The fusion of Eros and Thanatos in A Streetcar Named Desire
The fusion of Eros and Thanatos in A Streetcar Named Desire
Death and desire have been linked closely together ever since Freud identified Eros (the instinct of life, love and sexuality) and Thanatos (the instinct of death and destruction) as two coinciding and conflicting drives within human being (Cranwell). In Tennesse Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) these fundamental drives of Eros and Thanatos dominate the story from the beginning to the end. This becomes particularly clear through the narrative of the protagonist of the play, Blanche DuBois, to whom the inextricable link between desire and death leads to tragedy.
The presence of death in A Streetcar Named Desire is established from the beginning with the opening introduction to the street, where the following events are going to take place: Elysian Fields. In Greek mythology Elysian Fields were the abode of the blessed in the afterlife (Baym 2300), and this little detail gives a clear hint that death is a central theme in the play.
Soon after the exposure of Blanche’s travel pattern prior to her arrival quite precisely makes up the overall connection of death and desire in the story: “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields” (Baym 2301)
This description works as a metaphor for the life of Blanche DuBois, in whose experience desire has always led to destruction or death. This becomes clear later in the play, when Blanche reveals to Mitch, that she as a young woman was married to a man, who killed himself as a consequence of his forbidden homosexuality. Also another link between death and sexuality from Blanche’s past is eventually brought to light: In order to preserve herself and the sisters’ ancestral Southern plantation, Belle Reve, Blanche has been selling sex. But her efforts were in vain; she ended up losing as well the plantation as her dignity, and when she was also fired
Death and desire have been linked closely together ever since Freud identified Eros (the instinct of life, love and sexuality) and Thanatos (the instinct of death and destruction) as two coinciding and conflicting drives within human being (Cranwell). In Tennesse Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) these fundamental drives of Eros and Thanatos dominate the story from the beginning to the end. This becomes particularly clear through the narrative of the protagonist of the play, Blanche DuBois, to whom the inextricable link between desire and death leads to tragedy.
The presence of death in A Streetcar Named Desire is established from the beginning with the opening introduction to the street, where the following events are going to take place: Elysian Fields. In Greek mythology Elysian Fields were the abode of the blessed in the afterlife (Baym 2300), and this little detail gives a clear hint that death is a central theme in the play.
Soon after the exposure of Blanche’s travel pattern prior to her arrival quite precisely makes up the overall connection of death and desire in the story: “They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at – Elysian Fields” (Baym 2301)
This description works as a metaphor for the life of Blanche DuBois, in whose experience desire has always led to destruction or death. This becomes clear later in the play, when Blanche reveals to Mitch, that she as a young woman was married to a man, who killed himself as a consequence of his forbidden homosexuality. Also another link between death and sexuality from Blanche’s past is eventually brought to light: In order to preserve herself and the sisters’ ancestral Southern plantation, Belle Reve, Blanche has been selling sex. But her efforts were in vain; she ended up losing as well the plantation as her dignity, and when she was also fired