Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire centers on Blanche Dubois, a fading Southern belle from Laurel, Mississippi, who comes to stay with her younger sister Stella and husband Stanley Kowalski in New Orleans. Blanche is a fragile woman who constantly lives in her fantasy world to protect herself against outside threats and her own insecurities. She uses these fantasies to create an illusion to convince not only others, but herself that she is still young, admired and of social standing. In reality, Blanche is the exact opposite; middle aged, rejected and penniless. Blanche’s illusions contribute to the work as a whole by giving herself hope, acting as a coping mechanism by providing an escape from harsh realities, and contrasting with
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Blanche is a frequent drinker, but she will not admit to this. And by giving herself to strangers, Blanche is trying to fill the void left by Allan’s death, “...intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with,” (Williams 146). But during all her sexual encounters, she is never able to fill the emptiness. These intimacies inevitably earn her a reputation, and eventually give Stanley the upper hand.
Blanche implies that her world of fantasy is much kinder when she admits “I don’t want realism. I want magic!,” (Williams 145). By this point, Blanche does not care whether or not she believes in her illusions, as long as they provide her with comfort and a kind of hope. The importance of magic is her ability to control it by giving herself a life she …show more content…
Stanley, being so practical, from the start, is aware of these attempts to cover the truth. He feels threatened, but William’s make sure that reality dominates. One of the frequent symbols throughout the play is the paper lantern, which represents her attempt to mask the light (reality), which is her past and illusion of her present self. However, like the paper lantern, the illusion Blanche has created is just as fragile, and as Stanley tears the lantern from the light, he in turn shatters the illusion, crushing her dreams and exposing the truth. Ultimately, forcing Blanche to come to terms with
Blanche is a frequent drinker, but she will not admit to this. And by giving herself to strangers, Blanche is trying to fill the void left by Allan’s death, “...intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with,” (Williams 146). But during all her sexual encounters, she is never able to fill the emptiness. These intimacies inevitably earn her a reputation, and eventually give Stanley the upper hand.
Blanche implies that her world of fantasy is much kinder when she admits “I don’t want realism. I want magic!,” (Williams 145). By this point, Blanche does not care whether or not she believes in her illusions, as long as they provide her with comfort and a kind of hope. The importance of magic is her ability to control it by giving herself a life she …show more content…
Stanley, being so practical, from the start, is aware of these attempts to cover the truth. He feels threatened, but William’s make sure that reality dominates. One of the frequent symbols throughout the play is the paper lantern, which represents her attempt to mask the light (reality), which is her past and illusion of her present self. However, like the paper lantern, the illusion Blanche has created is just as fragile, and as Stanley tears the lantern from the light, he in turn shatters the illusion, crushing her dreams and exposing the truth. Ultimately, forcing Blanche to come to terms with