Appearance and Reality in A Streetcar Named Desire

In 1947, Tennessee Williams wrote the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Since then, scholars have debated endlessly about the symbolic representations of the play; this is yet another of those arguments. Throughout the play, Williams uses the characters of Blanche and Stanley to illustrate a conflict between appearance and reality in the world.

BLANCHE: ...what sign were you born under?

BLANCHE: Astrological sign. I bet you were

This short excerpt from the play provides quite a bit of insight into both the character Stanley, as well as Blanche's character. In Blanche, one finds a mystical character, with a hint of unspoken magic about her, yet she truly is nothing other than the stories she has created about herself. As Riddell explains, "Blanche, as her name implies, is the pallid, lifeless product of her illusions" (Riddell 424). Her interest in astrology is an example of her love of the supernatural and fantastic, as opposed to the worldly or mundane aspects of life. In addition, she suffers from megalomania, and believes that she is still beautiful and rich, and wanted. She comes from the Old South backgroundùan allusion to a world, which by the 1940's when the play was written, ceased to exist, though it had once been strong and beautiful. The audience and the characters i

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oes not glamorize his poverty like Blanche does. Corrigan explains how Williams uses other theatrical devices to contrast the realistic Stanley from the imagined character of Blanche. Williams uses costuming, props, and lighting to reinforce the dichotomy between Blanche and Stanley. The overwrought, emotionally strained Blanche always wears pastels in half-lights; Stanley...appears in vivid primary colors under strong, garish light (Corrigan 386). Stanley is the symbol in A Streetcar Named Desire. He becomes a mirror of the way the world really is, rather than how it should be. He is always truthful in his grounding of Blanche to the unpleasant reality of his world. In scene seven, he destroys her fatade, outlining her sheer dishonesty from the moment she arrived in the Elysian Fields. STANLEY: Lie number one: All this Squeamishness She puts on! You should just know the line she's been feeding to poor Mitch. He thought she had never been more than kissed by a fellow! But sister Blanche is no lily! Ha-ha! Some lily she is...(Williams, 99). According to Stanley, "There isn't a goddamn thing but imagination...And lies and conceit and tricks!" in Blanche's personality (Williams, 127). He not only makes Blanche's love interest
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Approximate Word count = 1575
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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