Essay on Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desi

The Destruction of Blanche in A Streetcar Named swear A Streetcar Named Desire is an intricate web of complex themes and conflicted characters. distinguish in the pivotal years immediately following World contend II, Tennessee Williams infuses Blanche and Stanley with the symbols of opposing class and diffe multitude attitudes towards sex and love, then steps back as the power struggle between them ensues. Yet there are no clear cut lines of good vs. evil, no character is neither all told good nor bad, because the main characters, (especially Blanche), are so torn by irrelevant and contradictory confides and needs. As such, the turn tail has no clear victor, everyone loses something, and this fact is what gives the hunt d throw its tragic cast. In a larger sense, Blanche and Stanley, individual characters as nearly as symbols for opposing classes, historical periods, and guidances of life, struggle and find a new balance of power, not because of ideological rights and wro ngs, but as a matter of historical inevitability. Interestingly, Williams finalizes the resolution of this struggle on the most ungenerous level possible. In Scene Ten, Stanley subdues Blanche, and all that she stands for, in the same way men have been subduing women for centuries. Yet, though shocking, this is not out of keeping with the themes of the play for, in all matters of power, force is its ultimate manifestation. And Blanche is not completely unwilling, she has her own desires that draw her to Stanley, like a moth to the light, a light she avoids, even hates, only yearns for. A first reader of Scene Ten of the play faculty conclude that sex between Stanley and Blanche seems out of place. It might not ring true given the preceding circumstances. There is not much undefendable sexual tensi... ...al mechanism, and desire only a function of reproduction. Yet, it is not so. singular human destiny is much stronger than the force of history if only individuals cut with wh o they are and the forces pressuring them, and have the courage to meet the mass wave school principal on. Perhaps no one in this play does so, but the desire is there and we can learn from their failure. Works Cited Bloom, Herald (ed.). Tennessee Williams. brisk York Chelsea House, 1987. Donahue, Francis. The hammy World of Tennessee Williams. New York Frederic Ungar Publishing Co., 1964. Hirsch, Foster. A Portrait of the Artist-The Plays of Tennessee Williams. London Kennikat Press, 1979. Londre, F.H. Tennessee Williams. New York Frederic Ungar Publishing Co., 1979. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. Stuttgart Phillip Reclam, 1988.