Blanche's Guilt In A Streetcar Named Desire

Other common ground that Blanche and Stanley share is that they have both hurt their spouses, and felt remorse after the incidents. Blanche is full of guilt, feeling responsible for the suicide of her husband, Allan. As the story progresses, her remorse becomes more and more apparent. She regrets calling him “disgusting” after discovering that he was having an affair with an older man (133). Blanche feels as though Allan’s blood is on her hands because of her harsh judgement, and lack of compassion towards him. Because his death was so sudden and unexpected, she never gets an opportunity to get closure on the issue. After sharing the story with Mitch, this ultimately drives her to insanity, constantly hearing the song that was playing when Allan killed himself in her head throughout the rest of the play (133). Stanley also hurts his spouse, physically attacking Stella. He becomes easily agitated with Stella after a night of poker with his friends, and attacks her for turning on the radio after telling her to be quiet (114). After she leaves and his head clears up, he
When Stanley accuses Blanche of being untruthful about the loss of Belle Reve, Stella tells him that she is not being sneaky and that she does not need papers to prove what her sister has told her (104). Stella believes her sister, and wishes Stanley would not be so insistent on trying to find Blanche in a lie. Stella’s trust for Blanche’s story is finalized when she offers Stanley the papers of bankruptcy. Stella is confronted by Blanche about the poker night, trying to help Stella see that Stanley is not the best person for her to be with. Stella defends Stanley exhaustively to Blanche, stating that the situation is not as serious as Blanche leads on (117). Stella then defends Blanche when it comes to the “rumors” Stanley heard about Blanche’s