-
Annotated by:
- Glass, Guy
- Date of entry: May-24-2016
- Last revised: May-24-2016
Summary
The play is set in 1947 (the year it premiered) in New
Orleans. Having lost their ancestral
Mississippi home to creditors, Blanche Dubois arrives at the shabby French
Quarter flat of her sister Stella. When
we first meet Blanche she explains she is on a leave of absence from teaching
high school English on account of her “nerves.” From her first meeting with
Stella’s husband Stanley Kowalski, a World War II vet, we detect class conflict
and sexual tension between the two of them. As Blanche’s visit becomes more and more protracted, Stanley becomes
increasingly suspicious of her motives and background. Meanwhile, she begins to date Mitch, one of
Stanley’s poker buddies. Gradually we learn more about Blanche’s checkered past.
She was once married to a young man who committed suicide after she discovered
him in a sexual encounter with another man. Stanley uncovers rumors that she was fired from her teaching job for
having sex with a student. As the play
progresses, fueled by her surreptitious drinking, Blanche’s mental state
unravels. When Stanley warns Mitch about Blanche’s notorious reputation, Mitch
rejects her. Adding insult to injury,
while Stella is having a baby, Stanley rapes his sister-in-law. Blanche’s emotional deterioration is complete. In the final scene, a doctor and nurse arrive
to take Blanche to a mental hospital. She initially resists them, but when the doctor helps her up she
willingly surrenders: “Whoever you are - I have always depended on the kindness
of strangers"(p. 178).
Miscellaneous
This edition of the play includes an introduction by Arthur
Miller, and an interview by Tennessee Williams “with himself.”
Publisher
New Directions
Place Published
New York
Edition
2004
Page Count
192
Commentary
From the outset of the play, Blanche is aware she has got to “keep ahold of myself” (p. 10). She won’t be seen in the light, indulges in a nip (or two) of liquor, and soothes herself with therapeutic baths (hydrotherapy had been a popular 19th-century treatment for anxiety). Later, she fantasizes herself in a relationship with an old college beau, Shep Huntleigh, who, she claims, is now an oil millionaire. As the tension in the house escalates, her fanciful notions multiply. The author increasingly employs descriptions such as “hysterically,” “nervously” and “neurasthenic.” We witness Blanche in an inappropriate sexual encounter with an underage delivery boy; soon afterwards she employs the ego defense mechanism of reaction formation in her prudish behavior towards Mitch. We also see her experience a traumatic flashback of her husband’s suicide. Finally, we watch her regress to a childlike state, and her rescue by the fatherly, benevolent figure of the doctor.
The film version, despite featuring magnificent performances (Marlon Brando is astonishing), simply eliminates the homosexual element. Furthermore, while the text fully supports a diagnosis of severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (plus Histrionic Personality Disorder and Alcohol Abuse) the film appears to suggest that Blanche is suffering from a psychotic disorder (i.e. schizophrenia). Practically speaking, it can still be tricky to differentiate between the two. Actually, if one imagines that Stanley’s explosive behavior is the result of war trauma, a case might be made that there are two characters here who are suffering from PTSD.