When examining both William Shakespeare's Othello as well as Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, one can not help but notice the stunning array of characters; each with their own and distinct personal identities. From Blanche Dubois in Streetcar to the evil Iago in Othello, personalities run wild and please us all with their similarities, differences, and intertwining complexities. While many of the characters in these particular plays exhibit strong differences in their identities, in comparison to other characters in their respective plays, the identity resemblance of characters from one play to the other is nothing short of astonishing. Moreover, one cannot help but feel that their personal identity correspond with those of the characters in these plays. Blanche Dubois with Iago, Stella Kowalski with Desdemona. Although the dissimilarities of their identities from other characters in their respective plays are unequivocal, when carefully examined in the aforementioned pairs, striking similarities tend to emerge.
A Streetcar Named Desire's Blanche Dubois has a personality and identity very similar to that of Iago in Shakespeare's Othello. Blanche's character is one of ambition, hopes, dreams, and goals. Nonetheless, it was also one of lies, deception, and eventual tragedy. Correspondingly, Iago's personality also displays characteristics of deception, manipulation, and lies while at the same time, also being filled with ambition and goal setting. Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche demonstrates to us just how ambitious she is and how much she is looking forward to the future. She has dreams of, one day, starting up a flower shop with her sister Stella or running away to live a wonderful life with her friend, the opulent Shep Huntleigh. She completely ignores the wants and feelings of those surrounding her and aims at achieving only the things that are beneficial to her. Blanche