Streetcar Named Desire Symbolism
A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, is riddled with symbolism. The symbols found in the play include masculinity, light, bathing, liquor, white, and much more. Each symbol can be interpreted with a profound underlying meaning. However, the most prominent symbol that drastically changed the play’s plot was the Varsouviana Polka. This instrumental tune manifested her guilty conscience and became her ultimate demise. Through the art of symbols, Williams narrated the tragedy of Blanche’s downward spiral into the internal abyss by employing the polka music. What commenced Blanche Dubois’s mental decline was the death of her husband, Allan Grey. Explicitly, it was how he perished that caused such issues in Blanche to emerge. Like any
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Stanley raped her. After the horrific event, never could Blanche hear “the Varsouviana rise [so] audibly” (Williams 133). Making matters worse, Stella chose to turn a blind eye to the truth, simply because she “could not believe [Blanche’s] story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 133). Her resolution was committing Blanche to a mental institution. The causation of guilt lead her to be entirely engulfed by her imagination. She was convinced that she was preparing for a vacation to meet Shep Huntleigh, and she descriptively envisioned the way she will die at sea. As the polka played faintly again, Blanche was lucid for a brief moment. “She looked fearfully” with doubt of who “they were calling” for (Williams 137). “The Varsouviana played distantly and [became] filtered into a weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” as the matron and doctor try to seize her (Williams 139). This was the last straw for Blanche’s mentality. Her “nervous breakdown was complete” (Gpane). She was broken.
Blanche Dubois had drowned in her delusional mind. She lost her grip on reality. The polka made Blanche trudge deeper into insanity. The guilt forced her to reach a place where she can never return from lunacy. Williams manipulated Varsouviana polka, a music with a profound meaning, to its last sound that ends abruptly similar to Blanche’s
Stanley raped her. After the horrific event, never could Blanche hear “the Varsouviana rise [so] audibly” (Williams 133). Making matters worse, Stella chose to turn a blind eye to the truth, simply because she “could not believe [Blanche’s] story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 133). Her resolution was committing Blanche to a mental institution. The causation of guilt lead her to be entirely engulfed by her imagination. She was convinced that she was preparing for a vacation to meet Shep Huntleigh, and she descriptively envisioned the way she will die at sea. As the polka played faintly again, Blanche was lucid for a brief moment. “She looked fearfully” with doubt of who “they were calling” for (Williams 137). “The Varsouviana played distantly and [became] filtered into a weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” as the matron and doctor try to seize her (Williams 139). This was the last straw for Blanche’s mentality. Her “nervous breakdown was complete” (Gpane). She was broken.
Blanche Dubois had drowned in her delusional mind. She lost her grip on reality. The polka made Blanche trudge deeper into insanity. The guilt forced her to reach a place where she can never return from lunacy. Williams manipulated Varsouviana polka, a music with a profound meaning, to its last sound that ends abruptly similar to Blanche’s