A Streetcar Named Desire

   In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams uses motifs and symbols to further accentuate the ideas and details of the play. The common description of the play is best known as a woman by the name of Blanche, who embellishes on an unforgettable stay at her sister Stella’s apartment with her husband. Blanche’s story is filled with so much substance as she tries to hide the truth from her sister, and on a new journey. However symbols around her present a clear image of her past that she tries so hard to cover up. The motifs of the play help support the plays themes and views.

Blanche has had a rough couple of months and she came to New Orleans to shed her old bearings and start over. One symbol that seemed to follow her to New Orleans is the Polka music. The polka music triggers an immediate flashback to her life back in Laurel. The polka music was the last song she and her husband danced to before he killed himself. Unfortunately it’s her last memory of him, besides seeing him in the room with another man. In Blanche’s case the polka music represents the beginning of her downward spiral. It also symbolizes the remorse she has for her husband, a man she loved so much, who was her everything to her. One memorable moment when Williams injects the polka music is when Blanche is talking to Mitch about her “past” she says “We danced the “Varsouvian!”Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later- a shot!” (Scene 6, 1844) Blanche partly blames herself for her husband’s suicide because right before he ran off; she told him how disgusted she was in him for being with another man. Whenever she hears the polka music, it startles her and she loses her grip on reality, unable to determine what’s real and what’s not.

Williams greatly shows the connection between the motifs and themes of the play. The reoccurring motifs allow the reader to actually think beyond the words being read. One begins to think of the connection the motif has in reality and compares it to the text. There are several motifs that surface around Blanche which includes light and bathing. Blanche takes a strong calling to these two motifs. Bathing is a common activity, usually one does it twice a day but for Blanche there is a constant need to cleanse herself. She spends most of her time in the bathroom bathing or applying make-up to cover up these invisible scars. In a religious sense bathing is a way to wash away one’s sins also known as baptism. In a way this applies to Blanche, she wants to wash away her imperfections, secrets and discretions. One of her sins being her promiscuity, results in her carrying on several inappropriate sexual relationships. She’s hoping that bathing will wash away her past, but in an effort to cleanse herself she’s just adding on more dirt. In addition, Blanche has an insecurity issue, she needs someone to compliment her and tell her she looks good. Her low self-esteem issues cause her to always bathe and keep re-applying make-up. Stella knows this about her, she tells Stanley to “When she comes in be sure to say something nice about her appearance.” (Scene 2, 1814). Stanley doesn’t understand Blanche’s need, that’s why he makes an effort to expose her true self.

In reality when we turn on the light in a dark room we get to see, objects around us. However for Blanche the light was an enemy, it not only shows what was in the room but it shed the truth. That was her main concern; she didn’t want to face to truth. She didn’t want to have her past revealed in front of Stella and Stanley. She wants to seem just as perfect as she was before Stella left. The light symbolizes the reality of her past and Blanche likes to think of herself in this magical world where nothing can go wrong. From the beginning, Blanche’s resistance to the light has been shown when she covers the light with a Chinese paper lantern. Blanche’s best explanation for the light is when she tells Mitch “…and then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this – kitchen- candle…” (Scene 6, 1844). She tells Mitch that after her husband’s death the light in her life had went out. Her husband brought great joy to her and he lit up her life indeed. All those other mini romances mean nothing to her because no one can replace the light of her husband.  Although she admires her husband’s light she despises the light of reality. The light of reality forces her to believe that her world is an illusion and that she has to face what’s real. The light shows her loss of everything beauty, money, and dignity. There’s a point where Blanche admits that the dark is comforting for her, which is understandable because the light in her life has so much to say. In scene 9, Mitch confronts Blanche and tells her that he’s never seen her in the light, but she still refuses and when he tells her to just be real with him she has an outburst and says “I don’t want realism. I want magic! ..I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful then let me be damned for it! Don’t turn on the light!” (1854). In this scene, you really see the end of the road for Blanche. She’s been through so much since her arrival at Stella’s and now she’s decided to admit the truth.  She doesn’t think of her lies, as lies but as protecting herself and those that she cares about.

Tennessee Williams phenomenally wrote this play incorporating symbols and motifs to express ideas and feelings. Blanche struggled with the truth and with herself as well. Her biggest challenge was the truth and she couldn’t face it. She constantly bathed herself to cleanse herself from all her imperfections. She refrains from the light to hide her physical and mental scars. In an effort to start fresh from all that she had been through back in Laurel, she ended up becoming dirtier than when she arrived.