To what extent can Blanche Dubois be described as a tragic victim in A Streetcar named Desire

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To what extent can Blanche Dubois be described as a tragic victim in A Streetcar named Desire

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams presents the ‘daintily dressed’ Blanche Dubois as a tragic victim. Williams achieves this through his use of language, stage directions in the play and other dramatic techniques to emphasise Blanche’s mental state and her dependence on alcohol and men. These factors cumulate and shape her tragic flaw, which is giving in to desire.  She allows her desire to take control and manifest itself into drama and tragedy. When Blanche arrives, she has fallen, her fate is sealed and there is no way back for her now.

The play presents a version of slum life that is romanticised, butreflects the typical characters of New Orleans. The area around Elysian Fields is historically different from the rest of the south as blacks mingle with whites, and members of different ethnic groups play poker and bowl together. Members of the lower class fight, but drink to the tune of an old bluesy piano, which allows them to forget the harshness of poverty. Blanche’s ‘appearance is incongruous’ against the backdrop of New Orleans, which gives the audience a sense of vulnerability.The manner in which Blanche is dressed shows that she comes from an upper class background, and that she cares for her appearance. However she only wears costume jewellery, showing the audience how cheap and fake she is. Blanche is likened to ‘a moth’, highlighting her delicate state. This is negative, because she is not a beautiful butterfly, but lives for the darkness instead. Even without this, the used speech by Blanche expresses how much of a victim she is.

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We learn early in the play that Blanche is a heavy drinker as ‘she pours half a tumbler of whisky and tosses it down’. She drinks in order to forget about her guilt in contributing to her husband’s suicide. Blanche was filled with ‘disgust’ after discovering Allen’s secret that she tormented him just before he turned the gun upon himself. Alcohol offers her temporary amnesia and reassurance, but this becomes less effective as the play progresses, and so her drinking gets steadily worse. Drinking allows Blanche to escape from the real world and let her imagination take over. Blanche’s ...

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The structure of this essay could be improved. It seems to me that they have taken a chronological approach, going through the play and picking a variety of techniques in each paragraph. At A-Level, the most sophisticated students are able to gather a collection of techniques and focus on detailed analysis. For this essay, I would be considering the main characteristics of a tragic victim, and address each characteristic separately per paragraph. Phrases such as "Some people may say that Blanche is not a victim" could be improved to "Some critics may argue" to strengthen the critical voice. Being able to appreciate the alternative interpretations is a great skill to have, however, and I would note this is highly rewarded by examiners. Spelling, punctuation and grammar are strong. This is a fluently written essay, there just needs to be more focus on literary techniques.

The analysis here is good, and there are some good ideas shown. I would note that there is slightly too much focus on symbolism here . Examiners want to see a range of techniques analysed, and great essays will explore language, form and structure. Sometimes this essay spends too long discussing their idea of the symbol rather than exploring the effect it has on the narrative and the audience. For example "The lantern relates to a moth being drawn to the flame of desire. Each time the lantern is taken down Blanche has to confront her fears, affecting her mental stability." This essay would benefit from discussing Williams' constructions rather than stating things as fact. For example "Blanche is a victim of desire, which will haunt her forever" could be better written as "Williams constructs Blanche as a victim of her desire" which then allows a natural progression into the techniques used to display this, and the dramatic response by the audience.

This essay responds well to the task, and with a few tweaks there is potential for a strong essay. There is a clear focus on the play being tragedy, however I would've liked to have seen some engagement with the word "victim" from the question. A discussion around Stanley's influence on Blanche would've been relevant here. The essay does well to define tragedy in the introduction, but this could be strengthened by more technical language. When mentioning "her fate is sealed and there is no way back for her now." I would be eager to discuss the inevitability of a tragic downfall.