An Analysis Of “Original Sin” In A Streetcar Named Desire

Tennessee Williams, who was originally named Thomas Lanier Williams, was born in 1911 and died in 1983, and he was one of the greatest and the most important American playwrights in the 20 th century. He created over 60 plays in his life, the three most representative works of which were The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. And the last two plays brought him the Prize of Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Since A Streetcar Named Desire was published, it has caused hot discussions in drama, literature, and critics fields. A number of scholars and critics from home and abroad studied the play and the heroine Blanche from different angles with unabated enthusiasm, with dozens of related books and articles appearing yearly.The word “Desire” in the title of the play A Streetcar Named Desire not only explicitly reveals the play’s theme but also means a lot. And this is an important reason for the thesis to analyze Blanche’s tragic end by archetypal criticism and original sin. According to archetypal criticism, literature derives from myth, while the main myth of English and American relates to the Bible stories. According to the Bible, Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden because they had disobeyed God’s orders. Their sins were never got rid of and they had to suffer from hard work, sickness and pains. And this caused their descendants to be born sinners who have to expiate with hard working and sufferings for redemption.With the departure and deaths of relatives, Blanche lost her spiritual dependence. And with the loss of Belle Reve, Blanche hadn’t anything to live on. In order to search for love and dependence, Blanche seduced men even young boys. But her behaviors weren’t accepted in the patriarchal society, which made her lose reputation and her job. Though she failed again and again, she didn’t give up the desires for wealth and love from men. And on the contrary, her desires became stronger and stronger, rendering her insane and nervous. As a result, she came to breakdown so that she was betrayed by her kinsmen and boyfriend and was sent to a sanitarium.This thesis consists of four chapters besides the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction concentrates on Tennessee Williams and A Streetcar Named Desire, the literature reviews of this play, archetypal criticism and original sin, together with the questions discussed in this thesis.Chapter One sketches original sin. Adam and Eve became depraved because of their desires for knowledge. The desire is one of the original sins, which let human beings be born sinners who have to expiate with hard working and sufferings.Chapter Two explores the reasons of Blanche’s depravity. Losing the relatives and Belle Reve, Blanche desperately seduced men for love and dependence for a living. But her too strong desires made her become depraved step by step, and at last she became a prostitute.Chapter Three analyzes Blanche’s nervous behaviors, revealing her desire for being redeemed by attempted cover-ups over her shameful past. Because she feared of being known to others, she always hid in darkness, bathed a lot and put lanterns on the lights. She told lies to Stella, she posed elegantly in front of Stanley and she pretended to be a pure lady when she stayed with Mitch. By these, she tried desperately to redeem herself.Chapter Four specifies Blanche’s failure of redemption and being sent to a sanitarium at last. Her self- redemption was imposed on others but no one could redeem her at all. Stella depended on her husband entirely. Stanley stood for the patriarchal society and what he would do was to destroy her. And as a traditional man, Mitch wouldn’t ignore the social morality to marry Blanche. So as a result, they all betrayed Blanche and sent her to a sanitarium after Blanche was rendered insane.The thesis draws a conclusion based on the above analysis: Desire, as one of the human sins, is on every person in various ways. And every day people face temptations, desires for fame, fortune, power, etc. Facing the temptations, one should be rational and self-possessed, and he or she should realize his or her reasonable desires in a proper way. Otherwise, if a person over-indulges in seeking for desires, he or she will fail. And as a result, he or she will be beyond redemption and suffer from punishment.