Essay on Stagnant Lives in Streetcar Named Desire and Glass Menagerie

Stagnant Lives in Streetcar Named trust and fruitcake Menagerie The Stagnant Lives of Blanche DuBois and Amanda Wingfield All of Williams epochal characters argon pathetic victims--of time, of their own passions, of immutable circumstance (Gantz 110). This assessment of Tennessee Williams plays proves neat when one looks closely at the characters of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire and Amanda Wingfield in The ice Menagerie. Their lives run closely parallel to one some other in their respective dramas. They reject their present lives, yet their methods of escape are dissimilar. Both women have lost someone they cared for, and so seek to hold, and unintentionally suffocate, those they have left. A major problem that both Blanche and Amanda face is their misconception of populace and the invigorated South. The predominant theme of these plays is Southern womanhood helpless in the grip of the new world, while its old world of social cast and financial security is a paradise lost (Gassner 78). They are victims of a society that taught them that virtue, attractiveness, and gentility all led to happiness. When tragedy strikes, Blanche and Amanda are unable to adjust to modem society and eventually withdraw into the securities of the past. For Blanche and Amanda, the South forms an image of youth, love, righteousness and all of the ideals that have crumbled along with mansions and family fortunes (Tischier 319). Tragedy after tragedy has smitten the character of Blanche DuBois of Streetcar until nothing is left except her tenuous time lag on sanity. Her young homosexual husband, Allan, kills himself, leaving her racked with guilt with which she cannot deal. It s as if the Grim Reaper set up his tent, taking the... ... New York Chelsea Publishers, 1987. 99-112. Gassner, John. landing field at the Crossroads.New York, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960. pp. 77-91, 218-231. Howell, Elmo. The Function of Gentlemen Callers A Note on Tennessee W illiamss The Glass Menagerie. Tennessee Williamss The Glass Menagerie Modern Critical Interpretations. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea, 1988. Contemporary Literary blame 11 (1979) 575-576. Nelson, Benjamin. Tennessee Williams The Man and His Work. New York Ivan Obolensky, 1961. Tischler, Nancy M. The Glass Menagerie From Story to Play. Tennessee Williamss The Glass Menagerie Modern Critical Interpretations. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York Chelsea Publishers, 1988. Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New York Viking Penguin, 1976.