Blanche's Destruction: Feminist Analysis on A Streetcar Named Desire/LA DESTRUCTION DE BLANCHE: ANALYSE FÉMINISTE SUR UN TRAMWAY NOMMÉ DÉSIR

Abstract: A Streetcar Named Desire is a famous play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1984. He is highly praised and eulogized for its delicate construction, refined writing, vivid characters and provoking thoughts. It mainly deals with the conflicts between two symbolic characters, Blanche DuBois-a fading gentlewoman of the Old South-and Stanley Kowalski, an industrial, urban immigrant with unrefined characteristics. In particular, Blanche, as the representative of delicate and fragile southern female images, has been the focus of discussion. This paper analyzes this typical controversial heroine from the perspective of feminism in terms of social culture, economic factor and women's psychology to find out the main factors for her destruction. Key words: desire, feminism, social culture, economic factor, women's psychology Resume: Un Tramway Nomme Desir est une celebre piece ecrite par le dramaturge americain Tennessee Williams, pour lequel il a recu le Prix Pulitzer pour le Drame en 1984. Il est tres apprecie et louange pour sa construction delicate, son ecriture raffinee, ses personnages vivants et d'inspirer la reflexion. Il traite essentiellement les conflits entre les deux personnages symboliques, Blanche Dubois-une dame fanee de vieux Sud - et Stanley Kowalski, un immigrant urbain industriel avec la caracteristique non raffinee. En particulier, Blanche, comme le representant de l'image des femmes du sud delicat et fragile, etait le point focal de la discussion. Ce document analyse cette heroine typique controversee du point de vue du feminisme en termes de culture sociale, facteur economique et psychologie des femmes a connaitre les facteurs principaux de sa destruction. Mots-Cles: desir, feminisme, culture sociale, facteur economique, psychologie des femmes INTRODUCTION Tennessee Williams is widely considered the greatest southern playwright and one of the greatest playwrights in the history of American drama, whose masterpieces include Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Desire, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana, etc.. In these plays, he creates many unforgettable characters, especially lonely, depressed, coward and mind-distorted southern female images. As one of the most recognizable characters in American drama and a fading but sexy Southern belle, Blanche DuBois suffers from the death of her husband who has turned out to be homosexual and committed suicide, the loss of her ancestral home and the passing away of her elder relatives. Guilty and grieve, she dates with a variety of men. Finally her reputation is ruined and she is dismissed due to having an affair with a young boy in her school. And then she turns to her sister Stella for help, who lives in the slum of New Orleans where she is acquainted with Mitch, the brother-in-law Stanley's fellow worker. Blanche dreams to start a new life with him, but the dream is broken due to her conflict with Stanley. In the end, their final, inevitable confrontation-a rape-results in Blanche's nervous breakdown, and she is sent to a madhouse. Like a delicate and fragile work of art handed down from American Old South, she cannot get rid of a set of hypocritical, strict and controversial moral standards and shows difficulty in adapting to modern culture. She is doomed to undergo misfortunes, lose self and finally go to destruction. 1. SOCIAL CULTURE-THE MENTALITY OF THE SOUTH It is reasonable that almost every person's fame is closely related to the place where he/she grows up, so it is necessary to probe into briefly the history of the South and its cultural background in order to have a deeper investigation of the heroine's destruction. The prewar South is full of contradictory memories. The Southern plantation economy set a division between planters and slaves. The slaves worked all-day long under the whip, whereas the rich planters behaved like feudal lords and lived a luxury life. …

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