Blanche Dubois: A Streetcar Named Desire

579 Words3 Pages
"After all, a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion” (1792) Blanche Dubois’s entire existence was that of illusion. She lived a life hidden in muted paper light, dressed in soiled costumes, chipped rhinestone tiaras and broken Mardi Gras beads. A faded southern gentlewoman who clung to the past, hiding behind her distorted truths as she watched death slowly steal her home, her family, and her love. Throwing her deeper into her dream like world of young lovers and persistent admirers. A world that becomes a tangled web of past and present that traps Blanche like a fragile fly desperate to escape. Blanche has many insecurities, flaws and fears. She is self conscious of her appearance and fearful of aging. Blanche applies powder to her face like a mask to hide from reality. When Blanche moves into the Kowalski’s apartment, her fragile delusional world is in complete conflict with the stark brutal reality of theirs. This conflict, this constant battle with delusion and reality makes Blanche behave like a trapped animal in a cage! The name Blanche Dubois means White Wood which evokes an image of purity, innocence, peacefulness.…show more content…
Blanche flees from the light like a child from a stranger. The light represents reality and all its brutality. It is what Blanche runs from yet cannot escape. Stanley and Stella sing the joys of the colored lights while Blanche is disgusted by their song. Even Stanley's uncivilized poker games are played beneath the harsh light above the poker table. When Mitch attacks Blanche he does so with the brutal force of a bright light not his hands. Yet when Blanche wants to entice Mitch with her femininity she uses the light to flaunt her seductive shadow against a curtain. She is both repelled and drawn to the light, as she is to Stanley. Light represents her illusions and her reality. It is the keeper of her secrets, her confidant, her friend but it is also her
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