"L'enfer c'est les autres"--JP Sartre
This year, students will explore the theme of otherness. What defines the mainstream and how does this mainstream dictate to others? What does it mean to be marginalized? How has the mainstream impacted the world of ideas across the centuries?
Both characters Stanley and Mitch are execrable to Blanche. Mitch is at first attracted to Blanche, while Stanley has unsettling « ideas » about her. Stanley senses from the beginning that Blanche is hiding something. Although Blanche is a fragile, unmanageable alcoholic who has had an inappropriate behavior with minors (because she lost complete respect for herself with the culpability of her husband’s death), Stanley and Mitch cannot be excused for mistreating her. And although we can argue that Stanley has a reason to « torture » Blanche, as she has disturbed his peace, Mitch does not have one. Mitch should be considered as the worse to Blanche because she hasn’t done anything wrong to him; nevertheless, Stanley’s cruelty cannot either be forgiven.
Blanche has stolen Stanley’s and Stella’s privacy, hence changing the atmosphere in the house. Since she is present the mood between the couple is more aggressive. Stella and Stanley cannot be themselves in front of Blanche, which frustrates Stanley. Therefore Blanche and Stanley violently compete to get Stella because they both need her. In addition, Blanche irks Stanley as he feels she is hiding the truth about Belle Reve—the Dubois’ country house that has suddenly disappeared. Stanley, who is more straightforward than Blanche tries to pull the truth out of Blanche’s mouth, but to no avail. Her frivolous and mysterious attitude irritates him. So he makes her feel unwelcome, is rude to her, rapes her, and finally kicks her out of the house. Stanley’s cruelty is so extreme that he sexually assaults his sister-in-law out of pure jealousy and discomfort. And as if it weren’t enough, Stanley betrays her, deceivingly throwing her out of the house. He steals Stella from her—her last hope for happiness. And finally, he forces her outdoors, in complete despair and disbelief. Stanley is ultimately evil to Blanche because he believes it is his only solution to get Stella back. He wants Blanche to suffer from what she has taken away from him. Yet this motive does not exonerate Stanley's crime and petty actions.
However, Mitch on the other hand, has no excuse to abandon Stella. He is interested in her when he doesn’t know anything about her. He enjoys her presence in the beginning, deliberately showing he is attracted to her. Unlike Stanley, Mitch is present emotionally for Blanche. Yet once Stella unveils the darkest truth of her past, he leaves her. Despite the fact that Blanche went out of her way in telling her story—making the light beam—and that Blanche and Mitch need each other, he has the nerve to leave her. How cruel! Why? Because he is a selfish coward that can neither sympathize with Blanche nor have pity for her suffering. He is cruel because he leaves her once she needs him the most: once she is attached to him, once she is the most vulnerable, once she has spoken the truth. He is too stubborn to try to understand the root of Blanche’s issue; he follows everyone’s opinion instead of his own, to Blanche's desperation. Mitch’s motives are ambiguous. If he leaves Stella because of her psychological issues he has no empathy, because Blanche is traumatized by her husband’s death—for which she is in no way responsible. Furthermore, if Mitch leaves Stella because he is afraid of what his mother would think, then why did he flirt with her in the first place? Finally, if he leaves her because of her instable mood, he should understand that he could change that by making her feel secure (e.g. proving he loves her). Mitch in the end is as cruel as Stanley since Blanche has done nothing wrong to him. He hurts Blanche even more because she has opened her heart to him. He is a muddled idiot that has no valid excuse to hurt her.
Consequently, Stanley and Mitch are equally obnoxious to Blanche and equally responsible for her demise.
I agree with Doina that they are both responsible for her demise, but I think that when it comes to who does the most damage to Blanche, Stanley is the winner. Mitch and Blanche have a relationship that is almost purely based on the lies that she has told him and the secrets that they keep from one another. Even though all the feelings that they feel seem to be true, the second that Mitch realizes that she has been lying, he bails. I thought that this was extremely devastating to see that a few lies could ruin everything; that if she had simply been honest, he would have probably accepted her for who she was. But, the fact of the matter was that this was purely Blanche's fault. The fact that Mitch did not understand or even try to give her a second chance showed how cruel he really was to her. Mitch did show that he was a better person than Stanley in his reaction because, despite the fact that he did not let her explain or try to understand where she came from, I do not believe that he intentionally meant to harm her. This is shown at the end of the play, when he is asking everyone not to hurt her. He was still protecting her, despite what she did to him. Stanley, on the other hand, did not do just one thing to hurt Blanche; he made sure that he was going to discover the truth at any cost. From the beginning, Stanley has not trusted a thing that Blanche had said to him. This seemed like nothing, just a test really until Stanley started to persecute her, even to make her own sister doubt of the sanity. It all really started with her appearances: Stanley did not understand how she could be homeless and have such nice clothes. Then, the whole story with Belle Reve made his doubt in her trustworthiness grow. By the time he actually gets himself informed on who Blanche really is, he has gotten her a ticket back to where she came from. I thought that the fact that he did this really showed his true “colors”. In the meantime, Stanley is doing everything so that everyone turns against Blanche, leaving her with no other choice but to get out of there. The damage that Stanley causes to Blanche is continuous, like a long term poisoning: in the beginning, it feels like nothing, but after a while, the burn consumes you. This poisoning leaves the person left dead with no possible way to escape her fate. I believe that the fact that he destroys everything that she has just to expose her was much worse than the reaction that Mitch had towards her lying. Mitch was really only reacting to what she had done, making him an initially nice person at his core. But Stanley is determined to “bring her down” for no real reason.
Both characters Stanley and Mitch are execrable to Blanche. Mitch is at first attracted to Blanche, while Stanley has unsettling « ideas » about her. Stanley senses from the beginning that Blanche is hiding something. Although Blanche is a fragile, unmanageable alcoholic who has had an inappropriate behavior with minors (because she lost complete respect for herself with the culpability of her husband’s death), Stanley and Mitch cannot be excused for mistreating her. And although we can argue that Stanley has a reason to « torture » Blanche, as she has disturbed his peace, Mitch does not have one. Mitch should be considered as the worse to Blanche because she hasn’t done anything wrong to him; nevertheless, Stanley’s cruelty cannot either be forgiven.
ReplyDeleteBlanche has stolen Stanley’s and Stella’s privacy, hence changing the atmosphere in the house. Since she is present the mood between the couple is more aggressive. Stella and Stanley cannot be themselves in front of Blanche, which frustrates Stanley. Therefore Blanche and Stanley violently compete to get Stella because they both need her.
In addition, Blanche irks Stanley as he feels she is hiding the truth about Belle Reve—the Dubois’ country house that has suddenly disappeared. Stanley, who is more straightforward than Blanche tries to pull the truth out of Blanche’s mouth, but to no avail. Her frivolous and mysterious attitude irritates him. So he makes her feel unwelcome, is rude to her, rapes her, and finally kicks her out of the house. Stanley’s cruelty is so extreme that he sexually assaults his sister-in-law out of pure jealousy and discomfort. And as if it weren’t enough, Stanley betrays her, deceivingly throwing her out of the house. He steals Stella from her—her last hope for happiness. And finally, he forces her outdoors, in complete despair and disbelief.
Stanley is ultimately evil to Blanche because he believes it is his only solution to get Stella back. He wants Blanche to suffer from what she has taken away from him. Yet this motive does not exonerate Stanley's crime and petty actions.
However, Mitch on the other hand, has no excuse to abandon Stella. He is interested in her when he doesn’t know anything about her. He enjoys her presence in the beginning, deliberately showing he is attracted to her. Unlike Stanley, Mitch is present emotionally for Blanche. Yet once Stella unveils the darkest truth of her past, he leaves her. Despite the fact that Blanche went out of her way in telling her story—making the light beam—and that Blanche and Mitch need each other, he has the nerve to leave her. How cruel!
Why? Because he is a selfish coward that can neither sympathize with Blanche nor have pity for her suffering. He is cruel because he leaves her once she needs him the most: once she is attached to him, once she is the most vulnerable, once she has spoken the truth. He is too stubborn to try to understand the root of Blanche’s issue; he follows everyone’s opinion instead of his own, to Blanche's desperation.
Mitch’s motives are ambiguous. If he leaves Stella because of her psychological issues he has no empathy, because Blanche is traumatized by her husband’s death—for which she is in no way responsible. Furthermore, if Mitch leaves Stella because he is afraid of what his mother would think, then why did he flirt with her in the first place? Finally, if he leaves her because of her instable mood, he should understand that he could change that by making her feel secure (e.g. proving he loves her). Mitch in the end is as cruel as Stanley since Blanche has done nothing wrong to him. He hurts Blanche even more because she has opened her heart to him. He is a muddled idiot that has no valid excuse to hurt her.
Consequently, Stanley and Mitch are equally obnoxious to Blanche and equally responsible for her demise.
I agree with Doina that they are both responsible for her demise, but I think that when it comes to who does the most damage to Blanche, Stanley is the winner.
ReplyDeleteMitch and Blanche have a relationship that is almost purely based on the lies that she has told him and the secrets that they keep from one another. Even though all the feelings that they feel seem to be true, the second that Mitch realizes that she has been lying, he bails. I thought that this was extremely devastating to see that a few lies could ruin everything; that if she had simply been honest, he would have probably accepted her for who she was. But, the fact of the matter was that this was purely Blanche's fault. The fact that Mitch did not understand or even try to give her a second chance showed how cruel he really was to her. Mitch did show that he was a better person than Stanley in his reaction because, despite the fact that he did not let her explain or try to understand where she came from, I do not believe that he intentionally meant to harm her. This is shown at the end of the play, when he is asking everyone not to hurt her. He was still protecting her, despite what she did to him.
Stanley, on the other hand, did not do just one thing to hurt Blanche; he made sure that he was going to discover the truth at any cost. From the beginning, Stanley has not trusted a thing that Blanche had said to him. This seemed like nothing, just a test really until Stanley started to persecute her, even to make her own sister doubt of the sanity. It all really started with her appearances: Stanley did not understand how she could be homeless and have such nice clothes. Then, the whole story with Belle Reve made his doubt in her trustworthiness grow. By the time he actually gets himself informed on who Blanche really is, he has gotten her a ticket back to where she came from. I thought that the fact that he did this really showed his true “colors”. In the meantime, Stanley is doing everything so that everyone turns against Blanche, leaving her with no other choice but to get out of there. The damage that Stanley causes to Blanche is continuous, like a long term poisoning: in the beginning, it feels like nothing, but after a while, the burn consumes you. This poisoning leaves the person left dead with no possible way to escape her fate.
I believe that the fact that he destroys everything that she has just to expose her was much worse than the reaction that Mitch had towards her lying. Mitch was really only reacting to what she had done, making him an initially nice person at his core. But Stanley is determined to “bring her down” for no real reason.