Comparing Blanche And Blanche In A Streetcar Named Desire

er. This indicates how society viewed women. Ignorance and beauty may not be virtues, but they are attributes that Daisy believes will best equip her child to survive in the world.

In order to conform to the rigid expectations and survive American society, it is required for female characters to be dishonest. In patriarchal society, as a woman who has to be subordinated to men, Blanche steps out of her assumed female role to challenge men's authority, specifically Stanley in order to better her situation, which from the beginning we know will not end well because she has no support, no husband and is therefore why she turns to promiscuity “intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty hearty with”,. Blanche is a character
that is forced into being a prostitute: “Have got to be seductive… make a little-temporarily magic just in order to pay for-one nights shelter”. Blanche is sacrificing her dignity to survive, when ironically, it was the men in her family who were spending money on promiscuity “fathers and father and uncles and brothers exchanged the land for their epic fortifications”.
This exaggerates that it is acceptable for men to indulge in what they want, whereas when Blanche does-“I had many intimacies with strangers”- it is seen as dirty and formidable. This is due to her gender and double standards, in American society at the time, in which men were considered superior to women. But when she moves in with Stanley and Stella she is dishonest in order to survive, or she will not be respected in the way that she wants to be. This is shown when Mitch discovers the truth about her. His respect towards her is gone and he even tries to insult her “fumbling to embrace her: What I have been missing all summer”. Mitch’s action towards Blanche is completely overlooked because Mitch thinks it is acceptable to violate her as she is “not clean”. Whereas Blanche’s action towards the young man is not
the norm, it is seen far more unappealing to the readers than Mitch’s assault. This supports the idea that men were seen as more dominant and women were just seen as the “second sex” .

The readers could potentially consider that Mitch and Blanche are similar; however Blanche is interpreted as a more tragic character to the audience.
This could be because of her gender or that she is a southern belle who is seen to be old fashioned in modern America and is victimized in her surroundings “Her appearance is incongruous to this setting”. The two characters are interconnected by their mutual loneliness and desire to be with someone to deflect their previously suffered emotional damage; “The girl’s dead now”. Though they both have similar experiences in life they deal with it with different attitudes. Blanche has to adapt herself to suit the environment in which she finds herself. Blanche’s actions towards Stanley are dictated by her fundamental nature. The woman must create an illusion: "After all, a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion." Yet if Blanche cannot function as a woman, then her life is invalid. She therefore tries to captivate Stanley by flirting with him “I was flirting with your husband!” She knows no other acceptable way to enter into her present surroundings. Likewise, she must change the apartment. She can't have the glaring light bulb, she must have subdued light. She does not want to see things clearly but wants all ugly truths shielded by the beauty of imagination and
illusion.

Clearly in The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire femininity equates to weakness. The men take advantage of the women they romanticize; for example, Gatsby spends his life seeking acceptance of his relationship with Daisy, but never validates her as a person: “Her voice is full of money”. This shows lack of appreciation of social freedom for women during this time. In A Streetcar Named Desire women are seen the lesser of men, this is displayed as Mitch thinks more highly of women as he asks “uh- kiss you-goodnight”. Stanley contrastingly does as he pleases, regardless of Stella, his wife’s feelings “it makes me so mad when does that in front of people”. Mitch’s consideration however is not well received as the men don’t believe that being attentive and obliging is necessary with women because women are inferior to the men. Blanche displays feminine characteristics, such as her flirting and appearance but her other more masculine qualities are emphasized to overshadow them, like her dependence on alcohol. For instance because she is a woman she feels the need to make excuses for her drinking and says: “Now don’t get worried, your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard, she’s just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty!” This is ironic as it denotes that being an alcoholic is a disgraceful trait, and not typical for a woman, so she needs to lie. Male alcoholism is seen as a respectable character trait as they are male: “He has had a few drinks on the way home and has brought some quart bottles home with him”. This shows Stanley doesn’t have to lie about alcohol consumed compared to Blanche. This demonstrates that dishonesty stems from being gender oppressed and how women were unrealistically expected to act “white palace the king's daughter”. Females' dependence on males is not due to physiological difference but the result of coercive act of male culture. Overall in the light of this comment femininity is shown in contrast of each other and parallels of each other.