Duke Ferdinand and Blanche Dubois

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Duke Ferdinand and Blanche Dubois

Similarities

  • MADNESS: Ferdinand starts his descent into madness due to his failure of controlling the Duchess. His lycanthropy stems from his animalistic urge to control and conquer. Similarly to Blanche, her madness stems from her unstable mental state as her manipulative hold on Mitch and Stella deteriorates, as well as Stella choosing Stanley over her. Stanley is an avatar of Dionysus, who, ironically, is the god of madness and desire. This links well with the notion that it was Stanley who acts as a catalyst for Blanche's insanity, especially in Scene Ten of the play.

Differences

  • SURVIVAL: From a psychological perspective, Blanche's manipulative tendencies stem from her desire to survive. William's demonstrates a Darwinian outlook in Streetcar through Blanche's questionable means of survival. Unlike Stanley, who is born to thrive in the cut throat society of Post-War America, Blanche evidently cannot, especially not in New Orleans. Blanche goes from "under one leaky roof" to another in order to survive and keep her Southern Belle persona alive. Although it may be selfish, Blanche is arguably her own hero and source of dependency as all the men she has encountered have failed to offer her that stability. In contrast to Blanche's delicate being, Ferdinand, survives off of malice and terror. He controls those around him to reinforce the idea that he is superior (this is a similarity between both of the Aragonian brothers, not just Ferdinand). However, some may argue that his constant reassurance of his superiority could evidently show he is failing to actually be superior.

Overall comparison

Overall, Ferdinand and Blanche are very similar in their psychology and inner fantasies, but their realities are very different. Blanche is overwhelmed by the aspect of a cut-throat and brutal society, where as Ferdinand is in his element, meaning that he can kill and conquer as he wishes. Arguably, Blanche (metaphorically) wishes to do this to those around her but only in the name of survival. Ferdinand does it out of jealousy and masochism.

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