Stanley also sees himself as an American and is proud of it however his originally from Poland and that’s a weakness Blanche kept using. Blanche makes ignorant remarks about Stanley’s Polish ethnicity throughout the play, implying that it makes him stupid and coarse. In Scene Eight, Stanley finally snaps out with these words’’ I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles, not Polacks. But what I am a one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it, so don’t ever call me a Polack’’.
Blanche
Tennessee Williams uses symbolism and imagery to help convey the idea that Blanche is deceptive, intimidating and seductive however she is also emphasised as a vulnerable deluded person. We can clearly discover how deceptive Blanche is by the symbolism that Williams uses throughout the play. One can note how Blanche continually wears white or red dresses when she is being especially flirtatious, so that she makes people think that she is innocent and pure. In Scene Five Blanche's white dress, a symbol of purity is stained which is symbolic of the fact that Blanche if far from being pure. Blanche's world hinges on illusion and deception as can be see through her lies and tricks throughout the play. Blanche feels that she must trick and deceive in order to survive in a world where she is not the cute innocent girl anymore and her looks are leaving her. We are introduced to Blanche as a "delicate beauty" that "must avoid strong light". Throughout the play, Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in front of her lover, Mitch. She also refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids light in order to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanche’s past. She is haunted by the ghosts of what she has lost her first love, her purpose in life.
Blanche covers the exposed light bulb in the Kowalski apartment with paper, and she refuses to go on dates with Mitch during the daytime . Mitch points out Blanche’s avoidance of light in Scene Nine, when he confronts her with the stories Stanley has told him of her past. Mitch then forces Blanche to stand under the direct light and tells her he doesn’t mind her age.
Williams, portrays Blanche as an uncertain character who hides behind the skin of her outer beauty and who when is placed under the spotlight, she feels exposed to other people seeing her real identity. She feel strongly about light that she didn’t let Mitch who she loved to see her in the light as Mitch said ‘’It's dark in here I don't think I ever seen you in the light What it means is I've never had a real good look at you.’’
There can be direct links made between what Blanche wants people to think of her, what Stanley thinks of her and what Blanche is really like when on her own. From the start of the play, Stanley is very suspicious and confused of Blanches personality and says, "Look at these feathers and furs she comes here to preen herself in." Stanley and Blanche are very contrasting characters as Stanley is from a Polish working-class background and he is very straightforward whereas Blanche attempts to be very 'ladylike' and innocent. Stanley sees right through her illusions, flirtations and deceptions. Despite Blanche putting on the mask of innocence and purity, she is really a fraud who cannot stand up to the light in fear that she will be exposed for the person she really is. When Blanche is on her own we discover a great deal about her personality when we can see that Blanche When nobody is watching consumes a reasonable amount of alcohol as well as enjoying a shot with Stella. Stella then offers Blanche another shot and she refuses this saying, "No, one's my limit." Later, when Stanley offers Blanche some she claims that she "rarely touches it", completely lying again all in the name of deception which to her equals personal security
In Blanche's dialogue and interaction with other characters we can see how Blanche is deceptive, egotistical and seductive. When Blanche says to Stella, "I want to deceive him enough to make him want me" we are given a major insight into Blanche's true deception, ego and flirtatious nature. We can also see how greedy Blanche is as she wants Stella to leave Stanley so that she does not feel so alone and afraid.however We can see this as Blanche says, "In my opinion? You're married to a madman", and "You can get out “This is not just because she feels lonely she is also jealousy of the fact that her sister has a stable and happy life whereas she is having to lie and deceive men to get their attention. In Blanche's conversation with Mitch she gives further weight to the idea that she deceives and tricks people. She lies consistently and pretends to be a very 'classy' and cultured when in reality she is neither. She makes Mitch guess what type of teacher she is and innocently laughs when Mitch suggests that she is an english teacher. Blanche says this in order to appeal to Mitch who is a sympathetic and kind man. Then she meets Stanley, Stella's husband. Stanley, in all his straightforwardness and honesty, seems to pose a strong threat towards Blanche. Blanche Dubois, has created a sort of glass cube around herself, for protection, and people such as Stanley threaten to shatter that glass cube by learning her secrets. When Blanche has been staying with the Kowalski’s for several weeks, she meets Mitch, a friend of Stanley's. In Mitch Blanche sees everything she has hoped for, everything she thinks will bring her back to a normal life. When Blanche was a girl, she wanted the things all young girls want: love, a husband, and a family. Then her young husband committed suicide.
After that, Blanche began her descent into madness. After realizing that she would never have those things she had always wished for, she began to create them out of herself; she began to fabricate lies so complex. Blanche begins to date Mitch and he falls in love with her.
Stanley and Blanche
In Scene Two, Stanley's primary interest in Blanche is in whether he and Stella are entitled to any money from Stella's family home. When he finds there is no inheritance, Stanley shows quite plainly throughout the following scenes that he has no use for Blanche: He doesn't like her personally and they have nothing in common. But as the play proceeds, it is obvious that Stanley does see Blanche as being something of a threat. She is a disruption to his and Stella's relationship in the physical sense since all three are living in small house, but what's worse; she is a part of what Stanley considers Stella's past. Williams’s uses water as symbolism Throughout the play, Blanche bathes herself. but these baths, as she says, calm her nerves. In light of her efforts to forget and shed her past in the new community of New Orleans, these baths represent her efforts to clean herself of her bad history. Yet, just as she cannot erase the past, her bathing is never done. Stanley also turns to water to undo a misdeed when he showers after beating Stella. Afterward, he leaves the bathroom feeling betterl and calls out longingly for his wife.
Scene 10
Scene ten is the climax of the play and it’s the scène were the character change most rapidly due to their actions e.g. Stanley rapes Blanche However, as Scene Ten begins, Stanley is on the verge of regaining his dominance. He has discovered details of Blanche's past that discredit her in Stella's eyes as well as putting an end to a potential marriage between Blanche and his friend Mitch. His victory over her influence is sealed when he gives her bus ticket back to her town and insists that she use it. He is also only hours away from becoming a father. His confidence in himself is palpable as the scene unfolds in the way he plays along with Blanche. he savagely unmasks her story as lies and Only as Blanche becomes more frantic and desperate does the idea of subduing Blanche sexually seem to enter his mind. His line: "Come to think of it-maybe you wouldn't be bad to interfere with" indicates the turn of his thoughts, but his last line, "We've had this date with each other from the beginning!" has the ring of a revelation. They are too different and their conflict has been too intense for it not to be resolved by some definite act of triumph. Stanley expresses his victory in a way that satisfies his male ego as well as being an appropriate response to Blanche's own subconscious desires she is physically and mentally destroyed. Only an overt act of domination like this could satisfy someone of Stanley's temperament.
