Blanche DuBois Character Analysis in A Streetcar Named Desire

Stella’s older sister, about thirty years old, was a high school English teacher in Laurel, Mississippi until recently forced to leave her position. Blanche is nervous and appears constantly on edge, as though any slight disturbance could shatter her sanity. As a young woman, she married a man she later discovered to be homosexual, and who committed suicide after that discovery. When Blanche arrives at the Kowalskis’ apartment, she is at the end of her rope: she has spiraled into a pattern of notorious promiscuity and alcoholism, and she has lost Belle Reve, the family plantation, due to a string of mortgages. But she clings desperately to the trappings of her fading Southern belle self: “Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth.” Blanche loves Stella and tries to get her sister to escape New Orleans. Blanche is repulsed by Stanley, yet finds herself almost hypnotically attracted by his physical power, like a moth to the flame.

Blanche DuBois Quotes in A Streetcar Named Desire

The A Streetcar Named Desire quotes below are all either spoken by Blanche DuBois or refer to Blanche DuBois. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!

Related Characters: (speaker)

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 6

Explanation and Analysis:

Stella, oh, Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 10

Explanation and Analysis:

Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go? I let the place go? Where were you! In bed with your–Polack!

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 22

Explanation and Analysis:

After all, a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion.

Related Characters: (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 41

Explanation and Analysis:

Oh, I guess he’s just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume, but maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost Belle Reve.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 45

Explanation and Analysis:

I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.

Related Characters: (speaker)

Related Symbols: ,

Page Number and Citation: 60

Explanation and Analysis:

What you are talking about is brutal desire–just–Desire!–the name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 81

Explanation and Analysis:

Don’t–don’t hang back with the brutes!

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Page Number and Citation: 83

Explanation and Analysis:

Young man! Young, young, young man! Has anyone ever told you that you look like a young Prince out of the Arabian Nights?

Related Characters: (speaker)

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 99

Explanation and Analysis:

Sometimes–there’s God–so quickly!

Related Characters: (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 116

Explanation and Analysis:

It’s only a paper moon, Just as phony as it can be–But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me!

Related Characters: (speaker)

Related Symbols: ,

Page Number and Citation: 121

Explanation and Analysis:

I told you already I don’t want none of his liquor and I mean it. You ought to lay off his liquor. He says you’ve been lapping it up all summer like a wild-cat!

Related Characters: (speaker), ,

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 143

Explanation and Analysis:

I don’t want realism. I want magic!

Related Characters: (speaker)

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 145

Explanation and Analysis:

Tiger–tiger! Drop the bottle-top! Drop it! We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!

Related Characters: (speaker),

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 162

Explanation and Analysis:

Please don’t get up. I’m only passing through.

Related Characters: (speaker)

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 173

Explanation and Analysis:

You left nothing here but spilt talcum and old empty perfume bottles–unless it’s the paper lantern you want to take with you. You want the lantern?

Related Characters: (speaker),

Related Symbols:

Page Number and Citation: 176

Explanation and Analysis:

Whoever you are—I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Related Characters: (speaker),

Page Number and Citation: 178

Explanation and Analysis:

Blanche DuBois Character Timeline in A Streetcar Named Desire

The timeline below shows where the character Blanche DuBois appears in A Streetcar Named Desire. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Interior and Exterior Appearance Theme Icon

Blanche DuBois comes around the corner, looking distinctly out of place: dressed in white and fluttering... (full context)

Eunice lets Blanche into the Kowalskis’ flat and tries to make small talk about what Stella has mentioned... (full context)

Blanche perches uncomfortably as she looks around the dim, messy apartment. There are two rooms in... (full context)

Stella bursts into the apartment, and she and Blanche embrace excitedly. Blanche speaks with a feverish hysteria and lets her criticism about the dingy... (full context)

Stella’s quietness makes Blanche anxious that Stella isn’t glad to see her, but Stella reassures her to the contrary.... (full context)

Blanche worries that Stanley will not like her and that she will have no privacy from... (full context)

Blanche bursts out that she has lost Belle Reve, and, with steadily mounting hysteria, she recalls... (full context)

Outside, the men return from bowling and discuss their plans for poker the following evening. Blanche nervously flutters around the apartment as they speak. Stanley enters, exuding raw, animalistic, sexual energy,... (full context)

Stanley pulls off his sweaty shirt in front of Blanche, asking her about being an English teacher in Mississippi. Stella is still in the bathroom.... (full context)

It is the next day, at six o’clock in the evening. Blanche is taking a bath offstage. Stella tells Stanley that she and Blanche are going out... (full context)

...the loss of Belle Reve. Insistent on seeing papers from the sale, Stanley insinuates that Blanche’s hysteria is a cover-up and that she has swindled Stella out of the money from... (full context)

Stanley thrusts open Blanche’s trunk and digs through her clothes, searching for the bill of sale. He thinks that... (full context)

Blanche emerges from the bath in a red satin robe and lightly closes the curtains to... (full context)

...by yelling bluntly, “Now let’s cut the re-bop!” Stella rushes in to play peacemaker, but Blanche sends her to the drugstore to buy her a Coke. Rejecting Blanche’s flirtatiousness, Stanley demands... (full context)

Blanche hands Stanley all the papers from Belle Reve, and he realizes that that the estate... (full context)

Stella returns from the drugstore, and Blanche greets her exuberantly, flushed with the news of her pregnancy. The men begin to arrive... (full context)

Stella and Blanche return, and Blanche powders her face before entering the apartment. Stella tries to make introductions,... (full context)

Blanche is about to take a bath when Mitch emerges from the bathroom. Mitch is sheepish... (full context)

Stanley yells at Blanche and Stella to be quiet. Blanche turns on the radio, but Stanley turns it off... (full context)

Blanche and Mitch discuss his sick mother, and as they smoke Mitch’s cigarettes, Blanche reads the... (full context)

As Stella comes out of the bathroom, Blanche turns the radio back on, and she and Mitch clumsily begin to dance. Stanley leaps... (full context)

Blanche rushes downstairs, confused and frantic. Mitch appears and tells her not to worry, that this... (full context)

The next morning, Stella lies tranquilly in bed when Blanche, wild from a sleepless night, comes in. Blanche is relieved to find Stella safe, but... (full context)

Blanche, still frantic, says that she recently ran into an old beau of hers, Shep Huntleigh,... (full context)

Stella says that Blanche saw Stanley at his worst, but Blanche replies that she saw him at his best.... (full context)

Blanche bursts into a rant against Stanley, calling him an ape-like, bestial creature. “There’s even something––sub-human”... (full context)

...noise, Stanley slips out and re-enters. Stella leaps into his arms, and Stanley grins at Blanche as the “blue piano” music swells in the background. (full context)

Stella and Blanche are in the bedroom. Blanche laughs at a letter she is writing to Shep Huntleigh... (full context)

Stanley and Blanche make tense conversation: she attempts to banter lightly, while he is more than usually brusque.... (full context)

Stanley asks if Blanche knows anyone named Shaw in Laurel. Blanche blanches, but tries not to show her anxiety.... (full context)

Blanche frantically asks Stella what people in town have been saying about her. Blanche admits that... (full context)

Stella hands Blanche a Coke and tells her not to talk so morbidly. Blanche asks for a shot... (full context)

Stella worriedly asks Blanche why she overreacted to the stain, and Blanche claims that she is nervous about her... (full context)

Stanley comes around the corner and bellows for Eunice, Steve, and Stella. Stella tells Blanche that everything will work out, and she runs off to join Stanley at the bar... (full context)

As Blanche waits for Mitch, a Young Man arrives, collecting subscriptions for the Evening Star newspaper. Blanche... (full context)

It is two o’clock in the morning. Blanche and Mitch have just returned from an amusement park. Blanche is clearly exhausted, and both... (full context)

Blanche invites Mitch in for a night-cap. She lights candles and suggests that they pretend to... (full context)

Mitch lifts Blanche up, declaring her “light as a feather,” and, while his hands are around her waist,... (full context)

When Mitch asks where Stanley and Stella are, Blanche explains that they are out with Eunice and Steve. Mitch suggests that they all go... (full context)

Blanche launches into a somewhat hysterical rant against Stanley, and also bemoans her impoverished state. Mitch... (full context)

Blanche says she understands about being lonely. She tells Mitch about her first husband: she married... (full context)

Mitch approaches her and embraces her, saying that they both need someone. As they kiss, Blanche sobs, “Sometimes––there’s God––so quickly!” (full context)

...is an afternoon in mid-September. Stanley comes into the kitchen to find Stella decorating for Blanche’s birthday. Blanche is taking yet another bath to soothe her nerves, which Stanley mocks. Throughout... (full context)

Stanley sits Stella down to tell her all the details he has heard about Blanche. Shaw, a supply man for his company who travels to Laurel frequently, has supplied Stanley... (full context)

Stanley also reports that Blanche was not taking a leave of absence from school on account of her nerves, but... (full context)

Stella is dazed. At first, she doesn’t believe Stanley, making the excuse that Blanche has always been “flighty.” She explains away some of Blanche’s psychological instability on account of... (full context)

Stanley says that he has bought a one-way bus ticket for Blanche to go back to Laurel. Then he bellows at Blanche to get out of the... (full context)

Stanley, Stella, and Blanche are finishing the dismal birthday supper. There is an empty fourth place at the table,... (full context)

Blanche rushes to the phone to call Mitch, even though Stella tells her not to. Stella... (full context)

Stella goes inside and begins lighting the candles on Blanche’s birthday cake. Blanche and Stanley join her. Blanche reproaches herself for calling Mitch. Stanley complains... (full context)

The telephone rings, and Blanche expects that it is Mitch, but it is one of Stanley’s friends. When Stanley returns,... (full context)

The Varsouviana polka rises in the background. Blanche tries to smile and laugh, but she crumples and rushes into the bathroom, gagging. Stella... (full context)

Stella demands to know why Stanley has been so cruel to Blanche. He says that Stella thought that he was common until he took her off her... (full context)

It is later that night. Blanche is sitting in her red satin robe in the bedroom. The Varsouviana polka music can... (full context)

Mitch, unshaven and disheveled, rings the doorbell. The polka stops. Blanche hurriedly puts on powder and perfume and hides the liquor before letting Mitch in. She... (full context)

Mitch asks Blanche to turn off the fan. She offers him a drink. Mitch says that he doesn’t... (full context)

Blanche pretends to happen upon the liquor bottle in the closet and pretends that she doesn’t... (full context)

Blanche asks Mitch what’s on his mind. Mitch says that he’s never seen Blanche in the... (full context)

Mitch stares Blanche in the face. He says that he doesn’t mind her being older than he’d thought,... (full context)

At first, Blanche declares that all three men made up the stories out of revenge. But as she... (full context)

Blanche gives a tortured, almost hallucinatory soliloquy about Belle Reve and the camp of soldiers stationed... (full context)

Mitch begins to embrace Blanche, but Blanche insists that he marry her first. Mitch drops his hands, saying that she... (full context)

It is still later that night. Blanche has been drinking steadily since Mitch left. She has dressed herself in a white satin... (full context)

Stanley enters the apartment, slams the door, and gives a low whistle when he sees Blanche. Stanley is also drunk. He says that the baby won’t come until morning, so the... (full context)

Stanley asks Blanche why she is so dressed up. Blanche says that an admirer of hers, Shep Huntleigh,... (full context)

...the foam pour over his head. He suggests that they both celebrate their good news. Blanche declines the drink, but Stanley stays in high spirits. To mark the special occasion, he... (full context)

Blanche continues to gush about Shep, exclaiming that he is a cultivated gentleman, as opposed to... (full context)

Blanche claims that Mitch had arrived that night with roses to beg her forgiveness. Stanley asks... (full context)

Stanley mocks Blanche for dressing up in her glitzy attire, saying that he’s been on to her from... (full context)

Blanche wildly rushes into the kitchen to the telephone to call Shep Huntleigh, but since she... (full context)

Stanley grins at Blanche and replaces the phone on the hook. He steps between Blanche and the door. Blanche,... (full context)

Stanley continues to advance toward Blanche. She smashes a bottle on the table and waves the broken end of the top... (full context)

The bottle top falls. Blanche sinks to her knees. Stanley picks up her limp body and carries her to the... (full context)

It is several weeks later. Stella is packing Blanche’s things. Blanche is in the bath. The men are playing poker in the kitchen, where... (full context)

Eunice tells Stella that the baby is asleep upstairs, and the woman discuss Blanche. Stella says that they have told Blanche that they have made arrangements for her to... (full context)

Stella tells Eunice that she couldn’t believe Blanche’s story about being raped by Stanley, since if she believed it, she couldn’t go on... (full context)

Blanche peeks out to check that the men won’t see her when she comes out of... (full context)

Upon hearing Blanche’s voice, Mitch’s face and arms sag, and he lapses into a daydream. Stanley yells at... (full context)

Eunice offers Blanche a grape, and Blanche launches into an odd, hallucinatory monologue about perishing at sea by... (full context)

The Doctor rings the doorbell. Eunice answers and announces that a gentleman is calling for Blanche, but Blanche says that she is not quite ready yet. The polka plays faintly in... (full context)

When Eunice mentions a “they,” Blanche grows more nervous. Eunice says a plainly dressed lady is also with Shep. Blanche is... (full context)

When Blanche sees the Doctor, not Shep, she retreats back to the apartment, frightened. They all stand... (full context)

The Doctor sends the Matron in to grab Blanche. The Matron advances on one side, Stanley on the other. The Matron and Stanley’s voice... (full context)

Stanley says that the only thing Blanche could have forgotten is the paper lantern. He rips it off the bare bulb and... (full context)

The Matron has seized Blanche. She asks the Doctor if Blanche needs a straitjacket, but the Doctor says, “It won’t... (full context)

Blanche and the Doctor walk out of the house and around the corner. Stella cries out,... (full context)

Everything you needfor every book you read.

Everything you need for every book you read.

Everything you need for every book you read.

Blanche DuBois Character Analysis

Blanche DuBois Quotes in A Streetcar Named Desire

Blanche DuBois Character Timeline in A Streetcar Named Desire

Everything you need
for every book you read.