Desire - A Destructive Driven Force

A desire for attention, devotion, and to be observed, considered, praised, and admired is common in A Streetcar Named Desire. It gives the characters a reason to keep on going when life becomes difficult and the future is uncertain. However, this desire manifests itself in many ways. For example, Mitch and Blanche—they are opposite in gender, but desire the same thing. They both desire love and companionship. However, the degree of this desire for love and companionship plays itself out cruelly in Blanche’s case because she cannot control it. As for Mitch, he is able to maintain it within his power.

Blanche's pursuit of her desire in Belle Reve has forced her to leave town which eventually traps her into fantasies and illusions. This desire leaves her with disgrace and shame when it gets out of control. This indicates that Blanche cannot manage the risks or consequences of her desire; she is not always in control of what she wants. Also, her unfulfilled desire to love and be loved has crippled her spirit and left her deserted and insane. Lies after lies, she denies reality and is content with her delusions, fantasies, and her make-believe world. Even when Stanley rapes her, this incident is supposed to bring her back to reality. Although reality crashes down on her when this happens; nevertheless, she is delusional-- this brings back to the idea that she is incapable of controlling her desire. Mitch's desire is less extreme. He wants Blanche; he wants to marry her, but when he discovers Blanche's dirty past, he retreats. This indicates he knows the extremity where this desire will lead him. He is cautious of the consequences of this desire and knows how to maintain a tight control of it when things don't turn out the way he wants.

The streetcar named Desire is symbolic to Blanche's desire. Although Blanche comes to Elysian Fields as a broken woman, she keeps alive her desire to be with a man who can help get her life back together. Mitch can be that man-- he is capable. Mitch is single and alone; he is craving for love and companionship. To fulfill his mother’s wish of seeing him getting married before she dies, he is planning to ask Blanche to marry him. Blanche, in many ways, is accustomed to the fulfillment of her desires because she is raised that way. She can be a match for Mitch. Now, she is craving for love, companionship, protection, and stability in life. She is also single and alone. Blanche and Mitch can be each other paradise. They can fulfill each other needs.

Unfortunately, Stanley tells Mitch Blanche’s secrets. Mitch becomes disgusted with Blanche even when he loves her and would ask her to marry him. He desires for her companionship and love, but this desire vanishes. It is under his control. He determines its limitations. When he learns Blanche’s dirty past and habit of telling lies, he says Blanche is not clean enough to be in the home where his mother lives-- his desire dies. However, Blanche's desire is still lingering. She continues to be delusional which ultimately drives her into insanity. She lies, cheats, and steals, but never harm any one. She only wishes to preserve an illusion--she has it in the end.

Stanley - Opposing Views

Stanley, a Polish man in his late 20s, appears to be a nice guy at the beginning of the play; he loves his wife and treats his friends nicely. He invites friends over for social events at his place and would hang out with them at the bar for bowling and other activities (scene 1-2). However, as the play progresses, the true character of Stanley is revealed, given readers a fuller account of how he is. He roughly dresses in blue denim work clothes most of the time. He possesses an animalistic physical vigor that tends to raise his voice and is always in the mood for action. He can be very violent with words; he yells at others. He enjoys gambling, bowling, and drinking (scene 2).

He has very little respect for women; especially Stella and Blanche. He physically assaults Stella while she is pregnant, but somehow still deeply in love with her (scene 3). He harasses Blanche and invades her privacy by digging into her past. For example, he learns from Shaw that the townspeople considered Blanche as a disgraced individual and the school removed her teaching position due to a relationship with a seventeen-year-old kid. He gives Blanche a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel as a symbolic birthday gift that depicts his uneasiness and animosity of her presence in his house. In addition, he ruins her relationship with Mitch by unsympathetically revealing to Mitch her secrets and ugly characteristics (scene 7). Overall, he represents a serious man with an animalistic physical vigor without remorse as he tries to reassert his control and dominance of his household.

However, Kazan’s 1951 film of this play depicts a different side of Stanley. Stanley still possesses his manly characteristics as shown in the play. Unexpectedly, Stanley is more submissive in the film. The posted video clip shows the scene where he kneels and begs Stella for forgiveness when she comes out from the room to see him; this is not a characteristic of Stanley because he is a straight-down-to-earth man, serious and aggressive. This scene shows a shift in power and dominance; at the moment, he is no longer a man in control. He cries with tears of joy as he hugs Stella as if she possesses something that dismantles his ego and tranquilizes his animalistic physical vigor.