Who do you believe is the most to blame for Blanches fate at the end of A Streetcar Named Desire?
Who do you believe is the most to blame for Blanche's fate at the end of ' A Streetcar Named Desire'? How far do you think Blanche qualifies as a tragic heroine during the course of the play?
There are many connecting themes that lead to Blanche's long-anticipated downfall. These themes I will discuss in my essay. She is under the influence of fate, her own sexual the desire for money. Major themes explored are death, fate and madness. Ironically the title incorporates the word 'desire', as we know this as an underlying theme in the novel. The fact that Williams saw an actual streetcar in Old Orleans gives the impression that William's play is close to own heart; we know that his sister could be viewed as a representation of Blanche in the play. She too had casual, frequent encounters much like Blanche has in the play. She was a nymphomaniac who was finally lobotomised and sent to an asylum. It is clear that 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is personal to the Playwright.
Blanche has annoying obsessive behaviour and it is clear that the Writer portrays Blanche as a person who would be clearly hell to live with. Blanche is first introduced in the play as being 'moth' like; immediately she is compared in her smartness to the shabby, rundown street ironically named, 'Elysian Fields':
" She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice... "
Her appearance is grand and starkly contrasted to the grubby settings. We also learn that Blanche is snobbish. Eunice is forced to speak:
".... Defensively, noticing Blanches look."
Blanche is unhappy in Old Orleans and she shows that she does not want to be associated with the standard of living, this she shows by her facial expressions and her posture whilst she sits in her chair. We also know she is a secret drinker:
" I rarely touch the stuff . . ."
Blanche's drinking habit could be seen as a way of suppressing her guilt and anaesthetising her pain. Blanche has many weaknesses and drinking is one of these. She is self-destructive and these weaknesses are largely to blame for own her mental deterioration. Blanche talks to herself, which is considered to be strange:
" [Faintly to herself]
I've got to keep a hold of myself!"
This is the first clue we get to Blanche's declining mental state. We see this as a slightly wild that she talks to herself.
Blanche allows as she has done in the past, her sexual desires dominate her life. She is self-destructive although that does not mean that the audience does not have sympathy for her. Stella is aware of Blanches need of flattery; it is suggested that Stella knows Blanche too well. She says to Stanley early on:
" Tell her she looks pretty. . ."
Stella is acutely conscious of Blanches need of ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
This is the first clue we get to Blanche's declining mental state. We see this as a slightly wild that she talks to herself.
Blanche allows as she has done in the past, her sexual desires dominate her life. She is self-destructive although that does not mean that the audience does not have sympathy for her. Stella is aware of Blanches need of flattery; it is suggested that Stella knows Blanche too well. She says to Stanley early on:
" Tell her she looks pretty. . ."
Stella is acutely conscious of Blanches need of flattery, and Stella quietly tries to please Blanche by telling Stanley to be nice. Blanche also has obsessive behaviour, which the audience can see as very annoying:
" I haven't bathed or powered my nose, and yet you are seeing me here."
She sings in the bath and cleans all day long, Blanche pesters both Stanley and Stella, but Stanley has more of a short fuse. His tolerance quickly runs out.
Blanche is always living in the past. This becomes highly evident when she is idly reminiscing about one of ex-boyfriends:
" Yes I ran into Sheep Huntleigh - I ran into him on Biscayne Boulevard, on Christmas Eve, about dusk...."
Tennessee Williams' characters are always trying to capture their former golden moment. Blanche is not living in present reality; she cannot bear the infringement of ugly reality into her wonderful make-believe world of the past.
.
Blanche to some extent is trapped in this rundown street with only her sister's support, which later in the play we know is lost. We feel sympathy towards Blanche at this point because it is clear that at this instance she is quite senseless.
Blanche has a constant need to be flattered. She ceaselessly fishes for compliments from Stanley, Mitch and Stella:
" Stella you haven't said one thing about my appearance."
Blanche has a fixation in her head that her looks are everything to her; she is very self-absorbed:
" Do you know I haven't put on one ounce since you left Belle Reve."
She boasts about the fact she is still beautiful; she is scared, however that people only see her for her looks as she never wants to look anything less than her best:
" I will not be seen in this light . . ."
Blanche does not like looking plain or aged because it makes her feel insignificant and unwanted; she likes to have the constant assurance of someone telling her she looks nice so she can feel good:
" I need kindness right now..."
Blanche's growing madness becomes evident at the beginning of the play:
" I can't be alone. Because - as you must have noticed - I'm - not very well . . ."
Later on in the play the audience sees Blanches character unfold. We see that she is highly manipulative and flirts with men to get them to do what she wants, although it does not work with Stanley as we see early on:
" [She smiles at him radiantly]
Do you think it possible that I was once considered to be attractive?. . ."
This quotation is showing that Blanche is treading dangerously in flirting with her sister's husband. We have a great deal of insight into Blanche's sexual background. We know from her past that she was very promiscuous and she indulged into one-night stands at the Hotel Flamingo, back in Laurel. Blanche does this in order to feel needed because she wants to be noticed:
" You have got to be seductive . . .put on soft colours... and glow make a little temporary magic and glow"
We feel sympathy that Blanche has to sleep with men but this is very seedy behaviour and very much a personal weakness that Blanche cannot change. Her promiscuity leads her to the acknowledgement that her life is nothing in the hotel she tries to get away from her past but it keeps catching up with her. Stanley and Mitch remind her of this. Blanche again in her critical speech about magic stresses the importance of appearance:
" I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick. You have to be soft and attractive, and I'm fading now."
Mitch is taken in by Blanche's manipulation. The relationship between Blanche and Mitch could be seen as an escape route into reality, as it is what Blanche: needs a house of her own and a permanent relationship to settle down in. Blanche lies to Mitch about her own age and Stella's:
" I call her little in spite of the fact she is somewhat older than I."
Mitch is upset that Blanche lies to him and does not tell him about her affairs at the Hotel Flamingo. Mitch finds out from Stanley:
" Lies, Lies, inside and out, all lies."
Blanche is not used to being rejected; her reaction to this is that the little self-worth she has left was smashed. She could not take any more. Mitch cares for his mother; he has the nickname 'titsucker' for being loyal to his mother. We are under the impression that he does not like to be lied to because he believes in being loyal.
Throughout the play, Blanche is being reminded of her dead husband, because of the polka music. In the beginning of the play polka music can be heard:
" [The noise of the polka music rises up, faint in the distance.]
The boy, the boy died.....[Her head falls on her arms]"
The music reminds Blanche of her sad past. The music plagues Blanche throughout the play, it is an incessant reminder of her dead husband. At the end of the play it takes over from reality.
There are quite a few factors that lead to Blanche's downfall, I believe that many of them are owing to Blanche's sad past, and the death of her father, mother and husband. Not to be forgotten the loss of Belle Reve. This was named "Beautiful dream"; Blanches tries to escape from her nightmare and create a new beautiful dream for herself.
Stanley makes it clear throughout the play that Blanche is not welcome. He makes it clear early on in the play that he is the man of the house:
" I'm not eating at no Gallitoires"
Stanley is not happy that the women are going out to dinner and he expects a meal ready for him. We expect Stanley to have some power over the two women as goes out and earns the money but we see his behaviour as rather extreme when he sexually abuses and finally rapes Blanche:
" She moans. The bottle-top falls. She sinks to her knees, he picks her up and carries her to the bed."
There are many ways of seeing the reasons why Stanley does this to Blanche. The first is the fact that Blanche had offered sex earlier for a roof over her head and Stanley, being the man of the house expected the same. The second reason is proving to Stella that she has to make a choice between himself and Blanche. The third motive involves proving to Blanche that he is the head of the household.
When Blanche is raped by Stanley, her mental deterioration becomes more manifest. :
" Operator, operator! Give me long distance, please. . . . I want to get in touch with Mr Shep Huntleigh of Dallas. He's so well-known he doesn't need an address."
Blanche is driven by desire, especially the desire to have money, which becomes clear when she talks about Sheep Huntleigh being a millionaire. The primary force that drives Blanche to her destruction is desire, sexual passion. Early on in the play the sisters speak of that sexual desire; Blanche uses too the image of the streetcar for it:
" That rattle-trap street-car"
Throughout his life Tennessee Williams was driven from one sexual encounter to another one, just like Blanche. Also like Blanche he seemed incapable of staying in a permanent relationship. To be driven by desire, the author seems to be saying, is self-destructive, and those who are carried away by overpowering passion are unable to escape.
The longing of Blanche for Mitch to marry her arises not from the fact that she wants a sexual encounter but that she wants a secure roof over her head, which she can call her own.
" The poor mans paradise - is a little peace."
In reference to the set question I do personally believe that Blanche qualifies as a tragic heroine to a large extent. The Shakespearean concept that death is the usual penalty is does not qualify. We know that Blanche does not die, merely that she is taken to an asylum. I believe, and it is very clear in the play that Blanche has a lot of personal weakness, which reinforces the concept of a tragic heroine, although I would not put all the blame down to this fact. There are people around Blanche that aid the mental deterioration such as the rape by Stanley, and the rejection from Mitch. Blanche is self-destructive, destined to her tragic end. Her personal weaknesses are hugely to blame for this. Tennessee Williams apparently came to see the character of Blanche as a real living person who would go on living outside of the play, he also believed that she would go on living outside of the asylum and marry again.