A Character Analysis Of Blanche Dubois In A Streetcar Named Desire
A Character Analysis of Blanche Dubois in the Play “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Blanche Dubois is the protagonist of one of Tennessee William’s most famous plays A Streetcar Named Desire. It was first performed on Broadway in 1947. It won a Pulitzer Prize and launched the careers of the playwright, director (Eliza Kazan), and several of the actors (Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Karl Malden, and Kim Hunter).
Blanche Dubois is probably one of the dramatic characters who has called the attention of spectators. However, she seems to be inexhaustible in her complexity, for new perspectives can be applied in an analysis of her downfall. Blanche appears in the first scene dressed in white, the symbol of purity and innocence. “Blanche” means white, the colour signifying essential purity and even innocence but easily stained. In the play, when she tells Mitch the meaning of her name, she puts it as “white woods. Like an orchard in spring.”
Blanche’s appearance does not harmonize with the atmosphere of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Such a setting suggests a harsh and sorrowful environment, especially when we know that it is a place where the Negro homesick “blues” originated. Her family had aristocratic roots and taught Blanche about some of the finer things in life.
She is delicate, aristocratic and sensitive she has a moth –like appearance. She can’t stand a vulgar remark. She would never willingly hurt someone. She doesn’t want realism, she prefers magic. With her nervous
Outsiders In A Streetcar Named Desire
1465 Words | 6 PagesHer Otherness and incongruity in the lower-middle class New Orleans neighbourhood are apparent from the moment she enters. At the beginning of the play, the inhabitants of Elysian Fields enjoy themselves in some earthly, bawdy activities. Eunice and the coloured woman are chatting “on the steps of the building” (3), making ribald jokes about Stanley’s “package” (4). Mitch and Stanley are going to the bowling club while Stella rushes to join them (4-5). Then Blanche, “daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, …, white gloves and hat” (5), the very image of a Southern gentlewoman, steps into the scene.
Gender In A Streetcar Named Desire
1093 Words | 5 PagesA streetcar named Desire A streetcar named Desire, is a play by Tennessee Williams written in 1947. It addresses the American society in the post modern society, gender roles and how it feels to be an intruder in an environment you aren’t used to. One of the most central aspects in “A streetcar named Desire” is the gender aspect. We witness Stanley and Blanche act due to the gender society gave them.
Light In A Streetcar Named Desire
964 Words | 4 Pages“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a play which mostly revolves around Blanche’s delusional states. As from the beginning of the play till the end we are propelled into a world of truth and reality which is being hidden through the use of light. Light is a symbolism of truth and reality and thus avoiding light could be interpreted as hiding the truth. This is evident in the line “her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light”. The use of the adjective “Strong” allows the reader to visualize the scene of Blanche shying away from the light.
Literary Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire
2025 Words | 9 PagesShe has a sister, Stella, who lives in New Orleans with Stanley, her husband. Blanche claims she is in New Orleans because of a nervous breakdown. This she claims is the result of a series financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Blanche and Mitch start dating and after one date, Blanche reveals something of her past to Mitch and tells him she was married before with a man, who turned out to be gay. He killed himself after Blanche finds him with another man and called him ‘disgusting,’ his death keeps on haunting Blanche.
A Daily Joy To Be Alive By Jimmy Santiago Baca
750 Words | 3 PagesThe play’s tragic protagonist Blanche DuBois is a prime example of how a broken mental state can prohibit an individual’s ability to shape their own identity. Blanche’s past was filled with
Insecurity In A Streetcar Named Desire
1085 Words | 5 PagesIt is what is haunting Blanche’s life, it is what has made her mentally unstable. Throughout the play, she has been hiding her past from people so she looks like
Blanche's Destruction In A Streetcar Named Desire
778 Words | 4 PagesIt is Blanche’s obsessive desire for a clean slate that ultimately drives her streetcar into destruction. With each lie she tells, the last lie becomes a reality to her, and once her delusional reality begins to fade, Blanche recedes into a dark hole where neither she or anyone else could ever truly see herself
Literary Analysis Of Blanche Dubois
1166 Words | 5 PagesTennessee Williams is one of the most recognized playwrights that lived during the mid-twentieth-century (“Tennessee Williams”). After finishing college, Williams decides to move to New Orleans, where he writes A Streetcar Named Desire. His career starts to take off as he begins to write more plays (“Tennessee Williams”). A Streetcar Named Desire talks about the life of a woman, Blanche DuBois, who is very secretive about her past and does not expose her true intentions of coming to live with her younger sister Stella. As the play goes on Stanley, Stella’s husband, starts to dig into the dark past that terrorizes Blanche when they begin to have a conflict with each other.
Gender And Power In A Streetcar Named Desire
1383 Words | 6 PagesGender and Power in the Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire is crucial factor and is portrayed well through the play. The essay also is going to plan to examine the different ideas about female sexuality that convey from the character of Blanche. One important tenet of feminism is that gender is a social construct.
How Does Blanche React To Stella's Apartment?
618 Words | 3 PagesBriefly characterize Blanche Dubois. What evidence is there in the text that supports your characterization? Blanche Dubois seem like a rich person due to what she’s wearing, ”white suit,bodice necklace, earrings of pearl, white glove…”. She was also described as a moth due to the white and her beauty that will cause attention to her. 3) How does Blanche react to Stella’s apartment?
A Streetcar Named Desire Past And Present Analysis
1547 Words | 7 PagesBlanche is an old southern Belle who expects the man to be a gentleman and in her level of class, scene 10 “A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man’s life” (Williams, 1947) this is how Blanche intertwines the past and present as past women were only there to be seen, look after the house and provide children and present Blanche could be seen to be past her prime. Blanche is representing the past as she is still dress in grand dress white moth Ironically Blanche appears in the first scene dressed in white, “the symbol of
Illusion Vs Reality In A Streetcar Named Desire
608 Words | 3 PagesIn A Streetcar Named Desire, the author Tennessee Williams exaggerates and dramatizes fantasy’s incapability to overcome reality through an observation of the boundary between Blanches exterior and interior conveying the theme that illusion and fantasy are often better than reality. Blanche, who hides her version of the past, alters her present and her relationship with her suitor Mitch and her sister, Stella. Blanche was surrounded by death in her past, her relatives and husband have passed away, leaving her with no legacy left to continue. The money has exhausted; the values are falling apart and she is alienated and unable to survive in the harsh reality of modern society. Throughout the novel Williams juxtaposed Blanche’s delusions with
Stereotypes In A Streetcar Named Desire
1245 Words | 5 PagesNot only has Tennesse Williams portrayed Stella and Blanche to be seen as delicate and dependent, our own society has created this image but this not only affects how individuals see themselves but affects relationships immensely. Tennessee Williams reinforces the stereotype in which women are often the victims of unfortunate fate within the usage of the character Blanche. Throughout the whole play, we have witnessed Blanche being on the bitter end of life's miseries as she has encountered the tough loss of Belle Reve, dealing with her ex-husband's suicide and the loss of her relationship with Mitch. Arguably, the expectations and beliefs of women were either to be a housewife or a mother, whereas Blanche shows neither, as a result of automatically feeling out of place possibly leading to her downfall. Blanche was constantly fantasizing about the traditional values of a southern gentlemen, proving her dependence on this sex.
A Streetcar Named Desire Analysis
1000 Words | 4 PagesBlanche and Stella grew up on a plantation called Belle Reve, representing the Old South. The Old South had a sense of romanticism, focusing mainly on appearances. Blanche is a genuine Southern Belle. Throughout the play, Blanche makes it a point to look her best at all times. Stanley exasperatedly says, “What’s this here?
Theme Of Sexuality In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire
1534 Words | 7 PagesOverall, A Streetcar Named Desire is showing the downfalls of not expressing sexuality while doing the rare thing of showcasing sexuality in the context of a society that dismissed and condemned it. Tennessee Williams was a gay man who knew the frustration of living in a time period that demanded his sexuality be repressed. Through the play, he communicates how high a price individuals had to pay for expressing their desires. In Blanche’s case, her expression of sexuality led to her being committed to a mental institute, and in Allen Grey’s case death. Despite this Williams also imparts to his audience the negative impacts of disguising one 's sexuality behind the guise of what is considered normal and proper.
More about A Character Analysis Of Blanche Dubois In A Streetcar Named Desire
Outsiders In A Streetcar Named Desire
1465 Words | 6 PagesGender In A Streetcar Named Desire
1093 Words | 5 PagesLight In A Streetcar Named Desire
964 Words | 4 PagesLiterary Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire
2025 Words | 9 PagesA Daily Joy To Be Alive By Jimmy Santiago Baca
750 Words | 3 PagesInsecurity In A Streetcar Named Desire
1085 Words | 5 PagesBlanche's Destruction In A Streetcar Named Desire
778 Words | 4 PagesLiterary Analysis Of Blanche Dubois
1166 Words | 5 PagesGender And Power In A Streetcar Named Desire
1383 Words | 6 PagesHow Does Blanche React To Stella's Apartment?
618 Words | 3 PagesA Streetcar Named Desire Past And Present Analysis
1547 Words | 7 PagesIllusion Vs Reality In A Streetcar Named Desire
608 Words | 3 PagesStereotypes In A Streetcar Named Desire
1245 Words | 5 PagesA Streetcar Named Desire Analysis
1000 Words | 4 PagesTheme Of Sexuality In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire
1534 Words | 7 Pages