"A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE"   Term Paper ID:20556 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: (Tennessee Williams) & [A Doll House] (Henrik Ibsen). Compares & contrasts female protagonists. Success & failure in life & self-discovery, conflicts with men, personalities.... More...

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Paper Abstract: (Tennessee Williams) & [A Doll House] (Henrik Ibsen). Compares & contrasts female protagonists. Success & failure in life & self-discovery, conflicts with men, personalities. Paper Introduction: The protagonists in A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams; 1947) and A Doll House (Henrik Ibsen; 1879) are both women who are thwarted in their goals by male antagonists. However, Nora Helmer in A Doll House is able to transcend her situation through learning to depend on herself, whereas in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois' continuing dependence upon others prevents her from approaching true fulfillment. This paper will show that Nora overcomes her situation because she has an inner strength and sense of independence that Blanche lacks. Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche remains dependent upon men for validation of her life. By contrast, Nora becomes independent from her husband at the end of A Doll House. For Blanche, the end of A Streetcar Named Desire is tragic; she loses her hold on reality and must be taken away to an asylum. The Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Because of these things, Blanchewould like to see Stella leave Stanley. For example,when she tells her friend Kristine about how she worked as a copyist inorder to pay off her loan, she claims that the work was tiring; "but stillit was wonderful fun, sitting and working like that, earning money. A Streetcar Named Desire. 7. "Abstraction and Order in the Language of TennesseeWilliams." The Chelsea House Library of Literary Criticism: Twentieth-Century American Literature. In his article on "The Desperate Morality of the Plays ofTennessee Williams," Arthur Ganz expresses the view that Blanche's downfalloccurs because she is guilty of not coming to terms with the material worldas represented in the character of Stanley. This type of behavior is seen in her frequentlittle lies to Torvald and in the way she encourages him to believe thatshe is helpless without him. She has thoroughlyrejected the idea that a woman always needs a man to take care of her, andshe has set out on her own to claim her right as an individual human being. The transformation which occurs in Blanche's life results in tragedyfor her. In his personal notes,Ibsen indicated that part of the theme of the play is indeed that of awoman dealing with a male-dominated society. The basic character traits of Blanche and Nora can also be contrastedwith one another. NewYork: Oxford University Press, 1983.Hurt, James. Ibsen: A Biography. Of the two women,only Nora is successful in overcoming these factors. In this regard, it is interesting to note that Torvald and Norashare a similar fantasy about his idealistic image. However, Nora'sdeparture has a positive tone to it, because it shows that she has becomestrong and independent during the course of the play. Works CitedAdler, Jacob H. However, the endresult of Nora's transformation is far more positive than Blanche's.Nora's shock occurs when she realizes that her fantasy view of Torvald hasbeen incorrect all along. New York: Crown Publishers, 1978, 49-93.----------------------- 6 Blanche and Nora are also similar to one another in that they bothhave an idealistic perspective of the world around them. She feels guilty about the death of herhusband, who committed suicide because of her failure to accept hishomosexuality. "Henrik Ibsen." European Writers: The Romantic Century. However, Ibsen also stressed that the true overall themeof A Doll House is not simply that of women's rights, but of human rightsas a whole (Koht 322). Nora's painedsurprise at this reaction is heightened by the fact that "she took pride inhaving assumed responsibility for her husband's life" (Hardwick 294).Torvald's insensitive reaction shatters this sense of pride. Even in the opening scenes of A Doll House, there are cluesand references to Nora's secret inner life. However, Nora Helmer in A Doll Houseis able to transcend her situation through learning to depend on herself,whereas in A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois' continuing dependenceupon others prevents her from approaching true fulfillment. According toRonald Gray, Nora's desire is to obtain "the realization of her true self"(Gray 1429). It wasalmost like being a man" (Ibsen 111 ). Vol. This can be seen, forexample, in the scene in which Nora tells her friend Kristine how hereacted when he was ill and she suggested that they take out a loan. Blanche's rejection of the worldstands in contrast to Nora's open acceptance. Blanche has come tostay with her sister in New Orleans because their family home inMississippi has gone bankrupt. Despite the fact that she has no job and nowhereto go, she must leave her husband and children "because she feels she hasbeen deceiving herself about marriage and happiness and must now learn whatlife is really about" (Hardwick 294). Thus, "she begins to think of marriage to himas a refuge from the past, which she has already sought in liquor and self-delusions about her age, beauty, and former admirers" (Hart 733). Vol. X. For Blanche, this antagonist is her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. John Gassner, ed. She does this by opposing hislifestyle as well as his marriage to her sister. For example, she is unrealistic in what she wantsand expects from her husband when she realizes that he will soon learn hersecret. By threatening to expose her secret debt to her husband,Krogstad plays a similar role to that of Stanley revealing Blanche's pastto Mitch. Jacques Barzun and George Stade, eds. New York: Chelsea House Publishers,1988, 432 4325.Gray, Ronald. Nora, by contrast, undergoesdevelopment as a person in the course of her story. Whereas Blanche fails to understand others,Nora is the one who is misunderstood in A Doll House. For Blanche, thisshock occurs when she is raped by Stanley. To prove the thesis that Nora's drive forindependence enables her to succeed while Blanche's lack of the same leadsto her downfall, this paper will compare and contrast some of the eventsand dialogues that occur in the two plays. He is also greedy, as can be seen in the wayhe imagines himself taking over Torvald's management job for himself (Ibsen1132). Whereas Blanche is depressed and alcoholic, Nora ishappy and optimistic despite her problems. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983, 11 1-1151.Koht, Halvdan. Furthermore, it may benoted that Krogstad doesn't actually follow through with his threat toexpose the Helmer's secret debt to the world. J.Kennedy, ed. The fact that Nora seeks greater independence andequality is also revealed during the first act of the Play. However, Torvald reacts by judgingher and by scolding her for having done such a stupid thing. In the end, Blanche is ahelpless victim who is lost in her unrealistic desires. He is incapable of understanding this act because he hasrigid ideas regarding the immorality of both forgery and lying. Her "sublimation of earthy desire that hasbeen denied her leads her from a lost Paradise to a rest home: frominnocence to innocence" (Hafley 4335). Thus, Stanley's violence is thecatalyst which provides the turning point in the play. By contrast, Nora becomes independent from her husband at theend of A Doll House. In an effort to hide from the harshness of reality, Blancheturns to alcohol and sex. However, whereasBlanche sees her salvation as coming from others, Nora ultimately realizesthat only she can save herself. Nora's secret is complicated by the factthat the idea of forgery disgusts Torvald. In fact, just as Blanche's transformation isaccompanied by images of death and rebirth, Nora's last conversation withTorvald is "full of suggestions of death and rebirth" (Hurt 1 8). Nora succeeds in her questbecause she is more optimistic than Blanche, and also because she is lessdependent upon other people. 5. Although he is the antagonist of the play, Stanley is also a complexcharacter who exhibits Tennessee Williams' "ambiguous sense of who is thevictim and who the victimizer" (Weales 39 ). When she first appears in Scene One, the stage directions describeher as having a delicate beauty as well as an uncertain manner "thatsuggests a moth" (Williams 52). Both Blanche and Nora are transformed by shocks which occur in theirlives and which are triggered by their male antagonists. Specifically, the rape of Blanche can be seen assymbolic of "the ravishment of the tender, the sensitive, the delicate, bythe savage and brutal forces of modern society" (Weales 39 ). In onescene, Blanche tries to seduce a newspaper boy by telling him he looks like"a young Prince out of the Arabian Nights" and kissing him (Williams 74).According to Jacob H. The criticElizabeth Hardwick has described Krogstad as "dishonest and self-pitying"as well as "a true forger, always wanting to make a leap without taking theconsequences" (Hardwick 2 4). Reprinted inLiterature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Reprinted in Best AmericanPlays, 1945-1951. "Tennessee Williams." Collection of Literary Biography.ed. Nora, like Blanche, is hiding a dreadful secret in her past. Catiline's Dream: An Essay on Ibsen's Plays. Life of Ibsen. The Oxford Companion to American Literature. Urbana:University of Illinois Press, 1972.Ibsen, Henrik. For example, Blanche imagines herself tobe living in glamour and luxury despite the dismal conditions of her actualsurroundings. In many ways,Blanche brought this tragedy on herself. For her, the change hasalready taken place within herself, and this is one of the keys to thepositive outcome of Doll House. Vol. Throughout AStreetcar Named Desire, Blanche remains dependent upon men for validationof her life. Englewood Cliffs: SalemPress, 1985, 2 66-2 84.Ganz, Arthur. In a critical reviewthat originally appeared in the journal Comparative Drama, Carol StronginTufts pointed out that both these characters have a "romantic fantasy" ofthe husband "as gallant knight and his wife as damsel in distress" (Tufts3 6). After her breakdown, Blanche isreassured about her trip to the asylum by the doctor who pretends to be acountry gentleman. 5. Like Blanche, Nora - in the beginning, at least - has an idealisticpoint of view on life. The crucial element in Nora's transformation is nother discovery that she had been repressed by men, but rather her awakeningfrom the delusions which had justified her continuing repression by them.Blanche, on the other hand, remains trapped in her delusions at the end ofA Streetcar Named Desire. Trudeau, ed. "Essay on A Doll House." Drama Criticism. Adler in the Critical Survey of Drama, this sceneshows that "clearly, sex, like alcohol, has been both a cause and aresponse to her situation" (Adler 2 74). Detroit: Gale Research, 1992, 3 -3 7.Weales, Gerald. Nevertheless, thereis an uplifting tone at the end of the play in which it is apparent thatNora has found her freedom and has at last attained a chance to proveherself to the world. In contrast to Blanche, Nora wakes upfrom her delusions and begins taking steps toward correcting the situation. Eventhough Torvald wants to forgive Nora when he learns that Krogstad will notgo through with his threat, the damage has already been done and it is toolate for him to win back his wife's respect and admiration. 5th ed. Gray also claims that Nora's tarantella dance at the end ofAct II is a symbol of her coming joyous release from her "doll house."Thus, in addition to providing a dramatic device in Nora's effort todistract Torvald from the letter in the door this dance can be seen as "asign of more than suburban unhappiness, a declaration of intent to find anew life altogether" (1429). The secret that she wants to hide, however, is that she wasfired from her job as a teacher because she seduced one of her youngstudents. It is interesting to note thatBlanche's secret hides a sexual dependency, whereas Nora is hiding an actof independence. 3rd ed. In order to meet her goals, she believes itis necessary to somehow change the outside world. This is an act that she has always carefully hidden from herhusband, because he would simply never understand her motivation for doingit. Another important difference between Blanche and Nora can be seen inthe fact that Blanche wants to change the world around her while Noraaccepts her world as it is and seeks to change herself instead. Frank N. Once she has figured out how to deal with Krogstad, Nora is stillfaced with the challenge of having to deal with her husband, Torvald.Torvald is an antagonist to Nora because he suppresses her and keeps hertrapped in the role of a childlike wife. WhenTorvald becomes manager of the bank and Krogstad's position there isthreatened, the latter resorts to blackmail in order to try to force Norato help him. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974, 378-4 1.Williams, Tennessee. She has beenshocked out of her complacency and has come to the realization that Torvaldthinks of her as a "dollwife," just as her father had thought of her as a"doll-child" (Ibsen 1147). This is in great contrast toBlanche, who would like to be taken care of by a man and never work again. Einar Haugen and A. Her human rights continue to be violated afterher rape, as she finds herself being taken away and placed in aninstitution. However, the outcome in the struggleof these two protagonists is quite different at the end of their respectiveplays. When she suggests that he marryher first, he refuses and states coldly: "You're not clean enough to bringin the house with my mother" (Williams 86). Thus, a crucial element inthe plot is that the husband fails to understand the wife's motivation inforging a note to save his life because he "sees the situation with maleeyes" (Meyer 446). For Blanche, the end of A Streetcar Named Desire istragic; she loses her hold on reality and must be taken away to an asylum.The conclusion of A Doll House can also be seen as tragic in that Noraabandons her beloved children as well as her husband. The main antagonist in A Doll Houseis Nils Krogstad, the man from whom Nora secretly borrowed the money. 7. Furthermore, the difficultiesof life have made Blanche extremely fragile in her orientation to theworld. Both Blanche and Nora are obstructed in their dreams by maleantagonists in their lives. Blanche DuBois and Nora Helmer are both women characters who areobstructed by the men in their lives. Nora moves beyond this level at the end of A Doll House byrealizing that her marriage lacks true meaning. As a result of this action, Mitch loses all respectfor Blanche and she loses her dream of being rescued by marrying him.Despite Stanley's brutality and insensitivity, various critics have pointedout that he has certain "redeeming qualities" as well. This is because Norapossesses an inner strength that Blanche lacks, and thus rather thansearching for yet another man to solve her problems, Nora learns to dependon her self. This positive outcome in Nora's life is due to the factthat her vision of herself as a strong, independent person was inside herall along. As she takes his arm, it is apparent that she feels"that she has found what she has been seeking, a man to protect her" (Adler2 75). The conclusion of A Doll House can also be viewed as tragic, in thatit involves Nora leaving her family for an unknown life. Noraclaims that Torvald "nearly exploded" at the idea. In the end, Blanchefails to grow as a human being. As a result of this act,Blanche experiences a symbolic death and rebirth which leaves her worse offthan she was before. An important similarity between the characters of Blanche and Noracan be seen in the fact that they both have a secret in their past thatthey are trying to hide. In addition, she does not like theghetto conditions under which they live. Blanche's major concern in life is to find a strong man whowill protect and defend her. In the same scene,Torvald (not knowing that Nora has been lying to him) implies that a motherwho is a chronic liar will "poison" both her children and her home (Ibsen112 ). As such, James Hurt, anEnglish professor at the University of Illinois, notes that "Nora is splitbetween her self as Torvald's little twittering bird and her inner self asa mature, responsible adult" (Hurt 25). Although Blanche's search for a man has failed, her self-delusionabout that search continues. As noted by ElizabethHardwick, there are signs from the start that Nora is already "free"despite Torvald's domination of her. As such, "it is all there in hergaiety, her lack of self-pity, her impulsiveness, her expansive, generousnature" (Hardwick 294). An important difference between Blanche and Nora as protagonists canbe seen by analyzing what each character wants to obtain from life.Blanche simply wants to find a man who will protect her from her problems.By contrast, Nora wants to grow into an independent, individual woman whois capable of taking responsibility for herself. 2.Lawrence J. Nora also experiences ashock which triggers an important change in her life. At one point, she even urges hersister: "Don't hang back with the brutes!" (William 7 ). Harold Bloom, ed. "Williams, Tennessee." McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of WorldDrama. Garden City: Doubleday and Company,1971.Miller, Terry. A Doll House. Thus, she changes"from the girlish, charming wife to the radical, courageous heroine"(Hardwick 294). In the course of the play, it is made clear that the husband, Torvald,is adamantly opposed to the idea of borrowing money. She seeshim as her hope and salvation from all the difficulties she has experiencedthroughout life. Torvald's attitude toward Nora is in sharp contrast tothe true inner self that she keeps hidden from him. Torvald has become a"stranger" to her because she finally sees that he is incapable of evertreating her with true respect. Like Nora, Krogstad once had to forge a signature in order toborrow money for an emergency. "Tennessee Williams." Critical Survey of Drama: EnglishLanguage Series. "Essay on A Doll House." Drama Criticism. This paperwill show that Nora overcomes her situation because she has an innerstrength and sense of independence that Blanche lacks. According to Terry Miller, Blanche makes this trip"metaphorically as well as literally" (Miller 153). Nora's shockat all this causes her to undergo a transformation which is equallydramatic to that of Blanche. In the course of the play, she begins to imagine that her brother-in-law's friend, Mitch, will be the idealistic hero who will somehow rescueher from her painful past. Blanche's problems have caused her to live in a world ofdelusion. Whereas Blanche is thwarted by one male antagonist, Nora has two menwho stand in the way of her ambitions. In addition, Torvald wouldnever understand Nora's act in the past because he refuses to acknowledgeher ability to do anything on her own. Harold Bloom, ed. However, in contrast to Nora's good nature,Krogstad is both ruthless and selfish in his motivations. 2.Lawrence J. In discussing the marital relations ofthese characters, it is also interesting to contrast how Blanche and Norarelate to their respective husbands. Above all, she is shocked by theviolence that Stanley displays toward Stella, as in the poker game scene inwhich he hits her during an argument. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984, 151-161.Tufts, Carol Strongin. Furthermore: "He said Iwas frivolous, and it was his duty as man of the house not to indulge me inwhims and fancies" (Ibsen 11 9). Stanley Hochman, ed. Regarding this transformation, many people have assumed that the messageof A Doll House is fundamentally a feminist one. However, as the conclusion of the play shows, this shared fantasy"Comes to fail them both" (3 6). This theme of death and rebirth is implied in theopening scene in which Blanche tells Eunice about the streetcars she had toride to get to Stella's apartment. Short of this, she at least expectedthat he would understand that she was motivated by selfless love in takingon the debt in order to save his life. E. Magill, ed. The major difference between Blanche and Noraon this point is that Blanche succumbs to her fantasy view of life, whereasNora awakens from her delusions and moves on to a new life. Specifically, sheallows herself to behave like a child in reaction to the limitations thatTorvald imposes upon her. Blanche utterly fails to understandher husband's homosexual tendencies and as a result she is unable to savehim from killing himself. She makes no attempt to take responsibility forherself. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley is the maincharacter standing in the way of Blanche's attainment of her fantasies. By contrast, Nora is able to take steps to saveher husband's life and it is he who fails to understand her. Thus, he resorts to blackmail only because hewants desperately to be able to support his family. However, these traits cause him to act like a parent with Nora, tellingher not to eat sweets and berating her for spending too much money.Torvald also keeps Nora in a childlike state by using diminutive pet namesto describe her. Inaddition, by raping her, he becomes "the insensitive brute who drivesBlanche to destruction" (Weales 389). In both plays, the revelation of these secretsplays a crucial role in forcing the dramatic climax. Nora, on the other hand,desires independence and equality in her life. The names of these streetcars, Desire,Cemeteries and Elysian Fields, are obviously meant as an analogy for theprogression from life (desire) through death (cemeteries) to rebirth(Elysian Fields). Like Blanche, Nora has her own form of"refuge" in order to deal with the problems in her life. The opinions of various criticswill also be examined, as well as those of the plays' authors. Nora, on the other hand, has a sense ofinner strength which saves her from a fate like that which is experiencedby Blanche. Trudeau, ed. She had hoped that Torvald, upon learning of hersecret debt, would assume responsibility for the matter and step forward toprotect her and defend her honor. At the start of these plays, both women are caught up in delusionsand ideals and both are hiding a secret from their past. Rolf Fjelde, trans. Anotherinteresting contrast is created by the fact that Blanche is disgusted withher husband's sexuality, whereas it is Torvald who is disgusted withforgery and lying, the very acts that his wife has committed. Nora, on theother hand, makes no effort to change Torvald. However, when Mitch learns about her secret past, hedecides that all he wants from her is sex. Stanley is also acatalyst in that he is the one who tells Mitch about Blanche's dreadedsecret from the past. Vol. To accomplish this, sherealizes that she must change herself rather than make the impossibleattempt of changing the world around her. Torvald's characteristics ofrationality, responsibility and frugality are not bad in and of themselves. In the words of Ganz: "InWilliams' moral system the rejection of life is the greatest crime, andthose guilty of it are visited by the kind of punishment that falls uponBlanche DuBois in Streetcar" (Ganz 4321). Nora's search is not for a man, but ratherfor equality and respect within a male-dominated society. For example,Stanley's character shows "intense loyalty to his friends, genuine love forhis wife, and a variety of insecurities beneath his aggressive manner"(Adler 2 75). Hisattitudes on these subjects are brought out in the scene in which he tellsNora that Krogstad's past act of forgery disgusts him. In the words of TerryMiller, Stanley "remains clearly sympathetic and is shown as defending hismarriage from the neurotic force that threatens to destroy it" (Miller,153). Atone time, in order to save her husband's life, she had forged a signaturefor a loan. Santaniello, trans.New York: Benjamin Blom, 1971.Meyer, Michael. The protagonists in A Streetcar Named Desire (Tennessee Williams;1947) and A Doll House (Henrik Ibsen; 1879) are both women who are thwartedin their goals by male antagonists. Vol. Vol. Blanche's quest for theperfect man reaches its culmination in her desire to marry Mitch. However, like Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire, Krogstad has a"sympathetic" side as well. In AStreetcar Named Desire, Blanche makes it clear that she does not approve ofher sister's marriage to Stanley. New York: Charles Scribner'sSons, 1985, 1421-1447.Hafley, James. New York: ChelseaHouse Publishers, 1988, 4335-4337.Hardwick, Elizabeth. "The Desperate Morality of the Plays of Tennessee Williams."The Chelsea House Library of Literary criticism: Twentieth-Century AmericanLiterature. Detroit: Gale Research, 1992, 292-296.Hart, James D. Furthermore, it can be seen that Blanche poses almost as muchof a threat to Stanley as he does to her. However, Tennessee Williamsclaimed that he also had a metaphorical meaning in mind when he depictedthis protagonist's fate. Vol.7. Torvald forces the climax of theplay by refusing to understand Nora's motivation of love in borrowing moneyfor his sake. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.