In the plays "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams, and "Hedda Gabler" by Henrik Ibsen, we see masks used as tools to characterise the two protagonists, Blanche and Hedda, respectively. Both of these characters have come from lives that require them to be something that they are not. Blanche feels the need to portray herself as a much younger woman than she, so that she can feel accepted by the others. Hedda was pressured into being a son to her father, and she now uses that pressure as her mask, to make it appear as if she is a different person than she actually is. In both of these books, masks are used to help portray the pressures that society is putting on the characters, and how they deal with it. This is done through characterisation and through imagery.
Blanche uses the mask of her youthful dressing to hide her true self from Stanley and from Mitch.
Hedda uses the mask of her male upbringing to hide herself away from the pressures of being a woman in late 1800's Norway.
Blanche uses the mask of her youthful dressing to hide her true self from Stanley and from Mitch.
Hedda uses the mask of her male upbringing to hide herself away from the pressures of being a woman in late 1800's Norway.
"In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, and Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, masks are used as tools to characterise the two protagonists, Blanche and Hedda, respectively. Both characters have come from lives that require them to be something that they are not.(What does this mean?) Blanche feels the need to portray herself as a much younger woman, so that she can feel accepted, wheras Hedda is pressured into being a son to her father, and she now uses that pressure as her mask, to make it appear as if she is a different person than she actually is.(careful here, you can't substantiate that) Through characterisation and (what kind of)imagery, masks are used to portray societal pressures, and how they're dealt with . Ms. M
ReplyDeleteYou ask what it means for the characters to be pressured into being something what they are not. It means that they are shaped by the people around them, more than they are themselves, which both highlights the effects the society has on people, and also emphasises the roles that women had in the times that both plays were written.
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