Blanches madness essay

Williams symbolizes Blanches’ lies by having her always prefer darkness and staying in the shadows as opposed to being in the light. This universal symbol is most directly used when Blanche hangs the paper lantern on the light in the bathroom.

Finally, Williams solidifies her madness with a final traumatic sexual experience and, “sexual violence serve as catalysts for the female madness” (Maiman, 1). Williams artfully and masterfully builds up Blanches final tumble into insanity with thoughtful symbolism and well thought out dialogue, as well as the use of music.

His own sister, Rose, was lobotomised in his absence and later institutionalised leading many critics to believe that the character of Blanche may have arisen from events in his own life.

Tennessee Williams wrote about Blanche DuBois: 'She was a demonic character; the size of her feelings was too great for her to contain without the escape of madness.' Williams uses Blanche DuBois as a vehicle to explore several themes that interested him, one of these being madness.