Stanley And Blanche example essay topic

A Streetcar Named Desire is a classic American drama written by a classic American writer, Tennessee Williams. Born in 1911, in Columbus, Mississippi, Williams went on to graduate from the University of Iowa in 1938. He achieved his first successes with the production of two plays, The Glass Menagerie (1945) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1947). In 1947, he won a Pulitzer Prize for A Streetcar Named Desire. When analyzing the main character of the story, Blanche Dubois, it is crucial to use both the literal text as well as the symbols to get a complete understanding of her. The first major symbol in the play involves Blanche and her voyage to visit her sister.

Late in the first scene Blanche describes her voyage, They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields (Williams). Taken literally this does not add much to the story. The symbolism does play a major role in describing her past. She left her home to join her sister because her life was a miserable wreck. She admits, at one point in the story, that after the death of Allan (her husband) Czajkowski 2 intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with (Williams ). She had sexual relations with anyone who would agree to it.

This ties in to the name of the streetcar, Desire. She desires companionship; she can never be alone. She escaped her loneliness in her use of desire. Cemeteries is the next stop on the way to her sister Stella's house.

Blanche was an English teacher at a high school, and at one point had intimacies with a seventeen-year-old student. The superintendent, Mr. Graves, found out about this and she was fired from her job. Blanche came to Elysian Fields to forget her horrible past, and to have a fresh start in life. Blanche admits in the fourth scene that she wants to make myself a new life (Williams ). By understanding the circumstances that brought Blanche to Elysian Fields it is easy to understand the motives behind many of Blanches actions. An example of this is the fact that Blanche is always bathing.

This represents her need to clean herself from the past (Corrigan 53). Czajkowski 3 Coming to Elysian Fields, Blanche is changing her surroundings and her lifestyle. She is going from a place where women are cherished and praised, where men spoil women and try to win their hearts, to Stanley and Stella's world where women aren t regarded in such a high standard. An example of this is her reaction to the way Stanley treats Stella. In scene three Stanley makes an aggressive move towards Stella, [She backs out of sight. He advances and disappears.

There is the sound of a blow, Stella cries out.] (Beaty 1607). Stanley hits Stella sending her out the door and into the neighbor's apartment. Stanley then breaks down and cries out for Stella. The next morning (scene 4), Blanche talks to Stella and is amazed at Stella's reaction.

Why! I ve been crazy, Stella! When I found out you d been insane enough to come back in here after what happened-I started to rush in after you! (Beaty 1610). In her society, domestic violence is unheard of. This proves that Blanche is from a much more liberal society, a society closer to that in which we live in.

She is used to being babied, not beaten. Czajkowski 4 Another example of a symbol in the play is the music. One type of music in particular is evident, the Varsouviana. It is a fast polish dance, similar to the polka (Beaty 1626). Williams uses this music to foreshadow tragic occurrences. In scene six, Blanche describes the tragic death of her husband Allan.

We danced the Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later-a shot! (1627) Later in the ninth scene the Varsouviana is heard again.

Blanche is reminisced of her lost husband; meanwhile the music is playing in the background. This is foreshadowing of bad things to come. Later in the same scene, Blanche and Mitch get into an argument. The result of the argument is their separation.

Finally, the Varsouviana is heard one last time. In scene ten, Blanche is being hauled out to a mental asylum. This time the music is blaring louder than it ever has, symbolizing the tragic end to Blanche (Grand staff 63). Through most of the play Stanley and his friends play poker. Poker is a game of intelligence and manipulation. It involves bluffing and tricking people into believing Czajkowski 5 something that is not true.

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche Dubois plays her own game of poker (Corrigan 60). She plays it with Mitch, Stanley and Stella. Blanche plays the first hand with Mitch, manipulating him into believing all her lies. In scene nine Mitch confronts Blanche on these lies. First I asked our supply-man who travels through Laurel. And then I talked directly over long-distance to this merchant (Beaty 1638).

He finds out about Blanche's sexually promiscuous past and the many men she seduced at The Tarantula, a local motel. The next game of poker she loses is with her brother-in-law and sister. Stanley also confronts Blanche about her past. Blanche gives the first bluff; she threatens to call Shep Huntleigh. Shep is a very wealthy man that Blanche claims to have a relationship. Stanley however, does not buy into this bluff.

He does not believe this man even exists. Scene ten is where the major fighting between Stanley and Blanche takes place. Stanley once and for all confronts Blanche about her past. In the middle of the argument, Blanche tries to call her friend Shep Huntleigh. Operator, operator!

Give me long distance please I want Czajkowski 6 to get in touch with Mr. Shep Huntleigh of Dallas. He's so well known he doesn t require an address (Beaty 1643). From this line it is obvious that there is no real Shep. He is just an imaginary person Blanche can run to in a tight situation. This enrages Stanley and causes him to make an aggressive move towards Blanche.

This is one hand she ends up losing (Corrigan 61). She is a woman in need of companionship. In scene five she makes a pass at a fifteen-year-old newspaper boy. Come here. I want to kiss you, just once, softly and sweetly on your mouth! (Beaty 1620) This shows how desperate she is for affection.

Turning to a fifteen-year-old boy is not only morally wrong, but it is also illegal. The same thing caused her to lose her teaching job. Blanche Dubious is a very complex character. On the outside she appears to be a stand-up classy woman, but on the inside she is a trouble, lonely soul.

Looking beyond the literal text and analyzing the symbolism makes her that much more complex.