“They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at-Elysian Fields” (Williams 95). In Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche Dubois’ doom is hinted in the first scene when she asks if she has arrived at Elysian Fields. It is very clear that her desires are associated with sex and alcohol, however, it is questionable if the Cemeteries was the death of her relatives in Belle Reve or her own demise, and if her arrival at Stella’s home is the Elysian Fields or if the mental institution is her destination.
Is Blanche at fault for her own demise? No. “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire…,” Blanche was doing what “they”, society, told her to do which was to take the “streetcar named Desire” (Williams 95). Blanche turns to alcohol and sex “in search of comfort and escape from a world she cannot bear on her own” (Stefanovici and Sâncelean). Even before the death of her husband, Blanche states that at a young age she would “sometimes answer the calls of the …show more content…
However, Stella’s home is not the Elysian Fields but an extension of the Cemeteries. According to mythologies “the Elysian Fields was believed, by the Greeks, that it was like a paradise where the souls of the heroes went” (Gill). Therefore the Elysian Fields is not Stella’s home because it is at this setting that Blanche is not only taken advantage of sexually, but also serves as a scapegoat to restore balance. Blanche being taken to the mental institution is symbolic for the “guilt” of the others that she is taking with her(Thomières). Blanche was the victim as far as what society had asked for her and she has ridden all the “streetcars” and the mental institution is her final destination in which she can finally get help from someone who was not in her
Is Blanche at fault for her own demise? No. “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire…,” Blanche was doing what “they”, society, told her to do which was to take the “streetcar named Desire” (Williams 95). Blanche turns to alcohol and sex “in search of comfort and escape from a world she cannot bear on her own” (Stefanovici and Sâncelean). Even before the death of her husband, Blanche states that at a young age she would “sometimes answer the calls of the …show more content…
However, Stella’s home is not the Elysian Fields but an extension of the Cemeteries. According to mythologies “the Elysian Fields was believed, by the Greeks, that it was like a paradise where the souls of the heroes went” (Gill). Therefore the Elysian Fields is not Stella’s home because it is at this setting that Blanche is not only taken advantage of sexually, but also serves as a scapegoat to restore balance. Blanche being taken to the mental institution is symbolic for the “guilt” of the others that she is taking with her(Thomières). Blanche was the victim as far as what society had asked for her and she has ridden all the “streetcars” and the mental institution is her final destination in which she can finally get help from someone who was not in her