Streetcar: Characters in Plays and Mitch Essay

Submitted By VicoPagaling2
Words: 609
Pages: 3
Open Document
Perhaps because he lives with his dying mother, Mitch is noticeably more sensitive than Stanley's other poker friends. The other men pick on him for being a mama's boy. Even in his first, brief line in Scene One, Mitch's gentlemanly behavior stands out. Mitch appears to be a kind, decent human being who, we learn in Scene Six, hopes to marry so that he will have a woman to bring home to his dying mother. Mitch doesn't fit the bill of the chivalric hero of whom Blanche dreams. He is clumsy, sweaty, and has unrefined interests like muscle building. Though sensitive, he lacks Blanche's romantic perspective and spirituality, as well as her understanding of poetry and literature. She toys with his lack of intelligence—for example, when she teases him in French because she knows he won't understand—duping him into playing along with her self-flattering charades.
Though they come from completely different worlds, Mitch and Blanche are drawn together by their mutual need of companionship and support, and they therefore believe themselves right for one another. They also discover that they have both experienced the death of a loved one. The snare in their relationship is sexual. As part of her prim-and-proper act, Blanche repeatedly rejects Mitch's physical affections, refusing to sleep with him. Once he discovers the truth about Blanche's sordid sexual past, Mitch is both angry and embarrassed about the way Blanche has treated him. When he arrives to chastise her, he states that he feels he deserves to have sex with her, even though he no longer respects her enough to think her fit to be his wife. The difference in Stanley's and Mitch's treatment of Blanche at the play's end underscores Mitch's fundamental gentlemanliness. Though he desires and makes clear that he wants to sleep with Blanche, Mitch does not rape her and leaves when she cries out. Also, the tears Mitch sheds after Blanche struggles to escape the fate Stanley has arranged for her show that he genuinely cares for her. In fact, Mitch is the only person other than Stella who seems to understand the tragedy of Blanche's madness.

Harold Mitchell is first seen as one of the four poker players in the third scene. The players speak coarsely, enjoying primitive, direct humor, mixing it with the cards, chips, and whiskey—that is, all except Mitch. He seems to be somewhat different. He is first
Show More

Related Documents: Streetcar: Characters in Plays and Mitch Essay

A streetcar Essay

A Streetcar Named Desire Symbolism is often used in literature to give a deeper and more profound meaning to seemingly meaningless things in literature. In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, symbolism plays an essential role and is used very frequently in this play. The author uses the light to satirize Blanche’s, one of main characters in the play, inability to face the truth in life. She wants hide her real age from bright light, especially when she in front of her…

Words 473 - Pages 2

boot scoot and boogy Essay

fantasy world will leave you blind to the things around you. The play, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams creates a situation where A Streetcar Named Desire is driven by the fantasy of Blanche, Stanley, Stella and Mitch. In the play the characters hide from their reality by acting as if the events they went through didn’t happen or were not important. The idea of reality vs. illusion seems to bring on the idea that these characters want to escape their world or they want to act blind they don’t…

Words 1039 - Pages 5

A Streetcar Named Desire Symbolism Essay

A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, is a southern gothic play that was written in 1947. The play follows a middle aged troubled and distraught lady; Blanche. A well-known southern belle born and raised in Mississippi, that soon finds herself in a predicament. Blanche finds herself living in New Orleans with her sister Stella and Stella’s husband Stanley. Feuds and tensions rise in the Kowalski household causing psychotic and mental break downs. As well as forcing the end to many relationships…

Words 745 - Pages 3

Illusion and Mendacity Essay

Peter Tim Soriano Mr. Chalmers ENG 4U 16 December 2013 Illusion and Mendacity In Tennessee Williams’ plays Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire, several characters suffer by lying and by being unaware of reality. Both plays demonstrate and signify the themes of illusion vs. reality and mendacity through past trauma, alcohol abuse, and through strained family and marital relationships. In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Brick is an example to all of these factors through his past with his…

Words 1674 - Pages 7

Who Is The Protagonist In A Streetcar Named Desire

1. Does the play have a protagonist? If so, who is it? What makes you think so? Why that character, and not another? Tennessee Williams’s protagonist in A Streetcar Named Desire is Blanche. In the play she is a work of social realism. Blanche explains to Mitch that she fibs because she refuses to accept the fate has dealt her. She has lied to herself and others which allowed her to make her life appear more than it should be. For example, in Scene One she tells her sister Stella that she took a…

Words 667 - Pages 3

Essay on How Does Williams Present the Themes of Illusion and Fantasy in a Streetcar Named Desire?

How does Williams present the themes of illusion and fantasy in A Streetcar Named Desire? The theme of reality vs. fantasy is one that the play centres around. Blanche dwells in illusion; fantasy is her primary means of self-defence, both against outside threats and against her own demons. Throughout the play, Blanche's dependence on illusion is contrasted with Stanley's steadfast realism, and in the end it is Stanley and his worldview that win. To survive, Stella must also resort to a kind of…

Words 895 - Pages 4

Streetcar Named Desire Final Essay

Paige Davies Shipley p. 5 AP Literature Outside Reading Extra Credit The Truth: A Streetcar Named Desire Truthfulness is a theme that is intrinsically imbedded in the play Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. While truth is a virtue to which most aspire, it manifests itself differently in the novel as the characters’ individual thoughts, assessments and interpretations collide to skew their particular attitudes and actions. Williams uses the dichotomy of truth versus lie to define each…

Words 1550 - Pages 7

Examples Of Shame In A Streetcar Named Desire

inevitability of Shame Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a marvelous southern gothic play whose end contains quite a plot twist. In this play Blanche Dubois a posh and delicate southern woman surprises her “little” older sister Stella who lives in downtown New Orleans and is at the constant disposal of her husband Stanley, a former World War II sergeant with a short drunk temper. Blanche suffers from anxiety and exhibits suspicious behavior. Throughout the play Blanche and Stanley do not see eye…

Words 1202 - Pages 5

A Streetcar Named Desire Character Analysis Essay

A Streetcar Named Desire Prompt Four In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams creates substantial distance from each of the main characters in the play that they can be easily contrasted by their appearance, personalities, and where they’re from. In the play a married couple is forced to live with an sister of the wife when she seeks help after becoming bankrupt. After she moves in, relationships between the triangle of characters become twisted and reveals each character's true nature…

Words 875 - Pages 4

Essay about Blanche Dubois

I Want Magic In Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire, we are introduced and get to know to a few interesting characters. He develops them with distinct, specific characteristics and motives. The protagonist, Blanche DuBois, is portrayed as someone who seems to be just misunderstood. Throughout the play as she unfolds she becomes uncontrollable. From her name to her costumes, Blanche is carefully written. From the moment we meet Blanche, it is clear she is a bit ostentatious. We first…

Words 1310 - Pages 6