Oscillating between Madness and Badness: The Untenable Situation in A Streetcar Named Desire

Abstract

Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire depicts a pathological interaction among the characters, which is the subject matter of anti-psychiatrists such as Watzlawick and Laing whose theories are applied to the William's play. Reading the play, one may ask himself how come that two people who are quite nice when considered on their own can be such devils when put in each other's company? In these game-like interactions, Blanche is unknowingly entrapped in an untenable position from which her chance of stepping outside is very slim; it is called untenable since a person entrapped in it should choose between madness and badness. Once, in her past life, she chose to be bad and now in Stanley's hands she has no other choice than being mad. The game is over when Blanche is made mad and is institutionalized by Stanley and his team members, Stella and Mitch.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1s1p481