As I read the final page of A Streetcar Named Desire and all to familiar shiver ran down my spine as I tried to imagine myself in the final scene. This play was truly one of the greatest I’ve ever read and I look forward to seeing the movie. By the beginning of scene ten, it is pretty clear that Blanche DuBois is very unstable both emotionally and mentally. It is at this point that I, a “Blanche DuBois Hater”, finally felt some sympathy for this woman. After 9 scenes, and a hundred some odd pages, I finally said to myself, “wow, this woman truly needs some help”. Now whether or not she needed psychiatric help, or maybe just somebody to love is debatable, but she clearly needed some sort of intervention. Her outbursts of anger, frustration and sadness were sure-fire signs of something wrong. Of all the scenes throughout the play, scene ten was probably the most confusing one for me. Did Stanley rape Blanche? Could he really have been that drunk to forget all the tension they had between each other, and actually bring himself to have sexual relations with her? These are questions that I thought might be answered before finishing the play, but I was mistaken.
Another scene that I truly enjoyed was the interaction between Mitch and Blanche. I could tell from early in the play that Mitch was a very sensitive man, who truly had feelings for Blanche. I could also see how clearly upset he was during their conversation, especially after what he had heard from Stanley and the others. What I don’t understand, is how can a man be so blind to see that there is something so clearly wrong with a woman like Blanche, but than again, that is where love blinds you. Now that I have completed the play, I am left with a few other questions about the future. The obvious one being what will happen to Blanche? Yet, I’d also love to receive some follow up on Stella and Stanley’s relationship now that they have a baby, does Mitch eventually find love once again, and what really did happen to Belle Reve. Sometimes, certain questions are best left unanswered and Tennessee Williams did an excellent job of keeping me guessing and on my toes throughout my reading. With this I come to my conclusion, A Streetcar Named Desire was truly a great read with so many great moments that any less interesting ones simply fade away. I look forward to reading more plays by Tennessee Williams as well as seeing the Oscar winning movie.
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Hey, Josh. Unfortunately, you didn't have the luxury of reading this play in your 11th grade English class. If you did, I'm positive most of your questions would have been discusssed, as well as answered.
ReplyDeleteYes, Stanley really did rape Blanche. However, it wasn't so much because he was drunk. From the beginning, Stanley wanted to degrade Blanche, and break her down. Blanche tries to cover up her past mistakes by appearing innocent, and pure (Note how she dresses in all white when she arrives). Stanley, however, sees past her dramatized, and fake life. Stanley lives in the "now"- the present. He cannot tolerate Blanche's disillusionment, and unrealistic lifestyle. He simply cannot stand the fact that Blanche continiously tries to hold herself up at a higher society level than him. By raping her, he was proving to himself, as well as to Blanche that he was the superior one. His rape wasn't about sexual satisfaction. His rape was based on strength, power, and destruction.
Also, I don't think Mitch was blind. Blanche was able to cover up her lies quite well. I disagree whole-heartedly when you state, "What I don't understand, is how can a man be so blind to see that there is something so clearly wrong with a woman like Blanche." Nothing appeared "wrong" with her. The only person that was suspicious of her was Stanley. Remember, Blanche has had many, many past lovers. She easily charmed Mitch, and hid her imperfections from him long enough.
I'm glad you enjoyed the play, though. It's a fun, fast-paced play, and the movie was just as good (Although, we were all frightened by how ugly the actress playing Stella was).
Josh, you and I both share a love for this play. I loved it the first time I read it, and love it just as much the second time. However, there are a few things that you didn't seem to understand, such as the reason Stanley raped Blanche. Rema pretty much covered it, but it had everything to do with putting Blanche down. I mentioned in my third blog that everyone people are taught at a young age that lying leads to bad things. In this case, I think by raping Blanche, Stanley was trying to teach her the lesson she clearly never learned.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Mitch, I didn't enjoy the confrontational scene. I don't like Mitch. Again, as I mentioned in a comment on one of Rema's blogs, I'm not sure why. I liked that fact that he tried to put Blanche in her place, but other than that, Mitch's scenes in general were boring to me, and difficult to get through. I do agree with Rema, again that Blanche was very good at hiding her imperfections and that Mitch really wasn't blind at all. He was naive in believing everything Blanche spoonfed him, but blind is the wrong word.