Blanches Life In Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche is a character that lives a life full of desire, depending on others, and denial. The only way Blanche can survive in this world is by living this way. Her sexual desire makes her feel wanted, desirable, and younger. Blanche needs a man she can count on regardless of the consequences in order to survive financially. Finally, Blanche attempts to mentally thrive by creating fantasies to make herself be viewed in a certain way. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, the themes Sexuel Desire, Dependency on Man, and Illusion vs.

Reality play a major role in Blanche’s life.

Blanche's conception of how she functions in the world is based on her self-perception as an object of male sexual desire. Blanche’s interaction with men always begin with a form of flirtation. For instance, Blanche flirted with Stanley, Mitch, the newspaper boy, and even men she passes by on the streets. Blanche feels the need to be desired by men and is attracted to any man who gives her the slightest bit of attention.

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There’s no boundaries for Blanche when it comes to men. Even though Stanley is Stella’s husband that does not stop her from flirting with him. There is a lot of sexual tension between Blanche and Stanley. For example, on page thirty seven Blanche comes out of the shower in a red satin dress, She did this intentionally because she knew Stanley was in the room. Red is considered to be sexually attractive therefore by Blanche wearing red she hoped to get some attention.

She then proceeds to ask Stanley for a favour, and when he asks what it is, Blanche says, “Some buttons in back! You may enter!”. Instead of shutting Blanche down Stanley plays into this sexual innuendo by approaching Blanche with a smouldering look ( Williams ). Blanche is more and more desperately trying to cling to her sexuality as the play unfolds. To Blanche, perhaps affected by her finding that her first husband was secretly gay, in her mind the loss of her attractiveness was equivalent to the loss of her dignity and purpose for life. For example, when Blanche meet the poker-playing mates of Stanley, she instantly saw Mitch as a potential suitor. With her sexual attitude towards Mitch, Blanche practically assaults him with her flirtation behaviour. Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin, silks, costume jewellery, and so on. Through her carefully cultivated beauty, she calls attention to her body and femininity ( Williams 52 ). Overall, Blanche is a person who desires desire, in her mind it is a form of survival for any man to have her attention at every cost.

It is undeniable that Blanche depends on men to feel fulfilled in many aspects of her life. Blanche sees male companions as her means of attaining contentment, and depends on men for her means of support and self-image. On page 49, before Stella and Blanche enter the house, Blanche says to Stella “ How do I look?” and then “ wait till I powder before you open the door”. She says this because she wants to make sure that she looks perfect before the men see her. Relating to scene two when Blanche tries to get Stanley to compliment her appearance, showing that she needs validation from men to feel good about herself (Williams). Blanche's disastrous marriage in her youth steered her into relationships with men to pursue emotional fulfilment, causing men to take advantage of her anxious, vulnerable state. Despite the disastrous ending of Blanche's first marriage, she sees marriage as her only path. By marrying Mithch, Blanche recognizes it as an escape from hardship. Unfortunately Blanche’s seductive personality leaves her with a bad reputation resulting to Mitch not accepting her hand in marriage. Mitch tells Blanche “you’re not clean enough to in the house with my mother” meaning Blanche is a promiscuous woman (Williams 150). When Mitch refuses Blanche because of Stanley's speculation about her reputation, it did not take Blanche long to instantly think of another man, Shep Huntleigh, who she believes could be her provider. Since Blanche is blinded by her dependency on men she has no way or even know how to depend on herself. She does not realize that by always depending on others it will evidently leave her to failure rather than her success. Blanche puts her fate in the hands of others by depending on men. Overall, it becomes evident that Blanche will always put the men in her life before herself because of her dependency on them.

The theme of illusion versus reality appears a lot in the play as this is a key component of Blanche’s character. The illusion that she perpetuates to the people around her is a crucial part of Blanche's life. From the way she dresses to the way she speaks, Blanche is constantly in her own illusion. She actively tries to make herself and her life seem perfect as a defence mechanism and a way of avoiding conflict with her reality. On page fifty one, Blanche tells Stella that she wants to take a bath to soothe her nerves. The notion of water being able to solve all of Blanche’s problems and wash away her feelings is one of the most telling indicators that she is living an illusion. Blanche intentionally remains out of the harsh glare of reality throughout the play. She clings to the illusory world of satin robes and warm baths. If she is able to maintain the illusion of being an innocent person, she will continue to see herself in this way rather than face her troubling past and deprived present. On page fifty nine, when Blanche is talking to Mitch, she lies to him many times so that she does not have to accept her reality. First, she tells him that she is “not accustomed to having more than one drink” which is far from the truth since she is an alcoholic. Her denial of this problem is part of the illusion of a perfect woman that she has created for herself (Williams). She then tells Mitch that Stella is “somewhat older than [her]. Just slightly..”. This is a complete lie since it is revealed in scene one that Blanche is five years older than Stella. Blanche lies to Mitch about her age because she is afraid to accept the reality that she is ageing (William 60). Blanche refuses to acknowledge the reality of her past so she creates a fictitious one that plays into the illusion she developed for herself. Overall, While sustaining an illusory presence on the outside, Blanche hopes to conceal from both herself and the outside world.

In conclusion, Blanche’s life consist of Sexuel Desire, Dependency on Man, and Illusion vs. Reality. In order for Blanche to feel fulfilled she must have all three of these themes apart of her life. Blanche needs to feel wanted and attracted by men to feel desired. In Blanche’s mind she can only live a sustainable and successful life if she has man to depend on. Lastly, to escape her troubling past and present Blanche lives in her own illusions to make everything seem perfect when in actuality it is not. 

Works cited

1. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New Directions Publishing, 2004.
2. Bloom, Harold, ed. Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. Chelsea House Publishers, 2000.
3. Adler, Thomas P. "The Big Easy's Death Wish: The Catastrophic Blanche Dubois." Literature/Film Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 4, 1993, pp. 223-231.
4. Durbach, Errol. "The Darker Vision of Tennessee Williams." Critical Inquiry, vol. 6, no. 2, 1979, pp. 307-324.
5. Johnson, C. Richard. "Blanche Dubois: An Antiheroine's Heroic Quest." Modern Drama, vol. 22, no. 2, 1979, pp. 179-193.
6. Pilkington, Ace G. "Blanche Dubois and the Southern Belle Stereotype in A Streetcar Named Desire." The Southern Literary Journal, vol. 43, no. 1, 2010, pp. 39-54.
7. Tischler, Nancy M. Student Companion to Tennessee Williams. Greenwood Press, 2000.
8. Weldon, Fay. "Blanche Dubois: A Villain or a Victim?" The Guardian, 6 Jan. 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/jan/06/blanche-dubois-villain-victim-streetcar
9. Wykes, Elizabeth. "The Role of Men in Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire." Open Access Journal of English Language and Literature, vol. 3, no. 1, 2016, pp. 27-32.
10. Yagoda, Ben. About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made. Scribner, 2000.