Tennessee William displayed a new kind of theater when he wrote the play A Streetcar Named Desire. William was an American playwright who was considered as one of the best in the twentieth century. He wrote A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947, a book that was regarded as his best work of all times. The play’s main cast is Blanche DuBois, Stanley Kowalski and Stella Kowalski (Williams). The theme of Illusion v. reality is displayed in the play, and the author uses it to bring out the importance of telling the truth, no matter how ugly it is viewed.
William uses symbolism to describe the idea of illusion and reality. He uses Blanche to represent the theme of illusion while Stanley represents reality. Blanche is a middle-aged woman who moves from Mississippi to New Orleans for an extended vacation with her sister Stella, who is married to Stanley. When she arrives, she narrates to Stella and Eunice of her journey where she was told to “take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!” (Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, 3). The description of her journey is symbolic as it describes her life up to the time she arrives at Elysian Fields, which symbolizes a sort of an afterlife after abandoning her illicit life that was dominated by sexual “desires” (Williams).
After Blanche’s arrival, her life is dominated by many lies. This is because she wants to live in a world of fantasy, which is free from her past sins. Although there are justifications as to the reason why she keeps lying, it is clear that she has adopted the life of lies in an effort to move on peacefully, something that later affects all her relationships in New Orleans. Blanche fails to come clean with the reason why she left Mississippi, by lying that she was taking a break from the career. She tells Stella that it was “Mr. Graves--Mr. Graves is the high school superintendent--he suggested I take a leave of absence. I couldn't put all of those details into the wire” (Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, 3)The aim of doing this is to ensure that she never gets criticized for committing the offense of sleeping with a school child. Her delusional world is, however, short-lived as Stanley is determined to dig out the truth and expose her sins to the whole world. The realistic part of Blanches’ life is displayed when she figures out that she lives at the mercies of others when she says “Whoever you are I have always depended on the kindness of Strangers” (Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, 153) in the last scene. This displays why she prefers her fantasy world as she feels lonely and neglected.
Stanley, on the other hand, displays the theme of reality more than that of illusion. Frankly, Stanley and Blanche do not have a good relationship. As a result, Stanley is found to loathe the pretense displayed by Stella’s sister. He aims at exposing the real character of the lady and through the move; Blanche is taken to a mental facility. His support for the truth makes him bring out the reality to his wife on who Blanche is-a character Stella finds difficult to embrace. However, the illusion of Stanley’s life is displayed through his drunken character. Once he gets drunk, he assumes a violent nature which displays him as a male chauvinist as he ends up battering his pregnant wife (Williams). It is only after he comes back to the reality that he realizes his mistakes.
Stella, on the other hand, is torn between the two worlds of reality and illusion displayed by her husband and her sister. She has an undying love for both of them, but chooses to ignore some of her realities and instead chooses to go for the fantasy kind of life. Her first illusion arose when she denied accepting that she had a violent husband who is nothing but a dictator. She defends his actions by trusting that he means no harm as much as he displays the character of ruthlessness. Also, she fails to believe her sister after she confesses that she was raped by her husband, Stanley. This is because her mind is full of illusions and cannot bring herself to believe that her so not perfect husband can do such a thing. As for Mitch, the poker player, he is more of a realistic person. He reasons with Blanche after listening to how her previous husband committed suicide after finding him with another man in bed. He even goes to the extent of proposing marriage, without knowing that Blanche has a lot of skeletons. However, on learning about the truth, he immediately leaves his lover as he cannot handle the humiliation and the lies. He is realistic for realizing that a relationship built on lies will be nothing but a fail (Williams).
The idea of whether truth is a good thing or a bad thing is displayed through the theme reality v. illusion. Blanche’s character comes out as the symbol of the importance of telling the truth as it helps one live a realistic life without having a lot to hide. If only she had told the truth to her sister concerning her birthright, maybe Stanley would not have probed her past life and later expose her to everyone. Also, Mitch would not have left her and probably would have ended up getting married. Therefore, it is clear that the idea of whether to tell the truth or to lie majorly depends on whether one prefers to embrace reality or illusion.
In conclusion, William uses the idea of illusion v. reality to display the kind of society that exists. As aforementioned, it is almost impossible to live without having illusions. However, it is important that people realize that it is always better to embrace the idea of telling the truth as it makes one have fewer issues to hide. At some point in time, a lot of the hidden things come to light, and the consequences of the exposed truths are usually fatal.
References
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. London: Penguin Classics, 1947. Internet Resource.
—. "A Streetcar Named Desire." n.d. PB Works. Web. 27 July 2016 <http://jhampton.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/53101025/Streetcar.pdf>.
