Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire - Character of Blanche DuBois :: A Streetcar Named Desire Essays

Blanche Dubious and A Streetcar Named Desire  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Blanche Dubious, appropriately dressed in white, is first introduced as a symbol of innocence and chastity. Aristocratic, refined, and sensitive, this delicate beauty has a moth-like appearance. She has come to New Orleans to seek refuge at the home of her sister Stella and her coarse Polish husband, Stanley. With her nervous and refined nature, Blanche is a clear misfit in the Kowalski's apartment. Blanche represents a deep-seated attachment to the past. She has lived her whole life in Laurel, a small southern town; her family had aristocratic roots and taught Blanche about some of the finer things in life. Unfortunately, she cannot cope with life outside Laurel. Her life is a lesson in how a single tragic event can ruin the future; her refusal to come out of the time warp and cope with the real world, makes her unrealistic and flighty. At the age of sixteen, she fell in love with, worshipped, and eloped with a sensitive boy. She believed that life with Allan was sheer bliss. Her faith is shattered when she discovers he is a bi-sexual degenerate. She is disgusted and expresses her disappointment in him. This prompts him to commit suicide. Blanche cannot get over this. She holds herself responsible for his untimely death. His death is soon followed by long vigils at the bedside of her dying relatives. She is forced to sell Belle Reve, the family mansion, to pay for the many funeral expenses. She finds herself living at the second-rate Flamingo Hotel. In an effort to escape the misery of her life in Laurel, Blanche drinks heavily and has meaningless affairs. She needs alcohol to stop the polka music, symbolic of Allan's death, from running on in her head and to avoid the truth of her life. She surrenders her body to various strangers in an attempt to lose herself. She seduces young boys in memory of Allan. But her empty heart finds no peace, and her bad reputation ends her teaching career. Blanche is an escapist who says, "I don't want realism". She hides from bright lights, just as she hides from the truth. Her delicate nature simply cannot bear the reality of present-day existence; she finds it too painful. She, therefore, convinces herself that she has remained pure because "inside, I never lied". She knows that her soul, or inner self, remained uninvolved in her physical encounters.

Making a Hero

A hero and heroic journeys are the most important elements of Ancient mythology, and the Odyssey by Homer as an example of such epics. Joseph Campbell identifies three main stages of the hero’s journey found in monomyths: Separation, Initiation and Return. In the Odyssey, the main hero goes through these stages in order to prove and test his courage and heroism. Thesis Through physical journeys and trials, his personality changes for the better: while ‘initiation’ tests his psychical and psychological strength, separation and return reflect his personal qualities and new values. In contrast to traditional model proposed by Joseph Campbell, the Odyssey follows a parallel construction: readers know about his return and separation simultaneously. The first stage, separation, begins twenty years prior to the events depicted in the Odyssey. Readers know about Odyssey’s departure and causes of this separation through memories of Odyssey and other characters. The main difference is that Homer tells about separation through memories and isolated stories. Only in Book XVI, Homer describes the separation: â€Å"it is such a long time ago that I / can hardly say. Twenty years are come and gone since he left my / home, and went elsewhither† (Homer, Book XVI). This quote is very important because it tells readers about the past and helps Penelope to recollect events. Penelope is sure that Ulysses is â€Å"laid before her† (Homer). The most important is that the story about separation coincides with ‘return’ of the hero and his moral development. The rest of the story (the return) describes his new qualities and values developed during initiation from the psychological point of view. The second stage, initiation, consists of several trials and battles which show courage and enormous physical strength of Odyssey. The main trials include: the encounter with the Cicones, several years spent in Calypso’s cave; the battle with the Cyclops and the encounter with the Sirens show that only. The first encounters show his physical strength while the second ones test his psychological qualities. â€Å"Odysseus then you are, o great contender, of whom the glittering god with the golden wand / spoke to me ever, and foretold /the black swift ship would carry you from Troy† (Homer, Book X). This remark tells readers that his journey is not over and he needs great courage and bravery to overcome all difficult situations and eternal evil. It is possible to make certain distinctions between two stages of personal development (separation and return): for instance, fresh strong feeling in Odyssey hero is a different thing from the mass strong feeling in the people; or that some types and manifestations of feeling are gross self-indulgence and are not at all the thing they appear to be; or that an appearance of strong feeling may be only a mask hiding some weakness or other. Physical sufferings and trials have changed his personality and world views. At the stage of return, Homer does not tell about low morals of Odyssey and his habits, but describes him as a real hero who returns home. He inherits his honesty. In his love for women he shows that he has none of snobbery. At the end, the main hero is depicted as a keeper of law and traditions of the society. Also, Homer shows that it is dangerous thing to forget about human dignity and human code of ethics. â€Å"'The royal pair mingled in love again and afterward lay revelling in stories. / †¦ Odysseus told of what hard blows he had dealt to others and of what blows he had taken-all that story† (Homer, Book XXIII). This remark shows that after Initiation, Odyssey is a loving husband and father, fair ruler and son. At this stage, Odyssey combines the moral and social qualities of an ideal hero. In sum, the remarkable feature of the Odyssey is a cyclical structure of the Hero’s journey based on physical and psychological development of the main character.   Using a cyclical structure, Homer compares and contrasts the qualities of two different characters: Odyssey before and after the initiation stage. The inferences in the paper are important because they help to identify and analyze the main elements of the text, and then synthesize and summarize the main findings of the analysis. Works Cited Page Homer. The Odyssey. N.d. http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/dyssy10.txt

Hamlet Is Not Insane By William Shakespeare - 1238 Words

Prince Hamlet is not insane. Though at times his actions make one question whether or not that statement is true, Hamlet is only trying to cope with the harsh reality of his father’s ghost appearing to him, asking for him to seek revenge on his behalf. With so much being asked of Hamlet it’s reasonable why he feels and expresses himself the way he does. Everyone copes with harsh situations differently and its human nature to respond exactly how Hamlet has, by finding the miniscule amount of hope within a tragedy. If Hamlet was truly insane his friends and family members would have detected this way before any family incident had occurred not after his date of death. Although everyone in this play is truly convinced of this, he is simply pretending in order to successfully revenge his father’s death and execute his elaborate plans. As Hamlet was talking with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, He tells them, â€Å"I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is souther ly, I know a hawk from a handsaw,† (II, ii, 368-369). This is a prime indication that Hamlet is in fact not insane, he is aware of his surroundings and all of that around him. The definition of insanity is acting foolish without being completely coherent of your doings. Hamlet clearly recognizes what is acceptable in society and what is not; he just does not mind others and the opinions that come along with them. Hamlet is very much coherent of his actions and by him making this abundantly clear, it shows that he isShow MoreRelatedMotif of Madness in Hamlet by William Shakespeare Essay771 Words   |  4 PagesMotif of Madness in Hamlet by William Shakespeare It is the driving force of mankind that has delivered man from the age of stone to that of industry. This force is also the essential ingredient that produces the inescapable prison of the mind, a frightful disease that may be viewed as the greatest irony of life. 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