Illusions in a Streetcar Named Desire
Illusions in A Streetcar Named Desire
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, there are many
examples where the characters are using illusions in an attempt to escape
reality.
The best example is found by looking to the main character.
Blanche Dubois was a troubled woman who throughout the play lives her life
in illusions. The story begins with Blanche going to New Orleans to stay
with her sister Stella, and her husband Stanley for a while. Here, the
illusions are revealed and the battle between the illusions and the
characters will begin. What initially leads to her illusions is love.
When she was young, "sixteen, I made the discovery - love. All at once and
much, much too completely" (1368). She met Allan Grey, the perfect man -
he had "a nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn't like a man's,
although he wasn't the least bit effeminate" (1368).
However, as we are eventually are shown, this illusion wouldn't
last forever. The young couple got married and, to Blanche, were falling
more and more in love, when one day "coming into a room that I thought was
empty" (1368), this illusion would be shattered. In this room were her
husband, Allan, and a older male friend of his. Allan Grey was gay. Soon,
Blanche realised that all along he had been trying to let her know and get
"the help he needed but couldn't speak of! He was in the quicksands and
clutching at me - but I wasn't holding him out, I was slipping in with
him!" (1368). She was falling farther into the illusion with each passing
second with her love, because she couldn't really believe that he was with
her and was for real.
Allan was in fact an illusion himself, by trying to appear straight
to everyone. At first, they would try to deny it but the illusion would
soon be totally destroyed when Blanche let it slip while they were dancing
that "I saw!
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, there are many
examples where the characters are using illusions in an attempt to escape
reality.
The best example is found by looking to the main character.
Blanche Dubois was a troubled woman who throughout the play lives her life
in illusions. The story begins with Blanche going to New Orleans to stay
with her sister Stella, and her husband Stanley for a while. Here, the
illusions are revealed and the battle between the illusions and the
characters will begin. What initially leads to her illusions is love.
When she was young, "sixteen, I made the discovery - love. All at once and
much, much too completely" (1368). She met Allan Grey, the perfect man -
he had "a nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn't like a man's,
although he wasn't the least bit effeminate" (1368).
However, as we are eventually are shown, this illusion wouldn't
last forever. The young couple got married and, to Blanche, were falling
more and more in love, when one day "coming into a room that I thought was
empty" (1368), this illusion would be shattered. In this room were her
husband, Allan, and a older male friend of his. Allan Grey was gay. Soon,
Blanche realised that all along he had been trying to let her know and get
"the help he needed but couldn't speak of! He was in the quicksands and
clutching at me - but I wasn't holding him out, I was slipping in with
him!" (1368). She was falling farther into the illusion with each passing
second with her love, because she couldn't really believe that he was with
her and was for real.
Allan was in fact an illusion himself, by trying to appear straight
to everyone. At first, they would try to deny it but the illusion would
soon be totally destroyed when Blanche let it slip while they were dancing
that "I saw!