After reading A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams for the second time, I am firmly convinced that Blanche is the only person responsible for her misfortune, besides the whole rape incident. If we take a look at her past, Blanche had facilitated the death of her husband. If she was so terribly in love with him, why would she reveal that she knew about his secret homosexuality in such a vulgar way? Her exact words were “I saw! I know! You disgust me…” and at a party nevertheless. If I was going to reveal a secret of that caliber, I would not have done it at a dance. Apparently, switching from a lot of fun to extreme despair causes people to do drastic things. I point this out because this seems to be the moment that her insanity stems from, considering she always hears the music and the gun shot from this moment.
From the beginning of the play to the end, Blanche takes on the persona of someone sophisticated and classy, but executes it poorly, which in-turn makes her look like an overzealous drama queen. For instance, Blanche shows off by speaking in French and speaks as if she was a profound philosopher. Her inner philosopher comes out when she mentions to Stanley, “A woman's charm is fifty percent illusion.” I found this to be especially ironic considering that she lies about so much of her life, like being an alcoholic, a virgin, how she lost Bella Reeve, her rich friend that she was going to go on a cruise with and so on.
And to top it off she is a hypocrite. Blanche is surprised to find Stella living in an apartment when she arrives, yet she has nothing herself, except for a suitcase which is filled with a fancy dress and a tiara and other items that are practically useless in her position, and still she criticizes Stella. Then when she tells Stella about loosing Bella Reeve, she tries to play the “guilt card”, claiming that Stella had left her to try to hold the place together alone, yet she barely explains how she lost Bella Reeve while at the same time continuing to put the blame on Stella.
In my opinion, and I’m sure in many others Blanche is a character that is easily disliked do to her qualities that I have previously mentioned. Still, I think her mental status wasn’t severe enough, that she could not have forced herself to live a normal life. All she would have to do was keep the music inside her head, ignore it and not act like a spoiled princess.
I hate to admit it, but I was glad to see Blanche taken to a mental institute. In fact it might serve her well to be under the care of doctors considering that she was destroying her own life. I did feel sympathy for her when she got raped, but during the rest of the play I enjoyed the hatred she faced. Stanley giving Blanche a one-way ticket back to Laurel as a birthday present was my favorite part. I just hope that Stella, the true victim of the play, wises up soon and leaves Stanley and this time for good (but I doubt it will ever happen, since she trusts him more than her own sister. Then again, look who her sister is).
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Samuel, I think that it a strong opinion to say that you have hatred for Blanche, I'm not say that all the things she did were peachy-keen, but I wouldn't go as far to say I hate her. None the less, you're ideas and opinions are good and for the most part I agree. I do admit, I liked the scene where Stanley gave her the one way ticket, I thought it was a good laugh. I also enjoyed the scene where Blanche was being taken by the doctor, I think it did her some good, maybe now she'll realize everything she's done to the people closest to her.
ReplyDeleteI think you brought a new view on how psycho Blanche was, I never really thought from the beginning or her in such a way as you did, I mean I caught hints of how she could be, but I guess never as closely as you did, But in the end I think i see eye to eye with you on Blanches attitude towards everyone else, when in fact she is living the same life everyone else is. I mean she criticizes Stella about how she's living, but look at Blanche, she has to move in with Stella because she has no where else to go. I think you were a little harsh on Blanches character, but you are absolutely right on how horrible of a person she was, and she deserved what was coming to her.
Sam, I really think that you are a bit hard on Blanche. I understand that her character isn’t the greatest but you have to recognize her state of affairs within the play. Life has thrown her many curve balls and she has responded in many cases with the same respect. Take for example, the incident where she is talking bad about Stanley behind his back. Emotionally speaking, the dialogue proves to show that she is venting out her anger in the form of degradation. If she can lower the status of Stanley, then she can somehow feel better about her place in the world. Maybe that’s the reason why I’m not so critical about Ms. Dubois.
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