Blanche Dubois: Fantasy Over Reality
Blanche Du Bois is a complex character in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams. Blanche creates fantasies about herself, and her life so she doesn’t have to face the stark and frightening reality of it. Blanche’s behavior and ways of experiencing the world are clouded with her use of the defense mechanisms of sexualization, delusions, and illusion. Blanche finds the circumstances of her life to be horrific, and so she lives in a world of fantasy. Therefore, Blanche exists in her world of make believe, and uses defense mechanisms to protect her from the harshness of her reality, her constant anxiety, and her own fears.
Blanche is sensitive and fragile, and the stress of her life has led her to use defense mechanisms. According to McWilliams defense mechanisms operate to defend the self against threat. Blanche’s main line of defense is sexualization, which is utilized when she sexualizes her experiences with the unconscious intention of converting terror or pain or other overwhelming sensation into a feeling she can deal with (140). Blanche’s use of sexualization is shown when Stanley confronts her aggressively about the sale of their country house. Stanley wants to know where the money is from the sale of the property, and demands to see the paperwork. Blanche responds by flirting with him to escape the reality of Stanley’s aggression. After Stella apologizes for Stanley’s behavior Blanche admits to Stella, “Yes, I was flirting with your husband” (Williams 1183)! While waiting for Mitch to pick her up for a date Blanche is worried he won’t want to marry her. Then the young paper boy comes to the house to ask for the money for the newspaper he delivers. Blanche flirts with him and ends up kissing him to stop thinking about Mitch, and her fear of rejection. Blanche forces herself on the boy by saying, “I want to kiss you, just once, softly and sweetly on your mouth! (Williams 1205). In addition to sexualization Blanche also uses the defense mechanism of delusion.
Blanche protects herself through delusions, which as stated by Landry and Bayne are false beliefs, and an exaggeration of one’s importance (319). Blanche shows signs of being delusional after Stanley hit Stella. Blanche believes if she writes a letter to Shep Huntleigh a rich old boyfriend he will send her money so Blanche and Stella can leave Stanley, and start a business. Blanche plans on writing, “Darling Shep. Sister and I in desperate situation” (Williams 1196). Blanche believes if she asks Shep for money he will just send it, and this delusion is easier than the thought of living with Stanley. Blanche displays how delusional she is after Mitch finds out she has a shady past. To protect herself from the truth Blanche states, I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth” (Williams 1224). Blanche also exhibits delusional beliefs when Stanley comes home after bringing Stella to the hospital to have the baby. Blanche tells Stanley she received a telegram from her old rich boyfriend Shep to invite her on a cruise. This delusion is easier for Blanche to think about than the fact that Stanley bought her a train ticket so she could leave on Tuesday. Blanche also told Stanley she broke up with Mitch after he came back to ask her to forgive him. It was a less painful memory for Blanche to think Mitch came back and apologized. Blanche says, “He returned with a box of roses to beg my forgiveness” (Williams 1229)! Besides the defense mechanisms of sexualization, and delusion Blanche also uses illusion to alter her reality.
Blanche uses the defense of illusion, which explained by Noble, Heath, and Toste are exaggerated beliefs about one’s ability, and misperceptions of reality (650). This is shown when Blanche tells Mitch the reason she came to visit Stella is to help her because Stella is not well. The real reason Blanche came to visit is because she was fired from her teaching job for having relations with a seventeen year old boy, and has nowhere else to go. Blanche creates illusions about herself to Mitch because she is afraid if he really knows about her he won’t want to marry her. Blanche tells Stella, “I want to deceive him enough to make him-want me…” (Williams 1203). Blanche creates illusions with her use of the paper lanterns she puts on the lights in the house so she can hide how old she really looks. Blanche avoids bright lights to create an illusion that she is still young, attractive, and desirable because it is difficult for her to get old. Blanches asks Mitch to place a paper lantern on the light bulb and says to him, “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action” (Williams 1189). The paper lanterns are like the illusions in her mind that protect her from reality. When Stanley is confronting Blanche about the squandering the money from the country house Blanche becomes fearful. She confesses to Stanley that she lives to deceive people when she admits, “I know I fib a good deal. After all, a woman's charm is 50% illusion” (Williams 1181). After Mitch stands up Blanche because Stanley told him she was a prostitute he decides to visit her. Blanche was drinking and quickly hides the bottle of liquor. When Mitch comes in she pretends to find it and offers him a drink. She was creating the illusion that she wasn’t an alcoholic so Mitch wouldn’t think bad things about her. Blanche lies and says, “I don’t know what there is to drink. I haven’t investigated” (Williams 1222). In short, Blanche chooses fantasy over reality over and over again until she ends up being taken away to a state institution.
Blanche is a very complex character who hides from her reality because she can’t bear to face how her life turned out. Blanche uses the defense mechanisms of sexualization, delusion, and illusion to protect herself from the harshness of her environment. Blanche creates fantasies about herself, and her life so she doesn’t have to face the stark and frightening reality of it. Blanche exists in her world of make believe, and uses defense mechanisms to protect her from the harshness of her reality, her constant anxiety, and her own fears.
Works Cited
Langdon, Robyn, & Bayne, Tim. "Delusion And Confabulation: Mistakes Of Perceiving,
Remembering And Believing." Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 15.1-3 (2010): 319-345.
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
McWilliams, Nancy. Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in
the Clinical Process. New York: The Guilford Press, 1994. Print.
Noble, Rick, Heath, Nancy, & Toste, Jessica. "Positive Illusions In Adolescents: The
Relationship Between Academic Self-Enhancement And Depressive Symptomatology."
Child Psychiatry & Human Development 42.6 (2011): 650-665. Psychology and
Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 16 Feb. 2012.
Williams, Tennessee. “A Streetcar Named Desire”. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed.
Allison Booth, Kelly J. Mays. New York, NY, 2006. 1165-1238. Print.
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