In
playwright 's , the entrance of Blanche DuBois signifies the end of Stella
and Stanley's relationship as they have known it, and Belle Reve, the palatial southern estate
once owned by Blanche and Stella's family, looms like a dark cloud over the
proceedings.
As Williams's play opens, the viewer is given a quick glimpse
into the lives of Stanley Kowalski and his beautiful, pregnant wife Stella. We do not yet know
the details of these two characters' lives, and Stanley's playful toss of a package of raw meat
to his wife while on his way to the bowling alley indicates, along with the setting, that this
is a family of limited meansand equally limited expectations. With the arrival of Stella's
sister, Blanche, who has clearly come for an extended stay, the stability of Stanley and
Stella's world is upset, and the consequences will be tragic.
When Blanche
enters the scene, neither Stella nor Stanley is available, both being at the bowling alley, a
fact conveyed by the Kowalskis' neighbor Eunice. Eunice soon reveals that Blanche and Stella's
aristocratic roots are no secret:
EUNICE: She [Stella] showed me a picture of your home-place, the
plantation.BLANCHE: Belle Reve?
EUNICE: A great big place
with white columns.BLANCHE: Yes...
EUNICE: A place like
that must be awful hard to keep up.
With this opening
reference to Belle Reve, the scene is set for the gradual realization of the plantation's
significance to each of the play's three main characters. Blanche, it will be revealed, has lost
the estate due to financial difficulties that she initially blames on the costs associated with
her parents' funerals and the recurring expenses of maintaining the property. Only later, due in
no small part to Stanley's inquiries, is it made clear that Belle Reve's loss was due to
Blanche's alcoholism and a series of sexual improprieties--the exposure of which will help push
her over the psychological edge. For Blanche, Belle Reve will always serve as a reminder of her
aristocratic roots, but it will also serve as a constant source of friction between the two
sisters, evident when Blanche states to Stella, "You know I haven't put on one ounce in ten
years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and
you left us...." With this comment, Blanche is throwing in her sister's face the latter's
failure to remain in Mississippi and help out with the plantation. Belle Reve represents a past
to which Blanche wishes she could return.
For Stella, Belle Reve is a part of
the past that is subordinated to the sexual satisfaction she enjoys from her marriage to the
physically powerful and obviously virile Stanley. When Blanche informs Stella that she has
brought fine clothes with which to meet Stella's friends, it is even more clear that Stella has
left that part of her past behind: she replies that Stanley's friends are a little less than
sophisticated. And when Blanche informs Stella of the loss of Belle Reve, the former again
attempts to put the blame on the latter ("...you left! I stayed and struggled! You came to
New Orleans and looked out for yourself. I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold it
together!") to no avail. Stella is stunned by the revelation, but only because the loss of
the estate represents the finalto that part of her life.
For Stanley, Belle
Reve represents snobbishness that he is determined to bring down to his level. Stanley's first
reaction to the news of the plantation's loss is to inquire suspiciously of the details, as
though looking to secure a share of any proceeds from the estate's sale. His references to
"the Napoleanic code" according to which he would be entitled to a share of the
proceeds of the sale of property clearly indicate his motives in pressing Stella for details.
Stanley's pride in representing the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum is piqued with the
ammunition Blanche has brought him. He now has the opportunity to ensure that Blanche is aware
that the moral authority has shifted in his direction, and that the "treasures"
Blanche has stored in her trunk are indicative of the gulf separating these two families' roots,
whether the furs and jewelry are authentic or not: "The Kowalskis and the DuBois have
different notions."
From the opening of the play, a war has been fought
between Blanche and Stanley, with the former openly contemptuous of the latter's place on that
socioeconomic spectrum. Blanche looks down on Stanley, and Stanley is determined to level the
playing field, even if comes at the expense of his wife's relationship with her sister. Lest
there be any doubt about Stanley's reverse-snobbishness, observe in the following passage his
comments to Stella and how Belle Reve's loss fits neatly into his view of Stella's
background:
"When
we first met, me and you, you thought I was common. How right you was, baby. I was common as
dirt. You showed me the snapshot of the place with the columns. I pulled you down off them
columns and how you loved it, having them colored lights going! And wasn't we happy together,
wasn't it all okay till she showed here?"
Belle
Reve is not just the place from which Stella and Blanche entered the world; it is a symbol of a
past now long gone. For Stella, that's okay; for Blanche, it was the death of a dream. For
Stanley, it was the symbol of wealth and manners that it was his pleasure to help
destroy.
No comments:
Post a Comment