Blanche - The Embodiment of Old Abrupt Aristocratic Culture and Values: A Streetcar Named Desire

 

In "The Street Car Named Desire," William called the streetcar the "ideal metaphor for the human condition." The street car represents the power of desire as the propulsion behind the characters’ actions. Blanche’s journey on "Desire" through the churchyard to Elysian Fields is both factual and metaphorical. Desire is a controlling force; when it takes over, characters must capitulate to its power, and they are carried along to the end of the line.
The play’s title refers not only to the real streetcar line in New Orleans but also, symbolically, to the power of desire as the driving force behind the characters’ actions. Blanche’s journey on "Desire" through cemeteries to Elysian Field is literal and allegorical. Desire is a controlling force; when it takes over, characters must submit to its power, and they are carried along to the end of the line.
"A Street Car Named Desire" is more than entertainment. It includes numerous social conflict undertones, which give it relevance, depth, and meaning. Williams wrote in a way to pull at the hearts of the audience. Desire and death are two aspects that became important in the later part of Blanche’s life. The literal death of her husband and the metaphorical death of her social life were both caused by her strong carnal desires, which have caused her to be in the position she is in the play. This eventually leads to her downfall in Elysian Fields, where she gets off the street car.
There is an actual streetcar named "Desire" that Blanche takes on her way to the Kowalskis. She mentions it twice. First, in Scene One, she tells Eunice that "they told her to take a streetcar named Desire." Later, take a look; what you are talking about is brutal desire—just desire! The name of the rattle-trap streetcar that rumbles through the Quarter, up and down one old, narrow street after another. Blanche is literally brought to the Kowalski place by "desire," but she is also brought there by desire; her sexual escapades in Laurel ruined her reputation and drove her out of town. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen sex do destructive things in William’s play. Desire, then cemeteries, then Elysian Fields Sex, death, and the afterlife It’s like a linear progression. Sex leads to death or at least some heavy-duty wreckage.
Blanche, one of the two main protagonists of the play, is an extremely complicated character whom we see struggle with internal conflicts throughout the play. Upon first meeting her, we came to know that she is more cultured and sophisticated than the people who live in "Elysian Fields," and her surname of French origin, first meeting her, we came to know that she is more cultured and sophisticated than the people who live in "Elysian Fields," and her surname of French origin, "DuBois," immediately reveals her as being from the upper class of society. Blanche appears to be dressed "daintily" in a white suit with "white gloves," all of which suggests purity and innocence, but it doesn't take long to realize that Blanche is almost always putting on a front.
Stella's sister, Blanche, is described in the play as "a demonic creature; the size of her feeling was too great for her to contain" (Tennessee Williams). The play centers on Blanche and her conflicts with identity and happiness. Blanche represented the "dying out" of the old South. The plot unfolds as Blanche, with her poorly disguised and unsuitable circumstances, vies with the strong and selfish Stanley for authority and acceptance.
Not quite a heroine, Blanche is the complicated protagonist of the play. She is a faded Southern belle without a dime left to her name after generations of mismanagement led to the loss of the family fortune. Blanche spent the end of her youth watching the older generation of her family die out before losing the DuBois seat at Belle Reve. This experience, along with the suicide of her young homosexual husband, deadened Blanche’s emotions and her sense of reality. Desire and death became complicatedly linked in her life as she led a loose
and increasingly careless life, and indeed, after losing her position as a school teacher, she is forced to depend on the kindness of her one living relative, her sister Stella. Blanche tries to be the Southern belle of her youth, but she is too old and has seen too much to maintain her grip on reality. She also has a final hope to find someone to help alleviate the emptiness she feels, and Mitch seems to be the man until he finds out about her past. Mitch's refusal to be with Blanche and the ultimate act of cruelty, Stanley’s rape of Blanche, both increase Blanche’s descent into madness.
However, audiences are meant to feel sympathy for Blanche’s character. After having suffered the loss of her young homosexual husband to suicide and the loss of the final generation of the DuBois family and their estate "Belle Reve," it is no surprise that Blanche had been affected by these tragic events. She has tried to avoid the guilt she feels for her husband’s death by having "intimacies with strangers" to "fill her empty heart." She also attempts to avoid realism and prefers "magic" by telling "what ought to be the truth" rather than the truth itself. Her insecurities about her fading beauty are constantly emphasized by her need to be hidden from bright lights and her need for sexual admiration from men to maintain her self-esteem. Her need for sexual admiration from men to maintain her self-esteem is emphasized by her flirtatious actions towards not only Mitch but also Stanley. Also, Blanche continuously bathes herself, which is her way of attempting to wash away her degenerated past.
When Blanche first arrives from Laurel, Missouri, she immediately becomes the antagonist: she looks like a high-born woman who wants to destroy her sister's marriage for her own personal gain. She seemed to believe that she deserved special treatment. She seems deceptive.
Evidence points to the fact that she sold her family’s estate, "Belle Reve,” and disbursed all the proceeds on fine clothes.
She refuses to believe that this is where her sister now lives after their upper-class upbringing in the "great big place with white columns." She does not trust the people in this seedy area of New Orleans where she has come and therefore prefers to watch over her belongings herself.
Blanche continuously needs to be complimented on her physical appearance, as she is aware that her "looks are slipping" as she ages. However, her beauty is the only thing she sees herself having to attract men to fulfill her sexual desires. She has been through a lot in her past, which has driven her to become the person she is today, and she is the one who ended up alone as opposed to Stella.
She also has a final hope to find someone to help relieve the emptiness she feels, and Mitch seems to be the man until he finds out about her past. Mitch’s refusal to be with Blanche and the ultimate act of cruelty, Stanley’s rape of Blanche, both increase Blanche’s descent into insanity.
Class conflict is represented throughout the play "A Street Car Named Desire" in various ways through characters, symbols, ideas, and language. Characters such as Blanche, Stella, Mitch, and Stanley are used to represent the aristocracy and working class. The Dubois clan,
Embodied by Blanche, she represents the genteel "A Street Car Named Desire" society of the southern plantation owners that presided through the 19th century. Stanley Kowalski, the son of Polish immigrants who descends from new Southerners, works in the factory of the industrialized South, which contributed to the demise of the agrarian society in which Blanche and Stella were raised.
Blanche’s language is sophisticated, unlike Stanley, who has a narrow range of vocabulary. Blanche’s language makes the audience understand that she is well-educated. On the other hand, even though Stanley tries to pretend he is intellectual, for example when he talks about the Napoleonic code, the audience assumes Stanley hasn't had much education because of his narrow range of vocabulary and his "vulgar expressions."
Blanche calls Stanley names, which reflects Blanche’s view of lower people as being of low class; this is also an example of class conflict. Blanche thinks very little of Stanley. Pig, Polack, disgusting, vulgar, greasy—these words show that Blanche does not seem to accept other people’s origins.
Blanche’s reference to candles is one of love and guidance. Her madder side is shown through this, as is how she has been guided clearly within her life. She also refers to marriage, which may have been hers, showing the happiness that she contained when she got married. But Stanley and Stella both view Blanche in different ways, illustrating the conflict between the thoughts of the two opposite classes.
In scene one, the colors used to describe the street "Elysian Fields" in New Orleans represent the polar opposites of the two classes. The "white frame, weathered grey," and "faded white stairs" are representing what’s happening to Blanche and the people with the same colonial background as her. The "dim white building" could be representing the already fading old American society being engulfed by the sky; that’s a "peculiar tender blue" representing the new south. This indicates that the old southern American values are being subdued by the new southern American values. Therefore, the representation of aristocratic culture and values, along with the clash between the aristocracy and the liberal class, is obvious in this play.