Illusion and Magic in Blanche DuBois’s Character Throughout Tennessee William’s play, A Streetcar Named Desire, there is a prominent and continuous theme of realism and magic. In particular this theme manifests itself deeply in one specific main character, Blanche DuBois. In the play, Blanche finds herself in a consistent struggle with reality; she has immense difficulty accepting her true life, her reality. Because of Blanche’s role in the tragic suicide of her first love and husband, she becomes entirely overwhelmed and wrecked by guilt. Blanche acknowledges and claims the responsibility in her husband’s suicide as she reveals to Mitch, her momentary boyfriend, her knowledge of her husband’s affair with another grown man. Blanche unveils…
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.…
She is portrayed as a romantic being who operates as attracted to males. Her interaction with the male characters of the play begins with flirting. The dramatized depiction of DuBois is well characterized by the author. Her fantasies have a very strong relation with her reality. She is pretending to be someone else with fabricated episodes of her past and the present. The author symbolizes her character with that of a psychic being with an inconspicuous behavior (Fischer, Erika, 246) r. She lies…
Blanche Dubois enters the lives of Stanley and Stella Kowalski when she arrives at their apartment at Elysian Fields. The beautiful and cultured Blanche clashes with the primitive Stanley. However, unlike the cultured Blanche first seen, the real Blanche is penniless and has a history with many men. When Stanley reveals Blanche’s impure past to everybody, Blanche struggles to continue and ends up in a mental facility. The deterioration of Blanche’s character is a result of her attempts to…
According to Cardullo, Stanley rapes Blanche “because he has been physically attracted to her from the start and has been encouraged by her at least one occasion, and is able to fuel his desire with knowledge of her checkered past in Laurel.” The rape of Blanche DuBois is a sad yet complex story element to break down. From Blanche’s arrival in New Orleans her and Stanley have been butting heads. They clearly do not get along as well as Stella had hoped. Yet, there is a strange feeling in the…
result from unresolved internal issues. This is especially apparent in the character, Blanche DuBois and can be observed further in scene six when Blanche tells Mitch, the man she has been seeing lately, about her late husband, Allan Grey, who committed suicide and the about last tune she heard while her husband was still alive, the Varsouviana, which haunts her. This tragic event resulted in Blanche’s lewdness, promiscuity, and excessive drinking of alcohol. It was at this moment in Blanche’s…
who has lost hope, and lost herself. Blanche Dubois has been effected by loss and death in nearly all aspects of her life. She lost her family, but is left with her kindly, little sister; or so she thought. She lost the love of her young husband as well. By the end of the play, Blanche makes the realization that she has lost everything, including herself with this her last dying word. The DuBois sisters are outwardly two young, beautiful women from a wealthy background. Blanche had been living…
attention from others. Throughout "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennesse Williams, Blanche Dubois is one that brings awareness to herself using her past life. From examining Blanche's depression, bad luck, and sensitivity, it is clear that Blanche Dubois draws sympathy from other in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Blanche uses depression from her past life to make others feel sympathy for her. After Blanche reunites with Stella, they begin to talk and catch up with each other. Blanche tries right…
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a former high school teacher, Blanche Dubois, who moved in with her sister and husband, Stella and Stanley. Blanche Dubois has been through many difficulties in order to fulfill the emptiness that is within her. Her young husband, Allen Gray committed suicide, she lost Belle Reve, and she lost her stature in Laurel. The driving force behind these actions were the empowerment of her desires. Williams uses allusions to develop the…
Although, Blanche Dubois was a southern belle born with a silver spoon in her mouth she had a hard life. Underneath her haughty disposition was a fragile human being, who became greatly affected by the tragedies she faced day to day. Her life was filled with tragedy and fear that altered her psyche completely. Blanche Dubois became insane. Blanche’s self-awareness meant that she was able cover up her mental illness. In spite of that, the music in the play exposed it, by being a reflection of…