How To Foreshadow Blanche's Fatal Flaw

Mad for Beauty

“Solitude is impractical and yet society is fatal” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) Emerson’s saying is all that embodies A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams’s Blanche is that tragic heroin hurt by the depths of society. Her tragic flaw is her pursuit of society and her madness for beauty. The Young Man’s presence in Scene 5 of Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire is essential as it illustrates Blanche’s fear of vanishing beauty and old age. Elia Kazan’s film version of A Streetcar Named Desire correspondingly to Williams’s play uses the Young Man to foreshadow Blanche’s fatal flaw. Williams’s illustration of the young man reveals innocence and naivety which ultimately contrasts with Blanche’s character. However, Kazan’s adaptation of
Tennessee Williams’s Blanche is the epitome of the bygone era of a southern belle; she embodies the classical social inequalities. As her social and cultural stances deeply diminish she develops a fear of fleeting beauty and old age. Williams conveys this idea of vanity, fear of death and old age throughout the play. In scene 5 the use of the Young man is in essence part of Williams’s exposition, he uses the Young Man to foreshadow Blanche’s fatal flaw and expose the importance of age in A Streetcar Named Desire. Elia Kazan’s adaptation of Williams’s play reflects this quintessential theme as he adopts Williams’s dialogue in Scene 5 accurately. Kazan’s film adaptation of Scene 5 is more or less true to Williams’s play as he encompasses the main themes evoked that of beauty, vanity and old age through the precise dialogue and the sequence of events. Nevertheless the similarities found in the adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire remain superficial, Kazan’s interpretation of Williams’s stage directions in regard to the Young man are poles apart. Although the original and its film adaptation aim to foreshadow Blanche’s denouement and portray the fear of vanishing beauty
Williams refers to the “young prince out of the Arabian nights” as a descriptor for this young man which conveys Blanche’s love for dreamy realities. The development of the contrast between Blanche and the Young Man in Williams’s Scene 5 is done as such; Blanche’s character is revealed through dialogue whilst the Young Man’s reticence and ambivalence is suggested in the stage directions. Williams’s use of stage direction is what differentiates Kazan’s adaptation from the original play. Through stage directions the young man is portrayed as a naïve innocent boy who Blanche manipulates and takes advantage of. Williams’s stage directions refer to the Young Man as shy and timid “He turns back shyly”, “The young man clears his throat and looks yearningly at the door” Williams’s play directions say. The young man is portrayed as fearful as he is he described to look for escape. A word like “appears” serves to describe the Young Man’s first appearance which connotes a reticent and introverted character. His description of the young man is one that illustrates ambivalence, horror and shock. Williams’s suggestion serves to aggravate Blanche’s situation, the character is one that has no limits as she crosses all