Although Tennessee Williams’ Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire displays many of the qualities of a respectable man prior to discovering Blanche’s history, he eventually joins Stanley in conduct demonstrating the male “capacity for violence” (Koprince 49). With that being said, Stanley displays coercive behavior to a much greater extreme, “believ[ing] in male superiority, viewing women as sexual objects to be dominated;” (Koprince 50). Stanley takes greater advantage of his superiority over both Blanche and Stella as the play progresses resulting in not only verbal, but also physical and sexual harm to the opposite sex. Within Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley’s character is used to display a violent, and controlling representation …show more content…
Seconds prior to the blow, Stella fearfully cries, “You lay your hands on me and I’ll—“ (Williams 114). Stanley takes his displaying of dominance to an even greater extreme when his actions become physical towards his pregnant partner. He feels as though acting cruel and regnant is the only method to prove his position of dominance within their relationship. This catastrophic act can be linked to, “Extensive research [which] has documented that men with more traditional gender role ideologies are significantly more likely to report sexual coercion and relationship violence” (Santana et al. 576). After witnessing Stanley’s behaviour towards Stella, Blanche labels Stanley animalistic for his actions and shortly after falls victim to his madness herself. In a discussion with Stella, Blanche exclaims, “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habits! ... And you—you here—waiting for him! Maybe he’ll strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you!” (Williams 121). Stanley’s unpredictable and uncontrollable actions mimic those of a wild animal, and Blanche is able to recognize the concern this brings forth, unlike Stella. Not long after this discussion, Stanley and Blanche engage …show more content…
You know that, don’t you? Just to make sure I bought her ticket myself. A bus ticket” (Williams 137). After spilling the details of Blanche’s history to Stella and displaying no sympathy for Blanche during her time of need, it is clear that Williams’ is using Stanley’s character to display the male desire for power. It is he who makes final decisions, even if they are at the expense of others since “Blanche comes to live with Stella at a point in her life when she has been rendered a destitute, after the loss of her parental home ‘Belle Reve’ and the death of her husband” (Hooti 21). Later on, during a dinner, Stella calls Stanley out for having greasy fingers which completely infuriates him. Stanley retaliates, “What do you think you are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said—‘Every Man is a King!’ And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!” (Williams 138-39). Once again, Williams’ has Stanley reiterating his power strictly due to his being a man. He even does so in a way that belittles the female characters—Stella and
Stella, Stanley's wife in the play, is a passive woman. She is displayed this way through how she responds to the people and situations around her. When she is beaten by Stanley, she understands that his drunkenness takes hold of him and he has no control over his actions. She knows he never means her harm and his intentions are good.
Stanley first meet, it is easy to see that Stanley feels as if he has
Blanche one day tells Stella that she shouldn't stay with Stanley because he shouldn't treat his wife abusively, especially when she's pregnant. Blanche describes in full detail that he “acts like an animal,has animal habits! Eats like one, moves like one, and talks like one!” (74) All that Blanche wants to do is speak to Stella so she does not put up with the domestic abuse. Blanche feels that Stella does not deserve to be mistreated by her husband. Williams excellent use of diction most certainly proves how Stanley is both an animal and an abusive husband to Stella. Although Stella feels mistreated and abused, she never considers leaving Stanley because she has a great desire for him no matter his abusive actions. Stella at times finds herself the cause of Stanley's actions. She feels that she's the reason why Stanley hits and abuses
What Stanley wants the most is to impose more power and be controlling of others. But things such as "That's how I'll clear the table! Don't ever talk that way to me!" and "you lay your hands on me and I'll..." which reveal that Stanley tries to assert his dominance by way of threats and physical violence, even if it means to abuse of his pregnant wife, but it backfires against him and instead leaves him to make up for the damage. The reason Stanley acts this way may be because of the time in which the characters live, being the forties, where domestic abuse is widely accepted as the norm. This is more supported when Stella does nothing about Stanley's abusive impulses because she accepts it as being the way it's supposed to be. If Stanley were to be more respectful, kind, and reasonable he would earn the respect of his friends and, more importantly, his wife. The character whom Stanley is antithetical is Mitch. This is evident in "I called him a liar at first. And then I checked on the story" and "Stanley crosses to block him" which shows that not only Stanley convinced Mitch to distrust Blanche to his own benefit but also Stanley won't allow for Mitch to help Blanche when she's being taken away, demonstrating that both characters want something opposite from the other. For Stanley to get rid of Blanche and for Mitch to have someone to fill the emptiness in his heart. This maintains the constant theme of a need in each character in the book, but in this case making a connection with two more
This gradual fall and loss of her sense of reality is truly tragic. Blanche is a person largely driven by the part of her that wants to be liked and be accepted. She cares greatly about how she is viewed and how she looks which is seen throughout the play. Even at the end when she’s living almost completely in the imaginations of her mind she asks Stella and Eunice how she looks before being taken away to an insane asylum. Tennessee Williams, the author of the play, uses all the conflict between Blanche and others, specifically Stanley, to show that fantasy is unable to overcome reality. Stanley and Blanche are both the epitomes of fantasy and reality. Stanley is a man focused on sexual drive, work, and fighting. He is exhibited as animalistic and strongly driven by his desires which is shown when he says, “Be comfortable. That's my motto up where I come from.” Stanley loves and searches after reality which is why he is so set on breaking down the facade he sees in Blanche. Blanche on the other hand is running from her reality and her past. Her fantasy of being high class and chaste is the exact opposite of her reality which is why she wants a life like that so badly. She wants marriage and stability, two things she was jealous of Stella having after arriving in New Orleans. Her fantasy she was building in her new life is shattered when Stanley is able to learn of her past and bring reality crashing down on her. Williams
Tennessee Williams gives insight into three ordinary lives in his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” which is set in the mid-1930’s in New Orleans. The main characters in the play are Blanche, Stanley, and Stella. All three of these characters suffer from personalities that differentiate each of them to great extremes. Because of these dramatic contrarieties in attitudes, there are mounting conflicts between the characters throughout the play. The principal conflict lies between Blanche and Stanley, due to their conflicting ideals of happiness and the way things “ought to be”.
She struggles with Stanley’s ideals and shields her past. The essential conflict of the story is between Blanche, and her brother-in-law Stanley. Stanley investigates Blanche’s life to find the truth of her promiscuity, ruining her relationships with Stella, and her possible future husband Mitch, which successfully obtain his goal of getting Blanche out of his house. Blanche attempts to convince Stella that she should leave Stanley because she witnessed a fight between the two. Despite these instances, there is an essence of sexual tension between the two, leading to a suspected rape scene in which one of their arguments ends with Stanley leading Blanche to the bed.
This is Blanche Dubois’ monologue is self-revealing. After the previous night’s poker game, drunken Stanley cruelly abused Stella in public. However, Stanley’s sweet words and frank actions promote Stella to forgive him. She returns home and spends the night with him in the end. Blanche does not understand why Stella decides to tolerate Stanley’s brutal behaviors and continue to live with him. She exhorts Stella to leave her beastly brother-in-law Stanley but Stella does not care much when Blanche ranting. Through this ranting, Blanche articulates her dissatisfaction, discomfort, and fear due to Stanley’s propensity for violence.
Ever since the beginning of the book, Blanche would talk about Shep Huntleigh, an imaginary man that she made into her escape from reality. On page 85, Stella says, “What are you laughing at, honey?” Blanche then replies with, “Myself, myself, for being such a liar! I’m writing a letter to Shep.” Stanley lets his carnal, “animal” side out, and this can be seen when he takes advantage of Blanche. On page 161, Stanley said, “Come to think of it--maybe you wouldn’t be bad to--interfere with...” Another example of both of their tempers is in scene two, where Blanche and Stanley get into a heated discussion about the Belle Reve. Stanley oversteps his boundaries by throwing her possessions around, and Blanches losses her head and breaks down when he touched her love
Stanley has a unpleasant relationship with Blanche especially towards the end of the book. Stanley feels as if Stella should just stay home all day, cook him food to eat, and take care of him even when company is over. Problems first started with him and Blanche when she first arrived due to her criticizing him. He also feels that Stella's attitude towards him will change due to Blanche's arrival. Blanche also tries to convince Stella to leave him multiple times. Stanley also likes to play poker with his friends and drink while doing it, but that changed after Blanche comes into his life because she tries to get his friends attention and occasionally flirts with Mitch. She turned her music on the radio up so loud while Stanley was trying to concentrate that he threw it out a window and hits his Stella. Whenever they get into a heated fight or argument they always have make-up sex to ease the tensions which is mostly the reason why she stays with him. Now that Blanche is there he can't make-up with her the way he wants to and he want their relationship to go back to normal. Later in the story when Stanley and Blanche are talking they and Stanley starts screaming at Blanche and then takes her to the bedroom to rape
During scene two, Blanche goes to visit her sister Stella, and her husband Stanley. Blanche has explained to Stella that she has lost the plantation at Belle Reve. Stanley does not believe this at all, he asks Stella to see the papers to prove that Blanche is lying. Stella
The audience can sense that Williams has intended Stanley to question Blanche and for her to simply return his remarks with what seem like legitimate reasons "Why, those were a tribute from an admirer of mine." The conflict can only be increased because Stanley has not yet been able to dismantle Blanche and find the truth.
He is the sort of man that likes to lay his cards on the table, and
In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, a main theme was domestic violence and how women were not respected before the 1970’s. Beating your wife was considered “family matters” and many people ignored this huge issue. Women were supposed to take care of the situation by themselves or ignore it. Ruby Cohn argues that Stanley is the “protector of the family” and that his cruelest gesture in the play is “to tear the paper lantern off the light bulb” (Bloom 15). Even though critics tend to ignore the ongoing domestic violence occurring in the play, it is a huge issue that even the characters in the play choose to ignore. This issue does not surface because of the arrival of Blanche and her lunacy. While the audience concentrates on Blanche’s crumbling sanity, it virtually ignores Stanley's violence.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play of multifaceted themes and diverse characters with the main antagonists of the play, Blanche and Stanley infused by their polarized attitudes towards reality and society ‘structured on the basis of the oppositions past/present and paradise lost/present chaos’(*1). The effect of these conflicting views is the mental deterioration of Blanche’s cerebral health that, it has been said; Stanley an insensitive brute destroyed Blanche with cruel relish and is the architect of her tragic end. However, due to various events in the play this statement is open to question, for instance, the word ‘insensitive’ is debatable, ‘insensitive’ can be defined as not thinking of other people’s feelings but Stanley is aware of what he’s doing understanding the mental impairment he causes Blanche.