A Street Car Named Desire.

A Street Car Named Desire is a good play to look at portrayal of characters. Portrayal of a character can be seen in different kind of ways In A Street Car Named Desire, Tennessee Williams has been using the portrayal of characters through actions, speech and narration. Blanche and Stanley are contrasting with each other and these are shown clearly through the play.
Stanley Kowalski, is described his characterization by the narration in page 2, Stanley is described as someone who is 28 or 30 years old, who dresses in the normal way, a working class pupil would wear. He also described as someone who is rough. Through his speech, we could see that he cannot differentiate between real things and fake things. This could be seen in pages 22 and 23, when he was busy looking and touching Blanche’s things. He cannot even differentiate between a rhinestone and diamonds.Tennessee Williams also shows Stanley’s blindness about beauty and the evidence is on page 25.We could also see that Stanley uses improper English, not like Blanche uses. Through his actions, we could see that he is someone who is impatient. This could be seen in page 27, when he rips off the ribbon and starts to examine Blanche’s letters. Stanley is someone who is aggressive and rough. This could be seen through his action in page 41, when he hit Stella.Blanche thinks that Stanley is not a gentleman and he is not meant for Stella as Stella and Blanche are bred to be ladies and are meant to be with gentlemen.
Blanche in page 3, is described through the narrator:
Blanche is shown as someone who dresses fancily, like someone from middle class who does not match with the surrounding of working class people. From the narration, we found out that she is 5 years older than Stella. She is also being described as a moth. Moth is an insect that flies at night and is attracted to light. It is ironic if we compare it with the sentence before it, which is, ‘her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light’. Tennessee Williams is trying to show something that foreshadows Blanche’s life.
Through Blanche’s action, we could see that Blanche is an alcoholic. This could be seen in page 6. Blanche’s character could also be seen through speech. In page 8, in Stella speech, we could see that Blanche has been domineering throughout her life by looking at her speech. Blanche insists on looking at Stella’s figure even though Stella has been refusing for a few times. From this, we could also see that Blanche is someone who is beauty concern and a little bossy. These traits could also be shown based from her line, in the same page;
‘You messy child, you, you’ve spilt something on that pretty white lace collar! About your hair- you ought to have it cut in a feather bob with your dainty features.’
Through her speech, the way she speaks, is very different from the way the working class people speak. For example, the different style of speaking between Eunice and Blanche, in page 6, when Eunice did not get the message that Blanche wants to be left alone. Even their slang is different. Blanche uses proper English while Eunice uses the working class English.A Street Car Named Desire is a good play in order to examine the portrayal of characters. Stanley and Blanche are two different people. Stanley is the new generation who has moved on with a new type of life while Blanche is someone who is still trying to stick to her old Aristocrats, being a lady even though she does not act like one. Blanche is someone who is mixed up and she is mentally unhealthy