"Streetcar Named Desire" - Blanche - character analysis/overview

In society's eyes, Blanche is a fallen woman. She has lost her family fortune and estate, her young husband to suicide and gained an appalling reputation due to her sexual behavior. Behind her facade of social snobbery and sexual propriety, Blanche is an insecure individual. She is an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of paranoia about her fading beauty. Her manner is dainty and frail, which Stanley quickly sees through her act. …

…raped by Stanley. "A Streetcar Named Desire" portrays the downfall of a once glorious woman, Blanche. Tennessee Williams uses her dependence on men to expose her neediness and lack of choices she has in her life. In the end, Blanche blindly allows herself to be led away by a male doctor, ignoring her sister's cries and own truths. This final image is the sad culmination of Blanche's vanity and total dependence upon men for happiness.