Illusion vs. Reality A Streetcar Named Desire Essay Example

darkness she he will not see her clearly. Blanche owns a costume trunk filled with things that are dear to her. Meanwhile, they have no true value.

She wears the crown she owns with the costume jewelry and goes through moments where she can pretend she lives the life of a princess to escape reality. Shep Huntleigh is a rich character who works in the oil business whom we never truly find out exists. To Blanche he is a man who she made an escape plan for him to take her and Stella away to Miami. Stella doesn’t want to leave because she thinks Stanley her husband is true to her. In all of these instances illusion plays a key role in a way for the characters to do away with the lives they do not want to be living.

Although, not all characters are living in illusion Tennessee Williams does include some who face reality. Stanley Kowalski, Stella’s husband, is strictly a reality based character. He is constantly looking into Blanches real past. He sees through all of her illusions and wants the truth to things. This is proved in the rape scene when Stanley turns Blanche into the victim as she had made herself out to be throughout the play. Eunice the character who lives in the upstairs of the house with the Kowalski’s. She knows how untrue Stanley is to Stella and is always telling her to face reality and not put up with how she is treated like garbage from him. Towards the end of the play Mitch finally overlooks Blanches illusions and begins to question her by telling

her how he has never seen her in the light and asks her age. Mitch’s sick mother helps to keep him focused in the real things in his life by having him put aside all other things to take care of the one who cared for him.

Escaping your reality and living in an illusion world will leave you blind to the things around you. In some cases, if you are strong enough to withhold from the illusions around you, you may end up in the reality, like Mitch. Both Stella and Blanche found it best in their minds to live in a fantasy but if you live in it too long it can take over your reality.