Blanche DuBois - The Past & Illusions

Blanche DuBois: Delicacy and Illusions

When Blanche DuBois appears in the first scene, she is dressed in white. White is the usual symbol of purity and innocence.

Cultured and refined

Blanche is cultured and refined – she was an English teacher and is likely well-read.
It is obvious when we first meet her that she does not like common or vulgar things. This is why she is so dismissive of the poor standard of the Kowalski’s apartment and how common Stanley is.

Blanche's illusion

Blanche admits that she doesn't always tell the truth, but she tells "what ought to be truth".
Blanche also creates an illusion of herself: "After all, a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion."
She seems to think that her life is less valid if she cannot present herself as the woman she wants to be. She first communicates with Stanley by flirting. It's how she's used to interacting with men.

Blanche's fragility

Williams presents Blanche as also being quite fragile: a personality type that collides with the reality of a brutal, patriarchal world when she is raped by Stanley.
We learn that she has put a veneer over her past life which was fraught with loss, sexual promiscuity and alcoholism.

Blanche's connection with light

Blanche feels she has to change Stella and Stanley's apartment.
She can't face the bright light bulb. She wants dim light. She prefers things to be an illusion - especially dark and incriminating things - than clear for all to see.

Blanche DuBois: The Effects of the Past

The death of Blanche's relatives and her relationship with her previous husband influence her present character.

Previous marriage

Over the course of the play, Blanche opens up more about her marriage with a young boy.
She says that the young man Allan was very tender and not conventionally male (this is contrasted with Stanley, who is conventionally male).
His tenderness "which wasn't like a man's".
Blanche informs us that she found him committing a homosexual act with an older man, which disgusted her.

Former husband's death

When Blanche and her former partner attended a dance where polka music is playing (polka music is a motif throughout the play and seems to hark back to this past), she tells her young husband that he disgusts her.
This was very cruel of Blanche and her young husband then commits suicide.
We get the impression that Blanche passionately loved her former husband.

The effect of Allan Grey's death

Blanche seems scarred by her former husband's death.
She said her love was like a "blinding light,". She says since his death, the strongest light she has had is a dim candle.
Blanche regrets failing her husband when he needed her the most. She recognises the cruelty of her words to him.

Blanche's dealings with men

After her husband's death, Blanche seems to give herself to other young men to try to dispel her own guilt and to fill the void: "intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with."
However, it is clear that this void cannot be filled. The student at Laurel appears to be one of these young men who became caught in the cross-fire of Blanche trying and failing to satisfy her loneliness and guilt.

Death and loss

We learn that Blanche experienced many deaths in her family and lost her ancestral home, Belle Reve.
Blanche seems to need escapism after experiencing these losses – she turns to alcohol during this time. Her dependency continues throughout the play.

1Context & Overview

1.1The Author

1.1.1Tennessee Williams

1.2Social Context & Setting

1.2.1Social Context

1.2.2Social Issues

1.2.3Setting

1.3Tragedy

1.3.1Overview of the Tragic Genre

1.3.2Modern Domestic Tragedy

1.3.3End of Topic Test - Author, Context & Tragedy

2Scene Summaries

2.1Scene One

2.1.1Scene One: Summary

2.1.2Scene One: Tragedy Ideas

2.2Scene Two

2.2.1Scene Two: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.2.2End of Topic Test - Scenes One-Two

2.3Scene Three

2.3.1Scene Three: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.4Scene Four

2.4.1Scene Four: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.4.2End of Topic Test - Scenes Three & Four

2.5Scene Five

2.5.1Scene Five: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.6Scene Six

2.6.1Scene Six: Summary

2.7Scene Seven

2.7.1Scene Seven: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.8Scene Eight

2.8.1Scene Eight: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.8.2End of Topic Test - Scenes Five-Eight

2.9Scene Nine

2.9.1Scene Nine: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.10Scene Ten

2.10.1Scene Ten: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.11Scene Eleven

2.11.1Scene Eleven: Summary & Tragedy Ideas

2.11.2End of Topic Test - Scenes Nine-Eleven

3Character Profiles

3.1Blanche DuBois & Stanley Kowalski

3.1.1Blanche DuBois - The Past & Illusions

3.1.2Blanche DuBois - Relationship with Men & Breakdown

3.1.3The Dynamic Between Blanche & Stanley

3.1.4End of Topic Test - Blanche & Stanley

3.2Stella Kowalski & Harold Mitchell (Mitch)

3.2.1Stella Kowalski

3.2.2Harold Mitchell (Mitch)

3.3Minor Characters

3.3.1The Hubbels & Other Characters

3.3.2End of Topic Test - Stella, Mitch & Others

4Key Ideas

4.1Sex & Gender

4.1.1Sex & Desire

4.1.2Masculinity & Femininity

4.1.3End of Topic Test - Sex, Desire & Gender

4.2Appearances, Fantasy & Reality

4.2.1Outer & Inner Appearances

4.2.2Fantasy & Reality

4.2.3End of Topic Test - Appearances, Fantasy...

5Writing Techniques

5.1Structure

5.1.1Structure & Stage Design

5.1.2Linking Devices

5.1.3Recurring Motifs

5.2Genre, Form & Language

5.2.1Genre

5.2.2Form & Language

5.2.3End of Topic Test - Writing Techniques

6Critical Debates

6.1Early & Modern Reception

6.1.1Interpreting Blanche & Self-Pity

6.1.2Contemporary & Modern Reviews

6.2Feminist, Psychoanalytic & Marxist Approach

6.2.1Feminist Approach

6.2.2Psychoanalytic Approach

6.2.3Marxist Approach

6.2.4End of Topic Test - Critical Debates

7Ideas About Tragedy

7.1Ideas About Tragedy

7.1.1Tragic Ideas & Villain

7.1.2Tragic Structure & Language

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