Blanche arrives in Elysian Fields on the verge of a nervous breakdown after she was fired from her job in Laurel as an English teacher. She was fired for having an affair with an underage student. Her mental instability becomes a very important part of her character and story arc over the course of the play.

She is very concerned with the truth (part of the theme Reality vs Fantasy) and more importantly, obscuring it. She paints herself to be a traditional Southern Belle with Old Southern values which we later find to be very untrue. She puts on a facade of coquetry and feigns modesty while the truth is much darker- hence her motivation for deceiving everyone.

Blanche is also a secret alcoholic, her clandestine habit becomes obvious from the beginning and acts as a key attribute to her character as it causes her to seek drunkenness as an escape mechanism from her mental state- however her toxic behaviours simply act to perpetuate and exacerbate them. Her alcohol addiction is another way in which she is a figurehead in the theme of Reality vs Fantasy and truth since she tries to keep this hidden too. Alcoholism and addiction is also a key theme as it mainly acts through Stanley and Blanche and the male characters.

Blanche serves as allegory for the Old South (much as Stanley is an allegorical emblem for the New South), this is shown through her supposed comportment of a Southern Belle, her wish for a male suitor, her 'traditional values'. However, she represents a fading class and period, her presence in the play diminishes as she becomes weaker and more dissociated hence displaying how the Old South is in the process of being incontrovertibly replaced by the New South. This allegorical war is arguably the largest force in the play- with Tennessee Williams using this as a vehicle for social comment and depiction. Her sordid past as a prostitute and child molester may be reflective of America's history with slavery and how the quasi-aristocratic classes existing in the Old South made their wealth from such immoral activities.

Blanche's mere name is an emblem of her allegorical meaning: 'Blanche DuBois'. 'Blanche' meaning 'white' in french hereby connoting an ironic sense of purity which may imply that the arrogance of the social ruling classes is ironic since they're about to be replaced (obviously shown in how Blanche talks and treats Stanley'. However, 'Blanch' also means to fade or to remove the colour from; suggesting her weakening allegorical presence but also reflective of her mental state in the play which descends and deteriorates rapidly.

Blanche seems to take comfort in bathing and this symbol of obsession with cleanliness is often taken to be her desire to rid herself of her unsavoury past and use bathing as an escape mechanism (much like alcohol) however the idea that water is purifying and able to be an escape from reality is contrasted by when the men dunk Stanley's head in the shower to sober him; the juxtaposing ideas of how water is used as a force in the play is interesting as it may allude to similarities between their characters, but also their differing perspectives.

"her appearance is incongruous to this setting...looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea party or cocktail party in the garden district" - Scene 1.

"Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light"- Scene 1

"There is something about her uncertain manner as well as her white clothes that suggest a moth."- Scene 1. Foreshadowing of her fate, attracted to something that destroys her- fragile- her attraction to Stanley is like a moth to a flame.

"they told me to take a streetcar names Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields"- Blanche, Scene 1- foreshadowing of an inescapable fate and of the damaging nature of desire.

"she springs up and crosses to it, an removes a whiskey bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle"- Scene 1. Suggests a secrecy to her habit- doesn't want anyone to know- immediately foreshadows a facade around her character.

"I was on the verge of- lunacy, almost!"- Scene 1 Blanche. Immediately alludes to the mental instability of her character and arguably more importantly, her elusion of the truth as she has already descended far past the point of sanity.

"the long parade to the graveyard...for their epic fornications"- Scenes 1 and 2 Blanche. Perpetuates the idea of sexual desire as damaging.

Blanche's past as a prostitute and her affair with the teen is important in our perception of Blanche and the theme of sexual desire. Her subsequent actions as a result of her underage interactions led her to her prostitution and thus to her eventual breakdown and downfall which clearly paints the notion of sexual desire to be damaging (this is echoed strongly by the characters).

"she's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves. She's terribly upset"- Scene 2, Stella about Blanche. A clear demonstration of her obsession with escaping reality through bathing and also cleanliness.

"you're simple, straightforward and honest, a little bit on the primitive side I should think,"- Scene 2, Blanche about Stanley- her condescending use of language foreshadows the future conflict.

"now you've touched them I'll burn them...poems a dead boy wrote."- Scene 2, Blanche to Stanley. Her aversion to his touch and his imposition upon her artistic belongings, foreshadows their discord and their allegorical meanings.

"I can't stand a naked light, any more than I can a rude remark or vulgar action"- Scene 3, Blanche to Mitch. Links to the idea of light being the truth, can't stand the truth being on show or revealed, showed while she tries to keep up her prim and proper facade while we later find out her 'vulgar' actions herself.

"What you're talking about is brutal desire -just- Desire!"- Scene 4, Blanche about Stella and Stanley's relationship. Ironic as she cannot see how she is also talking about herself and her attraction to Stanley- her inability to face the truth.

"people don't see you - men don't- don't even admit your existence unless they are making love to you"- Scene 5, Blanche about her life. Repetition of 'don't' shows the negative meaning of this and perhaps her impacted view on intimacy. Male domineered internalised misogyny as she feels her worth is defined by what sexual actions she can offer men.

"you make my mouth water...young man! young, young, young, young- man!"- Scene 5, Blanche to the paper boy. Shows her arrested development and the repetition of young after her predatory statement gives Blanche a much more unnerving and unhinged quality.

"let's leave the lights off. Shall we?"- Scene 6, Blanche to Mitch. Embodies the theme of light and dark, light being a symbol of truth which Blanche wishes to obscure from Mitch so that she can fulfil being a pure Old South wife.

La Dame aux Camelias is referred to on page 70 which was written by Alexandre Dumas which is about a romantic but illicit love affair- allusion to hers with the student?

The Southern Belle is an emblem of the morally conservative Deep South upper classes- often likened to almost a system of aristocracy.

During the time when this play was set, the idea of the 'New Woman' emerged which had a huge impact on feminism and helped women move towards more of a semblance of equality. They had more liberal and relaxed attitudes towards sex and many would discuss is more freely like Stella.
An example of this is Mae West (mentioned by Mitch when he holds a statue of her after their date). She was a television star who often made light hearted sexual innuendos and made jokes and comments mocking the prudish nature of Old American traditions.

Although “Stella” means star, the sole character in the play who looks up at the sky is Blanche. She is interested in astrology but despite the parallel with her own situation, she fails to read the signs of her destiny. Her tragic blindness is all the more ironic as the omen is inserted by Williams just before the peripeteia—in the next scene Stanley goes on the attack to eliminate his enemy. Blanche trivialises the myth of the seven daughters of Atlas, who were pursued relentlessly by the mighty hunter Orion until they were all translated to the sky. Both constellations rise in May and set in November, which is the approximate span of the play.

The myth of Orpheus is synonymous with nostalgia, which combines the idea of suffering with that of an impossible return. Although she claims to be “adaptable to circumstances", Blanche remains faithful to the ideals of a bygone age and to the memory of the old plantation, “that great big place with the white columns". The description and the name “Belle Reve” suggest less a real place than the emblem of a mythicised ante-bellum South

The play was originally called 'The Moth', 'Blanche's Chair in the Moon' and the 'Polka Night'

Along with some of Williams' most memorable female characters, there are some recognisable traits of their person which are reflective of their author, Blanche's nervous breakdowns, alcoholism, eagerness to hide the truth of his thwarted desires (his homosexuality) are often seen to be allusions to Williams himself.

Blanche's struggle with escaping the past is integral to our understanding of her character and her actions, her husband killed himself when they were very young and she didn't recover. He was a closeted homosexual with extramarital lovers that she eventually found out about, she appeared to have been ready to overlook it since she loved him but after drinking and going out with both of them, she made a derogatory comment and that same night he committed suicide.This had subsequently led to Blanche blaming herself and a psycho-sexual arrested development meaning she never got over her penchant for young boys as she associates that with happiness since she did love him dearly. Nowadays we might interpret her symptoms as PTSD of the traumatic event as she is left irrevocably mentally affected by the trauma and addicted to alcohol to escape her sober mental state. Her grapple with the inability to escape her past impacts her present and future massively- that with her loyalty to tradition and antique concepts of female emancipation mean she is unable to adapt to the times unlike Stella, who is often seen to represent a period of transition between the Old South and New South.

"We are going to be very Bohemian. We are going to pretend that we are sitting in a little artists' cafe on the Left Bank in Paris!"- Scene 6, Blanche to Mitch. The use of the childish make-believe of being in Paris is reminiscent of the differences between the characters in that Blanche wants to construct a fantasy to escape reality whereas Mitch would rather just be with her, shows the allegorical difference between them too.

Light and Dark is a prevalent theme in the play: light symbolising truth and the shade symbolising lies and deceit. Blanche tries desperately to hide in the shade, asks for lights to be off and puts paper lanterns over lightbulbs to obscure the light much like she obscures the truth. Her inability to face the truth and its manifestation in this theme is paramount to her character.

" he was in the quicksands and clutching at me- but I wasn't holding him out, I was slipping in with him!"- Scene 6, Blanche about Allan. Metaphor suggests perhaps how she felt she was roped into his unsavoury desires by her love for him and perhaps reflective of how she was never able to shake them.

"a locomotive is heard approaching outside. She claps her hands to her ears and crouches over...as the noise recedes she straightens slowly and continues speaking"- Scene 6

"and then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for a moment has there been any light that's stronger than this - kitchen- candle"- Scene 6, Blanche about Allan. Suggests her deep love for him and how his death deeply affected her.

"she has been washed up like poison"- Scene 7, Stanley about Blanche. Powerful simile suggests she's infective and toxic and that she's inherently negative to their lives.

"Blanche's voice lifted again, serenely as a bell"- Scene 7

"Blanche has a tight, artificial smile on her drawn face."- Scene 8

"the Varsouviana steals in softly and continues playing."- Scene 8. The Varsouviana becomes almost like Blanche's anthem, it becomes associated with her character and particularly chaos since the beginning.

"the "Varsouviana", is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her."- Scene 9

"Have you ever had anything caught in your head?...that goes relentlessly on and on in your head?"- Scene 9, Blanche to Mitch. Rhetorical questions not only show her unhinged state of mind since she is effectively conversing with herself but also how she doesn't value his commentary and thus may be her asserting herself above him due to her education.

"you ought to lay off his liquor. He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wild cat!"- Scene 9, Mitch to Blanche. Simile suggest the primal way in which Blanche craves or needs alcohol, extent of her addiction.

"I like it dark. The dark is comforting to me...I don't want realism...I don't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth"- Scene 9, Blanche to Mitch. Finally exposes her habit of lying, she notes how the shade is comforting and this links to the main theme of truth vs deceit shown through light vs dark. She later comments on how her lies construct how she wish she was living rather than the reality, saddeningly pathetic.

"after the death of Allan- the intimacies with strangers was all I was able to fill my empty head with"- Scene 9, Blanche to Mitch. Metaphor suggests how her promiscuity and temporary psuedo-intimacy was her escape from her crippling reality that her husband had died and it was her fault.

"I used to sit here and she used to sit over there and death was as close as you are"- Scene 9, Blanche to Mitch. Personification suggests that death has haunted her her whole life and that she feel inable to escape.

"Beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart...aren't taken away...I have been foolish- casting my pearls before swine"- Scene 10, Blanche to Stanley. Her deliberate language and final metaphor suggests a surety about her character that is perhaps not there, she feels as though she needs to reassure herself.

"he picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed"- Scene 10

"she has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe following the sculptural lines of her body"- Scene 11

"bathing...I'm not sure I got the soap out...old madonna pictures. Are these grapes washed?...that doesn't mean they're washed"- Scene 11, Blanche to Stella and Eunice. Her obsession with cleanliness may link to the idea of wishing to purify herself after Stanley's attack.

"he crosses to the dressing table and seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light bulb and extends it towards her. She cries out as if the lantern was herself"- Scene 11

"Whoever you are- I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"- Scene 11, Blanche to the doctor. Sad irony as he is not being kind, he is taking her away to an asylum where she will likely die, her inability to recognise this and the nature of the statement itself may be why she is unable to survive in the New South since her values focus too much on the ideas of collectivism.

"This game is a seven card stud"- Scene 11, Mitch. Suggests that the men have won and that eventually, the Old South is eradicated, this formally marks the end of the Old South and its conflict with the New South which all the remaining characters belong to.