A Streetcar Named Desire Deception Analysis

According to physiologist David Livingstone, there is a essential need for deception because it " adds meaning to our identities and our place in the world" (McCown 1). But what Mr. Livingstone fails to realise is that too much deception will lead to a loss of reality. In the play, A Street Car named Desire by Tennessee Williams ,and the television series Bates Motel, the deteriorating ability of deception ultimately leads the characters to madness. This adversely affects the charactersNorman and Norma Bates from the television series Bates Motel, and Blanche DuBois from the play A Street Car Named Desire. The process to madness is as follows: first a person is unsatisfied with their reality, then, they deceive others to try to develop

Blanche ultimately deteriorates to madness when she lies to herself and others repeatedly telling others that Shep Huntleigh will come take her. She eludes herself to the extent of taking action by writing a fake telegram to him starting with "Darling Shep. Sister and I in desperate situation."(78). but cannot seem to keep up the illusion as she stops writing the telegram. She believes her own lie so much that she does not realise that Stella, Unice and Stanley are taking her away to a mental institution. Instead she has high hopes that Shep Huntleigh will take her away. They play along with her illusion saying "She's going on a vacation"(168). knowing that she is so delusional that she truly believes her own lie to distract her from knowing what is actually happening. Blanche's constant dependency on men and her infatuation with Shep Huntleigh makes one question if her so called savoir is real or imaginary. Blanche's "[dependency] on the kindness of strangers"(178). is due to her belief that they are kind for helping her "fill the void in her empty heart" (146). after her husbands' death. She is so deluded from the fact that all her encounters with the people she calls kind strangers, were instances where they have taken advantage of her. In those last words spoken by Blanche before she leave, she reveals her madness as she is now in an illusion depending on the kindness of the doctor and no longer acknowledging Stella. At the aftermath, she is still eluded by the fact that strangers take advantage of her Mitch, Stanley and even her husband. The climax of Blanche's madness is when she confronted by itch about her lies and she stated that she "never lied inside[....never lied] in [her] heart..."(147). Which means she believes all the stories and tales she told were solely the truth. She further