Using Blanche and Stella’s noticeable dependence on men, Williams exposes and critiques the poor treatment of women during the rough transition from the old to the new South. As Blanche depends on male’s perspective of her own self and puts her fate in the hands of men, she fails to realize her dependence will essentially lead to her own downfall and ruin rather than her salvation and escape. Although reality triumphs over fantasy in the end of the story, Blanche’s still chooses to retreat into her own private fantasies, which enables her to somewhat protect herself from reality’s harsh blows and to refuse the hand that fate has dealt…
In theatre, repetition often insinuates value. The reiteration of certain ideas, actions or objects in drama is never coincidental, but rather symbolizes a motif that links with the theme of the play. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams presents Blanche Dubois, the embodiment of a typical Southern Belle: dainty, vain, and very feminine. After moving in with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley, Blanche finds herself caught in a spiral of alcoholism and stupor. The fallen and faded belle is prone to her frequent haunting memories and fantasy-like state-of-mind.…
One theme that constantly appears in A Streetcar Named Desire is a contrast between the reality and fantasy of love. This dichotomy is represented by Blanche and her grasp on life. Blanche attempts to supplement the hard times in her life by creating fantasies where everything is going her way. While playing cards with Stanley, she states, “I know I fib a good deal.…
We learn at the very beginning of the play that Stella and Blanche DuBois come from a very elite and wealthy background at their family plantation, the Belle Reve. Since Stella got together with Stanley, Blanche came to find that her sister is living in the exact opposite atmosphere from what they grew up with, and blue collar dump. With Stella and Stanley, everything seems to be out in the open, and they don't try to act like what they are not.…
She tells Stella how she was on leave from her teaching position due to the strain of losing the family home. When in reality she was sleeping with a student. Blanche realizes what she is doing, and she even admits I’ve got to be good – and keep my hands off children” (Williams, Sc. 5). Not only does Blanche lie about how many people she has been with she also tries to convince everyone of how she is a perfect lady. Blanche is unaware that she is…
Stella grew up in Belle Reve with Blanche, but seemed to ween off her luxurious living once she grows up and marries Stanley. This proves that Stella is a strong independent women, who takes matters into her own hands instead…
From the first scene the audience learns that Blanche and Stella were brought up on a plantation and that Stanley and his friends are poor and uneducated. In the first scene the two families come together in a scruffy environment, it is therefore Blanche who must adjust to the situation. When Stanley exposes Blanche's past and when he rapes her, he turns her ‘upper-class’ upbringing (of which she is very proud) into something without any meaning. The conflict, therefore, is bigger than Stanley vs. Blanche or even male vs. female, it is the Old South vs. the new ind ustrial age and the upper-class life vs. the ‘common’ life. With Blanche, it is not only her sinful ways that causes her misery, it is her upper-class upbringing and clinging to the past that is one of the reasons for her downfall - a tragic end for a tragic character.…
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.…
Stuck between her love for her sister and husband, Stella’s mask begins to slip. Stella wishes for her life to continue as it was, when she was content and happy. Her love for Stanley ultimately wins, and she betrays her own sister to obtain normality in her life once again. Stella’s character shift is subtle, yet dramatic. She begins the story content with her situation, but Blanche’s arrival changes everything.…
Tennessee Williams wrote his play A Streetcar Named Desire in a time where women were heavily oppressed by the patriarchal society in which they lived. While men were seen as the superior gender, women were constantly undermined and expected to stay at home to raise their family rather than go out and pursue their own jobs or independent lifestyles. Throughout the play, the reader can observe the downfall of a character like Blanche DuBois who was nothing like the idealistic conservative female that society expected her to be. Living in the household of the aggressive Stanley Kowalski, who was used to controlling everything around him, her feelings of inferiority were only intensified. By Williams representing both genders like this, it helped…
Tennessee Williams’ dramatic presentation of violence in A Streetcar Named Desire is evident within relationships of the play. Prominent scenes from the play include intense portrayals of violence, such as Stella being domestically abused by her husband Stanley, Blanche recalling the suicide of her past closeted boyfriend Allen and when Stanley rapes Blanche at the end of scene ten. However, physical abuse is not the extent of this key motif as Williams’ presents verbal and emotional violence as well. These are all further intensified by the stage directions, physical theatre, lighting and sound- all of which are key ingredients in Williams magnetically ravenous play. Evidence of violence are explored through physically abusive relationships…
In this part of the scene, Stanley is fighting with Stella about the fine clothes that Blanche had. She also takes many baths to relieve her anxiety and freshen up. On many occasions Stella feels the need to compliment Blanche and bring her Cokes and other treats to make her feel even more royal. Blance even goes so far as to redecorate Stella and Stanley's house, to make it more regal for herself. She covers the plain lights with paper lanterns, adds rugs, and recovered the chairs with new fabrics.…
The motif of violence is manifest throughout Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, not only in the form of acts that are explicitly forceful and destructive, but in the implicit conflicts that are explored within the play, whether between men and women, light and dark, reality and fantasy or the Old South and the New South. Violence is most often associated with the character of Stanley, who progresses violent behaviour and exudes a sense of brutishness that contributes to the play’s overall parallelism to an “urban jungle”, in which Blanche will inevitably become a victim. Sexual violence is a prevalent facet of the play, which makes eminent the subordination of the female characters under the claimed prerogative of men. In particular, domestic…
Blanche Dubois is the protagonist of the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” written by Tennessee Williams. Her character is portrayed as a middle aged woman who is supposed to be a going crazy because she drowns in her own thoughts. Blanche is able to keep her thoughts together, but “ critic Anca Vlasopolos interprets Blanche’s downfall as a demonstration of William’s sympathy for her circumstances and a condemnation of the society that destroys her” (Blanche Dubois An Antihero). Blanche herself says that she doesn’t want realism she wants magic,that shows forth in her character’s personality and her standard of living. Blanche is meant to be portrayed as a woman of fancy living, coming from a family of riches and even using her name as being…
A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams’ famous play, which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1948, is a tragic story about a woman named Blanche DuBois, an aging woman who clings on to delusions of reality in order to maintain her sense of self-worth (Newlin 140). Blanche goes to live with her sister and her sister’s husband, Stella and Stanley Kowalski, where she upsets their relationship and violently clashes with Stanley, due to their inherent differences (Williams). Environmental…