Essay on the theme of Fantasy vs Reality in 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
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Course
Unit 1 - Drama
Institution
PEARSON (PEARSON)
An essay exploring the common exam question about the conflicting themes of fantasy, represented by Blanche, versus reality, represented by Stanley, in Tennessee William's 'A Streetcar Named Desire'. Written by a current university student that achieved an A* in English Literature A level by memori...
Essay Plan: How does Tennessee Williams present the theme of reality versus fantasy?
1) First stage appearance, poker night, paper boy
2) Date with Mitch
3) Light motif
4) Stanley & realism
5) Final scene, Blanche retreats to fantasy world
Introduction:
Tennessee Williams’ domestic drama ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ focuses extensively on the
tragic figure of Blanche Dubois whose fatal flaw is her unwillingness to confront the realities
of her life having been dismissed from her post as an English teacher for forming an illicit
relationship with a student and has little choice but to spend a protracted stay with her
sister, Stella Kowalski and her brother-in-law, Stanley, in the rather down-at-heel
neighbourhood of Elysian Fields in New Orleans. Subsequently, Blanche weaves a web of lies
that eventually even deceives herself and catalyses her downfall.
Point one:
From the outset of the play, Williams presents apparent contradictions in Blanche’s
character in the underlying tensions between her reality and the fragile fantasy
world she constructs.
Initially, Blanche successfully acts out her fantasy in which she plays the part of a
demure lady dressed in “white suit with a fluffy bodice” causing her to appear
“incongruous to the setting,” keeping up the façade of a genteel Southern Belle.
Her clothing, it seems, is emblematic of her former wealth and the fact that she was
raised on a former slave plantation called “Belle Reve” (signifying “Beautiful
Dream”); and it seems that through the way that she dresses Blanche continues to
cling to the dream of her past - being reluctant to accept her reality of destitution.
However, at Stanley’s poker night, we soon see from Williams’ stage directions that
Blanche momentarily slips back into the role of a cheap seductress that she had to
play before arriving at Elysian Fields when she “takes off [her] blouse and stands in
her pink silk brassiere and white skirt in the light through the portieres” so that the
men present could see her silhouette.
Williams further hints at Blanche’s past life of promiscuity when she flirts with a
paper boy in a vignette before her first date with Mitch, one of Stanley’s friends.
Blanche remarks “You make my mouth water” with deliberate sexual ambiguity, and
then goes on to kiss him without waiting for him to consent – mirroring her
involvement with a seventeen-year-old student that caused her to lose her job; the
reality she is trying so hard to evade.
Point two:
Blanche’s predatory behaviour towards the young man is juxtaposed against Mitch’s
romantic arrival, carrying “roses” for her, and she slips back into her fantastical role
as a respectable lady with “old-fashioned ideals.”
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