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.
This idea was mostly seen through character of Blanche, but several other characters might be observed in the play too. Stella fell in love with a blue-collar worker namely Stanley. She was mesmerized by his officer suit and shiny medals in first look. As the play progresses Stella’s and Stanley’s relationship became worst. Stanley’s masculinity overtook Stella.
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.
These rumors were a threat to what she has created in order to help her with the chaos in her life. Although she tried to build a new life with Stella, Stanley never gave in to her act and was constantly suspicious of her actions. Stanley's constant investigations and interrogations on Blanche’s old life. This is a representation of reality is starting to creep in of Blanche's newly created life. From the beginning Stanley has doubted Blanche, this is seen as he went through Blanche's things with Stella, questioning her belongings, “has she got this stuff out of teacher's pay?”(2.33).
His straightforward, practical nature makes him “boom” out of impatience (46) and demands Blanche to cut straight to the point when she tries to talk in an indirect, subtle manner as befit a Southern gentlewoman. In contrast, Blanche, besides conducting her conversation subtly and indirectly, also enjoys refinement such as “art, poetry, and music” (83). She shields the lamp with paper lanterns and sprays the house with perfume, both refinements intolerable to Stanley, who tears them down at the last
She states that she “won’t be looked at in this merciless glare” (Williams, 11) and as she starts getting more comfortable at the Kowalski’s, she puts a paper lantern over the lightbulb to soften the light. The subdued glow allows her to play the role of a virtuous and coquettish ingénue while hiding her true age and her sordid past. Moreover, Blanche is of the opinion that “a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion” (Williams, 41), which might explain why she is so attached to the idea of purity, considering her promiscuous past (which was revealed when in Scene 7, Stanley confronted Blanche about her work as a prostitute in Laurel). This continues throughout the play until, in Scene 9, Mitch says “I’ve never had a real good look at you” (Williams, 144) to Blanche and tears the lantern off the light bulb putting her in full exposure in terms of her looks and her true personality. The Southern belle defends herself saying that she prefers magic over reality, so she tells people “what ought to be truth” (Williams,
At times there is the consideration that lying, as well as can be stated for Blanche is, she believes that is the truth, and not a false impression. Blanche gets caught up into lies
The main protagonist of “A streetcar named desire” is Blanche. Blanche was working as an english teacher, and she has a high interest in fashion. Blanche is dependent on males and women complimenting her looks, here is an quote illustrating my point: “And admire her dress and tell her she 's looking wonderful. That 's important with Blanche. Her little weakness!” As we can see, Blanche has a lot of focus on how she looks, but this quote also shows
Blanche allows herself to be seen when she is undressing connoting that she only wants to be seen in light to attract other men, by her “beauty”, that are around.“The portières” emphasizes on how she is not clearly visible to the onlookers but her outline is thus, not revealing her true self to them. This could also be interpreted, that she craves for the sexual attraction that she once had when she was younger. The alliteration “Leave the lights off” permits the readers to feel her desperation for the lights to be off, whilst giving a sense of “lust”. Furthermore 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.
The character role of Blanche in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire was full of fantasy and delusion where Stella and Stanley started to live a life in romance. The place names were real, the journey foreshadowed Blanche’s psyche orientation throughout the play. Blanche’s desires had led her down paths of bad sexual relation and alcoholism, and by making contact with the Kowalski; she had crossed the limit. Blanche’s desire to escape made her to isolate from the world around her. By the end of the play, Blanche could no longer distinguish between fantasy and reality.