Analysis on the Tragedy of Blanche Dubois

Abstract: Tennessee Williams was a famous American dramatist and his personal life experience was somewhat reflected in his works, like A Streetcar named Desire. In the play, Williams created a tragic character, Blanche Dubois, who has a dual personality. Her tragedy is that she wants to find a shelter but finally is raped by Stanley .

When we have known something about Blanche and her life, we may find that her tragedy is doomed to happen, not only because of her personality but also the social background. She lives in a time where the modern industrial society is going forward and men are powerful than women. Her life is full of complexity and her abnormality can not be adopted in such a society which makes her more likely to be destroyed.

At the final part, some reflections of Blanche’s tragic life will be showed after some analysis. Her tragedy is not unique and women should learn from her to be real and depend on ourselves.

Keywords: Tragedy; Blanche Dubois; reasons; Tennessee Williams

1 Introduction

Tennessee Williams is widely considered the greatest southern playwright and one of the greatest playwrights in the history of American drama, whose masterpieces include Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Desire, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana, etc. In these plays, he creates many unforgettable characters, especially lonely, depressed, coward and mind-distorted southern female images and his reputation was established for his “A Street Car Named Desire”which copped two important awards in the American theater world — Drama Critics’ Circle Award and Pulitzer Prize.

Blanche Dubois is a tragic figure who is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways and living in her own fantasies. At last she destroys resoundingly. Generally speaking, she is one of such females born and brought up in Old South who feels difficult in mastering her own fate and facing conflicts brought by industrialization and commercialization under the restriction and oppression of patriarchy, and only hides herself in imaginative world to release herself.

2 An overview of Blanche’s life and her tragedy

Blanche once was married to and passionately in love with a tortured young man. He killed himself after she discovered him because of his homosexuality, and she has suffered from guilt and regret ever since. Blanche watched parents and relatives, all the old guard, die off, and then had to endure foreclosure on the family estate. His husband’s homosexuality drives her to use her sexual charms to attract men over and over. Because she thinks that she can find confidence in her own feminine attraction which can dispel the suffering her husband gave her. Then she lived in a second-rate hotel, where she made meaningless relationships with strangers. Actually, she was a prostitute. She was even dismissed from a school, where she was an English teacher, because of an incident with a seventeen years old student who reminded her of her late husband. She had to leave the old family mansion because it was mortgaged, she had to leave the hotel because of the strangers visiting her every night, and she lost her job because of the love affair with the young boy. Blanche became homeless, lonely and desperate, and she was lack of money. All these things weakened her, turned her into an alcoholic, and lowered her mental stability bit-by-bit. After suffering so much, Blanche begins to lie to hide her weakness.

So she decides to go to her little sister’s home and then arrives at the apartment of her sister Stella Kowalski in the French Quarter of New Orleans, on Elysian Fields Avenue; the local transportation she takes to arrive there includes a streetcar route named "Desire." The steamy, urban ambiance is a shock to Blanche's nerves. Blanche is welcomed with some trepidation by Stella, who fears the reaction of her husband Stanley. As Blanche explains that their ancestral Southern plantation, Belle Reve in Laurel, Mississippi, has been "lost" due to the "epic fornications" of their ancestors, her veneer of self-possession begins to slip drastically. Also, Blanche tells Stella that her supervisor allowed her to take time off from her job as an English teacher because of her upset nerves while in fact it is not the case.

When she lives in Stella's little, and uncomfortable flat, she begins to have conflicts with Stanley, Stella's husband. In contrast to both the self-effacing and deferential Stella and the pretentious refinement of Blanche, Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski, is a force of nature: primal, rough-hewn, brutish, and sensual. He dominates Stella in every way and is physically and emotionally abusive. Stella tolerates his primal behavior as this is part of what attracted her in the first place; their love and relationship are heavily based on powerful—even animal-like—sexual chemistry, something that Blanche finds impossible to understand. So, we can easily find that Blanche behaviors as if she is well-educated, pure, pretty and elegant in front of other people. Stanley and Blanche are very contrasting characters as Stanley is from a Polish working-class background where 'what you see is what you get' whereas Blanche attempts to be very 'ladylike' and innocent. But Stanley quickly finds that Blanche is pretending all the time. He cannot bear such a woman, which leads him to have the desire to bring Blanche into destruction and finally he does so. They are really on a collision course, and Stanley's friend and Blanche's would-be suitor, Harold "Mitch" Mitchell, get trampled in their path. Stanley discovers Blanche's past through a co-worker who travels to Laurel frequently, and he confronts her with the things she has been trying to put behind her, partly out of concern that her character flaws may be damaging to the lives of those in her new home, just as they were in Laurel, and partly out of a distaste for pretense in general. However, his attempts to "unmask" her are predictably cruel and violent. In their final confrontation, Stanley rapes Blanche, which results in her nervous breakdown. Stanley has her committed to a mental institution, and in the closing moments, Blanche utters her signature line to the kindly doctor who leads her away: "Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." So, in the end, the story ends up with Blanche’s tragedy.

3 Reasons for Blanche’s tragedy

3.1 Blanche’s past experiences

In the drama, we can learn that she experienced huge changes in her life: her husband shoots himself because of her contempt upon his homosexual status; the manor which is inherited from age to age is lost in the hand of Blanche; she damages the image of lady and destroys the traditional ethics of southern nobles.

The death of her first and only husband, Allan Grey, has a great impact on her. We can find that Blanche was completely and irrevocably in love with him; as Stella described it, "She worshipped the ground he walked on", and Blanche was heartbroken when she witnessed him having sex with a man. Although she at first kept quiet, Blanche later blurted out that he disgusted her when they are in each others' arms together on the dance floor. Allan then bolted outside and shot himself, and it is this tragedy which precipitates Blanche's downward spiral. Blanche reveals the story of her marriage one night while she's on a date with Mitch, and his lack of recrimination fills her with hope. "Sometimes there's god- so quickly," she says. It clearly shows that her husband’s death lets her upset and somewhat abnormal, driving her to a sad ending.

Also, Blanche is filled with self-accusation, guilt and regret for her past. In the drama, Blanche bathes herself repeatedly, which as she says it can calm her nerves. She tries to remove her disgraceful past in the new place and these baths represent her efforts to clean her impure, sordid past and reputation. Besides, Blanche always drinks alone and tries to keep it a secret. Only when she is drunk, she can forget her guilt. However, Blanche doesn’t realize that her bathing can never wash off her past and alcohol will lead herself further to the verge of breaking down. To some extent, we can say Blanche brings miserable fate by herself. Concealment of herself brings more clear memories of her negative part of life. With an ending of out of her sense at last, it is rather caused by her self-destruction than Stanley’s rude behavior.

3.2 Blanche’s dual personality

Firstly, she is a typical southern beauty who grew up in a traditional southern culture. She always considered herself as a distinguished princess. She looked down upon the ‘rude’ workers, such as Stanley. A person who can not get along well with the group must be isolated and rejected. Secondly, we all know that she is a widow. Her husband committed suicide because of he was a homosexuality and her beautiful dream was broken. She became fragile and nervous. She did not want to let others know about her previous life and tried to behavior like a lady. But there was still a nice dream in her heart, although the dream seemed to be ridiculous. Finally, she, herself, was rejecting the society. She still abandoned herself to the past time when she was still a ‘nobility’. She did not like the activities the men had during the rest time. She even tried to make her sister, Stella, get away of Stanley, which might drive the conflicts more fiercely. These are all about Blanche’s personalities which caused her tragedy. Precisely speaking, she lives in the real world while at the same time, she tries to escapes from it. Throughout the play, Blanche dwells in illusion and fantasy is her primary means of self-defense, both against outside threats and against her own demons. She avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in front of her suitor, Mitch. She also refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids light in order to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. Blanche covers the exposed light bulb in the Kowalski apartment with a Chinese paper lantern, and she refuses to go on dates with Mitch during the daytime or well-lit places. In scene nine, Mitch points out Blanche’s avoidance of light when he confronts her with the stories that Stanley has told him of her past. Mitch then forces Blanche to stand under the direct light. This act means Blanche is finally brought back to reality. Also, it can be revealed in Blanche’s final words which indicate that she has totally detached from reality and sees life only according to her own wishes. Actually, it also indicates that Blanche will never make her fantasies to be true.

Behind her veneer of social snobbery and sexual propriety, Blanche is an insecure, dislocated individual, an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. Her manner is dainty and frail, and she sports a wardrobe of showy but cheap evening clothes, as indicated in the stage directions for Scene 10: "She had decked herself out in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers with brilliants set in their heels." This occurs at a major turning point in the play, and the cheap clothes are sometimes seen as metaphorical symbols of Blanche's mental condition. So, Blanche’ dual personality somewhat reflects her tragedy later since abnormal characters will not be accepted by others and it can not be tolerated in such a society.

3.3 Social background

3.3.1 Social Culture : the south vs. the north

At that time, the American Civil War was over, but there were still many conflicts between the Southern United States and the Northern United States. The Southern United States was on behalf of the traditional southern nobility, and the Northern United States represented for the modern industrial society. In the Southern United States, a woman shall be a lady, a gentlewoman. They must be purity, elegant and saint. They are the symbol of the traditional morality. And also, the planter and their family are considered as the saint and noble class. However, the modern industrial society had just gone through a great revolution. Their society was experiencing a lot of changes and they had adapted a lot of modern views.

The play shows us the conflicts of the culture between the south and the north, and the culture of binary opposition between men and women, and the homosexuality and heterosexuality. Blanche Dubois is a traditional southern beauty. And maybe because of this, she could not bear the truth that her husband was a gay. And so her young husband was driven to death. After losing her husband, her manor, her property and her honor, Blanche had only to go to her sister for help. It is supposed that Blanche could not get along with her sister’s family, especially Stanley who was a typical worker who grew up in the Northern United States. And even the environment around her was full of ‘rude’ people.

3.3.2 Social codes: Women vs. men

According to the Victorian, women are completely submissive to men, and they do not have their independent identities. Both Stella and Blanche think that woman cannot lead a respectable life without depending on a man.

As for the heroine Blanche, she firstly depends on her father who makes her early life carefree, and then when her father leaves her, she begins to rely on her husband. However, after the suicide of her husband, she loses her spiritual support and lives a dissipated life. Then Blanche builds a relationship with Mitch who becomes another support for her to renew her life. When Mitch rejects her based on Stanley’s words about her past, Blanche immediately thinks of another man — the millionaire Shep Huntleigh — who might rescue her. In the end, Blanche depends on “ the kindness of strangers” — the doctor of the insane asylum. She does not realize that her dependence on men will lead to her downfall rather than her salvation and sees men as their only means to achieve happiness. However, just by relying on men, she put her fate in the hand of others and their lives are doomed to be miserable.

“ They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at — Elysian Fields!”, these words are Blanche speaks to others when she arrives at Kowalski apartment at the beginning of scene one. The journey that Blanche describes from the train station to the Kowalski apartment represents her life journey. A work is regarded as an excellent one because of its thoughts and value under a plain and limpid story. For Blanche’s complicated personality and bitter experiences, Tennessee Williams describes her inner heart richly and draw out the themes behind its story: fantasy’s inability to overcome reality, guilty feeling for self-destruction and women’s dependence on men. Tennessee Williams never forces his ideas on readers, so people will see different things from their own views.

3.4 The economic factor

The economic structure of plantation in the South removes women from productive labor so that they cannot obtain the independent economic status. Therefore, Marxism feminist theory argues that economic factor is the root of the oppression that women suffer from. The economic dependence on men deprives women of the right to dominate their own fate and the strength to struggle against men so that they are reduced into the other affiliated by men.

These theories are well reflected in Desire. At first, she turns to a married millionaire Shep Huntleigh for financial support. However, the help call and the message are not sent out. And her next proposal is Stanley’s fellow worker Mitch, by whom she wants to get rid of the destitution and the dependence on Stanley. But things do not turn out as she wishes. When knowing her past, Mitch abandons her ruthlessly. Without exception her luxurious life is again built on the support of men, even in an illusion. Actually, this millionaire may not exist at all, and just appears an imagined person in Blanche’s one-sided statement.

We can still find that Blanche is forced to work outside because of economic necessity. She has to choose to be a teacher in a high school which is regarded as a decent occupation of women. And as Blanche tells Mitch her miserable situation, “A teacher’s salary is barely sufficient for her living expenses. I didn’t save a penny last year and so I had to come here for the summer.” Evidently, her meager incomes are barely enough to maintain her extravagant life. So, it is quite natural that she has to turn to men for help after the suicide of her husband, death of relatives and loss of her manor, and she considers it the only choice to face the cruel environment, as she says, “Whoever you are-I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”.

A famous British writer, Virginia Woolf thinks that women’s independent economic status is the material foundation to obtain personal freedom. If women are dependent on men economically, they are deprived of all the equal rights. In the story, Blanche greatly depends on men, but the result is not satisfying for her. She gained nothing from them, except for disappointment and harm. So, it can be clearly find that if women place their hope and fortune on men, their oppressed and subordinate status can never be changed, and their dream of happy life is bound to break. In short, women’s economic dependence on men in patriarchal society serves as one of factors that result in Blanche’s destruction.

3.5 Tennessee’s personal life

Many of Williams plays included references to elements of his life such as homosexuality, mental instability, and alcoholism. Characters in his plays are often seen as representations of his family members.

Tennessee was born of English, Welsh and Huguenot descent and has an older sister Rose and a younger brother, Dakin. His father's heavy drinking and loudly violent behavior caused them to move numerous times around the city. Williams remained close to his sister Rose, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young adult and later institutionalized following a lobotomy, visiting her at the facilities where she spent most of her adult life and paying for her care. The devastating effects of Rose's illness may have contributed to his alcoholism and his dependence on various combinations of amphetamines and barbiturates.After some early attempts at heterosexual relationships; by the late 1930s Williams had accepted his homosexuality. In the summer of 1940 Williams initiated an affair with Kip Kiernan, a young Canadian dancer .When Kiernan left him for a woman ,he was distraught and Kiernan's death delivered another blow.

So, to some extent, the drama reflects the author’s personal life and was a tragedy in the end.

4 Reflections of Blanche’s tragedy

The journey from the train station to the Kowalski apartment represents her life journey, a way to “hell”. Tennessee describes Blanche’s inner heart, inability to overcome reality, guilty feeling for self-destruction and dependence on men.

Blanche Dubois is by no means unique. Her seemingly unacceptable personality and tragedy spring from the southern aristocratic background which must have produced numerable other Blanches. These southern gentlewomen may not suffer as much as Blanche does, but in essence their tragic destinies are all derived from a social factor, not only a personality defection. In this light, Tennessee Williams is not merely a psychological writer but a more importantly a social writer.

So, learning from that tragedy, we should be realistic and find our own position in family and in society. We should not afraid of others who may be stronger, wealthier or others. We should learn more and try our best to defend our rights.

5 Conclusions

Tennessee Williams was one of the greatest American dramatists of the 20th century and most of his dramas take us to the southern states and show a confused society. Among the major themes of his plays are racism, sexism, homophobia and realistic settings filled with loneliness and pain. The characters in his plays show us the extremes of human brutality and sexual behaviors.

Blanche, the heroine, is doomed from the beginning of the play. She wants to find protection and shelter from people around her, including strangers, her sister, Mitch and so on. Unfortunately, all her efforts are in vain. At the end of the play, Blanche is raped and sent to the mental house. Escaping from the reality gives Blanche a fatal tragedy. This is a classic American tragedy.

To sum up, the causes of Blanche’s tragedy are from the outside social environment and her own personalities and life experiences. Also, it reflects the author’s life in some ways. And as a woman , we should protect and defend ourselves.

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