Blanche is also a naturally passionate character but unlike Catherine, she tries to hide this and she does this through her appearance. Although she wears ‘flowery dresses’ and soft pastel shades, ‘the colours of butterfly wings’ to imitate an image of purity and softness, behind closed doors she wears more vivid, alluring colours, notably her ‘scarlet satin robe.’ In ‘Wuthering Heights’ the colour red is also symbolic of passion as Catherine becomes ‘red with rage’ when angry, but here red is used to represent lustrous desire, a completely different type of passion. Blanche is seen wearing this robe when in the presence of both Stanley and Mitch and by doing this, Williams is conveying to the audience her subliminal desire to seduce them. When Blanche is wearing this robe, we see a different side to her – a shocking contrast to her fragile ‘moth like’ guise.
Imagery is also used in ‘Wuthering Heights’ but Brontë tends to use warmth and heat more to represent passion. She often uses Catherine’s fevers to reflect the intensity of her emotion. She declares “Oh, I’m burning” which not only supports this idea but shows the destructive nature of her passion. This is similar to Blanche and her presentation as a ‘moth.’ Her desires draw her to danger like a moth drawn to light, but like a moth she inevitably gets ‘burned’ and an example of this is her fatal attraction to Stanley. This attraction to danger in the form of light resembles Catherine’s attraction to the ‘black fire’ of Heathcliff. There is heat and warmth but also the threat of danger. This is sharply contrasted to her relationship with her ‘cold’ husband Edgar whom she cannot love as fiercely as Heathcliff, as demonstrated when she says to him, “Your cold blood cannot be worked into a fever: your veins are full of ice-water; but mine are boiling, and the sight of such chilliness makes them dance.”
This clash of cultures is also represented through setting, notably the use of Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights which, despite the close proximity between the two, embody completely separate worlds. Wuthering Heights encapsulates heat, warmth and passion, the scent of spices provokes a warm aura and the use of ‘shining’ and ‘silver’ creates a glittering effect. In the days when Mr Earnshaw was alive, Wuthering Heights was a warm, lively environment which served a perfect backdrop for the growing love between Catherine and Heathcliff to flourish. This is similar to ‘Elysian Fields’ in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' which is lively and vibrant. Its colour and warmth makes it the ideal setting for a play based on passion, and desire. In the opening stage direction, Williams creates this atmosphere through the stage directions; the sky is represented by a ‘tender blue’ lighting which creates a soft, emotional aura and there is the smell of ‘bananas and coffee,’ the ‘music of Negro entertainers’ and ‘the warm breath of the brown river.’ Here, Williams appeals to the senses to create a feeling of life, making it the perfect setting for Stanley and Stella to live and start a family, despite it being ‘poor,’ as their relationship is full of fire and passion. In comparison, Thrushcross Grange, although richly ordained with ‘crimson covered chairs and tables, and a pure white ceiling bordered by gold,’ is a cold, materialistic environment which passionate Catherine cannot exist in. Similarly Isabella cannot survive at Wuthering Heights proving that these worlds do not mix well. The same is true for Blanche whose passion for fantasy prevents her from being able to exist in the reality of Elysian Fields which is shown by her longing to live in Belle Reve, which literally translates to mean ‘beautiful dream.’
Women are also portrayed as self destructive, as their passion and desire lead them to ruin. In 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' Blanche’s journey to the Latin Quarter from Laurel is symbolic of her metaphorical path of destruction. Upon arriving in the Quarter she says “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at-Elysian Fields!” The names used are all symbolic; her mode of transport is appropriately named ‘Desire’ as it was her sexual desire that caused her to lose her job and literally drove her from her old life in Laurel. Consequently, her transfer to a streetcar named ‘Cemeteries’ suggests a journey heading towards death and destruction and her final destination of ‘Elysian Fields,’ known in Greek mythology as the land of the dead, is symbolic of Blanche entering a new world, a new phase of her life. Williams is ultimately implying that Blanche’s passion and sexuality is the cause of her downfall whilst also establishing a link between promiscuity and death. This echoes Catherine’s situation in ‘Wuthering Heights’ where her passion also leads her down a road of destruction and eventually death. Her stubborn pride and determination to get her own way pushes her to extreme lengths. Her inability to control her situation any more causes her to declare, “If I cannot keep Heathcliff for my friend-if Edgar will be mean and jealous, I’ll try to break their hearts by breaking my own.” She self-consciously jeopardises her health to gain the attention of Edgar and Heathcliff, whose mutual hate for one another shatters Catherine’s naïve ambition. Although both Edgar and Heathcliff do suffer enormously as her health deteriorates, her illness spirals out of control and she dies as a result. In comparison, Blanche also seeks male attention but goes to different lengths to achieve it and uses her sexuality instead. She says, “men don’t-don’t even admit your existence unless they are making love to you. And you’ve got to have your existence admitted by someone, if you’re going to have someone’s protection.” Through this we can see that it is her vulnerability and need for protection that drives her towards men yet her skewed perception of what a relationship is forces her to believe that the only way to gain this protection is through having sex with men. Ironically, this is exactly what Blanche needs protecting from. Her promiscuity forced her out of Laurel and still, Blanche cannot break this destructive cycle as she again falls victim to desire in New Orleans.
Women are portrayed as flawed individuals to the point where their faults become restrictions, preventing them from happiness. Vanity is potentially the biggest character defect of both Catherine and Blanche. Blanche is obsessed with her appearance, although there is a clear link between her insecurity and this vanity, which is so extreme she even refuses to be seen in the light. From this fear of light we can deduce her self-loathing, a repulsion of who she really is. to her and to her a naked light is on a par with a ‘rude remark or a vulgar action’ which gives insight into Blanche’s deep self-loathing, the use of the word ‘vulgar’ is a link to her seedy past and her sexual desires which she wishes to hide from people. She says the dark is ‘comforting’ likewise she finds comfort in her lies as through them she can become somebody else. She says “I don’t tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth,” and so she has developed a complete double character, an image of who she thinks she ought to be, whom she can hide her real self behind. This is why she lies about her age and why she wears so much make-up, because as long as she can retain her appearance she still has the power to seduce men. Catherine’s vanity also causes her to adopt ‘double character,’ but it was her ‘ambition’ rather than insecurity that caused her to do so. Her new desire to be accepted in society caused her to hide ‘her rough side’ from the Lintons which at the same time caused her to drift from Heathcliff. After returning to Wuthering Heights from a stay at Thrushcross Grange, as a ‘lady’ and a ‘dignified person,’ Catherine’s new attention to appearance immediately causes friction between her and Heathcliff, who in contrast to her new elegance is described as being ‘quite unfit for a decent house!’ From thence forth, there is a change in their friendship as Catherine has placed herself out of reach of Heathcliff just by becoming more refined in her appearance. The fact that they cannot embrace properly without her gazing ‘concernedly at the dusky fingers she held in her own, and also at her dress; which she feared had gained no embellishment from its contact with his’ shows already the drifting apart of these two soul mates. Despite declaring that their love ‘resembles the eternal rocks beneath,’ she chooses to marry Edgar Linton merely because ‘he is handsome and pleasant…..and he will be rich and I shall like to be the greatest woman of the neighbourhood.’ Her selfish justification that, “It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now” causes her to choose Edgar instead and suffers a lifetime of torment as a result.
Women from both texts can also be seen as the victims of male oppressors like Heathcliff and Stanley. Visually, they are two very imposing characters, Stanley is ‘strongly, compactly built’ and Heathcliff is a ‘tall, athletic, well-formed man.’ They are both physically intimidating, possessing the bodily power to oppress women, who in comparison are portrayed as being fragile in appearance. Isabella, for example, is compared to a ‘sparrow’s egg’ to emphasise her defencelessness against Heathcliff. Heathcliff and Stanley are also described in animalistic terms, Heathcliff as a ‘brute beast’ and Stanley as ‘ape-like,’ to reflect their common brutality and lack of sensitivity. This lack of human compassion enables them to bully their victims without feeling remorse. When he ‘seized, and thrust [her] from the room,’ we see evidence of this attitude and how it enables him to terrorise Isabella without feeling any shame. In fact he says, “I have no pity! I have no pity! The more the worms writhe, the more I yearn to crush out their entrails,” and we can see that Heathcliff uses violence and intimidation as a means to oppress women like Isabella and Cathy Linton. Stanley, on the other hand, uses his overt sexuality to oppress and undermine women. He is the ‘richly feathered male bird among hens’ which metaphorically shows the power and pride he has amongst women. He ‘sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications,’ which shows his sexist attitude and lack of respect towards women, even his own wife. Sex is an integral part of their passionate relationship, but Stanley also uses sex as a weapon. He gives Stella ‘a loud whack of his hand on her thigh’ to humiliate her in the presence of his male companions and he even goes as far as raping Blanche to get rid of her
Women are also the victims of the patriarchal society that they exist within. Both Catherine and Blanche grew up in male dominated environments, which were equally damaging. Catherine spent her childhood under the severity of Joseph, the ‘wearisomest self-righteous Pharisee’ and her ‘tyrannical and evil’ brother, Hindley who did ‘nothing but play and drink.’ In the same way Blanche and Stella had to grow up in a home affected by male recklessness. The men in their family ‘exchanged the land for their epic fornications’ and the women were left to pick up the pieces caused by their irresponsibility. Stella leaves only to marry Stanley who drinks, gambles and becomes aggressive when drunk. Behaviour similar to Hindley’s whose alcohol abuse causes outbursts of violence thus creating a dysfunctional household. Both Blanche and Catherine suffered in their youth because of men; Catherine’s father, her only parent, told her “I cannot love thee” and this rejection ‘hardened her.’ In the same way, we learn from Stella that Blanche has also been greatly affected by men of her past and we catch a glimpse of she used to be like before ‘nobody was tender and trusting as she was’ however ‘people like [Stanley] abused her, and forced her to change.’
Despite the difference in era, in both texts there is a clear patriarchal hierarchy and a distinct divide between the roles of men and women and their place within society. In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ Williams uses colours and visual imagery to create a male environment, as we see on the ‘poker night.’ The men are described as being ‘at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours’ and this is reflected by the use of the bold, bright colours Williams uses on them. The ‘solid blues, purple, red-and-white check [and] light green’ of their shirts represent ‘the raw colours of childhood’s spectrum’ and emphasises the brazenness, yet simplicity of their world. However, when this environment is disturbed by the women, the balance is lost and violence erupts, provoking the statement ‘poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women’ which is implying the underlying message that the male and female worlds need to remain separate. A certain balance needs to be maintained and the idea is that in order for this to happen the women have to be kept in their appropriate places. As a result of this way of thinking, women are often victims within their own marriages. Stella is trapped within a patriarchal environment, her husband Stanley is ‘king’ and therefore Stella has little to no power within the relationship. She is financially dependent on him through being denied ‘a regular allowance,’ which then robs her of her independence. Isabella is in a similar situation but she is literally locked in the house with Heathcliff against her wishes. During the era ‘Wuthering Heights’ was set in, this patriarchal hierarchy was socially accepted and therefore Brontë did not need to use any ambiguous language to portray this to the reader. Men lawfully had the right to do whatever they wanted to their wives and women held no power at all within a marriage. Heathcliff is aware of this and purposely uses his role as husband to oppress his wife Isabella. He informs her, “I, being your legal protector, must detain you in my custody, however distasteful the obligation may be,” and it is clear that he is using the power he is granted by society to oppress women, and there is nothing she can do to stop him. Catherine, although her husband is neither aggressive nor intimidating, is also trapped within her marriage and trapped within Thrushcross Grange, where she does not belong. Her home is now her prison and she longs to be free, she says, “I wish I were out of doors!” and is often at an open window which is symbolic of her need to escape. Her constant demands to “open the window again wide” resembles Blanche’s request to “open the door while I take a last look at the sky” where she would like to go ‘on a rocket that never comes down’ and we can see that both these characters feel trapped in their lives and long to be elsewhere.
However the women do not support each other and instead often turn against one another.
Blanche and Stella’s sisterly bond is ruined by Stella’s selfishness. She does not believe Blanche’s story because she does not want to believe it. She has a new life beginning for her, especially once she has her baby and she is not willing to jeopardise this. Because of course if Blanche was telling the truth, this would mean her husband is a rapist and Stella does not want to accept this because then it would mean leaving the security of her life with Stanley. The only alternative she has is to believe Stanley instead and turn her back on her sister resulting in the ultimate betrayal. In a similar way, Heathcliff comes between the sisterly bond of Catherine and Isabella and they turn against one another. Isabella calls Catherine ‘a dog in the manger’ and Catherine responds “You are an impertinent little monkey.” Isabella ignores Catherine’s warnings because she does not want to believe that she is right and so, like Stella chooses to end their relationship forever for the sake of her selfishness and runs away with Heathcliff. There is tension between the women in both texts and mistrust amongst each other. Catherine says “Ah! Nelly has played traitor” “Nelly is my hidden enemy and they do not realise that the only way they can break the oppression of society and help one another is by working together.
Both texts portray women as complex and flawed creatures; they create their own misery through their inability to be content and the way that they place boundaries between themselves and happiness. Blanche’s escapism forces to live a deceptive life where she lies to others and to herself, but it is her tragic desire to be young, to return to a time where she was happy that makes her unable to exist in the world she is in now. Catherine places materialism and social status before what she knows is right when she chooses to marry Edgar Linton, her polar opposite, over Heathcliff her soul mate. Despite this it is essential to note that they are also victims. Their vulnerability causes them to seek refuge elsewhere only to be oppressed by a patriarchal existence that they cannot escape from. The women suffer as a result of this and are unfortunately the product of the society that they live within.
