American playwright Tennessee Williams wrote numerous of plays that focused on the issues of general life. Williams experienced many hardships during the 1960’s all of which include: receiving harsh behavior from the press, losing his lover, Frank Marlo, to cancer, abusing alcohol and drugs, and commitment into an institution until the 1970’s. Even though released, Williams continued the use of drugs and unfortunately died surrounded by half-empty bottles of wine and pills. Despite having such difficulties, he created many award winning plays after his move to New Orleans in his early years; the city inspired many of his plays including legendary play and film, A Streetcar Named Desire. A play based on a thirty year old widow, named Blanche Dubois who in hopes to start anew, goes to live with her sister and brother-in-law, Stella and Stanley Kowalski, in New Orleans. Blanche Dubois faces many struggles during her stay in New Orleans, some of which change her life forever. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses characterization of Blanche Dubois to convey the idea that failure to cope with loss can lead to one’s destruction.
The progression of Blanche’s destruction is initially shown through the loss of Belle Reve. Since it has been a while since Blanche and Stella have seen each other, during their reunion they attempt to catch up, over lost time. Blanche reveals her weakened mental state and her strong belief that she has “to be with somebody, [Blanche] can’t be alone” and admits that she is “not very well” (Williams 17). This statement gives insight into the peak of Blanche’s mental illness. After the loss of her parents, Blanche held the responsibility of sustaining the family home and this put a strain on her. Stella then discovers that it was trying to “hold [Belle Reve] together”, that makes Blanche feel as if “all the burden descended on [her] shoulders” (Williams 20). Though, when Blanche confesses that she lost the estate, she begins to avoid coping by rationalizing and putting blame to the copious amount of death that occurred at Belle Reve. She claims that the expenses of all of these deaths, is the reason that Belle Reve “slipped through [her] fingers” (Williams 22). Not only was Blanche being crowded by funeral expenses, but she was also fired from her teaching job due to a certain sexual encounter she had with one of her students. With this in mind, she had no job, no money, and nowhere to live. This is ultimately why she comes to visit Stella in the first place, in hopes of creating a life for herself. She can’t cope with this loss alone and hopes that in New Orleans, where no one knows her, is where she can start fresh, away from this unsettling loss.
Towards the middle of the play, Williams proceeds to elaborate further on the death of Blanche's husband, Allan Grey. Although, this traumatic experience happened before the time set in the play, it gives insight as to why Blanche decides to make certain decisions throughout her life. When Blanche was sixteen, she married and fell “unendurably” in love with seventeen year old, Allan (Williams 114). After she concludes that Allan was a homosexual that “came to [her] for help”, her insecurities begin to surface (Williams 114). She was young and entirely mesmerized by the feeling of her first true love, that the revelation of Allan’s homosexuality, extremely tore her. Later she hurtfully admits to Allen that he disgusted her. Moments after, “[Allen] stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired—so that the back of his head had been—blown away (Williams 115). He was a gay man in an unapproving era, seeking to fix himself through his marriage with Blanche. The terrible guilt received through this painful loss, which was never coped with, affected Blanche to such a degree that it ultimately trails with her through her current age of thirty. This is a regret Blanche never heals from. She lives the rest of her years afterward with a high sex drive, in which ultimately makes her lose her reputation. This is another reason why Blanche moved to New Orleans with her sister. It was a place where no one knew her and here, she’d be able to wipe herself clean from her previously stained reputation. Although she tries to hide her many sexual affairs, it eventually becomes revealed to her new love interest in New Orleans, Harold Mitchell. Mitch then forcefully accuses her of being unclean and this breaks Blanche into openly admitting the truth behind her decisions after Allan's death,
Yes, I had many intimacies with strangers. After the death of Allan—intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with. . . . I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection—here and there, in the most unlikely places—even, at last, in a seventeen-year-old boy (Williams 146).
In all, after becoming aware of Allan’s sexual orientation, Blanche becomes traumatized and insecure; the first man she fell deeply in love with was not sexually attracted to her. This explains why she sleeps around with younger men to try and desperately relive the moment of happiness and security she had in her life while with Allan. Though by doing so, Blanche loses her reputation and sense of dignity after getting fired for having sexual relations with her student. Even after more than a decade has passed, Blanche is still in denial and continues to try and fill the emptiness that resulted from this distressing loss by sleeping with many men.
By the end of the play, Blanche’s failure of coping with her loss has led to her destruction. During Blanche’s stay in New Orleans, she faces her sisters hypermasculine husband, Stanley Kowalski. Blanche and Stanley have many altercations throughout the play due to their dissimilar viewpoints. His repulsive way of proving his dominance is by ultimately raping Blanche. Stanley entirely destroys her and even the sound of his name terrifies Blanche to “[stand] quite still for some moments . . . [with] a look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience shows on her face” (Williams 167). Although, Blanche was already in a downward spiral with her mental illness since the beginning, it was Stanley’s violent act that completes the progression of her insanity. Blanche's insanity can be seen by the time she sees “lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes . . . accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” (Williams 174). Blanche is hallucinating intrusive images because of her previous traumatic experience, which was then triggered by the Matron’s harsh treatment when attempting to take her to the psychiatric hospital. Even in the final pages of the play when she is being taken to the institution, Blanche is still seeking to fill her emptiness by “[depending] on the kindness of strangers” and willingly “allows [the doctor] to lead her as if she were blind” (Williams 178). She is a delicate, broken woman who, as she always has, accepts the kind treatments that make her feel truly cared. This kindness causes Blanche to willingly go to the mental institution, the place her destruction has led her to. Blanche’s repeated neglect to cope with her loss is the factor that makes her vulnerable to the last act of trauma she receives before her psychological downfall is complete.
Considering William’s plays examine issues of everyday life, his theme of destruction due to the inability to deal with loss is accurately portrayed for todays time period as well. Different types of loss, whether it be the loss of a loved one, valuables, or reputation, occur every day and every person’s grief is different. There are still people today who choose to fill their emptiness by committing unethical decisions such as addiction or desire, simply because they neglect coping with their loss. This theme can even be perfectly portrayed through Williams himself when he lost his true love, Frank Marlo, to cancer. Similar to Blanche, Williams failed to cope with his loss and was destructed by his addiction of drugs and alcohol, leaving his brother no choice but to commit him into an institution. Not only did the continuance of his addiction lead him to the institution but it also lead him to his death.