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To What Extent Does Williams Portray Stanley as the Cause for Blanche’s Downfall?

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To What Extent Does Williams Portray Stanley as the Cause for Blanche’s Downfall?
‘To what extent does Williams portray Stanley as the cause for Blanche’s downfall?’

A Street Car Named Desire is a play written by a Mississippi born writer called Tennessee Williams. A Street Car Named Desire shows a reversal of fortune with Blanche having a life full of fortune with a successful business and a happy marriage however it is all turned upside when all this fortune is removed out of her life resulting in her seeking refuge with a lower class family her sister got married into... this fits in with Aristotle’s theory of tragedy because there is a reversal of fortune, bringing out feelings of fright and sympathy to the audience. Blanche might have been a character created by Williams using inspiration of his own life, William’s sister was suffering from schizophrenia all of her life and Williams spent most his life paying for her care. Blanche went into care at the end of Street Car Named Desire. Blanche might have been based on Rose as some critics believe.

In this essay I will argue who is responsible for Blanche’s downfall and to what extent Williams portrays Stanley to be the cause, because of his possessive character and pride. Stanley’s victimisation of Blanche and not allowing her to hide away in the shadows was another contributing factor towards Blanche’s downfall. However I will also explore how it can be argued that in fact it was inevitable that Blanche will have a downfall, as she went to stay down her newly married sister’s house... desperate for help as the family business was ruined. As a cause Blanche became promiscuous after her husband died after her shock of finding out his homosexuality. She is a character all about the luxuries of life, she is running away from her past and does not want to face reality that she does not have the fortune she once had. So was Blanche her own worst enemy or was it down to Stanley?

At the start of the play, Williams portrayed Blanche as a sophisticated woman who was from a higher class than the
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