Introduction
Thomas Mann and Tennessee Williams are very reputed writers of the twentieth century. Mann is a Nobel Prize winner and Williams was awarded Pulitzer Prize for his contribution to literature, particularly to American drama. Mann’s novels are highly philosophical, apart from being political and religious. Williams too embraces almost every area of human life, with particular attention to American life. The most common element in both these writers is their use of symbols to depict the human conditions. A comparative study of Gustov in Death in Venice and Blanche DuBois in A Street Car Named Desire is the focus of this paper. The comparison is mainly on the use of the symbols used by these writers to enrich the qualities of their characters and theme.
Main body
Gustav von Aschenbach is in his early fifties. He lost his wife at an early age in his life. He is a devoted artist. The story gives an account of his travel to Venice which brought the downfall of his life. In the hotel in which he stayed in Venice, he comes across a beautiful Polish boy named Tradzio and takes up a liking for him. The boy looks extremely beautiful in his sailor suit. The infatuation for the boy grows into an obsession from which the artist fails to come back. He meets the boy at several places in Venice, but it is only from a distance. An announcement from the health department as a warning to desist from eating shellfish increases Gustov’s anxiety about the boy. He is worried about the boy falling ill. The news of the break up of cholera in Venice provokes Gustov to warn the boy’s family about their eating habits, but he fails to communicate. Gustov thus spends his days in Venice, living in his dreams in which he experiences orgiastic pleasure with the boy. The excessive love towards the boy makes the artist conscious of his appearance. He begins to dress well and even gets his hair dyed by a barber. Morality and dignity slowly desert him as his obsession for the boy multiplies.
Thomas Mann has used in this story very strong allusions to Greek philosophy. The love which Gustov has towards the boy is based on Platonic ideas. Plato’s craze for perfection can be found in the perfect beauty of the boy which pulls the artist towards him. Plato in his Phaedrus depicts a scene in which Socrates sits with a boy named Phaedrus and talks about ideal love. It was common in Greek society to think of the ideal love between man and man. In fact, the ancient people in Greece did not make much distinction between different forms of love as is common today. Gustov’s obsession with the boy is thus based on Mann’s allusions to Greek ideas. He also shows that such blind love can lead one to decadence and degeneration. Gustov’s death in Venice is thus the result of his unbridled desire for the object he loved, for his pursuit for perfection in beauty.
As the events are narrated in the story, the focus is more on Gustov and less on the boy. It is the impact that the boy creates in his lover which catches the attention of the readers. Therefore, Gustov’s costuming and his artificiality gain importance. His unusual urge to look young surprises the readers. It could be that the readers find their own image in Gustov as he tries to disguise it. Gustov meets three strangers in the story, and all of them with their strange appearances act as the shadows of something definite to happen. He hails to realize that what shadows him is his own death. Gustov’s moods are represented through the image of weather. Altogether Mann succeeds to convey his messages through the character of the boy, the artist, and the other objects in the story.
Tennessee Williams too created a beautiful character named Blanche DuBois in his play, A Street Car Named Desire. Blanche too has a past, like Gustov. Her young husband committed suicide at an early age in his life. She claims to have lived an aristocratic life in her huge ancestral house named Belle Rev. When the play begins DuBois is discovered in the small apartment of her sister in New Orleans. She has come to stay with her sister. The events progress and the spectators gradually understand that her likes and dislikes are quite opposite to that of her sister, Stella. DuBois drinks heavily, which indicates that she has some serious memory from which she tries to escape. She also fails to keep a rapport with her sister’s husband, Stanley Kowalski. The story slowly reveals the conflicting views of the characters. Like Gustov’s visit to Venice, Dubois’s visit to Orleans marks her downfall.
It is through some ideal metaphors that Williams successfully reveals the character of Blanche. The basic nature of her is her inability to accept the truth. She fails to see the social reality and continues to live in her own world of fantasy. She too, like Gustov, makes false appearances by giving excessive care to her dress and her hair. She is also eager to hide her age and tries to attract young men. Like Gustave, she is also obsessed with ideal love. Her yearning for a young man finally brings Mitch closer to her. However, the play ends when her lustful desire is raped by Stanley, leaving her to live an insane life.
There are several symbols in the play through which the characters and situations get the intensive meaning. The title itself reveals the strange desire with which DeBoi lives. The stage setting also requires the view of a street behind it for conveying the contrast between DuBois’ fantasy and the social facts going on outside. She says that she came by taking a “streetcar named Desire”, and another one called “Cemeteries”. The irony is that instead of reaching the Elysian Fields she desired she reaches the French quarters of her sister. Some scholars have tried to discover phallic and sexual symbols in things related to this character. The white dress in which Blanche appears shows her outer appearance which is hiding her real self. It also exhibits her false purity and innocence. The frequency in her bathing is taken as an activity to wash her filthy past. It springs from her unconscious mind. In the same way, her excessive indulgence in alcohol is an attempt to escape from some guilt that is constantly haunting her. The disturbing memory which she wants to escape from becomes clear at the end of the play. The memory of the suicide of her young husband is an event that she can never escape from. The most symbolic action she frequently resorts to in the play is her attempts to hide the bright light. There is a strong link between her love for Allan and the light. She covers it in order to avoid its brightness. The light to her is synonymous with truth. She cannot bear its sharp attack.
Even the names of the characters are symbolic. Stella is the name of a star. She is the only bright character in the play. She stands as a bridge between her sister and her husband. Without her presence, the feud between Blanche and Stanley would have gone uncontrollable. She also stands as a contrast to her sister. She represents reality as Blanche represents illusion. Stanley stands for stone field or cemetery. The apartment is also symbolic of the social reality, its limitations. It stands as a contrast to DuBois’ vast space in her dreams. She finds the rooms congested, indicating the vastness of her mindscape. In fact, this difference is the root cause of her problems.
There are, thus, many parallels between Gustov and Blanche DuBois. Both move out of their original place in search of a way to quench their desires. They suffer due to a sense of incompleteness in their life, in their love relationship. Both have a keen tendency to disguise and live in a world of illusion. Too much attention is given to their external appearances. They continue to see reality and are pushed by some impulses which are out of place and out of time. The homosexual relationship appears in both these works. Allan, Blanche’s young husband was a homosexual. To become exotic is a strong tendency in both. They invite their own doom by not realizing that they are strange persons in the places they arrive. Lack of moral control and discipline precipitates their tragedy. They are not only unaware of their alien selves in their new situations, but they also lack a sense of adaptability. Gustov is happy to know that his luggage is misplaced because that gives him a chance to be back in the hotel where the beautiful boy is. Warnings come to both in several ways, but they refuse to take notice of them. There is an inherent tragic instinct in them to push their life to a miserable end. DuBois is solely responsible for her insanity. Stanley only serves as an instrument to bring it into reality.
Conclusion
Though the comparison made here is between a male and a female character, the situations have a gender-free reality. Thomas Mann has an excellent ability to render conflicting emotions in a wonderful art form. The influence of Greek masters is evident in all his writing. Tennessee Williams is an American first and last. His boldness to picture facts without censoring has shocked many theatergoers. Both on the stage and on the screen Blanche DuBois has been a marvelous success.