Streetcar Named Desire Is a 1947 Play Thesis

Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play by Tennessee Williams that explores the relationships between Stella (DuBois) and Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois, Stella's sister. In the play, Williams analyzes how social constructs and expectations influenced Blanche's behavior and the factors that contributed to her mental breakdown. Blanche's mental breakdown piques towards the end of the play, however, it can be argued that Blanche was psychologically damaged before she arrived at the Kowalskis and her efforts to get herself out of her social situation were deliberately thwarted by Stanley.

In the play, Blanche uses fantasy as a coping mechanism. Throughout her life, she has had to deal situations that have overwhelmed her including the multiple deaths in her family and the suicide of her first husband. Because her behavior is significantly altered after finding out her husband was homosexual and after witnessing him commit suicide, one can argue that Blanche's madness, or nervous nature, was caused by being rejected by the man that she loved, and the man that she thought loved her back. This event triggers Blanche to attempt to find acceptance from other men. Unfortunately, because Blanche's initial rejection is based on sex and sexual preference, Blanche begins to use sex in order to attempt to determine her identity as a woman, which ends up getting out of control. Blanche admits that self-control has never been one of her strong suits, an eerie confession as Blanche's inability to control what she does and what she says ultimately leads to her complete demise (Williams 10). Additionally, it is evident that her husband's suicide continues to haunt her because whenever she hears the Varsouviana, she instinctively hears a shot ring out before the song ends (73).

Blanche's lack of self-control allows her to construct a world in which prominent, chivalrous men desire her. Through her fantasy world Blanche is attempting to create a template for the perfect man.It is evident that Blanche is looking for someone that will provide her with emotional, domestic, and financial stability, or at least give her the opportunity to get herself out of her present destitution. Blanche is willing to do anything and even considers writing to one of her former boyfriends, Shep Huntleigh, in an attempt to reconnect with him and possibly manipulate him into providing her some sort of financial assistance. Blanche's desperation even allows her to consider marrying Mitch, whom she initially considers to be sweet and considers him to be her "Rosenkavalier," or her knight in shining armor (63). By referring to Mitch as her "Rosenkavalier," Blanche is associating him with the traits that she looks for in a partner, even if they are a product of her imagination.

Blanche is so lost that she does not know what she wants and thus makes up a world in which her life is everything that she wants it to be when in reality, her life is far from what she wants it to be. Blanche contends, "I don't want realism…I'll tell you what I want. Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me….....