Stanley that she would never forgive him because "deliberate cruelty is unforgivable" (Williams 184). Blanche also does not fit into her physical surroundings. Tennessee Williams describes the place as having a "raffish charm" (Corrigan 50). This charm eludes Blanches, who describes it as a place that "Only Poe! Only Mr. Edgar Allen Poe!-could do it justice!" (Corrigan 50).Blanche deceives everyone for a good portion of the play. Stanley, however, is continually trying to discover her true history. Blanche says, "I don't want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, Magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don't tell the truth, I tell what ought to be the truth." (Williams 177). Stanley does not enjoy "magic", he says that "Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamour stuff and some men are not" (Williams 114). This tension increases for the duration of the play, leading up to the rape scene.The scene when Stanley rapes her is the beginning of the end for Blanche. It is only fitting that he destroys her with sex because sex "has always been her Achilles heel. It has always been his sword and shield" (Corrigan 57). After he has sex with her, she is taken to another asylum, a psychiatric hospital (Quirino 63). The cycle has started again. "Desire" has once again sent her off to "Cemeteries".While all of the symbols used in Williamss portrayal of Miss Blanche Dubois serve to add to the effect of her downfall, they have had quite the opposite effect on A Streetcar Named Desire as a play. Later in his life, Williams said, Art is made of symbols the way the body is made of vital tissue (Quirino 61). Going by Williamss own definition, one could safely say that Tennessee Williams was quite an artist, and that A Streetcar Named Desire is quite a work of art....
