The play A Streetcar Named Desire written by Tennessee Williams is renowned for its controversial elements that cause many respected adults to question whether the play should be read by students. Some instances in the play that occur cross the line between raising awareness about and issue and corrupting the morals of the reader. Set in New Orleans in 1947, A Streetcar follows the story of Blanche as she is reunited with her sister, Stella, and meets her gruff, disagreeable, brother in law, Stanley. As Blanche is mentally and physically abused by Stanley, she also struggles with the burden of the death of her friends and family. Williams uses abuse, rape, patriarchy, homosexuality, and death to depict Blanche as the broken character he intended …show more content…
her to be. However, in doing this, he portrays a patriarchal, oppressive, and bleak society that encourages young female readers to feel inferior and helpless. The play, A Streetcar Named Desire, contains horrific instances where abuse is awarded, blatant rape is ignored, and an oppressing patriarchal character is glorified. Therefore, it should not be included in high school curriculums because it does not accurately portray the consequences of marital rape and abuse in familial relationships. The numerous occurrences of controversial elements included in A Streetcar Named Desire lead to the play’s impact on students being overall negative and degrading, especially towards young females with malleable morals.
Towards the end of the play, Blanche is raped by Stanley, her brother in law. After this scene, time passes where the reader can infer that Blanche confesses to Stella about the rape, but is not believed. The play resumes as Blanche is being transported to a mental facility. “What have I done to my sister?” Stella states as Blanche is taken away, “Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?” (Williams 152). Williams includes this quote to show Stella's remorse on committing her sister to the facility. Because of this, the reader can infer that Stella is in denial about Stanley being guilty. Stella chooses to believe Stanley and betray her sister regardless of her true conscience that tells her otherwise. Additionally, in the last scene of the play, one can see Stanley lovingly comforting Stella as she sobs over Blanche. Here, Williams portrays Stella’s relationship as endearing and loving, regardless of Stanley's abusive nature. This would have a negative impact on students in a school curriculum because it encourages rape to go unreported. A study led by Richard Felton and Paul-Philippe Paré supported this idea when it came to the conclusion that “sexual assaults involving non-strangers are particularly unlikely to be reported” (Lotz 1). This relates to A …show more content…
Streetcar Named Desire because Stella's love for her husband, Stanley, blinds her and causes her to betray Blanche. Stanley’s relationship with the two sisters, combined with his distrust of Blanche, influence Stella to blame her sister’s accusation of Stanley on her mental state. Because Stanley and Stella seem to grow closer after the sexual assault, A Streetcar Named Desire could encourage a situation where Stella ignores the obvious in an attempt to salvage an already broken relationship with Stanley. While the play does shed light on a current issue in society today, the positive connotation that Williams associates with Stella's relationship, and the mental instability of Blanche prior to the rape will have a negative effect on students who choose to read this book from their school’s curriculum. One reason that A Streetcar Named Desire should be banned is @@because it implies that marital rape and domestic violence is acceptable through the portrayal of Stella and Stanley's sexual relationship. In the play, Stella says that she is “thrilled” by Stanley when we he gets angry (Williams 65). She uses the example of their wedding night when Stanley smashed all of their light bulbs with her shoe before they had sex. She says that she does not mind his anger and that his abuse thrills her. During this time period, marital rape and abuse was considered something that was not supposed to be talked about, and was never reported. It had a negative effect on the reputation of a family if rumors of abuse occurred. However, because of the way Stella is sexually aroused by Stanley's aggression, readers are negatively influenced with the idea that abuse can strengthen a relationship. An article written by therapist Dr. Ana Nogales states, “An abusive partner may promise to change or give you reasons to justify the violent or intimidating behavior, and at times, those promises and reasons may seem to make sense” (psychologytoday). In Stella's case, she believes Stanley when he apologizes and justifies his aggression by saying that married couples “have got to tolerate each other’s habits” (Williams 66). Overall, A Streetcar Named Desire not only contains instances where sexual arousal occurs because of violence and aggression, but also portrays domestic abuse as something that should be forgiven and forgotten, rather than reported. Although A Streetcar Named Desire has multiple negative aspects, many critics, parents, and students believe that being exposed to rape at a young age helps to raise awareness.
For Ellen Sussman, a Californian mom and author, the decision to tell her teenage children about her past rape experience was a difficult and trivial one. While traveling, Sussman was raped by two foreign men who also beat her. It took her many years to overcome this tragic experience, and once her daughters came of age, she wanted them to be able to learn from her experience. She states, “Perhaps by telling them about my rape and my recovery I'm empowering them to venture out into the world with their eyes wide open” (Sussman 1). This relates to A Streetcar Named Desire because students reading about Blanche’s experiences can learn to identify the social cues of when they are in a dangerous situation, and become empowered. While this may be true for a small percentage of students, many teenagers reading Williams’ play could finish the last page feeling meek and defenseless. This occurs because of the stereotypical characterization of Blanche as weak and helpless. In the last scene of the play, Blanche is being taken away by a doctor to a mental institution. She grasps on to the arm of her doctor and wistfully states, “Whoever you are— I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (Williams 153). This quote not only perfectly summarizes Blanche’s struggles throughout the play, but also shows
the tragic irony of Blanche's insatiable need to be lusted after by men. Blanche is always in need of reassurance that her beauty and sexual identity is meeting the standards of the men in her life. Consequently, Williams’ portrayal of Blanche as inferior contradicts the common idea that the play can empower young teens reading this book in their schools curriculum. Professor Robert Jensen at the University of Texas clearly defines the issue with patriarchy when he says, “…prosecuting rapists is made difficult by those who blame victims and make excuses for men’s violence, all of which is related to the way our culture routinely glorifies other types of men’s violence and routinely presents objectified female bodies to men for sexual pleasure” (Rape, rape culture and the problem of patriarchy). This summarizes how Blanche seemingly thrusting herself at men in order to gain self confidence does not empower women, nor does it increase their faith in society and trust in men. The play A Streetcar Named Desire adds to the growing list of patriarchal, oppressive pieces of literature and art in media today that cause women to go back to a time when females were seen solely as objects and housewives, rather than powerful, confident equals. A Streetcar Named Desire is a cleverly written play that displays a dysfunctional family with problems that go deeper than imagined. Williams manages to include almost every controversial and disturbing issue in society today in his play by utilizing the vulnerability of the two main characters, Blanche and Stella. The play does raise awareness for these issues, however, it also leaves young and malleable female readers susceptible to inferiority and shame regarding their self worth and confidence. Similarly, it portrays an inaccurate representation of conflict which influences young males to treat women as they are treated by the patriarchal, offensive, and foul character, Stanley. Overall, Tennessee Williams’ play should not be included in high school curriculum because of its overbearing patriarchal views, and inaccurate depiction of rape and abuse.
Each and every individual develops some sort of perspective and opinion on many different subjects, objects, and people throughout life. However, these perspectives are prone to change. The play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams is a great example of new outlooks on life making an effect on personal beliefs. It shows the denouement of two opposing perspectives and how they can eventually damage or even destroy an individual. Some ideas established by Tennessee Williams are shown by incidents such as Blanche's gay husband committing suicide, Stanley and his perspective of reality revealing the fantasy in which Blanche confides herself in, and Mitch's aspect that every individual is to be given an equal opportunity in life.
Tennessee Williams was one of the most important playwrights in the American literature. He is famous for works such as “The Glass Menagerie” (1944), “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1947) or “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)”. As John S. Bak claims: “Streetcar remains the most intriguing and the most frequently analyzed of Williams’ plays.” In the lines that follow I am going to analyze how the identity of Blanche DuBois, the female character of his play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, is shaped.
Isn't it true the relationship between Stella and Stanley is praiseworthy, since it combines sexual attraction with compassion for the purpose of procreation? Isn't it true that as opposed to Stanley's normalcy in marriage, Blanche's dalliance in sexual perversion and overt efforts to break up Stanley and Stella's marriage is reprehensible? Isn't it true that Stella's faulty socialization resulting in signs of hysteria throughout the play meant that she probably would have ended her life in a mental hospital no matter whether the rape had occurred or not?
In Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire, main character Blanche Dubois to begin with seems to be a nearly perfect model of a classy woman whose social interaction, life and behavior are based upon her sophistication. The play revolves around her, therefore the main theme of drama concerns her directly. In Blanche is seen the misfortune of a person caught between two worlds-the world of the past and the world of the present-unwilling to let go of the past and unable, because of her character, to come to any sort of terms with the present.
Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire is a overly dramatic play that concludes in a remarkable manner. The play takes off by introducing Stanley and Stella, a married couple whom live in New Orleans. They have a two-sided relationship, very loving but abusive. Then suddenly Blanche shows up, Stella’s sister, and informs Stella that their home in Belle Reve was lost. A few days later, Blanche meets and becomes attracted to Mitch, a friend of Stanley. Blanche sees Stanley as an abusive husband and contrasts him to Mitch. Blanche immediately begins to develop deep emotions for Mitch because he is very romantic and a gentleman. Blanche begins to talk to Stella because she does not want her sister to be abused.
Firstly, the reader may initially feel Blanche is completely responsible or at least somewhat to blame, for what becomes of her. She is very deceitful and behaves in this way throughout the play, particularly to Mitch, saying, ‘Stella is my precious little sister’ and continuously attempting to deceive Stanley, saying she ‘received a telegram from an old admirer of mine’. These are just two examples of Blanches’ trickery and lying ways. In some ways though, the reader will sense that Blanche rather than knowingly being deceitful, actually begins to believe what she says is true, and that she lives in her own dream reality, telling people ‘what ought to be the truth’ probably due to the unforgiving nature of her true life. This will make the reader begin to pity Blanche and consider whether these lies and deceits are just what she uses to comfort and protect herself. Blanche has many romantic delusions which have been plaguing her mind since the death of her husband. Though his death was not entirely her fault, her flirtatious manner is a major contributor to her downfall. She came to New Orleans as she was fired from...
In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams uses the suicide of Blanche's husband to illuminate Blanche's insecurities and immoral behavior. When something terrible happens to someone, it often reveals who he or she truly is. Blanche falls victim to this behavior, and she fails to face her demons. This displays how the play links a character’s illogical choices and their inner struggles.
Blanche, in particular, is much more of an anachronism than Stella, who has, for the most part, adapted to the environment of Stanley Kowalski. Finally, both Stella and Blanche are or have been married. It is in their respective marriages that we can begin to trace the profound differences between these two sisters. Where Blanche's marriage, to a man whom she dearly loved (Miller 43), proved catastrophic to her, Stella's marriage seems to be fulfilling her as a woman. Blanche's marriage to a young homosexual, and the subsequent tragedy that resulted from her discovery of her husband's degeneracy and her inability to help him, has been responsible for much of the perversity in her life.
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. ...
Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a play wrought with intertwining conflicts between characters. A drama written in eleven scenes, the play takes place in New Orleans over a nine-month period. The atmosphere is noisy, with pianos playing in the distance from bars in town. It is a crowded area of the city, causing close relations with neighbors, and the whole town knowing your business. Their section of the split house consists of two rooms, a bathroom, and a porch. This small house is not fit for three people. The main characters of the story are Stella and Stanley Kowalski, the home owners, Blanche DuBois, Stella’s sister, Harold Mitchell (Mitch), Stanley’s friend, and Eunice and Steve Hubbell, the couple that lives upstairs. Blanche is the protagonist in the story because all of the conflicts involve her. She struggles with Stanley’s ideals and with shielding her past.
Throughout Tennessee Williams’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. Blanche could not accept her past and overcome it.
Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the most popular plays in American history. The play contains this theme of Old South versus New South where old southern ideals and way of life clashes against newly formed ideals of the late 19th and early 20th century. The distinctions between the Old South’s emphasis on tradition, social class, and segregation versus the New South’s emphasis on hard work can be seen throughout the play. It is manifested in the main characters of the play. Blanche DuBois’s civilized and polished nature makes her a symbol of the Old South while Stanley Kowalski’s brutish, direct, and defying nature represents the New South. Tennessee Williams uses the characters of his play to present a picture of the social, gender role, and behavior distinctions that existed between the Old South versus the New South. Furthermore, the two settings provided in the play, Belle Reve and Elysian Fields can also be seen as different representations of the Old versus the New with the way both places are fundamentally different.
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.
After two world wars, the balance of power between the genders in America had completely shifted. Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is a harsh, yet powerful play that exposes the reality of the gender struggle. Williams illustrates society’s changing attitudes towards masculinity and femininity through his eloquent use of dramatic devices such as characterization, dialogue, setting, symbolism, and foreshadowing.
In Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire" two of the main characters Stanley and Blanche persistently oppose each other, their differences eventually spiral into Stanley's rape of Stella.