Blanche DuBois

Stella's older sister, arrives from Laurel in an immaculate white suit, nervous and searching for Stella. Blanche arrives at the boarding house, joins the poker scene, reveals her background as an English teacher, and reacts fearfully to the violence. Blanche converses with Mitch late night, reveals exhaustion, her plan to leave, new backstory about her late husband Allan’s suicide, and various philosophical musings. Blanche's past is further exposed; Stanley alleges she stayed at the Flamingo hotel, was expelled from a high school after a scandal with a 17‑year‑old boy, and is being forced to leave on a bus Tuesday. She sings in the bathroom and prepares for her birthday. Blanche attempts to lighten the mood with a joke, tells a vulgar parrot story, tries to call Mitch about her birthday, receives a Greyhound ticket from Stanley to return to Laurel, experiences panic and coughs in the bathroom, and is threatened by Stanley. Blanche is heavily drinking, packing, and dressing in a crumpled white satin gown with a rhinestone tiara while fabricating a telegram from an imagined millionaire, Shep Huntleigh, about a Caribbean cruise. Blanche is escorted out of the boarding house by a Doctor and a Matron, resists, declares reliance on strangers, and is taken to a state mental institution.