Sexuality ad Death in A Streetcar Named Desire
Since the beginning of time, literature has been an essential element to the existence of the human race and has been using to explain various phenomena in society. Through its embodiments in multiple shapes and forms, human beings have been enabled to speak through art in disseminating issues that affect the community and us. As such, we cannot delineate a writer’s thoughts from the society, as many ideas presented in different forms are a construct from what is happening around them. In this regard, the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee William is an embodiment of the specific events that surrounded American society. Through stylistic devices like symbolism, hyperbole, and characterization, Mr. Williams presents the social challenges impacting American society with keen introspection on sexuality and its relative impacts on the community. Sexuality pertains to different behavioral patterns inherent because of the sex of a particular individual (Dimen 37). This paper is an attempt to analyze the existing relationship between sexuality and death, as demonstrated by Tennessee Williams.
Firstly, the title of the play “A Street Named Desire” is an embodiment of symbolism that the writer uses to set a precedent on how sexual desire pushes an individual to the very end in what constitutes the metaphorical death (Williams 3). In the dialogue between Blanche and Eunice, Blanche reiterates that she was told to take a Streetcar named Desire and then takes a transfer to another called Cemeteries and gets off at the Elysian Fields. As such, from the dialogue, three critical issues regarding sexuality and death stands out. In traveling to the Kowalski’s house, Blanche comes with her desires, which is alluded to the car. On the same note, the Elysian Field is an allusion to the Greek’s land of the dead. Bringing these two aspects together, we understand the path of sexual desire that Blanche has undergone from Belle Reve, where she got evicted and through the house of Kowalski in which she would later get raped and send back to the mental institution. The rape by Stanley is metaphorical to her death. This tragic flaw of events from Belle Reve to mud house symbolizes in the form of a streetcar that corresponds to the life trajectory that had been driven by personal sexual desires, which in turn culminated into her expulsion from society. By removal, Tennessee Williams alludes the same to death.
Secondly, in conversation with Stanley, Blanches narrates how her grandfathers, fathers, and the brothers sold their land in Belle Reve to satisfy their sexual desires through fornication (Williams 39). According to Blanche, this meant there is no productivity as land, which is a critical factor of production had been interfered with. As such, it deprived her generation of access to an essential element of empowerment and stability, land. While it might not seem to be a literal death of an individual’s age, it appears as a loss of identity as land like culture binds people together into a shared sense of belonging. Also, in a patriarchal society governed with social mores and values, there is no doubt that the grandfathers, fathers, and brother she so acclaims to have exchanged the land would have lost their social stature among the people of Belle Reve. This loss of stature is proportional to loss of respect and dignity, which is metaphorical to death.
Moreover, Blanche’s ex-husband Allan commits suicide because of the revelation about his homosexual state. In the conversation with Mitch, we are introduced to the epic in which the Blanche caught Allan, his supposed husband with another guy on a romantic act (Williams 103). This realization impacted the boy profoundly in what could later turn to be his cause of death. According to Sigmund Freud, such unacceptable sexual behaviors result from unconscious repressed desires or impulses which, upon ignition by external stimuli, resulting in practices like homosexuality. This can, however, be a result of biological or psychosexual inversions (Gallop,569). As a result, the playwright’s empirical interest is to precisely demonstrate the need for a proper conceptualization of sexuality as something that can result in untimely death while also leaving behind dire consequences. For instance, after the end of Allan, Blanche never remained the same again and would be, in most cases, be involved in sexual objectification, which also resulted in her death.
Additionally, while in Laurel as a high school teacher, Blanche loses her job as a result for being in a relationship with 17 years old boy (William 108). The untamed sexual attraction once again leads to Dame Blanche into tragedy. Usually, through teaching, there is assured economic empowerment, which would assist one in acquiring the necessities through salaries. However, this was not the case with Blanche. The loss of the teaching job meant an end to economic empowerment, stability, and, therefore, death. This is because such loss created a total halt in her life, which saw her moving to live with Stella. In this sense, the playwright attempts to allude the relative impact of sexuality as a detrimental tool to an individual’s economic strength and, therefore, stability (Miller et al., 36). As such, the loss of it results in a situation of nothingness where one cannot afford the basics. Importantly, as demonstrated by Stanley in the conversation, one can argue that Blanche has no intention of going back to Laurel because of she actually “dead” figuratively.
Besides, the aggressive sexual desires of Blanche push her to the young man. To satisfy her intense sexual urges, Blanches touches the young man’s cheeks and even forces a kiss into his lips (William 88). Blanche’s characterization as a woman with such intense sexual desire is integral to our understanding of the dead moral fabrics that defined femininity initially. The loss of social reputation is equitable to demise in the moral and social values, which has held the society together. For instance, every culture has a distinct definition of social relations, which mostly dictates how we relate. Thus, when Blanche forcefully kisses the young man, William metaphorically posits the apparent “death” of such values.
Lastly, the rape Blanche’s strongest urge towards men leads to her eventual rape by Stanley. In their drunkness mood, Stanley takes advantage of the fact that the wife is waiting to deliver, and therefore they are left alone in the house (Williams 141). As a result of the rape, Blanch is finally pushed into what would then consume her entire life. It ultimately killed her sexual desire and esteem that was initially the driving force. Williams puts this incidence towards the end of the play to clearly show the final stage of sexuality through the protagonist’s disastrous end in madness a life.
Through wit, stylistic devices, and characterization, William presents the corresponding effects of negative sexuality in society in a more concise manner. The play ideally presents the dominant challenge of the conceptualization of sexuality, which is witnessed in contemporary society (Gallop 565). As such, the game provides us with an opportunity to look at how sexuality, when abused, can be disastrous.