A Comparison of the ways in which Women Hold on to Their Youth in A Streetcar Named Desire and Notes on a Scandal Maximilian Jones-Lachman 12th Grade

Women holding onto their youth plays a significant role in Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire which opened on Broadway in 1947 and in Notes on a Scandal published in 2003 by Zoe Heller. In both texts this theme is caused by many factors, for example in Heller’s text, Sheba feels young when she is with Connolly as her relationship with Richard is more like that of a father and child. In A Streetcar Named Desire Williams’ presents Blanche as a very insecure, fragile character who is constantly focused on the way she looks and how people look at her. Both characters’ desperation for youth has grave consequences and this essay will explore them and the many contributing factors. Furthermore, by analyzing the outcome of both texts it will tell how both Sheba and Blanche’s addiction and desperation to stay young does not have a fairytale ending but gets the better of them.

In Streetcar Blanche is an extremely complicated character whom we see struggle with internal conflicts throughout the play. Upon first meeting her, we learn that she is more cultured and sophisticated than the people who live in the working class community of ‘Elysian Fields’ and her surname, ‘DuBois’ of french origin immediately reveals her as...