Essay: To what extent is the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" the tragedy of Blanche? University Degree Tennessee Williams The first 200 words of this essay...
To what extent is the play "A Streetcar Named Desire" the tragedy of Blanche? In the 1945 Tennessee Williams play, the character of Blanche Dubois is by far the most complex persona. To explore whether the play can be regarded as her tragedy, we first need to examine the necessary criteria of the genre. To fulfil the standard, the play should be "a serious representation of the downfall of the protagonist, a person of admirable qualities, who makes a fatal error.
A Streetcar Named Desire can be seen as a modern domestic tragedy, with base elements of traditional tragedy. Blanche has come to the home of her sister and brother in law Stella and Stanley Kowalski, because she has nowhere else to go, having lost the inheritance of their ancestral home, Belle Reve (Beautiful Dream), due to the mismanagement Read more. SND Is blanche a tragic heroine doc free ebook download from homepage.ntlworld. Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche DuBois is a tragic figure.
She’s out of place both geographically and temporally (that is, she's stuck in the wrong time). Blanche is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her own fantasies. Blanche and Her Retreat From Reality Discussing Blanche's retreat from reality is interesting because it’s difficult to distinguish between when she has lost her grip on reality, when she’s simply imagining a better future for herself, and when she’s immersed in fiction and indulging in romantic fantasies. What start off as harmless flights of fancy soon escalate to a dangerous level. At the beginning of the play, Blanche tells lies and knows that she's lying.
But, later, when Blanche orchestrates a telegram to the supposedly rich and adoring Shep Huntleigh, it looks as though her fantasies are going overboard. But what drives Blanche over the edge? We also have to remember that Blanche is an English teacher, and romance and fantasy are part of her profession. Tragic Heroes/Heroines. Following up from today's lesson...
Simply put, the tragic hero/heroine is the main character (protagonist) in a tragedy. In Aristotelian beliefs about tragedy it was imperative that the tragic hero/heroine was a person of nobility; a member of the aristocracy to make their tragic downfall more poignant and to ensure that an audience watching a play could be readily instructed not to repeat their mistakes. However, in Streetcar Williams presents us with a tragic heroine in Blanche, who is ordinary; a 'human' tragic heroine.
We get the sense that in the genre of domestic American tragedy Williams is at pains to emphasise Blanche's humanity; she is not the same type of heroine you might expect in an epic/classic tragedy. Rather, Williams arguably shares Arthur Miller's belief that the 'tragedy of the common man' (or woman if we are thinking about Blanche) is just as valid as the tragedies experienced by the characters in Othello, Hamlet and Macbeth for example. Tragedy and the Common Man by Arthur Miller. Tragedy and the Common Man by Arthur Miller In this age few tragedies are written.
It has often been held that the lack is due to a paucity of heroes among us, or else that modern man has had the blood drawn out of his organs of belief by the skepticism of science, and the heroic attack on life cannot feed on an attitude of reserve and circumspection. For one reason or another, we are often held to be below tragedy-or tragedy above us. The inevitable conclusion is, of course, that the tragic mode is archaic, fit only for the very highly placed, the kings or the kingly, and where this admission is not made in so many words it is most often implied. I believe that the common man is as apt a subject for tragedy in its highest sense as kings were. Blanche+as+a+tragic+heroine+Activity+Notes. Kazan wrote, “Blanche is a woman of enormous emotional variety, imperious, self-assertive to fluttering helplessness, feverish gaiety to pathetic terr.
How much can we sympathise with Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire?
(essay I wrote for English Literature AS last year, one of my favourites.) One of the considered titles originally for Streetcar was The Moth , and from the opening introduction to Blanche from the stage directions, “her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light”, an image of a fluttering, self-destructive moth is painted. During the course of the play, elements of her personality reveal her to be vulnerable, such as her alcoholism and history of dependence on men. But she is also a highly flawed character that the audience has difficulty siding with. These dual components to her personality are what make her so interesting, although at times, it can be hard to sympathise with her. Stanley, on the other hand, has plenty of friends and “acquaintances,” all of which he is able to use to his advantage, where he does.
When more is revealed about Blanche’s past, the audience are able to sympathise with her more.