Dealing with Reality - Essay Example

Dealing with Reality Reality is unavoidable. Everyone must face reality despite the harsh and irreversible effects it brings. A person who refuses to face reality will find it difficult to live because the rest of the world live in reality. In Tennessee Williams’ “Streetcar Named Desire,” the main character, Blanche, struggles to cope with reality. Her clinging to Old South attitude, resistance to change, and the hostility of a newfound society all contribute to her tragic ending. The introduction of the play does not provide a clear depiction of Blanche’s background, her family’s wealth and her reputation as an English teacher. She just arrives in New Orleans to stay with her elder sister Stella who is now pregnant and lives with her husband, Stanley whom Blanche finds to be a pain in her neck. From the investigations made by Stanley, he reveals that she is far from the chaste and respectable woman that she pretends to be because she has had affairs with several men she barely knows, especially with a 17-year old student that led to her dismissal from school. Her actions and dialogues also reveal other characteristics of Blanche. She is a middle-aged woman from the South who formerly taught in high school. Coming from the South, Blanche carries with her the old customs and attitude of her place including her idealistic treatment of women, which she tries to impose on the men she meets including her brother-in-law, Stanley and her suitor, Mitch. When Mitch wants to make love with her, she declares, “I guess it is just that I have--old-fashioned ideals!” but while she says this, she rolls her eyes, implying that she is doing lip-service. Blanche tries to cover up the ugly realities in her life. She declares, “Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth.” With this, Blanche confirms her tendency to deny reality. However, she prefers to submit herself to fantasy and denial. Instead of facing her problems squarely and trying to overcome loneliness by focusing on her career and getting married, she keeps on drinking liquor to cover up her feelings. This leads to her tragic ending when Stanley rapes her and she loses her sanity. Blanche tries to hide reality in order to fool people. She tells Mitch that if this act is “sinful, then let me be damned for it!--Don't turn the light on!” (Scene 9). Blanche always meets Mitch in the dark so that she could cover up the truth about her; her physical appearance and her age, her past and her feelings. She is afraid to face the truth about her past, which is so full of pretense and malevolence. This is also the reason why she tries to dress up in fashionable but cheap clothes as if she celebrates Mardi Gras. She embellishes her room with things that could make it look fabulous such as paper to cover the light and spray cheap perfume and powder so it can make her feel special. These things irritate Stanley as he says, “I've been on to you from the start! Not once did you pull any wool over this boy's eyes! You come in here and sprinkle the place with powder and spray perfume...” (Scene 10) Stanley is irritated by all her fallacies because he knows the truth about her. He refers to the affairs that Blanche had when she was in Mississippi. Blanche is full of denial. When Stanley speaks to her about a lady seen in Flamingo, she denies her past saying, “The Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment I would dare to be seen in!” She actually knows that what she had then was wrong but tries to reason out to Mitch that she needed to do it, saying, “Yes, I had many intimacies with strangers. After the death of Allan--intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with.... I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection--here and there” (Scene 9). The protection that Blanche claims she needs must be protection from insanity. It is not explained further in the play but with the heavy drinking she does, Blanche must be afraid of too much loneliness or the guilt she shares has with the death of her husband. There are many realities that Blanche cannot accept. One of which is that her family has gone broke and she is left with no property and relatives. Her only sister has left her for marriage, and this must also make her feel upset about life. Her treatment of her sister, Stella further shows her clinging to the past and inability to accept change. She declares, “Yes, Stella is my precious little sister. I call her little in spite of the fact she's somewhat older than I” (Scene 3). By this, she implies her fancy to always have Stella beside her, like a little sister to do as she wishes. Indeed, Stella usually takes her side against Stanley except when she makes up with Stanley after he beats her. By being in denial of her present situation, Blanche has herself a victim of her own actions. She is very careless with her actions, drinks all summer even though she is broke, feigns affection, and lies about everything. She even refuses Mitch when he asks him to make love although she wants him. All the lying leads her eventually to be a victim of Stanley. She cannot separate reality from fantasy, and knowing this, Stanley takes advantage of her. Some would claim that she is raped in Scene 10 but it is not really clear what actually happens. In Scene 11, it is said that “She moans. The bottle top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed.” Sinking to her knees implies that Blanche accepts her defeat from Stanley. The man knows her past and this makes her too weak to fight him that night. Considering Blanche’s weaknesses, the view whether Blanche should be blamed for her fate is arguable. Partly, Blanche may be blamed for it because she allows herself to be ruined. She lives and pretends to know old customs but engages in promiscuousness. She hates Stanley and wants to be seen as a woman of high standards but drinks Stanley’s wines all summer. Moreover, she wants Mitch to respect her but shows him signs of drunkenness. Nevertheless, her society’s hostility, as symbolized by Stanley aggravates her situation. In the scene when Stanley plans to rape her, a prostitute assaulted by a man also occurs in the background. This could mean two things: one is a foreshadowing of the events that will occur and other is a symbolism of the hostility of the society. Taking into consideration the second, Blanche may also be considered a victim of her society and not just her own. Therefore, one can say that Williams attempts to portray the gruesomeness of society and its negative effect on people during his time. Blanche is both a victim of Old South attitude and her own delusions. She has a lot of pretensions that lead her to the failure to determine between fantasy and reality. In the end, she submits to fantasy, bearing in mind that a certain millionaire suitor will come to marry her and give her a good future. As she submits to this thought, she experiences delusions and fails to recover. She is also a victim of Stanley because she allows herself to be ruined by him. Even though she is a professional and have enough education to support herself, she resides with and bears with his nasty behavior. Finally, Blanche is also a victim of the corruption around her. Her environment is composed of gambling, cheating, prostitution, crime, etc. These add to her own corruption as an individual. Her exposure to the corruption around her without guide from her parents leads to have negative values and self-identity. Work Cited Williams, Tennessee. “Streetcar Named Desire.” N.d. Jhampton. 10 May 2014. Read More