Explore how Williams presents Blanche:

Explore how Williams presents Blanche.

Blanche’s appearance is instantly described as “incongruous to the setting”, “dainty” and “delicate” in comparison to the raw and heavily industrialised surroundings of New Orleans. I believe this is personified in Stanley whom she labels, “bestial” and “something not quite to the stage of humanity yet”. I think Blanche sees not only Stanley but the modern working fabric of New Orleans as primitive, below her and her culture of “art” and “poetry”, “I take it for granted that you still have sufficient memory of Belle Reve to find this place and these poker players impossible to live with.”

It becomes evident that her upbringing was one of class and elegance, “looking as if she were arriving at a cocktail party in the garden district”, and even the name; “Belle Reve”, meaning beautiful dream connotes aristocracy and a wholly different world from the one she’s just entered, as if she has woken up to a reality that she has previously been sheltered from. This is the first of many comparisons between the old south she’s accustomed to and this new and developing south of clashing cultures and colours, in which Blanche appears utterly misplaced.

Her journey to New Orleans from Belle Reve seems also to map her spiritual journey, “They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields!” Williams implies that she once came from a “beautiful dream”, a surreal world in which she dabbled with desire then vanquished in death, her final resting place “Elysian Fields” – the resting place of heroes and a world engulfing her beloved Belle Reve, “I think it’s wonderfully fitting that Belle Reve should finally be this bunch of old papers in your big, capable hands!”. It becomes clear through Blanche’s nervous energy and clinginess to the memories of her past that she is a ghost of her former self, “Blanche begins to shake with intensity” and “Nervously tamping cigarette”. Even her name connotes emptiness, white, blank and dearth of colour and vibrancy.

Loss is a recurring theme throughout the play and within every scene comes a new curve in the spiral of Blanche’s deteriorating sanity; the death of her family and her young husband, the loss of Belle Reve and her status, the loss of her job, her reputation and arguably the most important factor in her collapse, the loss of her looks and therefore her very identity. Blanche is clearly obsessed with “that awful vanity about [her] looks” and shies away from light as if it burns, exposing her true and seemingly vulnerable character, not wanting anyone to see how faded she has become. As Stella moved on with the rest of the world Blanche stayed behind and slowly watched her Belle Reve disintegrate along with the bodies of her family – leaving her alone, “The long parade to the graveyard”.

Light is a substantial presence within the play and has many shifting meanings. Blanche seems caught between her desire for it, “It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had been half-shadow” and her fear of it casting reality upon her, “I can’t stand a naked bulb”. Williams describes her as “moth-like” and “flighty”, the audience given the image of a fragile being, not quite the butterfly of “soft colours” she used to be, fluttering and circling round a light bulb, getting close enough for it to burn then fleeing, only to be absorbed once more by it’s simplistic beauty and truth - a cycle in which Blanche has become trapped.

Blanche’s need to feel loved, desired and thus her fear of being on her own appears to lead to her manipulation of people and her surroundings in which she creates illusion, her only way in which to travel back to the old south and relive it. The first instance whereby Blanche creates illusion occurs in scene 3 upon her first meeting with Mitch. She uses the lighting to create a shadow of her still desirable figure and “moves indolently” to the sound of seductive rhumba music to entice the men whom are watching her, “[slipping] on the dark red satin wrapper”, “reading with feigned difficulty” and putting an “adorable little coloured lantern” over the light to soften it and conceal her age. Whilst Blanche attempts to relive her youth of good looks and gentlemen callers to both the audience and the other characters her “temporary magic” can be read as on the verge of desperation.

Williams presents Blanche as a shell, filling the gaps with “make-believe” as she attempts to gain the protection of a man. Although previously in a world whereby all men were gentlemen, Blanche seems to have learnt the hard way that in reality men of the new south will exploit vulnerable women and although she was searching for stability her flirtatious manner can be misread therefore thwarting her intentions. Her actions with the young boy, “I want to kiss you, softly and sweetly”, I feel was her way of connecting with her young dead husband, using him as a vessel to her old life, making peace with the boy whom she hurt. I believe that Mitch, although simple-minded, appeals to Blanche as he has known loss and can be easily manipulated to fit in with her illusions of the old south, ““Look who’s coming! My Rosenkavalier! Bow to me first! Now present them”… [He does so. She curtsies low.]” I think that Mitch could give Blanche an identity again, more humble than her last albeit but more dignified than this downfall into insanity and delusion.

The idea that she has dabbled in prostitution to make herself feel desired arises, aided by her flirtatious manner in which she seeks the approval of men, throughout scene 3 and is verified in scene 5 whereby Blanche breaks down, “men don’t admit your existence unless they are making love to you” and “make a little temporary magic just in order to pay for one night’s shelter.” The audience can therefore feel sympathy for Blanche as it is clear she has completely lost her way, “from one leaky roof to another” and through her inability to adapt has alienated this new world.

The desperation Blanche shows throughout the play for her identity shows that as Belle Reve died so did she. Williams presents her as a faded, ghost-like being of her past self in which she has become trapped between the old and new south, needing the stability of a man accustomed to both; gentlemanly yet adaptable and strong-minded. I believe Blanche personifies the death of a world of art and “tender feelings”. This new world is raw and empty of such luxuries, being replaced with industry and technology, “bold”, “primary”, “straightforward” and “honest”, a world in which Blanche can neither empathise nor adjust.