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Jacklyn Faraci
Professor Richards
English 357
2 December 2010
The Inevitable Destruction of Blanche DuBois
Tennessee Williams is known for creating many unforgettable characters, especially
lonely, depressed and mind-distorted southern female images (Fang 103). The infamous
southern belle, Blanche DuBois in the play A Streetcar Named Desire is a perfect example of
this kind of character. She is burdened with grief and sadness after losing a husband, her family,
and her job, and throughout Williams’ play she struggles to overcome this sorrow and start a new
life. However, her journey to Elysian Fields and her interaction with the characters there can be
analyzed in way that illustrates Blanche never actually had a chance at a fresh start, and therefore
her eventual destruction is more inevitable than unfortunate.
One can begin to analyze Blanche’s struggle from the moment she steps off a New
Orleans streetcar and arrives in Elysian Fields. Blanche takes “a streetcar named Desire and then
transfers to one called Cemeteries” (15). This is Williams’ first allusion to death in the play.
Death becomes a recurring theme in Blanche’s life and her desire to escape it becomes a major
driving force in many of her decisions. Donald M. Kartiganer’s essay “‘By It I Would Stand or
Fall’: Life and Death in As I Lay Dying” presents the hypothesis that there is a constant conflict
between the forces of life and death. Kartiganer argues that Darl Bundren’s character, “who
belongs entirely to the sphere of death” is driven to destruction by death (372). If one applies
this argument to A Streetcar Named Desire, a parallel emerges among Darl and Blanche and one
can only assume that Blanche is set up for the same fate. Blanche’s relationship to death is
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blatant: “Why the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep! . . . Stella. Belle Reve was
his headquarters! Honey—that’s how it slipped though my fingers!” (27). With death creeping
close behind her, Blanche hopes that starting a new life will steer her away from a path of
destruction she feels she may have been headed for while living at Belle Reve. What Blanche
does not realize is that she will not escape death at Elysian Fields. In fact, she is actually driving
herself closer to it.
Blanche’s interaction with people is another way of exemplifying how Blanche attempts,
but fails to change her course in life. Blanche can try start a new life, but her privileged days on
her family’s southern plantation deprive her of the right to dominate her own fate (Fang 104).
Without realizing this, Blanche continues to depend on men, flirt with them, and even sleep with
them to fill her empty heart, and find a shelter and sense of security (Fang 106). After the “epic
fornications” of her ancestors and the disaster these actions have created, one would think that
Blanche would learn to distrust men and begin to create her own independence. However,
Blanche cannot do this. She is raised with an innate desire to be around others. Blanche’s strong
desires now become dangerous.
Blanche continues to struggle and overcome her grief while staying with her sister in
Elysian Fields. Blanche’s visit is the result of her exile from Laurel, but Blanche is under the
impression that she can put her notorious past behind her and start anew with a clean state in life.
In reality, she is merely is continuing a destructive search for shelter and security. And although
horrified by Stella’s brute of a husband, she cannot give up her dependence on men. Blanche
puts on an act in order to get what she wants from Stanley, thinking “maybe he is what they need
to mix with their blood now” (25). Blanche pulls out all the stops trying to impress those around
her, including deliberately standing around in her silk brassiere and white skirt to attract others’
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attention during the poker game (Fang 105). It is obvious that Blanche has not changed and
cannot change her ways. She may have begun her journey with an idea of starting over, but
Blanche is setting herself up to repeat all of the mistakes she has already made.
Blanche’s effort to start over at Elysian Fields moves along steadily until she reaches the
climax of meeting Stanley’s friend Harold Mitchell. Blanche is immediately interested in him:
“That one seems—superior to the others… I thought he had a sort of sensitive look” (49). After
this instant attraction we can assume Blanche has chosen her savior, a man with whom she can
start over. This can be assumed as the end of Blanche’s struggle. However, this attraction to the
“sensitive” is equivalent to the attraction she had for her young husband, “there was something
different… a nervousness, a softness and tenderness about him” (95). This fatal attraction has
caused Blanche to carry horrible guilt over the suicide of her young husband. She explains to
Mitch, “All I knew was I’d failed him in some mysterious way and wasn’t able to give him the
help he needed…” (95). Blanche believes she can “deceive” Mitch enough to make him want her
(81). Yet what she does not realize is that her manipulation and lies are not giving Mitch, who
has experienced the death of a lover himself, what he needs. Therefore Blanche is not ending her
struggle; she is only complicating it further and leading herself closer to her impending decline.
Blanche’s struggle starts a speeding decline after her bad reputation is exposed and Mitch
ruthlessly abandons her. Blanche should have come to the realization by now that sex and deceit
will not help her escape death or grief, but she does not. Instead Blanche becomes so depressed
that she becomes delusional. Blanche fails to get what she needs out of her sister, brother-in-law,
and Mitch, so now in her altered state of mind, she envisions receiving a telegram from the
millionaire Shep Huntleigh who invites her to a cruise of the Caribbean. Blanche continues to
make the same oversights and depends on others (now imaginary) for support they will not or
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cannot give her. It becomes clear that Blanche has exhausted all of her options twice over and
there is nothing left to fight with. The death-like force that has been hovering over Blanche for
some time is closer to consuming her more than ever.
Blanche’s struggle has nearly come to an end and there is no resolution in sight, rather
her efforts have come full circle and brought her back to the point in her life she was initially
trying to escape. Blanche’s only remaining lifeline to a future of happiness is cut when she is
raped by her brother-in-law Stanley. If Blanche is constantly surrounded by death, than Stanley
is the vision of life. This idea connects back to Katriganer’s argument, Stanley becomes similar
to Faulkner’s Anse Bundren: “The difference between Anse and the other Bundrens, is that for
him there is no true reciprocity of the primary instincts at work” (372). Like Anse, Stanley is
able to transfer his desire to another partner with the least amount of conflict. His defense in
raping Blanche is that they’ve “had this date with each other from the beginning!” (130). Stanley
acts upon his carnal instincts, but Stanley is right. Blanche has been the one inviting the attention
all along. Therefore the rape of Blanche is unfortunate, but once again inevitable.
The last scene of Williams’ play reveals that all of Blanche’s innate desires are
undoubtedly destructive. Her attraction to men equates to their death or her depression, her need
for economic security leads to her financial ruin and her longing to flee from death consequents
her eventual insanity. Blanche does come to the realization that she can no longer pretend, but
she has everything mixed up in her mind and there is no way of telling what the reality is
anymore (132). This destruction has been predictable from her arrival and her reaction to the
presence of the doctor is expected. She understands what her lies and deceit have done to her,
but her mental state has not fully taken over the desires she is constantly trying to satisfy. Even
as she is taken away to a mental institution she is charmed by the “kindness of strangers” (142).
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Blanche’s struggle finally ends as she leaves the final scene of the play, but nothing has been
resolved.
Blanche is brought up in the Old South and attempts to live her life accordingly. Yet she
cannot seem to overcome the grief that has taken a heavy toll on her spirit and her life becomes a
continuous struggle to master her fate. It is apparent that her choices, both in her past and
present, are unavoidably destructive and therefore Blanche can never release herself from the
agony she experiences. Blanche never meets her own death, but her mental degradation becomes
a close second. Death is Blanche’s oppressor from the start of the play and she can never fully
fight back, thus making her miserable situation permanent (Fang 108).
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Works Cited
Fang, Ann W. “Blanche’s Destruction: Feminist Analysis on A Streetcar Named Desire.”
Canadian Social Science (2008): 102-108. Web. 19 Nov. 2010.
Kartiganer, Donald M. “‘By It I Would Stand or Fall’: Life and Death in As I Lay Dying." As I
Lay Dying: A Norton Critical Edition. Wells Street, London: W.W. Norton & Company,
Inc, 2010. 363-375.
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York, NY: Signet, 1975.