Stella & Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee WilliamsÆ A Streetcar Named Desire, set in the Elysian Fields district of New Orleans, opens to the sound of a tinny piano playing Negro blues tunes, music that according to the author ôexpresses the spirit of the life that goes on here" (p. 13). This spirit is one of desire, suppressed passions, and illusions played off against a sordid reality. These themes are embodied in the characters of Stella Kowalski and Blanche DuBois,

who are sisters. Stella is a gentle young woman from a

background obviously quite different from that of her husband,

Stanley, whose first act in the play is to throw his wife a

package of bloody meat. BlancheÆs delicate beauty and dainty

attire and uncertain manner suggesting a moth appear incongruous

in this setting. But we quickly learn that BlancheÆs Southern

gentility and innocence are feigned, that she is living in a

world of illusion, while Stella has made her peace with reality.

The crude presence of Stanley Kowalski allows Stella few

illusions about her own life and the compromises that are

necessary, while Blanche continues to couch her desires in self

delusion. Eventually illusion and desire are BlancheÆs undoing,

and Stella emerges as the stronger character.

In the opening scene we learn through Eunice, the landlady, that Blanche is from Mississippi, that she teaches school, an

. . .
ke and her own. On some level, she wants Blanche to be the Southern belle, her beautiful sister, and to take refuge from reality in her own feigned naivetT. Stanley smashes the illusions of both sisters with a heavy fist. In a steamy scene with Blanche, in which she invites him into the bedroom to button her dress, she pretends to a coy gentility that Stanley rebuffs with crude directness. She learns from Stanley that Stella is going to have a baby, which increases her feelings of protectiveness and envy toward her sister. When Stanley, who had become drunk at the poker party, strikes Stella, Blanche packs up their things and moves them up to EuniceÆs apartment. But Stella returns to Stanley, which appalls Blanche, who claims she cannot see the attraction of this crude, violent man. Stella has no illusions about StanleyÆs flaws, but she is willing to accept them as part of life. She tells Blanche of her husbandÆs violent poker parties, "Oh, well, itÆs his pleasure, like mine is bridge and movies" (p. 65). But this tolerant attitude is lost on Blanche, who tells her sister, "What youÆre talking about is brutal desirejustdesire!" (p. 70). Just under the surface of her protestations is her own strong sexual desire that Stanley, w
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1725
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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