After opening up about what happened to her husband, the inner meaning of the play started to reveal itself and the reader can understand what makes Blanche act in the manner she does. When unable to escape from her past, Blanche turned to drinking, sex, and lies which only furthered the decline of her mental health. Being unable to cope with the loss of her husband, she ran away from her past, putting on a facade for others to see in an unsuccessful attempt to escape from facing reality. All of these external flaws stemmed from internal flaws, which were caused by the loss of her husband, and eventually led to her mental…
In the play Blanche is simply misunderstood while in the film she is made out to be delusional. It is noticed that in the film, Kazan made Blanche crazier than Williams intended to in his play. Misha Berson agrees with the fact that Vivien Leigh had a tough character to play, “And it is evidence of the slippery brilliance of Williams’s vision that Blanche’s mental state is as subjectively open to interpretation as a Rorschach blot. In Kazan’s film, Vivien Leigh’s fragile Blanche swiftly sinks into a gardenia-scented vortex of delusion” (111). While Blanche is trying to keep her life on track in the play, she is weakened in the movie by being portrayed as a character who is barely holding on to a thread.…
1. In terms of casting for Stella Kowalski, the actress would have to be young and gentle looking. She would also most likely be of average beauty. In the play Stella is described as, “…a gentle young woman, about twenty-five, and of a background obviously quite different from her husband” (1778).…
Blanche tries to make Stella feel pity for Blanche by saying she was stuck paying for all the deaths that she suffered while also trying to keep Belle Reve, and during this time Stella was in New Orlean living happily with Stanely (page 1546). By saying this Blanche acts like she had nobody to help her through these rough times, and although Stella knows this is not true she become upset by Blanche. The losses in Blanche's past life attracts other to be sincere to…
Individuals often reject others with divergent views, however, they frequently have good intentions that benefit people for the better. A professor at John Hopkins University exclaims, “Rejection confirms for independent people what they already feel […] that they 're not like others.” (Wrenn) The biography, Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured by Kathryn Harrison and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne display the aspect of ignominy which the authors demonstrate through both of their plots. In The Scarlet Letter, the town where Hester Prynne lives excludes her from society due to her adulterous action, and in Joan of Arc: A Life Transfigured, people around her shame her for failing to maintain a woman’s role, to save her country.…
Williams described that A Streetcar Named Desire is a tragedy of Stanley’s incomprehension of Blanche’s needs. However there were many criticisms concerning this statement of this play being a tragedy. There are many factors that contributed to Blanche’s downfall and she seems to fit, the requirements for being a tragic heroine, perfectly. One may think that Blanche Dubois does not fit into the category as a tragic heroine, not because she is not tragic enough, but because she is not sympathetic enough to a…
(1)In Les Miserables, Victor Hugo demonstrates that compassion is more effective than punishment. (2) Despite Inspector Javert’s serve obsession with finding Jean Valjean, the circumstances under which this is achieved forces Javert to examine his own perception of justice. (3) Jean Valjean’s numerous selfless actions conflict with Javert’s label of him as a dangerous convict. (4) Javert’s fixation on punishment does not allow any room for compassion, and to his mind, the only way he can show mercy to Jean Valjean is to punish and destroy himself.…
In a Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley is an overbearing, arrogant and cruel character throughout the play and is known for being abusive to women since he believes in the Napoleonic code. Tennessee Williams shows how the character Stanley abuses his power of Stella and Blanche by revealing that the violence progresses through the play as the women are more and more abused by the men. Blanche is an important character throughout the play as she is mentioned in all the scenes. As the readers, we know that Blanche's presence in the Kowalski’s household threatens Stanley’s authority which causes conflict and abuse during the play. threatens Stanley’s power and authority in the Kowalski household, this leads to Stanley abusing his…
Gender equality has been debatably the most pressing issue for the last century. Unfortunately for many this equilibrium between the rights of men and women has yet to be reached. Throughout the play A Streetcar Named Desire, it becomes clear that characters conform to gender roles, which have been set forth in our history. More specifically in the way men treat women and how women expect to be treated. These gender roles have been changed over time, but many examples of these events can still be found today.…
She wants to live in a conjured up universe. Another image is cigarettes: Blanche always smoke cigarette which demonstrates her another shortcoming. Blanche is an exceptionally solid case of a dualistic character. She has two altogether different sides. As an all around reared Southern woman she is considerate, refined and exceptionally aware of her picture.…
Blanche lies to herself to avoid descending into depression and facing the consequences of her actions. She believes that concealing her past will allow her the opportunity of a fresh…
The outcome of the possible conjunction of these illnesses shows that Blanche seems as if she’s normal just until she has encounters and delusions about her past with her past lover or with Stanley. Blanche completely changed personalities when she met the young paper boy because he reminded her of her late fiancé and changed right back to her normal self when Mitch arrived, because he has nothing to do with how Stanley acts or is a part of her past, when she is not reminded of either, she returns to normal. Stanley is probably the root cause of the amplification of her outbursts and delusions because he is reminiscent of the vulgar men from her past that probably caused the possible PTSD she has. Stanley even raped her which just made all of the terrible memories locked away in her head come flooding back and caused her to circle the drain even more than she already was with her other possible mental disorders brought to the surface with past memories and Stanley which caused her to be sent to a sanitarium. Blanche was done wrong so many times, however there was no real diagnosis for her and people thought that she was just a mean person, but it really wasn’t her fault, she went through so much pain and suffering and it’s heartbreaking for thinking that she herself thought she was to blame for her…
Whilst recalling these events to Mitch, harsh lighting and abrupt sound is used “[The headlight of the locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past]”, to supplement Blanche’s frightful reflections. Following from the discovery of her husband’s true identity and his sudden suicide, Blanche oversaw multiple deaths in her family and the ultimate loss of her ancestral home Belle Rêve. All of the tragedies in her life inflicted a great amount of emotional and mental impact on Blanche, as she turns to alcohol and sexual promiscuity, in order to escape the brutalities and the void of loneliness in her life. In the last few scenes of the play, Blanche and her lies begin to unravel as Mitch is told the truth about her history from…
(Analysis on Symbolic Meaning of Blanche, CCSE). When Blanche’s illusion of magic starts to deteriorate and reality comes shining into her face, her insanity is revealed and the climax of not only the play but of her character show…
Furthermore, the play has no clear protagonist or antagonist. Many characters exemplify characteristics of both good and evil (Newlin 155). Much like in real life, the characters are not black-and-white. They are complex, and display both morally right and wrong behavior in various circumstances. The audience may feel sympathy for Blanche, but they also likely note the extremely damaging nature of her behavior on those around her.…