A Streetcar Named Desire and Top Girl Essay

Man tush non learn to result, solely hangs on to the noncurrent times however faraway or fast he runs that cooking stove runs with him.- Friedrich Nietzsche (German-Swiss philosopher and writer). In the light of Nietzsches opinion, match and contrast the presentation of the former(prenominal) as a limiting factor to the identities of the pistillate protagonists in A Streetcar named appetite and Top Girls Williams and Churchill present the knightly times as a haunting spectre that threatens the functions put across in their future tense life. Both work outwrights urinate the ago as an emerging filament that, parasitic like, has clinged onto the protagonists present and immobilised the characters ability to lick and improvement. The retroactive structure of Top Girls reinforces this.Marlene attempts to guide her operative class roots in the city office, still now the chain of her last(prenominal), her effeminate infant Angie, imprisons her in this rattling en vironment she seeks to flee. Blanche Dubois seeks resort in her siss area in an attempt to release herself from the gyves of her past presenting herself as a gray Belle in search of a humankind and holding on to Old grey traditional set she is always inharmonious to New Orleans and the future America. Initi entirelyy, two athleticswrights present the past as a route of future imprisonment for the characters. The sign exposition of Blanches marriage and widowing is demo by means of the constant symbolic sizable of the traditional polish Polka as well as revealing Blanches extreme sensitivity as a woman, to her past and expo trustworthy as how man faecal matter non forget. Blanche is glue to her past get togethering, and deliberately forces herself to be lyingve that her antecedent experiences no longish intimidates her, scarce ample d have it offledge, her remembrances haunt her, infiltrating in her present and future with the subtle sound of the luxuriant Polka music, slowly becoming very much(prenominal) and more frequent, leading up to the approaching point towards the end, where Blanche reaches her sad self-destruction, where her blood brother in law rapes her.The texture of the polka music creates an enhanced contextual shot of the play, where the audience gains a exempter perspective of how the past reflects on the construction of each characters psyche. Blanche can non forget her past, but chooses to hang on to it. Her prime(prenominal) of constantly remembering the sound of the Polka, is a reflection of her hesitation of wanting to progress Blanche is her throw enemy, therefore universe her own barrier to overcome past dilemmas. non SURE WHAT ELSE TO ADD Churchill presents lies as a means of liberation for Blanche. When speaking to Stella, she laughs at myself, myself for universe such a liar. Im writing to Shep. Blanche unambiguously admits that she in fact, is a liar the repetition of the ad hominem pronoun my self emphasises the irony in her statement Blanche is very well sensible of her past, and so chooses to lie to avoid any future consequences through exposing the truth. neurotic and corrupted, hiding from herself bottomland synthetic illusions. as described by Christopher Innes in John Russel Brown (ed.) 1995 422 Blanche is suit to face with Stella, she is desperate for more or less Alcohol and compulsively searches Stellas house for some hard liquor, I know you must have some liquor on the placeBlanche plain seems to feel no shame of having a inebriation near Stella but nervously tamps her cigarette however, suddenly, further in the scene, Blanche negates a drink, when stanley arrives home from work, No, I rarely equalize it. and lies to Stanley as (He holds the bottle to the light to succeed its depletion.) as he has noticed that mortal has drunk some liquor. Blanche clearly feels fright and ashamed in having some liquor in the presence of the Alpha male, Stanley Kowa lski, and denies the drink however, Stanley has already seen through Blanches pretence and gabs, some people rarely correspond it, but it touches them often. Blanche is richly awake that the first impressions are the ones that stay, especially as she has a necessity to impress men, so she knows that if she accepts the drink and has it near Stanley, her reputation as a Southern Belle will be destroyed.However, Blanche seems to be quite flattered to have Stanleys attention and without a doubt, realises that Stanley is flirting with her, and mechanically switches to her past seductive self which she initially tried to cover up. The promptness in which Blanche reacts and gives in to Stanleys seductive methods, clearly plants how she cannot turn down being a fake but, cannot protagonist but giving in to her old, past likings. Critic JJ Thompson argues that Blanche is detain by the sins of her past, which to an expiration is true as Blanche may not have needed to create a fake past if she had not through anything wrong. She is desperate to conceal the truth near her preceding record of prostitution and promiscuity. However, it is not in fact her sins that trap her, but her desire to hold on to the value of the old south, as society demands spinsters to be the visible manifestation of the Southern rearing and purityWe have no clear trace of Stanleys past, or what leads him into playing in such an manipulative manner, however, in contrast with Blanche, he does not show any signs of being chained to his previous experiences, but shows some sort of complexness in his character, as he intimidates Blanche causation some sort of disruption in her care- innocent(p) lies. This complexion could be the fact that Stanleys apparent broken character is solely a male instinct of advocate possession and pride as a man. Critic Londr argues that Williams intended a difference of power between Blanche and Stanley, to show that two are complex figures whose wants and behaviours must be understood in the context of what is at stake for them. Felicia H. Londr in M.C. Rouande 1997 50. At stake for both is something essentially selfish- break away for Blanche, sexual satisfaction and dominance for Stanley. evenly in Top Girls, Marlenes sister Joyce clings on to her past.She still criticises Marlenes impression by accusing her that I dresst know how you could leave your own child. By referring still to Angie as Marlenes child, suggests that Joyce has not accepted the past and this leads to the growth of her resentment and bitterness, and these sentiments are joint through the monosyllabic tone of the language. Joyce seems to be imprisoned by her past as she has no means of prospering. The womanly home(prenominal) environment becomes Joyces biggest limitation and the ending, implies that she is enduringly trapped in the past, leaving her with no hope for the future. The stage direction Marlene goes. Joyce goes on sitting, allows the audience to perceive the visual jolt the past has created between the mother- fille relationship, and once once more referring back to the post-feminist criticism of Feminist abandoning their excogitation of sisterhood and embracing a more materialistic society, who care to the highest degree the individual, much like Margret Thatchers ideology.Blanche however, uses the figure of Shep Huntleigh to re- break him as a potential date rather of recalling the past and classifying him as a failed sports fan in her life. Even though, this can be seen as a weakness of Blanche, she has not released the chain of her past but simply covering the dirt up with the carpet. Blanche feels enlightened through her untrue past which is obvious as she laughs at herself. The tragic protagonist is all too aware of her lies, and seems to be gaining some sort of pleasure through her fake truths, which shows that Blanche is ultimately just as phony as can be. She cannot let go from her desire to be a delicate so uthern belle, who relies on the kindness of strangers like unfortunate old Mitch, Stanleys friend (not sure on how I can embodiment on it without losing my point) rather than face her cosmos of being an ageing, penniless prostitute with a corrupt reputation. Blanche is far from being trapped by her sins she is trapped by her desires, not for sexual satisfaction but for the past.Churchill also illustrates how the past can set the characters free. In Act 1, the protagonist Marlene gathers women who suffer with their past together, to feel liberated through sharing their experiences. This is an uncommon part of the play and though we do not know exactly where and when it takes place, we are aware that all the women in this scene are from the past of literature, art and history. Marlenes story is ironically told through the historical character of long- pain Griselda implying her promotion at work, Pope Joan fetching over a male share as Marlene had in the office, Dull Gret fight men, Isabella Bird leaving home and her family behind to fencesitterly travel and the historic character from Japan, Lady Nijo, who grew in an imperial court, as one that has her motherhood nature, debilitated due to her three traumas with child abduction taken the child from the own father, the Emperor, I saw my daughter once.Marlene, the protagonist hosts a dinner caller for her friends, where here, all the six women have the hazard to share their past experiences. When Nijo begins to recall her tragic history, her speech becomes more fragmented and the characters take apart less while she talks about her past, it hurts to remember the past admits Lady Nijo. By gathering these persistent women in a celebration of Marlenes job promotion, transmits a message that for the present to be fully valued, the past has to be reviewed. If Lady Nijo had not gone through her losses with her children, she had not learnt the value of being a mother, an independent woman and bearing childr en, leading her into being a Buddhist monk and life sentence her life completely please herself and make headway her well-being.Marlene says, how far weve all come. This comment switches the past form regret to thankfulness of emerging from prejudice against women. The use of the pronoun we demonstrates that this progression is one that all women make together, musical accompaniment a feminist reading of the play as one which would argue that women found on achievementes of women of the past to achieve in future. Churchill presents women in Thatcherite Britain who are trying to establish a future focus, a naked society where women were able to be in power. Blanche is too afraid to embrace this pose to the past it was essential in 1947 as America needed to establish a forward focus following the war, where the suffering past that women once went through, no longer hindered them in taking a stand. Alternatively, it can be argued that the past actually limits the female protag onists in both Top Girls and A Streetcar Named Desire.The structure of Top Girls reinforces this pipeline as the retroactive structure implies the past of these characters keep chasing after again and again, being unable to look towards the future, being disallow by their past. Protagonist, Marlene ends up in her working class, domestic space and the past- which is ironic as she defines her success against her capacity to escape these things, which suggests that her success is not as valid as it might seem.Streetcar on the contrary, uses a linear structure where the action escalates towards the vertex, provided the characters such as Blanche cannot progress but tragically end up disheartened, owed to the past that limits her. Blanche does not accept the new earth and holds on to her old world values of the past. Both playwrights therefore present hostile perceptions on the role of the past Williams sees it as a form of escape and to guide forward from, whereas Churchill insist s on evaluating the impact it has on the present, as we end up re-examining Marlenes success, rather than looking to the future.