Disharmonious Coexistence, Tragic Life:Analysis Of Blanche’s Tragedy From The Perspective Of Androgyny

Tennessee Williams is an American quintessential dramatist after Eugene O’Neill. He is renowned in the world by his good creation of tragedies. As one of his great pieces, A Streetcar Named Desire not only brings him the Pulitzer Prize, but also arouses heated discussion among critics all over the world. Critics have explored the tragic fate of Blanche, the female protagonist in the play, from different perspectives. This thesis attempts to analyze the root of Blanche’s tragedy from a relatively new perspective—androgyny and proves that the harmonious coexistence of one’s femininity and masculinity brings people happiness in life. Meanwhile, the thesis means to remind the modern people to pay attention to the coexistence of their femininity and masculinity and try to keep them co-existing in harmony so as to find their happiness in life.This thesis consists of six parts:introduction, four chapters and conclusion.Introduction gives a brief account of Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire, and relevant literature review of the play.Chapter One states the formation and development of androgyny and then points out the significance of this thesis:by applying the theory of androgyny, the thesis analyzes the tragic root of the female protagonist:Blanche.Chapter Two explores the cause of Blanche’s marriage tragedy. Influenced by the old southern culture and traditional education, Blanche strictly follows the rules for lady in the patriarchal society, so she is totally guided by her femininity. In her own marriage, her excessive femininity makes her too sensible and fragile, which results in her aborted marriage and continuous orgy. For lack of masculinity, Blanche loses her rationality and strong will power and her marriage is doomed to be a tragedy.Chapter Three makes an analysis of the root of Blanche’s refuge tragedy. Expelled from Laurel, homeless Blanche takes shelter in her sister’s house in New Orleans. After a succession of miserable experiences, Blanche no longer believes in her femininity, which causes the outburst of her long-repressed masculinity, so she is very aggressive and manipulative, which brings her the loss of her sister’s protection and brother-in-law’s annihilating retaliation. The eruption of her masculinity suppresses the normal existence of her femininity, which causes Blanche to lose her tolerance, restraint and consideration. This is the root of her refuge tragedy.Chapter Four analyzes the decisive factor of Blanche’s love tragedy. After her arrival in New Orleans, Blanche intends to restart her life by means of another marriage. In pursuing her new love, dominated by her masculinity, Blanche becomes very arbitrary, confident and wily, so what she gets is not true love, but more emotional suffering. Being short of femininity, Blanche loses her purity and kindness, which leads to her love tragedy.In the conclusion, the thesis reveals that the root of Blanche’s tragic life is the disharmonious coexistence of her masculinity and femininity. Her tragedy sounds an alarm to modern people that one should become aware of this coexistence and improve it to reach harmony so as to overcome the difficulties and find happiness in life.