Blanche's Character in A Streetcar Named Desire Essay

A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche DuBois is a very diverse character in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. She is a tragic and dynamic character throughout the play. Blanche does not know exactly how to handle losing everything she has lost and seems to be confused about life in general now. The way she lives after arriving at Stanley and Stellas seems like she has turned away from reality and lives in her own fantasy world, or a world where she lives by how things should be instead of how things truly are. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois, feels she is better than others, constantly changes, and often escapes from reality.

Blanche acts very pompous and like she is better than everyone she is around. This could be because she wants to put on a front so people will not see her true colors of her past or because she is again lying to herself to make herself feel better. Blanche expects people to tend to her every beckoning call and for them to believe all her lies and at one point Stanley says, Ive been onto you from the start! Not once did you pull any wool over my eyes! You come in here and sprinkle the place with powder and spray perfume and cover the light bulb with a paper lantern, and lo and behold the place has turned into Egypt and you are the Queen on the Nile! Sitting on your throne and swilling down my liquor! (127-28). This quote shows that Blanche was not able to fool everyone. It also shows how she thinks people should cater to her, so Stanley says she acts like the Queen of the Nile. An example of this would be how Blanche thought Stella should fetch a Coke for her constantly. Blanche also has no respect for others or their needs. She occupies the bathroom for hours while she soaks in a hot bath, even though there are many other people in the house that would like to use the bathroom. She has little respect for anyone, but least of all Stanley. She is constantly calling him derogatory names such as, Polack. This shows she does not care if she hurts his feelings and she may only be doing this to make herself feel better on the inside. If Blanche would change how she treated people, they would change their attitudes about her, but it seems she can change everything except how she feels superior to others.

From the time Blanche loses the Belle Reve until the time the doctor takes her, Blanche is changing. She is a dynamic character with many sides to her. She is constantly changing, whether it be changing her clothes or changing her story. Blanche changes how she wants people to view her throughout the play. She wants people to think she has money when the truth is she has no money and has also lost the Belle Reve. Blanche seems like she may have a narcissistic personality disorder because she is always fishing for a compliment. If no one offers a compliment she will ask how she looks until someone tells her how nice she looks. At one point Stella tells Stanley, when she comes in be sure and say something nice about her appearance (33), because Blanche is insecure about the way she looks and needs to be constantly reminded that she is a beautiful woman. Blanche changes more than how she wants people to view her over the course of the play; she also changes how she treats people. At the beginning she had a great, young husband, but he committed suicide and Blanche feels she was not there for him when she should have been. After this, the roles seem to reverse when Stanley treats Blanche how she used to treat her young husband. Blanche is constantly changing the men she wants. After losing her husband she goes through several stages where she just wants to feel like someone cares for her. Blanche tends to have flings with younger men so she can make herself feel younger and bring back memories of her early husband. Through Blanche changing constantly, she always seems to put herself in a different world.

Blanches escapes from reality are not few and far between, but many very frequent. She lies to the people she loves and lies to herself. When Blanche lies, she knows she is lying and for the most part people around her believe her. For example, she tells Stella, her younger sister that she took a leave of absence from her job as a school-teacher. While talking to Stella, Blanche prompts Stella to ask about her getting away from school before summer. Stella figures Blanche might have resigned. After Blanche hears what she says Blanche says, I was so exhausted by all Id been throughmy nerves broke. I was on the verge oflunacy, almost! So Mr. GraveMr. Graves is the superintendenthe suggested I take a leave of absence(21). From this quote the reader can get a feeling that Blanche might not be telling Stella the whole truth at the moment. Come to find out later in the play, Blanche just was not ready to tell her sister exactly what happened because she was afraid of what her sister would think of her. Another lie or escape from reality that Blanche herself even believes is when she make believes Shep Huntleigh is a real person and is really going to call for her to come to Texas. Her own lies could be part of what drives her to insanity because even she starts believing her own lies. Toward the end of the play, after Mitch has found out about Blanches past, he says You lied to me Blanche. Lies, lies, inside and out, all lies (119). Blanche responds saying, Never inside, I didnt lie in my heart (119). These quotes show how much Blanche starts believing her own lies. Blanche is not able to deal with difficult situations in life, but she does so by escaping to her own fantasy world.

In the end, Blanche has faced so many hardships that she cannot bear to go on living like she is. She is committed to a mental institution and the play ends. Blanches Belle Reve world has fallen apart and she has lost it all. Putting others down may be her way of making herself feel better, but it makes others think badly of her. Although she is constantly changing one thing stays the same, her escapes from reality. Blanche does this so she does not have to face the harsh truth of real life. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a simple yet diverse play with diverse characters