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an A grade streetcar named desire essay
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an A grade streetcar named desire essay about scene 11
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How does Williams create a sense of regret, sorrow and pragmatism in thefinal section of the play?
A Streetcar Named Desire highlights many topics such as: mental health,
patriarchy, and the treatment of women in the 1940’s. In the play, Williams
portrays these through various characters and through the use of stage
directions.
At the beginning of the play, during the first poker night we see, Blanche
flaunts herself in front of the women for entertainment, she wants their
attention and wants them to desire her. This is a completely difference case at
the very end of the play, Blanche is broken from the rape and is continuously
bathing herself in an attempt to cleanse herself from Stanelys violation. During
the poker night in this scene, Blanche is ‘hiding’ from the men, she doesn't
want to see them and doesn't want them to see her. This shows the effect of
Stanley and how the rape has almost ‘shattered’ a part of her soul and took
away her character traits. So in the final section of the play, when the doctor
offers her ‘kindness’, she is quick to take it. ‘Whoever you are- I have always
depended on the kindness of strangers.’ The irony of this line is that Blanche
relying on strangers' kindness is the reason for why she has found herself in
her current position- though the kindness she relied on from men in her past
was sexual kindness which was the cause for her downfall. Blanche's final line
causes a ‘full circle moment’ for her character as the persona she had in her
very first scene repears. Williams brought back her southern belle persona in
the final section of the play for a ‘full cycle moment’, showing that even till the
end, she still is a part of a higher class and still has her etiquette, showing the
class difference between her and the other characters.
Williams creates a sense of pragmatism through Stella's character and
portrays both the negative and positive sides of this pragmatism through the
emotions she displays in the last section. The negative being when the
realisation of what is happening hits Stella, she is forced to watch the
consequences of choosing not to believe her sister, and it ultimately results in
her becoming hysterical as she watches the ‘nightmare’ play out. As she
watches Blanche get restrained, she begins frantically crying out ,‘What have I
done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?’ The horrifying
reality of what Stellas has done causes her to become hysterical, making her
voice out loud the question that's haunting her head. By Williams breaking up
the sentence through the use of commas, it's as if Stella is struggling to
comprehend her decision, this reflects the hysteria she is experiencing.
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