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Blanche Dubois Character Analysis

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Blanche Dubois Character Analysis
This play reflected a part of society that was frowned upon on a social level in the mid 20th centuary. Today a play like this is concidered normal, or average as far as the contrivisrail espects are concerned, but in the 40s a character like Blanche Dubois was something that challegned the moral of the ideal american family. This play is about Blanche DuBois, a schoolteacher from Laurel, Mississippi. She arrives in New Orleans to live with her sister, Stella Kowalski. Blanche told her sister that she lost their their ancestral home Belle Reve, following the death of all their remaining relatives and husband. She mentions that she has been given a leave of absence from her teaching position because of her bad nervous breakdowns.

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We are first led to beilieve that she is an innocent damsel in distress, and is a hard workig widowed woman with very good intentions. As the play progresses we start to see a catalyst of events, and lies that unravel the truth of the main character. Blache is a mentaly unstable women, who uses her sexuality to gain comfort, even though it has been the cause of her downfall from, her losing her job, to her husband comminting suicide she still has an obsession of staying young and beautiful and desired by men which can explain her behavior. She wants to keep up appearnces through lies and deception out of shame of her past behavior, she stated “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action” (Sc.3 p. 2093). She seems to have a love and hate realtionship for Stanley, she hates the fact that hes not the sterotypical southern men that she is used too, but yet still very sexually attreatice to her eyes, I deduduced this in sene two when Stanley and Blanche are having a converstion “ BLANCHE: I'm going to ask a favor of you in a moment. STANLEY: What could that be, I wonder? BLANCHE: Some buttons in back! You may enter! [He crosses through drapes with a smoldering look.] How do I look? STANLEY: You look all right. BLANCHE: Many thanks! Now the buttons! STANLEY: I can't do nothing with them. BLANCHE: You men with your big clumsy fingers. May I have a drag on your cig? STANLEY: Have one for yourself. BLANCHE: Why, thanks!... It looks like my trunk has exploded.” There is a sexual undertone that at first seems innocent but after getting to know the characters more we can see her natural urges that she tries to supress slipping

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