“Whoever you are — I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
Blanche DuBois
Fantasy vs RealityMental Health
Context: Blanche's final line, spoken to the doctor as she is led away to a mental institution.
Analysis
The dramatic irony is devastating: "kindness" is precisely what Blanche has never received — the "strangers" she depended on were the soldiers and the young man whose exploitation destroyed her. By dignifying the doctor with old-world courtesy, she retreats fully into the genteel fantasy that has finally consumed her. Williams ends the tragedy on Blanche mistaking institutionalisation for chivalric rescue.
Language Techniques:
Dramatic ironyEuphemismPathos
Exam Tip
The definitive quote for Blanche's tragic dependence on illusion. Link the "kindness" she imagines to the cruelty she actually meets, and to her lifelong reliance on men.