“To be alike, is to be different in other ways(unknown).” This quote perfectly describes Blanche and Stanley in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. In the drama, A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, a woman named Blanche goes to live with her sister, Stella, and her sisters husband, Stanley. Blanche and Stanley don’t get along and Stanley digs into Blanche’s past and gets everyone to dislike her. In this play, Stanley and Blanche, two very different characters, prove that they have many similarities. Even though it seems so unlikely that Stanley and Blanche could have anything in common, they do. Blanche and Stanley have many similarities that get portrayed throughout this poem. When going over this play, the reader will find out that Blanche and Stanley are alike in the ways of both having messed
While Stanley hits, harasses, and cheats on his wife, Blanche marries a guy who later commits suicide, gets into a relationship with one of her students, and then lies to the guy who might ask her to marry him. Neither one, Blanche nor Stanley, sees anything wrong with their relationships either. Stanley believes he “loves” his wife and that nothing he does weakens their relationship. The reader can clearly tell that Stanley abuses his wife and hurts their relationship when Stanley says “Well, you can hear me and I said to hush up!” (Williams 48) Stanley tells his wife to “hush up” and later hits her in the play when she doesn’t. Along with Stanley having troubles with his relationship, Blanche tells the guy that might eventually ask her to marry him that she never lied in her heart, only through her words. Blanche and Stanley clearly just try and make themselves feel better about their toxic relationships. Not only do Blanche and Stanley have their unhealthy relationships as a similarity, they also have the fact that they both crave
Delicate Blanche, virile Stanley. Dynamic Maggie, impotent Brick. Williams' protagonists are distinctly different in temperament. In "A Streetcar Named Desire" Blanche exemplifies the stereotypical old south: educated, genteel, obsolete. Stanley is the new south: primitive, crude, ambitious. Blanche, a fading beauty, uses her sugary charm and soft southern ways to attract men. In comparison, Stanley "sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications" to "determine the way he smiles at them" (Williams, Street 29). Course and deliberately aggressive, he is a "survivor of the stone age" (Williams, Street 72). Despite their differences they both possess a raw sensuality. In their first confrontation, Blanche's thick display of charm angers and attracts Stanley. He wants her to be truthful and "lay her cards on the table" but simultaneously would "get ideas" about Blanche if she wasn't Stella's sister (Williams, Street 40-41). Their relationship overflows with sexual tension as they battle for Stella. Stanley, the new south, defeats Blanche, the old south. After destroying her chance for security, his sexual assault erases her last traces of sanity.
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
Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has no consequences for his actions against his wife and is never held accountable for treating the people around him poorly; this lasts until Blanche arrives. Blanche is an outwardly demure, but spirited young woman who after experiencing untold misfortune breaks mentally and decides to no longer care what others may think of her. She lives her life lavishly and foolishly by having dalliances with younger or richer men who shower her with gifts and attention to get sex from her all too willing form. Her effect on Stanley is one of temptation and challenge; she continually tries to convince her sister that she is too good for the man and in turn fosters a resentment for her in him. Stella acts as the antithesis of Stanley and Blanche’s extreme personalities. She is innocence and purity where they are the darkness that threatens to overtake her life. Throughout, Stella is a pawn that they both try to use against the other to no real avail as she is determined to make the best choice for herself. In th...
Throughout Tennessee William’s play “A Streetcar Named Desire,” Blanche Dubois exemplified several tragic flaws. She suffered from her haunting past; her inability to overcome; her desire to be someone else; and from the cruel, animalistic treatment she received from Stanley. Sadly, her sister Stella also played a role in her downfall. All of these factors ultimately led to Blanche’s tragic breakdown in the end.
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.
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.
Her first problem is with the heroine of the play, Blanche DuBois, who, she claims, is "ironically made guilty for her own victimization. No longer fully human, she is simply a metaphor of all that is vile about women. Blanche cannot, then, claim tragic stature or even our sympathy precisely because she is a victim of rape. And as she becomes responsible for her own victimization, Stanley is left to glory in his ascendancy. This aspect of Streetcar arises from the misogyny which colors the play…" (Lant 226). Admittedly, Blanche does flirt with Stanley briefly at the beginning of the play—just as many women playfully flirt with their brothers-in-law. But as her relationship with Stanley deteriorates, she makes it quite obvious to him that she loathes the sight of him. Though the world in which Lant lives may be one in which a woman, playfully sprinkling her brother-in-law ...
The themes of A streetcar Named Desire are mainly built on conflict, the conflicts between men and women, the conflicts of race, class and attitude to life, and these are especially embodied in Stanley and Blanche. Even in Blanche’s own mind there are conflicts of truth and lies, reality and illusion, and by the end of the play, most of these conflicts have been resolved.
In scene three Stanley is having his poker party (pg. 57). At this point he is very drunk. Blanche distracting Stanley by listening to the radio instigates him to grab it off the table and toss it out the window. Stella in a state of panic tells everyone to go home which angers Stanley so he chases after her and hits her. This type of behavior is not normal of any human being involved in any relationship. Stanley repeatedly gets what he wants by use of any means possible. In addition the person whoever threatens the existence of his poker game receives a beating, in this case his wife. This scene demonstrates Stanley’s viscous animal like traits with such violence. If what happened here was repeated in today’s society he would find himself in a jail cell with a pending divorce.
...ices, such an attempt to elicit sympathy for this monster falls short” (Bell 2). Stanley is looked at as the monster of the play which is how he should be viewed. Luck was not on Blanches side through her life which made her make the mistakes she made. Even though her past was not clean, Stanley did not purge her of this. He tried to show her the reality of the world, but through his brutal treatment, only made her sensibility worse. Stanley is a primitive ape-like man, driven only by instinct, who views women as objects and has no respect for others. He is a wife batter and a rapist who is responsible for the crumbling sanity of Blanche who is “the last victim of the Old South, one who inherits the trappings of that grand society but pays the final price for the inability to adapt to a modern world that seeks to wipe grace and gentility out of existence” (Bell 2).
“A Streetcar Named Desire” main characters are Blanche, Stella, Stanley, and Mitch. Blanche is the main character of the play, she is Stella’s older sister, and comes to stay with Stella while Stella is pregnant. Blanche after being reunited with Stella, she meets Stanley and Mitch. Stella is torn between her sister and Stanley because of Stanley’s dislike of Blanche. Stanley is a lower class citizen who is devoted to his friends and adores his wife but he is cruel to Blanche. Mitch is Stanley’s friend and poker buddy. Mitch is unlike Stanley because he is more of a gentleman and develops a crush on Blanche. Eventually Stella goes into the hospital to give birth and during this time Stanley rapes Blanche. When Stella returns, Blanche tries to tell Stella what Stanley did to her but she instead believing her, Stanley and Stella send Blanche off to a mental institution.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a play founded on the premise of conflicting cultures. Blanche and Stanley, the main antagonists of the play, have been brought up to harbour and preserve extremely disparate notions, to such an extent that their incompatibility becomes a recurring theme within the story. Indeed, their differing values and principles becomes the ultimate cause of antagonism, as it is their conflicting views that fuels the tension already brewing within the Kowalski household. Blanche, a woman disillusioned with the passing of youth and the dejection that loneliness inflicts upon its unwilling victims, breezes into her sister's modest home with the air and grace of a woman imbued with insecurity and abandonment. Her disapproval, concerning Stella's state of residence, is contrived in the face of a culture that disagrees with the old-fashioned principles of the southern plantations, a place that socialised Blanche to behave with the superior demeanour of a woman brain-washed into right-wing conservatism. Incomparably, she represents the old-world of the south, whilst Stanley is the face of a technology driven, machine fuelled, urbanised new-world that is erected on the foundations of immigration and cultural diversity. New Orleans provides such a setting for the play, emphasising the bygone attitude of Blanche whose refusal to part with the archaic morals of her past simply reiterates her lack of social awareness. In stark contrast Stanley epitomises the urban grit of modern society, revealed by his poker nights, primitive tendencies and resentment towards Blanche. ...
As the play progresses, Stanley feels the disruption in his household. His privacy is being invaded with Blanche so close in the other room. Stella is standing up to his authority more often, with prompting from Blanche. Blanche continually berates him in front of Stella and his friends. He does not believe her story as to why she came. He also feels she is lying about most of her life story. This places him on a slow burn to find out why Blanche is in his home and how to get her to leave. He is determined to restore his household to its pre-Blanche condition. After he learns Blanche’s secrets, he plots to expose her and get her to leave. Due to his nature, he does not care if she is destroyed in the process. Blanche is depressed, lonely and just wants some peace. She has suffered through, death of a spouse, death of several family members, including mother and father, loss of their ancestral plantation, loss of her teaching job and finally loss of her dignity by selling herself for money. She strikes up a relationship with Stanley’s friend Mitch. She is not really interested in Mitch as a person. She just wants to be married, have a home to live in again and be at peace with her past. This in not to be, she is exposed and raped by Stanley, dumped by Mitch and has a psychotic
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams is a play about a woman named Blanche Dubois who is in misplaced circumstances. Her life is lived through fantasies, the remembrance of her lost husband and the resentment that she feels for her brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski. Various moral and ethical lessons arise in this play such as: Lying ultimately gets you nowhere, Abuse is never good, Treat people how you want to be treated, Stay true to yourself and Don’t judge a book by its cover.
From the moment Stanley and Blanche met the contrast between the two characters was apparent, Stanley even points out ‘The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions’ (S2:pg.135*). Williams uses the dramatic device of colors to symbolize a distinction between Stanley and Blanche; Stanley wears vivid colors ‘roughly dressed in blue denim’(S1:pg.116*) representing his masculinity and authority he possesses in the Kowalski household, before Blanche arrived, in contrast to Blanche who ‘is daintily dressed in a white suit’ (S1:pg.117*) representing purity and femininity. Blanche wears white at the beginning of the play thinking she will be able to hide her impure behaviour but Stanley saw right her act and knew she would be a threat to his marriage with Stella. The reason being is that Blanche constantly criticizes Stanley making derogatory comments about him calling him a ‘common’ and ‘bestial’(S4:pg.163*) along with conde...