Before I begin my second blog, I would like to address a comment that was posted on my first blog. “You say that you performed the role of Blanche in 11th grade English, in order to ‘become her and feel her emotions’, I can certainly understand the desire to do so whilst reading any play, but to me Blanche is a character I would want no part of!” Josh said to me. Although it is true that she is a heartless woman with next to no sympathy for anyone else, that is precisely what intrigues me about her. It is very interesting to attempt to look into the mind of someone who is so unlike yourself. For me, reading the part of Blanche answered a lot of questions about why she acted the way she does and also why people I know in real life act the way they do.
For me, this play really seems to be about unconditional love. On page 57, Blanche and Mitch’s conversation is interrupted by Stanley’s drunken rage. Stanley takes his anger out, not only on a radio, but on Stella, as well. In the description it says “She backs out of sight. He advances and disappears. There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out.” (57) When Stella leaves the house and Stanley calms down, Stanley tries to get Stella to come back home. “Stell-lahhhhh!” he yells. (59) ‘Miraculously’, Stella does come back to him. In reading this, I found Stella to be ridiculously naïve. The first thing I thought after reading that part was that if my husband ever laid a forceful hand on me, there’s no way I would speak to him for days, much less the same night. However, after I finished scene three, I paused to think about love. As cliché as it sounds, love is supposed to be one of those unbreakable bonds. When you’re in love with someone, you see the best in that person and often ignore the worst. Although it is true that Stanley hit Stella, Stella loves him and clearly can’t stand to be away from him. Although I’m sure that I wouldn’t stand for my husband hitting me, many love their husbands so much that as soon as an apology is heard, they are forgiven.
Another thing I found strange at first was the seemingly random conversation between Blanche and Mitch. Mitch was a polite, innocent man still living with his mother. Blanche’s eccentric personality was obviously quite the opposite. I then thought back to a quote Blanche had said earlier in the play. “I know I fib a good deal. After all, a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion…” (41) I remembered this quote while reading other things Blanche was saying to Mitch, such as “I’m not accustomed to having more than one drink” (54) and “Stella hasn’t been so well lately, and I came down to help her for a while. She’s very run down.” (55) Both of those statements were blatant lies. She seemed to be attempting to charm Mitch by lying about her drinking habits and the reason she had come to visit Stella. However, everyone knows that good relationships are based on honesty and truth. As long as lies exist, a lasting relationship cannot prevail. This seems to be foreshadowing that a relationship between Blanche and Mitch could not happen due to Blanche’s deceitful ways.
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Felice, you make really good points about the matter of unconditional love. It's really interesting to see how far love can go. In general, I agree that I would leave my husband but in Stella and Stanley's case, I feel like it's a little bit different. Stella had really nothing to fall back on because her sister is poor and she would be too if she left Stanley. She would pretty much be living on the street. If i were in Stella's place, I would probably have gone back to Stanley too, but definitely not the same night.
ReplyDeleteAt this point in the book, I wanted Mitch and Blanche to last, but I knew it couldn't. The point you make about lies and deceit is good and very true. I knew their relationship couldn't last because of Blanche. Mitch was so sweet, and he obviously deserved better.