Blanche Dubois A Tragic Hero - 862 Words

Throughout Tennessee William’s play â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire,† Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end. Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it. She was passionately in love with Alan; but after discovering that he was gay, she could not stomach the news. When she revealed how disgusted she was, it prompted Alan to commit suicide. She could never quite overcome the guilt and put it behind her. Blanche often encountered†¦show more content†¦Blanche repeatedly lied to make herself look pure to others. It only served as a masquerade to hide her dirty, sinful reality. She lied about her age, alcoholism, promiscuity, and why she had to le ave Laurel. When Stanley asked her if she wanted a shot, she replied, â€Å"No, I—rarely touch it† (Scene 1, page 1548). She could not confront her reality, so she retreated to her world of illusion. This was Blanche’s most prominent flaw. If she could have accepted things for what they are, she could have salvaged her sanity. If, from the beginning, she had been truthful to Stanley’s friend Mitch, he could have forgiven her. Dismally, Mitch would not trust her after finding out everything she said was fabricated. â€Å"I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it† (Scene 9, page 1590). Blanche feared lights which symbolized her fear of reality. She claimed that with Alan’s death, all light had gone out of her life. â€Å"And then the searchlight which had b een turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this—kitchen candle.† Blanche desired gentleness and kindness, but it was always out of her reach. She could not seek kindness from her family, so she sought it from strangers. â€Å"Whoever youShow MoreRelatedBlanche Dubois As A Tragic Hero In A Streetcar Named Desire1570 Words   |  7 Pageshe or she is responsible; then, through the downfall of the hero and the resolution of the conflicts resulting from the hero’s tragic flaw, the tragedy achieves a purging of the audience’s emotions† (Masterpieces of World Literature). Tragic plays have one or more tragic heroes within them; A Streetcar Named Desire is no exception. According to Dr. Hebert, a tragic hero must meet the following criteria: they â€Å"must be Noble, have a tragic flaw such as hubris, they go through a sequence of fall, sufferingRead MoreA Streetcar Nam ed Desire : A Tragic Desire969 Words   |  4 PagesA tragic hero in literature is a type of character who has fallen from grace, where the downfall suggests feelings of misfortune and distress among the audience. The tragic flaw of the hero leads to their demise or downfall that in turn brings a tragic end. Aristotle defines a tragic hero as â€Å"a person who must evoke a sense of pity and fear in the audience. He is considered a man of misfortune that comes to him through error of judgment.† The characteristics of a tragic hero described by AristotleRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire-A Tragic Hero1422 Words   |  6 Pagesplots, cliches etc. Among those is the classic tragic hero, one who is destined to fail no matter what. In a Streetcar Named Desire, the tragic hero is Blanche Dubois, an aging Southern Belle living in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty. In this essay it will be discussed what makes Blanche a tragic hero and how she compares to a typical tragic hero. A typical tragic hero is first and foremost, born of noble stature. This gives the hero something to fall from, so they can fall fromRead MoreWhat Defines Blanche Dubois856 Words   |  4 PagesWhat defines Blanche Dubois? Does tragic define her? Does heroine define her? As Aristotle once said â€Å"a man cannot become a hero until he can see the root of his own downfall†. Every hero/heroine has a tragic flaw which ultimately leads to their downfall, but can we call Blanche Dubois a tragic heroine? In theatre a tragic heroine is â€Å"a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on a tragedy† Looking at this definitionRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams1054 Words   |  5 PagesJamie Razo Mr. Baker Period 7 22 September 2017 Tragic Downfalls In the play and book called â€Å"A Streetcar Named Desire†, there are numerous amounts of tragic events that not only affected the person in the event, but others around them as well. A tragedy, or tragic event, is known to bring chaos, destruction, distress, and even discomfort such as a natural disaster or a serious accident. A tragedy in a story can also highlight the downfall of the main character, or sometimes one of the more importantRead MoreStreetcar To Desire Character Analysis848 Words   |  4 Pagesare many tragic moments they are events that causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe. The book takes place in a New Orleans during the 1940’s. Blanche is wanting to visit her sister for a little while but she realizes that she lives in crappy old apartment. She decided to stay with them and throughout her stay there were many tragic events that happened. The main tragic events in the play cau se Blanche to be a tragic hero. In sceneRead MoreStreetcar Named Desire1179 Words   |  5 Pagesto the tension as we realise that the two main protagonists, Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, are polar opposites. Both Blanche and Stanley can be interpreted as representing aspects of the classical tragic hero. In the first scene, we learn that Blanche has experienced a shift towards unhappiness with the loss of ‘Belle Reve’, the Dubois family home, and also through the death of her husband. We immediately realise that Blanche is in a state of peripeteia which has happened as a result ofRead MoreA Streetcar Named Desire - Sympathy for Blanche1054 Words   |  5 Pagesinteresting play, by Tennessee Williams. The character Blanche DuBois is created to evoke sympathy, as the story follows her tragic deterioration in the months she lived with her sister Stella, and brother-in-law Stanley. After reading the play, I saw Blanche as the victim of Stanleys aggressive ways, and I also saw her as a hero in my eyes. Blanches devistating past is just one of the reasons I felt sympathy for her. Troubled from her past, Blanche has a sence of falseness, which increasingly becomesRead More Tragic Comedy of Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire1350 Words   |  6 PagesA Streetcar Named Desire as Tragic Comedy      Ã‚   Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is considered by many critics to be a â€Å"flawed† masterpiece. This is because William’s work utilizes and wonderfully blends both tragic and comic elements that serve to shroud the true nature of the hero and heroine, thereby not allowing the reader to judge them on solid actuality. Hence, Williams has been compared to writers such as Shakespeare who, in literature, have created a sense of ambiguity andRead MoreA Street Car Named Desire Analysis1090 Words   |  5 PagesThe Play â€Å"A Street Car Named Desire,† was written byTennesse Williams in 1947. This is a tragedy that begins in 1947 in the French quarters of New Orleans after the tragic hero, Blanche Dubois, is forced to move from her family home of Belle Reve in Laurel, Mississippi due to poverty. Blanche suffers from a form of psychosis that makes it difficult for her to deal with reality. She often hears a music play when ignoring the trut h of a past issue or something she sites not believe. She struggles with