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Relationships in a streetcar named desire
Themes in the streetcar named desire
Characteriztion through streetcar named desire
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Love and power are both and enticing; however, they both can end with disastrous results. Written by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire is a dramatic story of two sisters and a deadbeat husband who are drowned in troubles from the past and present. Throughout the play, two of the main characters, Stanley, the deadbeat husband, and Blanche, the crazed romantic, are thought of as polar opposites. On the other hand, if you look deeper, both are consumed by three simple things: attention seeking, affection, and an unrelenting desire for power and control. While Stanley and Stella are both contrasted fairly often throughout the play, they share a key similarity through their unrelenting desire for attention. From the time when Blanche …show more content…
Throughout the play, Stanley shows how badly he wants complete control over Stella and her family. When Blanche first arrives, he immediately questions her about Belle Reve, and says, “In the state of Louisiana we have the Napoleonic code according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa.” (163). This quote screams dominance and control mongering. Also, while Stanley’s friends are over for poker, he insists that Blanche turns the radio off, and demands that the girls keep quiet. When the two sisters do not comply, he goes on a rampage, hurling the radio out of the window. The same controlling manner can be said for Blanche, as throughout the story, she constantly summons Stanley and Stella to do things for her, such as starting a bath. She also expresses the same behavior to Mitch and the Paperboy. During their night out, Blanche forces Mitch to follow her around and do what she wants, and when the Paper Boy arrives to take some questions, she seductively insists that the boy should stay and kiss her. Control is a massive part of Stanley and Blanche’s lives, whether it be apparent or
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, defeated Blanche, the old south. After destroying her chance for security, his sexual assault erases her last traces of sanity. Similarly opposites are found in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
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.
When Stanley beats Stella in Scene 3, the abusive side becomes noticed and readers come to the conclusion that it was not the first time that this act of violence has occurred. (Williams 40). But Stella ends up coming back to him after he cries out to her, and their relationship resumes as it did in the times prior. He is also the one who investigates the protagonists’ (Blanche’s) past; as he knows there are things she is hiding. This need to know about Blanche’s history is driven by his hatred for her aristocratic ways. Furthermore, Stanley makes his dominance apparent through the expression of his sexuality. At the end of the play, he rapes Blanche as a way to regain his dominance in the household. Throughout the play, Blanche slowly gains some control over Stella, and causes disruption to Stanley’s
3. How might we get to the bald truth/reality of Stanley and Stella 's relationship during the poker game? How are we supposed to understand Stella 's motivation for being/staying with Stanley, despite his physical abusiveness? (that is, on what is their relationship based/founded/sustained)? How does the discovery of these things affect the relationship between Blanche and Stella, and why is this important?
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.
However, there are also many instances where Stanley, a common working-class man, reveals his desire to be powerful and manly in his relationship with Stella, a woman who is of high class. Stanley is a man from a poor background and is married to a woman with a rich family history. Logically, Stanley may feel intimidated by Stella’s upbringing and feels that it is crucial to oppress her; it is hinted many times throughout the play as Stanley clearly demonstrates he is the one that holds the power by the way he treats Stella. Right from the start of the play, with Stanley’s introduction, he comes “around the corner… [with] a red-stained package from a butcher’s” (4), much like how an animal would bring its kill back home. With this, it is an analogy to a leader, Stanley, of a pack that brings back the food for the others to eat. The reliance of Stanley to bring back home the food broadcasts his will as the almighty alpha male that holds more importance than Stella. Furthermore, Stanley “heaves the meat at her (Stella),” (4) treating her as like a servant and also making a sexual innuendo. This action is one of disrespect and lets Stella know that she is under Stanley. This is an example of Stanley seeing Stella as a slave, a sexual object, under his control. Control is a large factor to Stanley as a husband and as a person. This is apparent when Stella explains that “Stanley doesn’t
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.
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.
Throughout the play there are numerous examples of the power he possesses of her. Williams portrays Stella as a little girl who lives in Stanley’s world. She does what he wants, takes his abuse, yet still loves him. Situations like these may have occurred in the 1950’s and lasted, but in today’s time this would only end up in a quick divorce. The first scene of the play (pg. 14) Stanley has just thrown a piece of meat up to Stella as he turns the corner heading for the bowling ally.
Since Blanche’s arrival, Stanley has questioned Blanche’s lifestyle, accused her of theft and engaged in other verbal confrontation. As Mitch’s friend, Stanley deems it necessary to share what he has uncovered about Blanche’s deception and misbehavior with Mitch. After not attending Blanche’s birthday dinner, Mitch visits Blanche late in the evening. In this passage, Mitch reveals to Blanche what he now knows about her and tears off the paper lantern so that he can expose Blanche for who she is. This passage suggests that Mitch embodies the same masculinity already established in Stanley. Utilizing dialogue, characterization, and stage directions, Williams reveals the likeness between the two men.
She proceeds to break up the poker game that Stanley had going in the kitchen and he becomes enraged and beats Stella. She yells, “I want to go away, I want to go away!” (63). Blanche and Stella retreat to the upstairs apartment, however when Stanley cries for Stella to come back to him, she succumbs to his cries. The climax of tension between Stanley and Blanche is when he sexually assaults her. Stella refuses to believe Blanche’s accusations against Stanley stating, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (165). The play ends with Stanley and Stella admitting Blanche to a mental institution and Stella staying with Stanley. Throughout the play, Stella is presented with many opportunities to leave Stanley, however, she never considers leaving him. In scene one, Stella tells Blanche, “I can hardly stand it hen he is away for a night…When he’s away for a week I nearly go wild!...And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby…” (19). Blanche disapproves of Stanley and in scene four she states, “You can get out”
In A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Stella and Stanley use sexual advances in order to obtain power and control. While playing poker, Stella uses sexual advances in order to woo Stanley and make him subordinate to her. In another scene, Stanley uses sexual advances to take control of Blanche in the bedroom and rapes her. These sexual advances relate Stella as a wife, who wants to show that she is a woman of strong character and Stanley as the alpha male, who wants to be in control of everything.
Stella and Stanley’s relationship is one based purely on, as Blanche describes it, “brutal desire – just – Desire!” (81). They treat one another without respect, with Stella calling her husband offensive slurs like Pollack and him beating her. However, because of their deep desire for each other, Stella quickly forgives Stanley for his wrong doings, growing his power over her. When his desire for power builds and he is sure that Stella is dependent on him, he rapes Blanche. When Stella hears her sisters story she calls for Blanche to be institutionalized. While it is clear to the reader through her hesitation in sending Blanche away that Stella knows Stanley really did rape her sister, she cannot bring herself give up Stanley and acknowledge the truth. In this action, she has ruined any trust that Blanche had in her and forever destroyed their relationship because of her selfish desire for Stanley.
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
Blanche uses her dilutions and tries to sway Stella away from Stanley, yet Stella takes all these slanders and belittles them. Stella does this because she loves Stanley and since she is pregnant with his baby.