A Streetcar Named Desire Madness Essay
"How is madness used in both A Streetcar Named Desire and Blue Jasmine"
Throughout the movie Blue Jasmine and the book Streetcar Named Desire, present many similarities and differences. Both the movie and the book highlights the use of madness from how both characters descended into madness due to their past deceptions, and deal with madness with the usage of intoxicants. On the other hand, a difference they share is that the madness leads to different outcomes.
The main message behind Blue Jasmine and Streetcar is that deception leads to major repercussions, where madness is the ultimate consequence. ‘Let me tell you something, Jeanette, Jasmine, whatever it is you call yourself these days. Some people, they don’t put things behind so
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‘He crosses to dressing table and seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light bulb, and extends It toward her. She cries out as if the lantern was herself (scene 11, page 140). These stage directions shows how madness has finally broken through Blanche’s rational thinking. Stanley raping her was the major factor that destroyed her remaining sanity. The lantern itself is a symbol of her madness and part where it talks about tearing it of the light bulb. Whereas the light is a symbol of purity and justice and, without light there is only darkness which represents Blanche’s situation. Contrastingly Woody Allen’s ending of the movie with the final ploy on the impact of madness on jasmine comes into play. During the final scene Jasmine is seen in a park talking about her son Danny and how she called the police on her own husband. Jasmine is finally reflecting on her past actions which has ultimately lead to her own demise. Moreover she later fails to remember the words to Blue Moon, which was the song that was played when she met her husband. From the lyrics of Blue Moon ‘You knew just what I was there for, you heard me saying a prayer for, someone I really could care for’ (Blue Moon) Allen’s choice of music plays a big role in developing the theme of madness in this movie, Hal playing this to Jasmine is of great irony. ‘someone i really could care for’ the lyrics
Similarities Between Tennessee Williams And Blue Jasmine
1320 Words | 6 Pages“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a book from 1947 written by Tennessee Williams. Blanche DuBois is an English teacher from Mississippi who comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella Kowalski. Blanche cannot believe how Stella could be married to Stanley Kowalski who is a Polish, violent and cruel man. She had shown signs of mental instability, but when Stanley reveals information about Blanche’s past to her lover Mitch it all goes downhill for her. Blue Jasmine is a film from 2014 directed by Woody Allen.
A Streetcar Named Desire Light Analysis
504 Words | 3 PagesShe was married to a rich man and had the life she ever wanted. However, Blanche slowly started losing everything she ever owned, her life was falling apart. The symbol of light has a great impact in this character’s behaviour. Blanche avoids all direct, bright light, especially in front of men. Mitch, one of her potential suitors, proves this statement when he points out to Blanche: “I don’t think I ever seen you in the light.
Light In A Streetcar Named Desire
964 Words | 4 PagesFurthermore this accentuates on how Blanche managed to acquire what she wanted, the dim light. It also lays emphasis on how it allows Blanche to be who she chooses to be, implying her that she feels superior to Mitch whilst also allowing her to be attractive to him in the dark. To conclude we can say that Blanche’s delusional state is emphasised through the theme of light throughout the entire play. It accentuates her desperate attempts to escape the
A Streetcar Named Desire Marriage Analysis
978 Words | 4 PagesExamining Marriage in Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee William’s 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in Elysian Fields, New Orleans, and portrays the marital situation of this time. This play illustrates conflict over the marriage of Stella and Stanley. This marriage can be seen as strict, and controlling but also full of lust.
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
Use Of Light In A Streetcar Named Desire
531 Words | 3 PagesThis is where Blanche becomes obsessed with avoiding any type of light, whether it be in a loving relationship or an overhead lightbulb. Her reaction can be seen as an attempt hide the fact her youth is fading as well as her true nature. While staying with her sister Blanche makes several strides to stay in the dark. One of the first in a series of events she has Stanley’s friend Mitch cover a naked bulb in her room with a Chinese paper lantern stating “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action” (114; sec. 3) shows that she would rather hide behind fancy shades than face
Violence And Power In A Streetcar Named Desire
652 Words | 3 PagesThe themes of violence and power in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ hold an important role in the criticism of 1940s American society. Conflicts perpetuated by violence and power, such as abusive relationships and violent oppression are projected through the characters within the play. Williams uses these conflicts to highlight his criticisms of faltering values and social norms, from the perspective of an individual constrained by the expectations of a strict, Southern society. To begin with, there is an indefinite violence between men and women within ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Stanley Kowalski, a focal character, is the epitome of male dominance and primitive aggression.
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
Comparing The Great Gatsby And A Streetcar Named Desire
1312 Words | 6 PagesAnother very common theme represented throughout both texts, is the constant allusion to light. Within “A Streetcar Named Desire”, the use of light reveals Blanche’s role and appearance as a character. One of Blanche’s biggest flaws is that she prefers to be only seen in the dark. She does not like to reveal herself in the light as she is afraid of people seeing that she is in fact aging.
Theme Of Dominance In A Streetcar Named Desire
698 Words | 3 PagesThe Fight for Dominance In today’s society, gender norms convince men that unless they are able to control women, they are weak. Considered the inferior gender, women must find new ways to prove their own strength, whether it be through manipulation or their sexuality. The battle between the two continues as men strive to remain dominant, often by immoral means, and women attempt to gain the upper hand. In the screenplay, “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, the sexual tension and struggle for dominion between Blanche and Stanley is evident, and as the play continues, Blanche's promiscuity and Stanley's predatory nature foreshadow an inevitable confrontation.
Theme Of Light In A Streetcar Named Desire
895 Words | 4 PagesWhen Blanche first comes to Stella’s house, she firmly demands Stella to “turn the over-light off!” as she cannot “be looked at in [the] merciless glare” (Williams 11). Although the light seems harsh, Blanche acts hardhearted and pitiless and could possibly be seeing herself in the glare. Blanche “cannot tolerate being seen in bright light” because she is “hypersensitive to her declining physical beauty” (Adler 30). In attempts to protect her own image, she buys a paper lantern to cover the harsh light in Stanley and Stella’s bedroom; Blanche’s mental state is “as fragile” as the paper lantern that protects her from her own reality (Adler 30).
Society In A Streetcar Named Desire
847 Words | 4 Pages“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a very elegant film in which the Southern gothic culture is demonstrated profoundly. Tennessee Williams uses the characters in the play to bring about a sense of how corrupt society truly was in the 1940’s in the South. The 1940’s was marked by an immense amount of violence, alcoholism, and poverty. Women at the time were treated as objects rather than people. Throughout the play Tennessee Williams relates the aspects of Southern society to the characters in the play.
A Streetcar Named Desire Psychological Analysis Essay
1397 Words | 6 PagesBy taking a psychological approach to the characters, it is evident that they stand for more than just Southern Gothic characters trying to get by in the 40s. What is present and portrayed by the writer, Tennessee Williams, is that he uses similar ideologies as great Psychologist Sigmund Freud. Williams does this because of the diversity of the city of New Orleans and the ability it can shape and potentially adapt to the various lifestyles. The human psyche divided into three categories is present in the play as the main characters play each one: Stanley as id, Stella as ego, and Blanche as superego. Each character works as their own, but also in unison just as seen in
Character Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire
264 Words | 2 PagesOn the other side of the table, we have Blanche who is in an environment, that not until the end is believed to be crazy due to her past habits. The only moment that could pass for some sort of mania would be the moment on page 123 and 124 when she is speaking to Mitch and starts to hear polka music and when questioned on it she replies “The “Varaouviana”! The polka tune they were playing when Allen( her dead husband)--Wait!” she then hears a revolver shot and continues on like nothing happened (Williams). It's only when she tells her sister Stella the truth about Stanley raping her that Stella “couldn’t believe her story and go on living Stanley”(Williams).
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