Blanche Dubois Legacy

A Legacy of Lust
A legacy based on lack of integrity often sticks with an individual despite their attempts of removing themselves from it and ultimately becomes the reason for their downfall. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams explores the legacy of a Southern Belle through Blanche Dubois and her desire to be the object of lust. Her character continues her family’s legacy which is based purely on desire and eventually leads to her downfall. However Williams introduces us to Blanche’s sister, Stella, who manages to escape her home and attempts to control the impact of her family’s legacy upon her life.
Blanche is introduced as a Southern Belle who is driven by the desire to be wanted. She openly flirts with Stanley, “playfully

The purpose of her life is to be desired. However the extent to which she goes is demonstrative of her lack of integrity. Blanche takes a “streetcar named Desire” (15) to get to her sister’s home; the streetcar is symbolic of Blanche’s decisions after the death of her husband. Initially, Blanche is married to Allan, whom she “loved unendurably” (95). Her marriage with Allan is a way for her to escape the lack of integrity which has been passed down. She is honest with him and loves him, however upon finding that he is homosexual, she feels betrayed. Life brings her to a point where she has to choose a path for herself, and she chooses the same path as her family. She depends on the “kindness of strangers” (142), and is strongly driven by desire. She wants to be desired however “men like [Stanley] abuse her,” (111) which is why she moves from one man to another. She uses her “intimacies with strangers” (118) to “fill her empty heart” (118). After the death of Allan, Blanche seems to have nothing to fulfill except her family’s legacy. Despite wanting to leave her legacy behind and moving on with Allan, fate and circumstances bring her back. In “panic, just panic,” (118) she chooses the path of desire. However, with age, Blanche runs out of magic. When she becomes a “[daisy] that’s been picked a few days,” (47) she goes to live with Stella, where she is introduced to the audience as a “moth”

They both have strong desires; Stella has a desire for Stanley and Blanche wants to be desired. However Stella has found a man who will fulfill her desires for life. Blanche, on the other hand, is unable to find someone who desires her so she continues her search, going from one man to the next. The metaphor of the moth can also be representative of Blanche’s death. Although Blanche is not physically dead, she has lost her grip on reality near the end of the play. She continually awaits a call from Shep Huntleigh, a millionaire, whom she thinks will take her out of her “desperate situation” (68). A moth, likewise is attracted to the light, yet as soon as it gets close, the moth dies. Similarly, Blanche pursues her desire however it leads to her downfall. Her money “just goes places” and she doesn’t have a place to live, therefore she goes to “Elysian Fields” (15) by taking a “streetcar named Cemeteries” (15). The streetcar named Cemeteries is symbolic of Belle Reve’s loss and Blanche’s upcoming downfall. She goes to Elysian Fields, “where [she] is not wanted” (70). Elysian Fields is a blessed and happy place in the afterlife for heroes, however Blanche feels that she doesn’t fit in with the blessed place. “Cemeteries” and “Elysian Fields” both represent the results of Blanche’s pursuit of her desires. She loses Belle Reve, partly due to the actions of her family, is ostracized from Laurel and in the end, excluded