“Playwright Tennessee Williams was born on March 26, 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi” (“Tennessee Williams”). Tennessee Williams was one of the most prominent playwrights in history. The way he conducted plays were dramatic, eye opening and ahead of his time. Tennessee Williams was a white Southern male who grew up in one the harshest time periods in America. It was a more strict time period with old idealistic ways. Tennessee Williams showed a different side of literature; where everything is not perfect and subtle but rather harsh. Harshness of reality is what he focused on. Certain ideas that some playwrights avoided, he exploited. In Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche Dubois is a arrogant liar who lives in a false reality. …show more content…
She drinks and lie’s because of her past, with her consciously knowing that she is responsible for the death of allan, and also being responsible for being fired as a teacher; she has to find a way to cope with everything going on in her head. Blanche’s way of coping is lying, her lying becomes part of her reality. “Blanches part in her husband 's death is neither gentile nor loving.” (Phillip 305) She Feels guilty for her actions, but there is little remorse shown from blanche. She feels terrible for judging but knows its irreversible so she lives with it. With the Character traits such as Blanches, she realizes her mistake but will not openly admit to them out in the public eye. “The touch of your hands insults them.” (Williams 37) She holds her secrets close, and when people ask’s for the truth; she’s feels like they 're being rude or against her. But when she opens up; is when she starts to lie and get defensive instead of telling the complete and honest …show more content…
Multiple harsh scenarios give a detailed outline on how Blanche can ruin a character 's self esteem without doing much harm to her own. Blanche buries her own personal flaws by attention seeking , flirtatious behavior, lying and drinking. “Blanches most fundamental regret as we see her in new orleans, is not that she happened to marry a homosexual… Blanche’s concern that, when made aware of her husband 's sexuality she brought on the boys suicide” (Berkman 252) When Blanche judges somebody else it take weight off her shoulders from her own life struggles. Allan killing himself was just another layer of filth that Blanche tends not to acknowledge. The act of Allan Grey killing himself after Blanche discover’s that he is a homesexual is what started the chain of events for Blanche to take on majority of her traits. She consumes an excessive amount alcohol to forget Allan and other traumatizing events, but in reality all this lying and drinking is just adding building her insecurities even
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Show MoreBlanche is projecting the self-image of a person who believes that they are above others. She acts as though she is of a royal family and demands the respect of everyone around her. She loses her family's home to the government and blames it on her sister who left in order to search for her own lifestyle. From the beginning of her visit, Blanche gets an off feeling about Stanley. When she arrives, he starts to stare at her with a sense of caution then soon begins inspecting the paperwork that she brought with her in order to validate her story.
Blanche acts as if her life is not falling apart and carries herself as the same girl from Belle Reve. She carries herself as the most sophisticated, classy, pure and innocent than everyone else, however later within the play the readers witness Blanche’s true nature. A promiscuous, manipulative, former aristocrat with a poorly hidden drinking problem. “She springs up and crosses to it, and removes a whiskey bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down.
Playwright, Tennessee Williams, used his own suffering and cynical nature to create this play. Many of the characters’ personalities were created
Furthermore, Blanche’s illusions help her to avoid confronting the truth about herself. Blanche is not entirely honest about her character, and she uses her illusions to hide her flaws. Blanche presents herself as a refined and cultured woman, but her behavior contradicts this. She drinks excessively, lies frequently, and engages in questionable behavior with men. By creating illusions about herself, Blanche can
Stanley takes advantage of Blanche using his assertion and Blanche’s vulnerability due to her mental state and high level of intoxication. After the attack, Blanche’s already diminished mental state continues to deteriorate, leading her into
One major similarity between Blanche and Stanley is that they both like to manipulate or control other people, to make themselves feel better. Even though there are different ways Stanley and Blanche take control of other people they still do it in a familiar matter. For example, Blanche takes power and influence over people by lying to others and herself, to make them believe in something that actually never happened, with fantacy, therefore makes Blanche feel greater, than she actually may be. To go deeper in depth, to prove that Blanche is manipulative she also says. ¨I don 't tell the truth.
But don’t look at me..” and “Open your pretty mouth and talk while I look around for some liquor”. 6) Identify two examples of Blanche’s deception in this scene. What does this reveal about her character? One example is that Blanche try to seem alright
Stereotypical gender roles have existed as long as human culture has, becoming a natural part of all of our lives. Within each gender lies a variety of stereotypes and expectations. Most notably for men they are often depicted as tough and the family provider. Whereas women are often shown to be soft and vulnerable. Throughout the play A Streetcar Named Desire the author; Tennessee Williams illustrates the main characters, Stanley, Stella, Mitch and Blanche with these stereotypes.
“[She springs up and crosses to it, and removes a whiskey bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink]”(1.71) Blanche tries to separate herself from reality when she drinks, trying to forget and escape her troubled past. Being in a new environment is unsettling.
The fragility of Blanche’s mental state is evident when her paper
It 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
To hide her true self, Blanche restored to duplicity, coupled with her voracious desire and ubiquitous deception caused her a breakdown. In the following paragraphs, there will be more events that led Blanche to such end. One of the things that led Blanche to her downfall is the past. The past, where she was the reason why she lost her husband, Alan, he
However the main conflict is Blanche’s inability to accept reality or her inability to let go of her past. Blanche sees herself above her sister’s life and carries a sense of entitlement that no longer fits her environment like it did in her past. Underneath, Blanche is a liar and Stanley is not. Stanley and Stella are able to able to admit what they are while Blanche is constantly trying to hide who she is. She is unable to come to her desire and sees herself superior to the people around her.
There are several ways you could say Tennessee William uses the motifs of light and shadow throughout the play “A Streetcar Named Desire”. One of the most obvious is how both are used to convey the difference between reality and the fantasy world some characters seem trapped in. Reality is represented by light, under it nothing can be hidden. Whereas staying in the shadows allow one to hide parts of themselves they wish to keep secret and create a false sense of reality, a fantasy of who they want to be. Williams also uses light to develop the character of Blanche, who struggles with her past and aging body.
And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!” Blanches magic is seen through her illusions and delusions. In Blanches world Mitch doesn’t fit however she has reached a point of intimacy by being honest about her first husband and the guilt she endures as she begins to share the painful moment of her life with him. Stanley’s intrusion ruins her plans of marriage with Mitch and yet again she had to retreat in the world of her delusions. Stanley who represents realism in this novel and play pops Blanche’s illusion bubble through seeing the realism in scene ten