Blanche’s insanity emerges as she retreats fully into herself, leaving the world of actual reality, since is is unable to go forward and accept reality. In order to escape reality fully, however, Blanche must come to perceive the exterior world as that of which she has imagined. This, reality is not a solution to Blanche’s fantasy world. Rather, Blanche adapts a world, which she thinks is true, to fit into her delusions. While this has been accomplished with both the physical and the psychological sections, there is no boundary between fantasy and reality in which for Blanche, is permeable.
Blanche’s Monologue The passage cited from “A Streetcar Named Desire” reveals the uncommon aspects of her character: the ideal notion of love and seething desire within herself, sexual struggle and conflict, pretentiousness of the ‘grand’ lady and the financially strained woman. It seems like Blanche’ ranting toward Stella but it actually likes Blanche talks to herself. First of all, after yesterday’s poker game, drunken Stanley cruelly abused Stella in public. However, Stanley’s sweet words and frank actions persuade Stella to forgive him, go back home, and spend the night with him. On the one hand, Blanche cannot understand why Stella decides to tolerate Stanley’s violent behaviors.
One of the symbols in the play is Blanche’s bathing. As said before Blanche’s name means white which could symbolize cleanliness. The bathing can be seen as a ritual to cleanse herself from her past such as the fact that she has lost Belle Reve and her husband. The bathing is also used by herself to calm down and cleanse her nerves, so therefor it has some effect to make her clean, but the fact that she often needs to bath shows her past can not be washed away or cleaned. The streetcar symbolizes Blanche’s life: “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at--Elysian Fields” The desire can be interpreted as the Blanche’s desire on men, which is seen when she is flirting with Stanley and her dependency on complement.
In scene six, Blanche narrated past events of her husband, Allan Grey to Mitch. Blanche told that the bright light had been missing during her inconsequential sexual affairs with other men; she had enjoyed only in dim light not in the bright light. Bathing Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche bathed herself. Her sexual experiences had made her a hysterical woman, but these baths, as she said, calm her nerves. In light of her efforts to forget and shed her illicit past in the new community of New Orleans, these baths represented her efforts to cleanse herself of her odious history.
Williams’s.play, A Streetcar Named Desire was based on the fantasy of Blanche and the other characters. The characters in the play were concealed from their reality. The idea of Fantasy vs. Reality appeared to bring on the idea that these characters wanted to escape from their world. This idea was mostly seen through character of Blanche, but several other characters might be observed in the play too.
The play begins as character Blanche Dubois arrives to her destination after getting off a streetcar named Cemeteries. She went to visit her baby sister, Stella, to inform her of the loss of their home plantation. Also, she had no other place to go, so visiting with Stella meant she had a home. When Stella arrives home, Blanche starts talking and Stella never gets the chance to speak. In the beginning, Blanche
She is so deluded from the fact that all her encounters with the people she calls kind strangers, were instances where they have taken advantage of her. In those last words spoken by Blanche before she leave, she reveals her madness as she is now in an illusion depending on the kindness of the doctor and no longer acknowledging Stella. At the aftermath, she is still eluded by the fact that strangers take advantage of her Mitch, Stanley and even her husband. The climax of Blanche's madness is when she confronted by itch about her lies and she stated that she "never lied inside[....never lied] in [her] heart..."(147). Which means she believes all the stories and tales she told were solely the truth.
Although being written centuries apart, the limited expectations of women presented in ‘Othello’ and ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ differ little from each other. The female characters are confined by society’s expectations of male dominance, female purity and virginity, and the many passive roles of women. Despite the differing legalities surrounding the position of women between the centuries in which the plays were written, both plays explore the impact of how societal conventions confine women and the ways they must comply to be safe in a patriarchal society. The behaviours and treatments of Desdemona, Blanche and Stella illustrate the attitudes enforced on and the behaviours of women throughout both periods in time and it is these attitudes and behaviours that impact the plays to the greatest extent. When characters in either plays defy their norms, or demonstrate a lack of compliance they induce negative consequences, such as the murder of Desdemona and the institutionalisation of Blanche.
By Blanche’s actions throughout the movie the audience can concur that she is the exact opposite of these attributes. Blanche is a very delicate and sensitive woman, which during this particular time period was a recipe for disaster. She is often abused by her husband and always seems to go back to him like dog who goes back to his owner after being beaten. Blanche seems to be a very profound liar throughout the film. She stretches her stories from what is the truth to what she thinks ought to be the truth.
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