"A Streetcar Named Desire" and Expression of Femininity

Tennessee explored the themes of fantasy vs reality and in the process gave us iconic female characters. These characters portrayed women in the 1950s and showed us how they were seen as repressive and submissive in society back then. While doing so, he also touched upon the themes of femininity and their dependence on men. In his play "A Streetcar Named Desire", he portrayed an outspoken woman as one of his protagonists who believed in the independency of the womenfolk, while also being aware that they are still dependent on men. Secondly, he introduces us to another female character who is exactly what society wanted women to be, submissive and catering as a homemaker and an obedient wife. These two characters are Blanche DuBois and Stella Kowalski.

Blanche DuBois, the main protagonist of the play, appears in attire that does not seem quite in harmony with the opening set. She arrives at Kowalski's apartment, which lies amidst a low-income location in the French Quarter of New Orleans. At the onset, as a viewer, we come to know that Blanche likes to receive compliments for her looks. She even indirectly demands them by mentioning to her sister, Stella, that she hasn't said a word about her appearance. We also notice her insecurities through her actions, as she passes on insults about her sister's appearance to make herself feel better. Maybe she does not mean to offend others or intentionally put down other people, but she appears insensitive to what others might feel through her words.

Blanche speaks about women's independence, but also appears to be dependent on the kindness of strangers. She lays down a narrative of hope that women can be outspoken and independent. However, ironically through her actions she also makes one feel that women will still be dependent on men regardless of how much they stand up for themselves. She tries to motivate his sister, Stella to leave her abusive husband. On the other hand, she herself suggests approaching a Dallas millionaire Shep Huntleigh, to acquire financial assistance.

Blanche's past relationships and her tragic marriage in her youth make her seek emotional fulfillment through men. She also sees marriage as the only way that can lead her away from her plight. She likes to appear as a sophisticated beautiful young woman to others. She desires to appear attractive to men and constantly displays an obligation to lie about her age and wear expensive clothes.

Tennessee's experiment with illusion vs reality is effectively portrayed through Blanche. From the start, she displays an urgency to stay away from the light. It is repeatedly shown that she prefers fantasy to both reality and light. This is why she starts a relationship with Mitch, a friend of Stella's husband, which is based on lies. She desires to be wanted by Mitch while being convinced that Mitch finds her moralistic and thus avoids being in a physical relationship with him. Their relationship starts going downhill when Mitch confronts her about the truth, her past. When she finally tells Mitch about her intimacies with other men after the death of her previous husband, Mitch finds her unworthy to be introduced to his mother. However, he still wants to get intimate with her. This sheds light on how society had these unspoken criteria for a woman to be worthy to get married, to be a wife.

"I don't want realism. I want magic." These words by Blanche give an insight into how much she was engrossed in her own world away from reality. Her sister Stella once expresses that Blanche is lonely and people should be nice to her. She asserts that Blanche as a young girl was tender and trusting, but then people like Stanley abused her and consequently, she changed into her present form. Blanche loses complete touch with reality after Stanley rapes her. She finds her fantasy world more comforting as reality becomes difficult for her to accept.

Stanley, Stella's husband, constantly doubted Blanche's statements from the start and was on a quest to expose her. He tries to bring to light that she is a manipulative liar and deceives people. He makes an immense effort to shame Blanche and convince Stella to be against her. He wants his wife to chase her away. On the occasion when Stella was in the hospital giving birth to their child, Stanley comes home drunk and rapes Blanche. According to him, as Blanche already had many intimate relationships in her past, another one should not matter to her.

Towards the end of the play, Blanche's life comes to a comical downfall. She is devoid of her voice and mental stability. Williams creates a sense of detachment from Blanche in the audience, while also safeguarding her from the audience's disapproval.

On the other hand, Stella, Blanche's sister is a character who is submissive to her problems; in fact, she does not really define her situations as problems. She is someone who left her home in search of a better life in New Orleans. She meets Stanley there and eventually gets married and resides with him in Elysian Fields. She brushes off Stanley's drunk misbehavior with excuses such as 'he did not know what he was doing' or that he was ashamed of himself later. She expresses fascination about the basic things that hold them together, such as a fulfilling sex life. Stella expresses her willingness to tolerate her husband's actions and their dependence on each other helps sustain their marriage. Blanche tries to emphasize that what Stella has is just desire. Stella does not notice that there aren't any real emotions in their marriage and that she is just glued to physical attraction. Stella constantly comes off as a bridge between the actions and demands of her husband and her sister. She regards Stanley's behavior as something to be tolerated and not to get rid of. Additionally, Stanley provides her pocket money and pays the bills, which also draws the narrative toward Stella's dependence on her husband.

Tennessee's play was also adapted to a film of the same name by Elia Kazan in the year 1951.

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