by means of music and her imagination, contributing to her breakdown. However, it is the character of Stanley who leads to her final defeat, he stands for everything she is against and rapes her against her will. Although she doesn’t always tell the truth, she means no harm. She is a person that survives on her fantasies and imagination as it keeps away her tragic past. Although Blanche is a tragic heroine she does not literally come to her death; however, her illusions are destroyed and with it her mind.
