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词条 Blanche DuBois
释义

  1. Character overview

  2. Role in the play

  3. Portrayals

  4. Etymology

  5. References

  6. External links

{{Use American English|date=May 2017}}{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2017}}{{Infobox character
| colour = #DEDEE2
| name = Blanche DuBois
| image = Jessica Tandy with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando. cph.3b23243.jpg
| image_size = 240px
| caption = Jessica Tandy (left, with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando) created the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) and received a Tony Award
| first = A Streetcar Named Desire
| gender = Female
| occupation = High school English teacher
| spouse = Allan Grey
(deceased)
| family = Stella Kowalski (sister)
Stanley Kowalski (brother-in-law)
| relatives = Jessie (cousin, deceased)
a nephew
a niece
| portrayer = Gillian Anderson
Ann-Margret
Tallulah Bankhead
Cate Blanchett
Blythe Danner
Gretchen Egolf
Renée Fleming
Uta Hagen
Rosemary Harris
Isabelle Huppert
Yvonne Kenny
Jessica Lange
Vivien Leigh
Lois Nettleton
Nicole Ari Parker
Maxine Peake
Natasha Richardson
Amy Ryan
Jessica Tandy
Rachel Weisz
| creator = Tennessee Williams
}}

Blanche DuBois (married name Grey) is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams' 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Streetcar Named Desire. The character was written for Tallulah Bankhead.

Character overview

Blanche DuBois arrives, penniless, in New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella and her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski. A former schoolteacher from a wealthy family, she has been evicted from her family home, Belle Reve, after the deaths of several family members wiped out her and Stella's inheritance. It is also later revealed that, years earlier, her husband, Allan Grey, committed suicide after she caught him having sex with another man. She had a series of meaningless affairs to numb her grief, and was soon thrown out of her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, as a "woman of loose morals" after sleeping with one of her high school English students.

Behind her veneer of social snobbery and sexual propriety, Blanche is deeply insecure, an aging Southern belle who lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty.[1] Her manner is dainty and frail, and she sports a wardrobe of showy but cheap evening clothes, as indicated in the stage directions for Scene 10: "She had decked herself out in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers with brilliants set in their heels."

Role in the play

From the start, Blanche is appalled by her sister's poor living quarters and the coarseness of her brother-in-law. She calls Stanley an ape, and shames Stella for marrying a man so violent and animalistic. Blanche is not shy about expressing her contempt for Stanley and the life he has given her sister, which makes him proud. For his part, Stanley resents Blanche's superior attitude, and is convinced that she has squandered Stella's portion of the money from the sisters' ancestral home.

Blanche begins dating Stanley's friend Harold "Mitch" Mitchell, who is distinct from Stanley in his courtesy and propriety, and sees in him a chance for happiness. That hope is destroyed, however, when Stanley learns of Blanche's past from a traveling salesman who knew her, and reveals it to Mitch, who ends the relationship. Blanche begins drinking heavily and escapes into a fantasy world, conjuring up the notion that an old flame, a millionaire named Shep Huntleigh, is imminently planning to take her away.

The night Stella goes into labor, Stanley and Blanche are left alone in the apartment, and Stanley, drunk and powerful, rapes her. This event, coupled with the fact that Stella does not believe her, sends Blanche over the edge into a nervous breakdown. In the final scene, Blanche is led off to a mental hospital by a matron and a kind-hearted doctor. After a brief struggle, Blanche smilingly acquiesces as she loses all contact with reality, addressing the doctor with the most famous line in the play: "Whoever you are...I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."[2]

Portrayals

Blanche DuBois has been portrayed several times on stage and on screen.[3]

Jessica Tandy received a Tony Award for her performance as Blanche in the original Broadway production. Uta Hagen took over the role of Blanche for the national tour, which was directed by Harold Clurman.

Blanche was also portrayed by Vivien Leigh in the London stage production, which was directed by her then-husband Laurence Olivier, She reprised the role in the 1951 film adaptation. The film was directed by Elia Kazan, and Leigh won her second Academy Award for this performance.

Tallulah Bankhead portrayed the role in 1956. Bankhead, a close friend of Williams, had been the inspiration for the role, and he wanted her to star in it. However, she was initially uninterested and the producer thought she would overpower the character's fragility. When she played the role in 1956, some critics agreed she was too strong in it, but Williams personally felt that she gave "a magnificent portrayal of the role".[4]

Blanche has been portrayed onstage by Kim Stanley, Ann-Margret, Arletty, Cate Blanchett, Claire Bloom, Faye Dunaway, Lois Nettleton, Jessica Lange (who reprised the role in the 1995 television adaptation), Marin Mazzie, Natasha Richardson, Laila Robins, Rosemary Harris, Rachel Weisz, Amanda Drew, Nicole Ari Parker,[5] Isabelle Huppert,[6] Glenn Close, Gillian Anderson[7] and Maxine Peake.

Etymology

The character is reputedly named after theatre critic Blanche Marvin, a former actress and friend of Williams.[8]

References

1. ^{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/news/features/17064/index1.html|title=Dirty Old Women|work=NYMag.com|accessdate=October 28, 2014}}
2. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87859194|title=Blanche DuBois: Chasing Magic, Fleeing the Dark|publisher=NPR|date=March 15, 2008|accessdate=April 24, 2014}}
3. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/how-old-is-blanche-dubois/1192018|title=How old is Blanche DuBois?|publisher=Tampa Bay Times|date=September 16, 2011|accessdate=April 24, 2014}}
4. ^T Williams View of T Bankhead
5. ^{{cite news|last=Brantley|first=Ben|title=A Fragile Flower Rooted to the Earth|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/theater/reviews/03streetcar.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 3, 2009|accessdate=May 21, 2017}}
6. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.lesarchivesduspectacle.net/?IDX_Spectacle=19568|title=Un tramway|publisher=Les Archives du Spectacle {{fr icon}}|accessdate=February 24, 2017}}
7. ^{{cite web|title= What's on: A Streetcar Named Desire|url= http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/a-streetcar-named-desire|website=Young Vic Theatre|accessdate=May 16, 2016}}
8. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/critic-claims-i-was-the-inspiration-for-blanche-dubois-9630885.html|title=Critic claims 'I was the inspiration for Blanche DuBois'|last=Clark|first=Nick|date=July 27, 2014|work=The Independent|accessdate=August 29, 2014}}

External links

{{A Streetcar Named Desire}}{{DEFAULTSORT:DuBois, Blanche}}

10 : Characters in plays|Drama film characters|Female characters in literature|Fictional American people of French descent|Fictional characters from Mississippi|Fictional characters introduced in 1947|Fictional characters with psychiatric disorders|Fictional schoolteachers|Fictional socialites|Fictional sexual assault victims

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