Blanche’s Lies in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

The story of the play A Streetcar named Desire focuses on love. The research centers on Blanche DuBois’ lies. The research includes determining why Blanche DuBois lied.

The street car named desire shows, in a certain sense, Blanche is a liar. In a sense, Blanche is a liar. Blanche DuBois gave several lies to hide her true situation in life. Blanche DuBois never stated that she is a drunkard. Likewise, Blanche DuBois hid under a life of delusions of grandeur (Williams 79).

As a girl wanting love, Blanche DuBois would lie in order to make herself attractive to male suitors (Williams 40). The lies included creating a false historical life of Blanche DuBois. Just like the women of today’s generation, most women would go to the extent of hiding their unfavorable past in order to attract the male members of the community.

Normally, women would hide their past love failures from their current suitors (Shea 17). Likewise, Blanche DuBois lied about her school job (Williams 81). She falsely stated that her school administrators had allowed her to have a vacation in order to calm her nerves. In reality, Blanche DuBois had been fired from her teaching job. She was fired for having sexual relations with her 17 year old student.

Having sexual relations with students is banned in schools. One of the school policies is for teachers to responsibly take their roles as the students’ second parents. Blanche DuBois hid her teaching past to prevent hurting her sister Stella from the humiliation of having a sister fired from her teaching job.

Blanche DuBois also lied by not telling about her failed marriage. Blanche DuBois was married to Allan Grey. Their marriage finally failed when she uncovered her husband had a homosexual affair. She did not tell the truth that her husband, Allan Grey, committed suicide (Williams 76). Everyone deserves another chance.

Blanche DuBois travelled to her sister Stella’s home in order to bury her unfavorable marriage behind. In addition, Blanche DuBois created a world of lies. Blanche DuBois did not tell the truth by creating a world filled with fantasies and illusions (Williams 132). The fantasies and illusions crept into and became part of Blanche DuBois’ real life environment.

After Stanley uncovers Blanche DuBois’ lies, Stanley forces her out of their home in order to avoid bringing shame to the Stella household. Refusing to leave Stella’s home, Stanley rapes Blanche DuBois and calls the mental hospital to extract Blanche DuBois from the Stella household and treat her in the community’s mental hospital. The husband of Blanche’s sister, Stanley, uncovers her true secrets (Williams 79).

Stanley uncovers Blanche’s lies when Stanley’s friend brings news to Stanley about Blanche DuBois’ true life in Laurel. Laurel is the hometown of Blanche DuBois. Consequently, the uncovered lies infuriated Stanley.

The discovery of the lies discourages everyone. Stanley’s reporting to his best friend, Mitchell, the new discovery of Blanche DuBois’ prior unfavorable character in Blanche DuBois’ Laurel community discourages Mitchell. After hearing Stanley’s report about Blanche Dubois’ unfavorable past, Mitchell immediately drops his prior marriage promise to Blanche DuBois (Williams 73).

Based on the above discussion, the story of the play A Streetcar named Desire centers on love in general. The lies of Blanche DuBois were concocted to win male suitors. The research centers on Blanche DuBois’ past Laurel life creeping into Blanche DuBois’ current community life. Indeed, the play Streetcar named Desire shows Blanche DuBois lies to win male suitors.

Works Cited

Shea, Rosemary O’. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: Insight Press, 2011. Print.

Williams, Tenessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York: Heinemann Press, 1995. Print.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2019, May 16). Blanche's Lies in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-streetcar-named-desire-essay/

Work Cited

"Blanche's Lies in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams." IvyPanda, 16 May 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/a-streetcar-named-desire-essay/.

References

IvyPanda. (2019) 'Blanche's Lies in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams'. 16 May.

References

IvyPanda. 2019. "Blanche's Lies in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams." May 16, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-streetcar-named-desire-essay/.

1. IvyPanda. "Blanche's Lies in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams." May 16, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-streetcar-named-desire-essay/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Blanche's Lies in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams." May 16, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/a-streetcar-named-desire-essay/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1