Blanche, the Southern Belle In Tennesse Williams' play, "A Streetcar Named Desire," we are introduce to a dainty character named Blanche DuBois. In the plot, Blanche is Stella's younger sister who has come to visit Stella and her husband Stanley in New Orleans. After their first encounter, Stanley develops a dislike for Blanche and everything associated with her. Among the things Stanley dislikes about Blanche are her "spoiled-girl" manners and her indirect and quizzical way of conversing. Blanche's lifelong habit of avoiding unpleasant realities leads to her breakdown as seen in her irrational response to death, her dependency, and her inability to defend herself from Stanley's attacks.Blanche's character can be defined as a "southern belle". She appears to be young, beautiful, and flirtatious. Blanche appears to be that way, but throughout the play, she has a psychological breakdown. Blanche's situation with her husband is the key to her later behavior. She married rather early at the age of sixteen to whom a boy she believed was a perfect gentleman. He was sensitive, understanding, and civilized much like herself coming from a aristocratic background. She was truly in love with Allen whom she considered perfect in every way. Unfortunately for her, he was a homosexual. As she caught him one evening in their house with an older man, she said nothing, permitting her disbelief to build up inside her. As she confronted him, he ran off and shot himself. After that day, Blanche believed that she was the cause of his suicide. She became promiscuous, seeking a substitute man, especially young boys. At school, where Blanche taught English, she was dismissed because of an incident she had with a seventeen-year-old student that reminded her of her late husband. All of this, cumulatively, weakened Blanche, turned her into an alcoholic, and lowered her mental stability.Her husband's death affects her greatly and determines her b...
