We just need to review, edit a little and;
Describe how the information we gathered reflects the meaning of the play. If people have ideas can we just comment on them all here? Then when we seem to have a cohesive paragraph or two we can add it to the updated draft? I am free from 10.15 to 12 tomorrow so I’ll add more then too. I’m pretty sure the blog closes at twelve, so if you see this before then, just review the updated thing and add ideas for meaning. Go team!
This is a play about reality versus fantasy. Blanche spends the majority of the play attempting to ignore her reality bey creating a fantasy world. Stanley is the realist, and picks apart Blanche’s fantasies every step of the way, eventually dominating her by raping her, demonstrating reality’s triumph over fantasy. The given circumstances of the play help demonstrate this struggle by giving it a context. Blanche used to live in a wealthy home, she lost her money, her husband, her virtue, and her youth. Without those given circumstances Blanche would have no need to hide herself lies, because her reality would not be so painful. Stella parallels Blanche, and her given circumstances, though fairly similar, lead to a different conclusion. Stella, too, has lost her fortune, but she gave up her higher class background to be with Stanley. They live in a cramped apartment in a cheap neighborhood, but unlike Blanche, who tries to dress it up, Stella accepts it. She is also pregnant when the play starts, a manifestation of the positive side of her life, and why she is willing to accept her reality: her attraction to Stanley.
The given circumstances also create the social climate of the time, which is very important in creating a context for Blanche, Stella and Stanley’s behavior. Stanley is a decorated soldier, and lives like a soldier: strong and savage when need be. He is a “man’s man” making him the head of the house. This gives him leave to treat the woman of the house how he sees fit. Including both beating on Stella and raping Blanche. Stella, forgives Stanley, which is believable considering the amount of her life she has already sacrificed for him, including wealth and living close to home. Blanche is supposed to abide by the values of a good woman: innocence and beauty, but sacrifices her innocence to feel beautiful and comforted after her husband commits suicide. Thus, she is not a good woman and deals with the consequences as previously stated: by creating a web of lies to live behind. These values emphasize the double standards of gender roles, with a man getting away with abuse and rape, while a woman who has consensual sex, but with many men, is completely destroyed.