Tennessee Williams a playwright plagued with a childhood in a dysfunctional family and the Burdon of being a homosexual in the 1940?s, wrote many plays concerning topics that could be considered taboo for their time. An excellent example of his controversial writing is presented in the play ?A Streetcar Named Desire.? This literary work deals with such topics as alcoholism, suicide, homosexuality, promiscuous sexual relations, rape, and nymphomania. The epitome of these problems has in effect caused the destruction of Blanche?s life; the heroine in this play. This tragedy is directly caused by a combination of Blanche?s and societies actions.
Blanch as a character has many flaws, A number of these shortcoming can be related back to the loss of her first love and husband, Allan Grey. Allen, A closet homosexual married Blanch in what could be derived as an attempt to appease society?s expectations of a man in this era.
Portrait of Marlon Brando, "Streetcar Named Desire...
ALLEN MALAU
ALLEN MALAUHowever it seems that the burden of this secret carried heavy on Allen?s shoulders as when Blanch found out about this sexual deviation and confronted him in a rather disgusted manner; he fell victim to his secret and committed suicide. It becomes apparent that the Blanche believes that she is to blame for the unfortunate end of this character and that her relationship previous superceded love and bordered infatuation. This is exemplified through the great effect that his death has had even latter in her life. This event in Blanches life has left a emotional hole in which she tries to fill with vacant expressions of love.
Blanches infamous reputation in laurel is the effect of her attempts to fill the emotional hole that was left as a result of Allen?s death. Her vacant expressions of love come in the form of promiscuous relationships, with the men...