Symbolism Of Light In Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire
“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. “Delicate beauty” leads the readers to believe that Blanch is still young and fragile but this is contradicted by the next line “suggests a moth”. This could be a metaphor to Blanche, implying that although she may like the light, it could lead to her destruction thus highlighting how the “truth” may
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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.
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
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