A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams Essay -- Streetcar Desi

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams MITCH: Lies, lies, inside and out, all lies. Referring to the two critical opinions, explore the extent to which the relationship between Mitch and Blanche is based on deception and self deception. Throughout Williams' play an unexpected relationship is developing before us. This is the one formed between Mitch and Blanche. Two very different characters who would appear to have nothing in common but when they dig deeper into each others personalities they find that have shared many past experiences and this gives them a basis for their relationship. However, after realising that Blanche is not the same person that she appears to be, Mitch begins to doubt anything that she has told him in the past. Can the audience blame him, as they know that she has even lied to her own sister. What makes her relationship with Mitch different to that she has with any other person? What makes him so special that she does not feel the need to lie to him? Mitch proposes to Blanche that everything that she has told him is a lie. That the person that he knows her as is make believe. "Lies, lies, inside and out, all lies" (Scene 9), is the phrase used by Mitch to convey his feelings to Blanche. He is right. Blanche had based all her relationships on lies since she had arrived in Stella and Stanley's house. She felt that it was the only way that she would be accepted by her sister and brother in law. She was never expecting to meet such a man as Mitch, but once he did appear she had to continue the deceit with him, to make sure that she did not incriminate herself, as she had already spun so many stories for Stella and Stanley. Mitch is a very weak character. He stays at home... ...and she is not as hard faced as she has seemed throughout the play. All she wanted was to have something to replace what disappeared when she lost Allan. There had obviously been something missing since he died, and that is what Blanche had been searching for, sadly everywhere she looked she only found herself in trouble. Cardullo sees her actions at the Flamingo, not necessarily as prostituting herself, she may not have thought of herself as a prostitute as most people would define it. She was on her mission to find that lost thing, "they got wised up after two or three dates with her," but maybe that was because they did not have the thing that she wanted, and she was just as much for them leaving as they were. Mitch was different however, she wanted him and did not want to lose him. That is why she had to deceive him to make sure that he did not leave.