‘The way Williams presents Blanche makes it impossible for the audience to pity her’
In this violent and brutal play, Williams uses pity to enable the audience to condone Blanche in many ways. It reinforces the patriarchal and marginalised views of women - that they deserve everything that comes to them as a result from their own actions. Throughout the play, Williams uses Blanches’ relationships with other characters to epitomise the pity that cannot be sympathised by the audience. Therefore, it can be argued that the play mourns the unimpeded power of the society in a way that disrespect the marginalised women to a degree that even an audience to a play have patriarchal views towards.
Williams uses the relationship between Blanche and the truth to merge the dual primitive elements of desire and spirituality. There seems to be no place in the world for sensitive and beautiful souls like Blanche. The fragility and beauty of art is expressed and echoed through Williams’ grief towards the “fading” ideals of the old world, which he grew up in. Blanche’s justification for her actions seems out-of-place “Soft people have got to court the favour of hard ones… Have got to be seductive – put on… colours of butterfly wings, and glow… to pay for – one night’s shelter” Stella doesn’t question Blanche’s past, yet her panic instigates a need to reveal an embellished response, in the hope of shutting down her fears. The verb “put on” indicates Blanche almost putting on a façade to seduce men, thus diluting her desire for love; rather, she needs protection. “Butterfly wings” is a metaphor juxtaposing to her “moth-like” behaviour; moths undergo metamorphosis to become butterflies, akin to Blanche who hides her true self and seduces Mitch based on her beauty. The fact that Blanche is “glowing” is juxtaposed to her concept of retreating to darkness; perhaps, she wants to glow enough to blind others into believing her lies. Furthermore, the hyphenation highlights Blanche’s discomfort and desperate circumstances; akin to the disjointed sentence, she is also for “one night’s shelter” evokes a sense of pathos as we note the hardships she faces without the guidance of money that her world previously provided. From this, the audience can see that Blanche...
