Thomas Lanier Williams, known as Tennessee Williams, author of A Street Car Named Desire, presents the contradiction and paradox that real human life can offer. It is a play with elements of tragedy and pathos that was published and staged in 1947. The theme of the story presents conflicts with which the protagonist, Blanche Dubois, has to live. The subject is not dramatic or out of life as most of us live in our deceptive world that can be very far from reality. While most of us confront our illusions and distinguish between the real and the fantastic, others, like Blanche Dubois, become victims of an overwhelming illusion. And she knows it: “Blanche explains to Mitch that she is lying because she refuses to accept the hand that destiny has given her. Lying to herself and to others allows her to make life seem like it should be and not like it is.”
The plot of the story is wonderfully crafted and continues to highlight a number of emotional traits that are put to the test during the time of human tragedy. Most human beings are weak due to their inescapable need to cry over the shoulder of someone close. Sometimes this dependence takes on a severe form, as in Stella’s dependence on Stanley for love and support; Mitch, otherwise a sober character, also lacks the need for companionship that he finds in Blanche after his mother’s death. Blanche needs support too. Whether Stanley offers the support or not is an issue that needs analysis. Money matters, as it does for Blanche, while Stanley, a down-to-earth worker proud of his masculinity, must make sure Blanche doesn’t cheat on him. The drama shows that as life moves from the past to the present, the lingering past simply cannot be removed if Stella tries to move on after leaving Belle Reve, or Blanche tries to find a man in her life after her husband commits suicide, or Stanley apologizes for his rude actions. The past continues to haunt them in the present. Death is shocking, and it is especially so if it is someone close and close. It can often involve a sudden change in one’s perspective and personality. The death of Blanche’s husband has a profound impact on her, even like those of the other members of the Dubois family. Mitch faces the death of his only love, as well as his dying mother who eventually dies.
There are several other characteristic themes that merge into the single plot. One of those themes is the loss of a world that meant status and class, and the consequent downward spiral into the life of a workers’ ghetto. The impact of this social issue translates into loneliness, insecurity and having to endure cruelty. Stella and Blanche, the two sisters, originally belong to a world that no longer exists for them. Her family’s ancestral plantation, Belle Reve, is lost. His world is also lost along with him. The two sisters are the only living symbols of the old world. In the second scene, Blanche makes a comment about Stanley to Stella that says it all: “Oh, I guess he’s not the type to prefer jasmine perfume, but maybe that’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost. Belle Reve “.
They are left with two options: either face reality and reconcile with it, or live in an imaginary fantasy world to which Blanche succumbs; Stella accepts reality. The real world now is the harsh world of hardship, cruelty, worker culture, and life symbolized by Stanley. Stanley represents raw masculinity that intrigues and disgusts at the same time. He and his world are in stark contrast to the aristocratic world of Blanche Dubois, to which she is no longer heir, but she persists with her illusions even when they remain together, allowing readers to contrast what could be the symbols of reality and illusion. .
Let’s look at the paradox in Blanche’s life: Blanche’s illusory world offers her comfort as it is in fact her primary means of self-defense. His deceptions do not spring from malicious intent, but are an extreme reflection of his fragility in dealing with the misery of real life. She seems extremely reluctant to face the truth head-on. “For her, fantasy has a liberating magic that protects her from the tragedies she has endured. Unfortunately, this defense is fragile and will be shattered by Stanley.”
Blanche makes a dramatic entrance on the scene searching for her sister’s house. He stares at the apartment building in disbelief as he checks the address. He seems to feel sorry for Stella, since his sister has to live in such a dilapidated building. Blache, in her 30s, elegant and attractive, a little haggard and weak, is dressed in her white suit with pearl earrings and white gloves. She seems lost and out of place in the ghetto populated by manual laborers. Blanche tells Eunice when he asked her if she was lost: “They told me to take a streetcar called Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and go down six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields.”
From here, the cocoon of unreality Blanche lives in to protect herself against her weaknesses, including her inability to suppress her sexual desires, becomes apparent. She refuses to acknowledge and lies about her promiscuous behavior at Laurel. “She avoids bright light lest it reveal her physical imperfections; and she refuses to acknowledge her problem with alcohol. Stanley effectively penetrates her cocoon verbally with his rude insults and physically with his sexual coup de main near the end of the session. construction site”. Unlike Blanche, Stanley is rude, rude, and domineering ruled by primal instincts. Your opinion of him could be seen as what he says about Stanley in the course of a conversation with Stella: “He acts like an animal, has animal habits. He eats like one, moves like one, talks like one!” He is a man who calls a shovel, a bloody shovel. His manners are rude and slang, working class. He is hell-bent on destroying every fabric on the façade that is Blanche Dubois’s protective armor.
That is what reality does to illusion. Recklessly tear the envelope of falsehood. However, we see Blanche not totally deceptive about herself. She realizes that they have no choice but to mix their superior blood with that of the working class, as she pities the fate of Stella’s son, who will not enjoy any of the privileges that she and her sister had. However, Blanche simply does not come to terms with reality. In fact, it is this failure that has serious consequences for her. Towards the end of the drama there comes a time when he completely loses his mental proportions.
