Portraits of displaced women: Tennessee Williams' Amanda Wingfield, Laura Wingfield, and Blanche DuBois

The purpose of this study is to examine Tennessee Williams' characters Amanda Wingfield and Laura Wingfield of The Glass Menagerie and Blanche DuBois of A Streetcar Named Desire and focus on their individual battles with displacement. These characters share displacement from reality and their reliance on fantasy: reflections of Southern grandeur and dreams of the long-awaited gentleman caller. Combined, these distinguishing characteristics provide the focus of this thesis.; The procedure followed in this study is a comparative critical approach to Tennessee Williams' characters. The study is divided into four chapters. Chapter one provides background information on Tennessee Williams' life and its effect on his drama. The second and third chapters focus on the characters Amanda and Laura Wingfield of The Glass Menagerie and Blanche DuBois of A Streetcar Named Desire and their battles with displacement. The final chapter presents conclusions which can be drawn from such an examination of two of Williams' most highly acclaimed plays.