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…
of masculinity. Stanley’s harsh language and actions contrast with those of Mitch’s to provide an astonishingly intense critique on postwar American manhood. It is discernable that Stanley uses his words, and actions to harm, and degrade both Stella and Blanche in attempts of proving his masculinity. This injustice in gender roles commences in the first scene of the play as Stanley begins to assert his male superiority over his wife Stella by demanding her presence, and thrusting a large package of meat towards her: “He heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but manages to catch it:” (Williams 94). Meat is directly associated with masculinity, thus Stanley is reinforcing his position as the male in the household, while also inserting a subtle sexual dominance innuendo. As the play continues, Stanley becomes more and more bold in his interactions with Stella. As Stanley is busy with poker in the kitchen, both Blanche and Stella converse in the other room. Stanley feels their chatter is too loud for his liking, asking for them to quiet down. Upon Stella’s reply, he retorts, “Well you can hear me and I said to hush up!” (111). Stanley’s attitude is illustrating a growing desire for control, thus alluding to the idea that male figures are power hungry individuals who use rude, and violent language in order to achieve such power. Later on, Stanley portrays a forceful male to an even greater extent as he commits an act of domestic violence towards Stella, his wife; however this is not treated as severely as it would be today because, “Until the 1970s the problem of domestic violence was virtually ignored in American society” (Koprince 49).
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…
in a conversation in which Stanley rudely claims to have knowledge of her past. During this dialogue it is noted that, “She speaks lightly but her voice has a note of fear” (Williams 124). Blanche is fearful of Stanley disclosing the information about her life back in Laurel, and is also concerned with the tone of his speech as he is exerting his control of Blanche through verbal threats. In fact, Stanley shows an utter lack of respect for both Blanche, and Stella as he takes matters in to his own hands to get Blanche out of their home during her time of need: “She’s not stayin’ here after Tuesday.
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
Blanche. In addition to the verbal and physical violence Stanley exerts towards Blanche, he also carries out unconsented sexual misconduct. Blanche is faced with some time alone with Stanley resulting in unwanted sexual interactions. The following exchange between Blanche and Stanley takes place: BLANCHE. Stay back! Don’t you come toward me another step or I’ll— STANLEY. What? ... BLANCHE. So I could twist the broken end in your face! ... I would! I will if you— STANLEY. Oh! So you want some roughhouse! … We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning! (149-50). Although it is not blatantly described, readers can be lead to believe that Stanley has undoubtedly raped Blanche. Rape being forced sex with no consent adds to the preponderate, violent image of a man portrayed by Stanley throughout the text. Stanley’s reasoning for such attack may be that “The entry of Blanche into the Kowalski household represents a disruptive force,” and thus of “which Stanley tries to resist through his violent masculinity” (Hooti 26). It has also been noted that, “’there is a strong correlation between rape and battering’ (Flowers 13)… The rape itself is a brutal act ‘most often committed out of anger or power, with the idea to humiliate…or degrade the wife’”(Koprince 56). Although Stella is not sure whether to believe Blanche, “experts on domestic violence have noted, batterers sometimes ‘[direct] violence toward other family members’ in order to intimidate their spouses and control them” (56-57). Furthermore, through Stanley’s verbal, and physical interactions, Williams’ is able to represent the strong correlation between being a man, and behaving in violent ways.
Stanley first meet, it is easy to see that Stanley feels as if he has
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.
He is the sort of man that likes to lay his cards on the table, and
In many modern day relationships between a man and a woman, there is usually a controlling figure that is dominant over the other. It may be women over man, man over women, or in what the true definition of a marriage is an equal partnership. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams Stanley is clearly the more dominant figure over Stella. Throughout the play there are numerous examples of the power he possesses of her. Williams portrays Stella as a little girl who lives around in Stanley’s world. She does what he wants, takes his abuse yet still loves him. Situations likes these may have occurred in the 1950’s and lasted, but in today’s time this would only end up in a quick divorce.
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.
During early times men were regarded as superior to women. In Tennessee William’s play, “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Stanley Kowalski, the work’s imposing antagonist, thrives on power. He embodies the traits found in a world of old fashioned ideals where men were meant to be dominant figures. This is evident in Stanley’s relationship with Stella, his behavior towards Blanche, and his attitude towards women in general. He enjoys judging women and playing with their feelings as well.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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 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.
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
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
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.