The Final Consequence

Desire is a powerful action in which longing for a person or for something to miraculously happen can drive you crazy. Tennessee Williams defined desire for us in the novel, A Streetcar named Desire. In this novel desire leads the two main characters to destroy the lives of the people that surround them because of the way they act. Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois are characters lead by desire, but they do not always desire the same thing.

Stanley and Blanche both desire money, for they believe that it will help them feel better and make them better than others. Stanley shows his interest in money when he confronts Blanche about the loss of Belle Reve. He comments that under the “napoleon code” he is suppose to get a share of his wife’s assets; furthermore, Stanley only wanted to see if Blanche was withholding money from him. The only reason why Stanley would want to investigate the loss of Belle Reve was to see if he can benefit from it rather than for his wife Stella. Stanley is a man who invests his money in alcohol and poker to which Blanche benefits. Blanche also desires money like Stanley not only to get drunk, but also because she wants to get respect and status in society. Blanche believes that if she can regain the position she had before she lost Belle Reve then she would be respected as her looks have given up on her already.

Blanche wants respect and to be liked by the people that surround her similarly Stanley also wants to be respected and treated as an equal. The difference between Blanche and Stanley’s desire to be respected is that Blanche believes respect comes because money is present. Stanley tried to obtain respect forcefully. He is a beast in the novel such that he violently hits his pregnant wife. His violent attitude is justified in the novel due to his alcohol addiction, but his violent attitude could also be because he wants to feel above Stella. This means that he believes Stella was out of his league before they were married. This theory can be proven by his hate towards Blanche when she mentions that he is like a primitive person, a worker, unlike them who lived a very good live without worries. Stanley acts violently and inquisitive towards Blanche because they are in some way the same, for they desire the same things.

But too often we see in physics that magnets with the same pole charge will not attract, so they will repeal. The fact that Stanly and Blanche have similar desires is what causes them to repel from each other, which leads to Blanche’s permanent trip to the “doctor.” The desire that drove the novel to this ending was their common desire to make Stella happy. Stella is Stanley’s wife and also Blanche’s sister. Stanley desired Stella sexually and in some way Blanche desired to make Stella like her by lying about everything she represented. This desire for Stella is what lead Stanley to do a “background check” on Blanche and the fact that Blanche had no money are a male to take care of her lead to the lies she invented to Stella. This power struggle to gain Stella's favoritism caused a tense atmosphere around the house and around their mutual friends.
Desire can make you do terrible things but Stanley and Blanche's desire caused two sisters to part from each other and they also prevented Stella from seeing that Stanley has a problem with alcohol, for he abuses her and it.