Character Analysis: A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams is acclaimed for his ability to create multi faced characters such as Blanche Dubois in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire. She comes to New Orleans after losing everything including her job, money, and her family’s plantation Belle Reve, to live with her sister Stella. During her time there she causes many conflicts with Stella’s husband Stanley and tries to get involved with the people there, all while judging them for their place in society, although she is imperfect too. Through her, Williams has created a complex character. She is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her own fantasies throughout the entirety of the play. Blache is destroyed by her own characteristics: alcoholism, promiscuity, and cruelty.
During the time this play was written, alcoholism, although very abundant in culture, was never discussed but rather hidden. As a result of societies standards Blanche takes on concealing the truth about her drinking problem. For example, when Blanche first arrives at the Kowalski 's house one of the very first things she does is finds a bottle of liquor. “[She springs up and crosses to it, and removes a whiskey bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink]”(1.71) Blanche tries to separate herself from reality when she drinks, trying to forget and escape her troubled past. Being in a new environment is unsettling. With the