Desire is a tricky thing to define - for people, it can simply be "sex" or "sensuality," but it can in fact be much more complicated than that. In Tennessee Williams's famous play, A Streetcar Name Desire, Williams explores the multifaceted desire that people hide behind closed doors. One of the most interesting characters, in my opinion, that explores desire is Blanche - a woman who moves in with her pregnant sister and her abusive husband after the death of all of their family members led to the family losing their land. Her relationship with men, and her desire itself, is one of the main focal points explored. The small, painful experience Blanche went through while watching her family die shed light into the pain she had. "You just came for the funerals, Stella, And funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths - not always (21, Scene I)." This circumstance that Blanche went through not only led her to her sister's doorstep, but also into the arms of other men in a way to escape the pain and heartache that came afterwards. Desire is as much of a main character in the story as any other: Stanley with his desire to physically control his wife and other women around him (notably Blanche); Stella with her desire to be both with her brutish husband and constantly defend her sister; Blanche with her desire to both live in the imaginary while also seeking out ways to explore her sexuality in a time where it was widely considered to be "disgusting" itself. These dual identities make a large impact on a person and can make it difficult to come to full realize yourself. "After all," Blanche said to Stanley while he was questioning her motives, "a woman's charm is fifty per cent illusion... (41, Scene II)." Even while Stanley continually beats his wife, Stella insists that she is "not in anything I have a desire to get out of (74, Scene IV)." Blanche and Stella have very different experiences with men - Blanche being one of imagination, and Stella facing the reality of mens cruelty. But even when Blanche points out how wrong it is for Stanley to beat his pregnant wife, Stella herself ignores the reality of the situation and instead choses to see their relationship as hot and passionate. "What you are talking about is brutal desire - just - Desire!" Blanche exclaims incredulously when Stella tells her about what happens between a man and a woman behind closed doors. "Haven't you ever ridden on that street-car?" Stella asks (31, Scene IV). This question Stella asks her sister sheds light into Blanche's character and her own desire that she battles with. During this time, anything that was outside the norm was considered disgusting, devilish, or plain disgusting. Blanche not only faced that street-car when her own husband, Allan, was caught him in bed with another man, but also when she had "intimates the strangers" at The Flamingo Hotel (146, Scene IX). These parts of ourselves are an important, but hidden - humans desire, but can't be seen. Even during this time in history, "there was also a desire on the part of Americans to live in the moment and enjoy life," which also included a little bit more freedom to explore sex and desire - even if it was behind closed doors (Extracts). Tennessee Williams, a closeted man himself, was not shy about tackling taboo subjects of desire, rape, and allusions to homosexuality in this famous work, A Streetcar Named Desire. It may not be difficult to see that, as he hid his sexuality from public eye until years later, his own desire to break free from societal "norms" is reflected in Blanche's own love and disgust of her late husband, who killed himself after she called him "disgusting" after catching him in bed with another man. I do not wish to project the idea that Williams was suicidal or that his entire identity was tokenized into a single character, but by creating and exploring this in literature, it may have been a way to voice the silent minority and to shed light into the thoughts and feelings many people had, but had no other way to show. Sources: A Streetcar Name Desire, by Tennessee Williams. Keen, Cathy, and Alan Petigny. “Extracts - ’Silent ’ Sexual Revolution Began In The 1940’s and ’50s.” Ufl.Edu, Extract, 2005, research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v10n1/extract4.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2019. Spectrum South, and Austin Svedjan. “A Queer Literary Pillar in Exile: Tennessee Williams in Retrospect.” The Voice of the Queer South, 4 May 2018, www.spectrumsouth.com/tennessee-williams-retrospect/.
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