The Complexity of Blanch's Character in a Streecar Named Desire

In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams portrayed Blanche to be an extremely complex character. She was depicted as a delicate, pure woman, and eventually a lonely alcoholic! She was neither completely good nor bad, because she was so torn by conflicting and contradictory desires and needs. It is evident that the tragedies that occurred in her life contribute to the complexity of her character. In the very first scene of the play Blanche appeared wearing a white suit. As Williams describes her, "She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district" (15). White, being the symbol of purity, made Blanche seem to be very delicate as well as fragile. She seemed to be, in a sense, superior to the other people in the community. She was viewed as a stereotypical wealthy southern woman who inherited her family's fortune. However, it eventually became known that Blanche had lived an extremely hard and brutal life, which would drive even the most stable person to insanity.

Kazan stated,

"It's not so much what Blanche has done-it's how she does it-with such style, grace, manners, old-world trappings and effects, props, tricks, swirls, etc... that they seem anything but vulgar" (21).

It was obvious, even as Blanche desperately attempted to act as a respectable lady, that there was something terribly wrong with her. She even admitted it in Scene One, "I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can't be alone! Because - as you must have noticed - I'm - not very well" (23)

Despite the fact that Blanche put on a mask of innocence and purity, she was really a fraud who could not stand up to the light in fear that she would be exposed for the person she really was. When Blanche was on her own, a great deal about her personality showed through. It was evident that Blanche continually lied about who she really was in order to portray herself as a true "lady".

Kazan noted that Blanche is an escapist. She hides from bright lights, just as like she hides from the truth. Her delicate nature simply cannot take the reality of what is existing in her life because she thinks it is too painful. She convinces herself that she has remained pure.. As a result, she sees herself as prim and proper (21).

Soon after Blanche was first introduced in the play, she began telling her sister somewhat about the problems that occurred at Belle Reve. Many of her older family members died and the funeral costs had to be covered by Blanche's modest salary. The deaths were long, and horrible, especially to someone that was like Blanche. She was forced to mortgage the mansion, and soon the bank repossessed it. Here, Blanche seemed to blame the loss of Belle Reve on everyone but herself. She appeared to be a dominant older sister who ordered Stella around and judged her life, clothes, weight, and even her hair. Saddik stated,

"The struggle to maintain control in a world which is changing rapidly is also evident in A Streetcar Named Desire. In this play, on of Williams' most naturalistic, the dramatic tension rests in the battle between Blanche, a faded belle of the old South whose principles will no longer assure her survival in an incresingly pragmatic urbanized world, and Stanley..." (66).

After Stella alerted Stanley about the loss of Belle Reve, he became suspicious and confronted Blanche about the ordeal. He accused her of keeping money from him and Stella. Blanche no longer seemed to be a fragile, helpless young woman, but a mature woman, who confronted Stanley's suspicions about her. She faced him down and even went as far as flirting with him! Elia Kazan noted that Stanley though Blanche would eventually wreck his home. Stanley thought she was dangerous and destructive (26).

Stanley and Blanche were such diverse characters. Saddik writes, "We are presented in Streetcar with two polar ways of looking at experience: the realistic view of Stanley Kowalski and the 'nonrealistic' view of his sister-in-law, Blanche Dubois" (66). It was very evident that they did not necessarily get along, nor did they enjoy each other's company. Saddik noted that Stanley and Blanche are of unequal strengths. They are complete opposites. While Stanley is very controlling, destructive and brutal, Blanche is poor as well as confused (67). Stanley's first sign of his brutality was evident at the poker night when he got so angry and threw the radio out the window. Another example of this is displayed when he beats his wife, Stella.

After realizing that she would never have those things she had always wished for, Blanche began to create them out of herself; she made up lies so complex that even she believed them. Blanche eventually met Mitch, and they seemed to both enjoy each other's company. She had a warm and sensitive conversation with him, and it appeared that they may even have a chance to establish a genuine relationship, despite the things that occurred in Blanche's past. Here she seemed to be soft-hearted individual who may have perhaps truly changed. Maybe it was the time that someone could fill Blanche's void, created by the death of her husband. She was very dependent on Mitch, and consequently she tried to get him to marry her. But of course, there was Stanley who stood between her and Mitch. Stanley was a realist and cannot stand the way Blanche was living in her world of illusions. Eventually he destroyed her along with her illusions by raping Blanche. He completely destroyed her mental stability. It was not the actual rape that drove her crazy, but the fact that she