Towards the beginning of the book it would appear to the reader that the relationship between Blanche and Stanley is fairly neutral if not a little flirty. However it becomes evident that Blanche’s presence begins to wane upon Stanley shortly after her arrival. The dramatist begins a series of events which eventually lead to the deterioration of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship. The first of the events which cause the indefinite deterioration of the relationship of Blanche and Stanley is a conversation between Blanche and Stanley’s wife, her sister, Stella. This conversation entails Blanche slandering Stanley due to his behaviour towards her sister the night before;
“There’s something down right bestial about him!”
This develops a conflict between the pair which adds to the deterioration of their relationship as Stanley disapproves of someone that has such a low opinion of him occupying his home. This method of presenting the deterioration of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship is important in the sense that it sets the scene for the rest of the play. It allows Stanley to see a little of Blanches true colours and helps to create tension between Blanche and Stanley. This tension is required in order to help convey the various themes of the text, which involve opposing ideas such as; dreams versus reality, death versus desire and old versus new America. Hence by using Blanche’s conversation with Stella the dramatist presents the deterioration between Blanche and Stanley’s relationship; which is, in my opinion, important to the play as a whole as it creates tension.
This deterioration is further continued by the dramatist by the use of Blanche and Mitch’s relationship to further drive a wedge between Blanche and Stanley. It is with the use of this relationship that Blanche’s deceitful nature is exposed. Mitch is one of Stanley’s best friends and following her move to New Orleans becomes Blanches so called “beau”. Blanche and Mitch grow very close; however Blanche lies to him, giving him the impression that she is very prim and proper especially among men. This strongly evokes Stanley’s dislike of Blanche as well as the deterioration of their relationship as Stanley knows otherwise with regards to Blanche;
“There isn’t a god dam thing but imagination! And lies and conceit and tricks!”
Stanley alerts Mitch to Blanches past life as a prostitute in Laurel destroying Mitch and Blanches relationship. This deteriorates Stanley and Blanche’s relationship as Stanley destroys the new life Blanche has hoped to create for herself in New Orleans and also gets rid of her one source of security, Mitch. In my opinion, this way of presenting the deterioration of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship is very clever as although it does not involve direct conflict between Blanche and Stanley, it shows Stanley trying to destroy Blanche’s new life which is by no means a friendly action. And so this method of presenting deterioration of the relationship between Blanche and Stanley is important to the play as a whole as it shows the antagonist Stanley making further attempts to destroy our protagonist Blanche; yet again helping to convey the idea of two opposing themes.
The greatest way in which the dramatist presents the deterioration of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship is though scene ten. Scene ten is the scene of the play in which Stanley’s rape of Blanche occurs. This signifies the utmost peak of their relationships deterioration. Not only does it completely destroy Blanche’s state of mind but also her relationship with all the residents of New Orleans including her beloved sister Stella;
“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley.”
This loss of all potential allies to herself destroys Blanche and lands her in a mental hospital come the end of the book. This method of presenting the deterioration is also important as it shows the final out come between the opposing themes that Blanche and Stanley have both been representing through out the play. It shows Stanley; reality, New America, death, conquering over Blanche; dreams, Old America and desire. And so this method of the deterioration of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship is important to the play as a whole.
In conclusion “A Streetcar Named Desire”, the thrilling drama by Tennessee Williams uses the deterioration of Blanche and Stanley’s relationship; shown through Blanches attitude to Stanley, Blanches relationship with Mitch and Stanley’s domination of Blanche in scene ten; to explore the theme of dreams versus reality to a greater extent.
