Deliberating Blanche's Dubois recede from reality is attention-grabbing. It is not easy to differentiate between when she lost reality grip and when Blanche is modestly imagining how she will have a better future. She is indulged and engrossed in romantic fantasies. The fantasies began as flights that are harmless, and with time, these fantasies escalated to a hazardous level.
At the start of the play, Blanche tells lies, and she is aware she is lying. For instance, in scene one, she tells her sister that she is going for a "leave of absence" from the job she was doing as a teacher at a school. There was a suspicion that Blanche was not telling the truth. Later this suspicion is confirmed she was not saying the truth. Blanche was lying to ensure her appearance is kept up.
Later, Blanche stage-manages a telegram to the adoring and rich Shep Huntleigh. This clearly shows that her fantasies are heading overboard. Now she seems to believe her fantasies herself. When Williams shows us what is going on in Blanche's head- the polka music sound, the voices madly echoing, and the shadows on the wall, and then it is a simple way of letting me know that there is something amiss with Blanche.
Blanche is driven over the edger. She is spending a lot of her time lying to almost everyone. It is fascinating that she was lying until she started believing the lies she was saying to be true. Remember there is a time she told Mitch, "Never inside, I didn't lie in my heart" I think this shows that she believed in her lies concerning the age she had. However, there may be considered that the death of Blanche's husband and the demise of her relatives that occurred at Bella Reve may be the cause of the mental illness she is having. Subsequently, she is being haunted by Allan's death scene, brought to the readers by the gunshot memory and polka music. Besides, Blanche teaches English at school; therefore, fantasy and romance are part and parcel of her profession.
Blanche eminently tells Mitch: "I don't want realism, I want magic! [..] 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 the truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be dammed for it". She goes ahead to say, "You didn't know Blanche as a girl. Nobody, nobody, was tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her and forced her to change. Besides, indeed, Stanley's abuse forced Blanche to carry on with her path of changing- to further retreat from the reality to fantasies that so evidently destroys her world.
Conclusion
Any nuanced reasoning may be making sense differently according to the reader. However, there should be an agreement that is clear that Blanche cannot deal with specific life circumstances and events. Rather than facing these events and circumstances, she decided to retreat, escape from reality into the world she was making her world. In the play, William is not condemning Blanche for her behaviors because her life rough and sad; instead of condemning her, she requires help and sympathy. Escaping reality and retreating to fantasies was her mechanism to help her cope with the difficult life.
Cite this page
Paper on Blanche Dubois a Streetcar Named Desire. (2024, Jan 25). Retrieved from https://proessays.net/essays/paper-on-blanche-dubois-a-streetcar-named-desire
If you are the original author of this essay and no longer wish to have it published on the ProEssays website, please click below to request its removal:
- Response to Maus' Interpretation of Shakespearean Comedy Essay
- Critical Essay on "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" by Arthur Conan Doyle
- Literary Analysis Essay on The Boys Ambition by Mark Twain
- Essay on Improving Writing Power: Language Power Tutorials for Students
- Classmates React to Images of Different Cultures: Impact on Graphic Design - Essay Sample
- Essay Example on In Memory of Lost Child: Jonson's Poem 'On My First Daughter'
- Country and Town - Literary Analysis Essay