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Character Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire

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Discuss in detail Williams’ dramatic portrayal of desire and its significance within the play, paying particular attention to the end of scene 1 (“I, I, I” to [Her head falls on her arms]) In the extract, newly-introduced Blanche estranges Stella by accusing her of, through confessing, losing “Belle Reve”, then a hyper-sexual introduction of Blanche’s parallel: Stanley, follows. Desire is used as a dramatic tool in this scene, by having it emphasise and bring about tension between Stanley and Blanche through appearances, actions and classifications, as well as showing the entwining between desire and death. The desire between the two is prominent in this scene, emphasised by Stanley’s introduction implicating him as an archetype of primal …show more content…

Blanche, on the other hand, finds that her desires are continually unsatisfied through death. Both the ending of scene 1 where it is revealed that Blanche’s husband, or object of desire, “died” and the ending of her ancestor’s Southern desire -manifested in Belle Reve- ending with their deaths and its loss, hints at the inevitability of any desires of Blanche, similarly, ending with death – her awareness of the “Belle Reve”s residents outcome “but I saw! Saw! Saw!” and the familiarity Blanche feels towards death, shown in the personification of death as another human-like resident, makes their having a similar outcome more …show more content…

However, that she condemns it “No, I-rarely touch it” shows how Blanche must change traits to live up to her own desires of perfection. This is further emphasised by her lying to Stanley “Why, I-live in Laurel” and her manipulating of Stella in her epic speech about Belle

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