课题任务与目的

The research paper focuses on the white "noblewoman", Blanche, in "A Streetcar Named Desire". I will analysize the reasons why this white "noblewoman" is destroyed.

In "A Streetcar Named Desire", Blanche loses her home Belle Reve and comes to her sister Stella's house in New Orleans. Blanche lies to Stella, Stella's husband Stanley and everyone as if she is still a noblewoman. After Stanley exposes the lies, Blanche fails to marry Stanley's friend Mitch. When Stella is in the hospital and is going to have a baby, Stanley rapes Blanche. Finally, she completely goes mad and is taken to the mental hospital.

The background in the play is well after the south of America losing civil war. It happens in a typical place, New Orleans, in the Deep South but influenced by the north. At that time, New Orleans becomes a new industrial city. Blanche is a representative of noblewomen, who is getting desolating after civil war. On the contrary, Stanley is a representative of workers. The conflict between the main characters- Blanche and Stanley, just parallels the conflict between the two economic forms- slavery and Capitalism.

Blanche wants to go up, but she falls down. 

    Since Blanche and Stella were young, they have already been different. 

The northern industrial and commercial bourgeoisie wanted to develop Capitalism nationwide. They needed a more unified market, especially the labor and resources in the south of the USA. People in the South wanted to keep slavery in order to retain their own best interests. The conflict in the economy led to the outbreak of war. On the one hand, people in the north wanted to safeguard the interests of the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, people in the south wanted to safeguard the interests of big nobles and feudal landlords. After the abolition of slavery, people in the south lost, but the conflict still exists today. If only in the rhetoric,"The south will rise again."

Blanche used to be beautiful. She pretends to be now. She fears the light as if she fears reality. She lies to everyone including herself. Her psychiatric disorders are caused by her desire. The house, Belle Reve, is the same as her. Belle Reve is French, but is wrong grammatical. It means a beautiful dream. Indeed, it's not. It is built by the poor whites and slaves. It's the product of slavery. Blanche's family keeps it up through debts. The loss of Belle Reve symbolizes the failure of slavery.

Blanche is not a real noblewoman actually. In fact, the course from her loss of Belle Reve to completely going mad expresses the course of slavery in the south which declines and disappears in the history of America. Although slavery promoted the economy of America, it would hinder its development eventually. It has to be removed. Likewise, although Blanche used to have charm and beauty, with time flying, her value fades gradually and she is not as she was before any more.