I know I fib a good deal. After all, a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important I tell the truth, and this is the truth: I haven’t cheated my sister or you or anyone else as long as I have lived.
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 2. A great deal of Blanche’s true character is shown in her comments to Stanley, when he asks her about the loss of Belle Reve. She claims she hasn’t cheated her sister or Stanley out of money from the sale of the family property. But at the same time she admits to lying a great deal. For to her mind half of a woman’s charm is in creating an illusion of herself in order to make herself attractive.