Destruction and Desire

Desire is extremely important in Tennessee William's play—so important that it made its way into the title. Every character in the play has desire, but these desires are of a different nature from each other and consequently lead to different outcomes. Blanche's desires in the play are self-destructive and lead to her downfall. Stella's character tries to please everyone. Most of her desires are not for herself, but instead split between Blanche and Stanley. In the end, this conflict forces her to make a choice between the two of them.

Blanche's main desire is to be accepted. To her, this means being a youthful, elegant southern belle, and nothing less. She wants this so badly that she is willing to lie endlessly and shamelessly in order to be perceived this way. Stella's desires are divided. She desires Stanley, physically and emotionally, but she desires for Blanche to be happy. These desires conflict not only at the end, but throughout the entire play. Stella is constantly trying to please Blanche and make her comfortable in her new surroundings, bringing her cokes and liqueur, and taking her out for entertainment. She tries to do this without offending Stanley, who childishly vies for Stella's attention.

Both desires, though very different, lead to the same end. When Mitch hears about all of the scandal Blanche was involved in, her confronts her. He angrily says to Blanche, “lies, lies, inside and out, all lies.” Rather than apologizing when he comes over, she continues to play her part, shrieking when he pulls the light cover off the bulb and refusing to believe in her heart that she lied. Because of this, Mitch leaves. Blanche's overwhelming desire to be perceived as a young debutante ultimately destroys her relationship with Mitch. Once he leaves (or once he refuses to marry her), Blanche seems to lose some of her sanity, yelling “Fire! Fire! Fire!”

Though Stella's desires are benign, they work hand in hand with Blanche's destructive desires. Stella obviously has physical desire for Stanley, but their relationship is deeper than this. She wants to please him. After Stanley rapes Blanche, Stella is forced to choose between her husband and her sister. She tells Eunice “I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley.” Eunice in return tells her never to believe it. The rape was Stella's breaking point. Even though she loves Blanche, she is forced to believe that she is insane. Stella still desires happiness for her sister, which is why she is unsure of herself and questions whether she made the right choice. Blanche has always been slightly insane, making up ridiculous lies, so she set herself up to be discredited in the end. Blanche tried to deceive the world by creating a “magic” image of herself, but because people could see through her lies, she ended up creating the image of a crazy person instead. Blanche was like the little boy who cried wolf. Everything she said was a lie, so the one time she needed people to believe her, they didn't.

Blanche's persistent desires lead to her ruin. Stella's desires for Stanley ultimately lead to Blanche's ruin because she is inclined to believe Stanley over Stella. This final decision is exacerbated because Blanche sets herself up for ruin. If Blanche had admitted, anywhere in the play, that she was wrong and apologized, the outcome would have likely been better for her. But instead, she held tight to her fantasies. She replaced realism with “what ought to be the truth.” Even if she was not truly insane in the end, this was the ironic reality that she had created.