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Gender representation in cinema
Gender representation in cinema
Gender representation in cinema
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Character Analysis of Stanley Kowalski From “A Street Car Named Desire” By: Tennessee Williams Stanley Kowalski the lead male character in the, 1948 Pulitzer Prize winning play by Tennessee Williams, starts out as a egalitarian. His physical vigor is expressed in his love of his work, his fighting, and sex. Williams used his own family as a model for most of his characters, a violent father, a mentally ill sister, and an invalid mother. Most of his male characters are domineering and abusive, and his female characters are sensitive, frail, and unstable. Stanley is typical of Williams’s male characters. He possesses domineering physical traits, and is practical and determined in a “down to earth fashion.” Williams’s description of Stanley …show more content…
is a, “Richly feathered male bird among hens.” Stanley sizes up women and sexually classifies them to determine how he relates to them. His center of being is and always has been his pleasure with women, his power and his pride. From this center are formed all his other facets of behavior, his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humor, and his love of excessive drink, food, and games. Everything that is his must bare his emblem of gaudy seed-barer. Stanley’s family is from Poland, and Stanley takes issue with, and is insulted by derogatory names like Pollock.
He actually sees himself as a social leveler, as illustrated in scene 8-page number 1825, [He hurls a plate to the floor.] “That's how I'll clear the table” [He seizes her arm] “Don't ever talk that way to me "Pig-Polack-disgusting-vulgar-greasy"-them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister's too much around here What do you two 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!” [He hurls a cup and saucer to the floor] “My place is cleared! You want me to clear your …show more content…
places?” Stanley feels he represents what he feels as the new heterogeneous America. A new society to his sister in-law, Blanch, will not belong because she is a relic of a lost social hierarchy. He resents her because of the aristocratic past she represents. As the play progresses, Stanley develops an intense hatred of Blanch motivated in part by her own untrustworthy behavior.
She attempts to fool him and his friends into thinking he is better than they are. Much of the action of the play shows Stanley’s animosity toward Blanch. Stanley first actions are his investigations and revelations of her past. He continues to show his animosity by his crude behavior at her birthday party. Stanley then demonstrates his hatred by his sabotage of her relationship with his friend Mitch. Stanley’s character may be down to earth, but proves harmfully crude, and brutish. He has a disturbing degenerate nature underneath, this is first hinted at when he beats his wife, scene 3-page 1800, “Take it easy, Stanley, easy fellow. Let's all . . . You lay your hands on me and I’ll [She backs out of sight. He advances and disappears. There is the sound of a blow, Stella cries out. Blanche screams and runs into the kitchen. The men rush forward and there is grapping and cursing. Something is overturned with a
crash.] The cruelty of Stanley’s degenerate nature as he rapes his sister in-law, scene 10-page 1837, “Oh! So you want some roughhouse! All right, let’s have some roughhouse! [He springs toward her, overturning the table. She cries out and strikes at him with the bottle top but he catches her wrist.] Tiger-tiger! Drop the bottle top Drop it! We've had this date with each other from the beginning! [She moans. The bottle top falls. She sinks to her knees. He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed. The hot trumpet and drowns from the Four Deuces sound loudly.] Stanley lacks ideals and values. He shows no remorse for his brutal actions. The play ends with Williams depicting Stanley as the ideal family man, comforting his wife, as they hold their newborn child. The wrongfulness of this representation because of what we have learned of his character, in the progression of the play, makes the viewer call into question the way this society has decided to lock away Blanch after her break down. Williams uses Stanley’s strength and vigor to contrast Blanches frailty and weakness. The logical cunning actions of Stanley are held up to highlight the downward spiral of Blanch. As Blanch falls into insanity, in her fabricated fantasy, Stanley rises in his cruelty and brutishness.
Delicate Blanche, Virile Stanley. Dynamic Maggie, an 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.
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
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.
Stanley oftenly abuses Stella whenever he is drunk. One night, Stanley brings his friends over for a poker night. Mitch leaves the table in order to talk to Blanche. Stanley begins to get furious since Mitch is no longer playing. As more and more interruptions keep occurring, Stanley is furious and breaks the radio Blanche and Mitch were using. Stella then calls Stanley an animal. “He advances and disappears. There is a sound of a blow. Stella cries out.”(57) Stanley is usually abusive when he's either drunk or frustrated. After Stanley strikes her, Stella leaves the house and goes to her neighbors house. Blanche follows her sister upstairs to support Stella so she does not feel alone. Stanley then calms down and calls for Stella to come back. She returns and falls into Stanley's arms. Stella is very loyal to Stanley, she stays with him because he is her husband and does not want to change that. This is why she ignores her sister's pleas. Stanleys actions prove to the reader that he is an abusive husband to Stella and that Stella tolerates
Stanley Kowalski is the epitome of the traditional man, he portrays his superior nature in various scenes in the Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire. In scene two of the play, Stanley displays his demanding nature while Stella
The character Stanley represents the theme of reality. Stanley Kowalski is the simple blue-collar husband of Stella. His actions, reactions, and words show reality in its harshest most purist form. His actions are similar to a primitive human. For example he doesn’t close the door when he uses the restroom. This rudeness represents the harsh reality that Blanche refuses to accept. Moreover, when he was drunk he hit Stella. This attack on Blanches sister could be a symbolic “wake up” slap to the face of Blanche.
In one conversation with Blanche, Blanche subtly insults him. He realizes this and thunders “Now let’s cut the re-bop!” (40) and scaring Blanche in the moment. With his loud, booming voice, Stanley is able to cause Blanche to cover her ears in pain and exhibit that he is powerful enough to be able to cause discomfort by merely raising his voice and putting her back in her place. Stanley obviously doesn’t do well with insults to his name because when Stella calls him a drunk animal, “Stanley charges after Stella… There is the sound of a blow… [and] the men rush forward and there is grappling and cursing” (63). It is obvious here that Stanley doesn’t like to be compared to an animal and began to take action to prove that that isn’t what you say to someone like him. However, it is ironic that his reaction is very animalistic in order to convey his strength and the magnitude of his masculinity towards his woman and towards the other men as he shakes them off. Another similar instance is when they were at the dinner table for Blanche’s birthday supper and he exclaims “Don’t you ever talk that way to me… I am the king around here, so don’t forget it” (131)!
[More laughter and shouts of parting come from the men. Stanley throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependency, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying center are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humor, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.] Blanche is uncomfortable and draws involuntarily back from his stare. She is keenly aware of his dominant position and reacts as women of the day did. Through all of this he is the leader of his group and in full control of his household. Any opposition to his leadership is quickly put down by physical force. He beats his wife, fights his friends and eventually humiliates Blanche by raping her.
Also, the repetitive comparison of him to an animal or ape is the perfect image not the id as it is the instinctive part of your psyche. The way this passage leaves the reader is very powerful saying that “maybe he’ll strike you” is a good example of Stanley’s aggressive nature, and when Blanche says “or maybe grunt and kiss you” is a very good example of his sexual nature.
Stanley is, at first sought to be a dominant, rough individual but William’s use of stage direction implies an opposing thought. For example, Williams describes Blanche’s bed near the bedroom of Stella and Stanley’s, but what is so vital about the position of the bed readers may question. Conclusively, Stanley’s...
Stanley, the protagonist, is a symbol for society’s view of the stereotypical male. He is muscular, forceful, and dominant. Stanley’s domination becomes so overwhelming that he demands absolute control. This view of the male as a large animal is revealed in the opening of the play where Stanley is described as “bestial.” His power and control throughout the play are foreshadowed in the opening stage directions.
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.
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.
Another similarity these two characters have in common is the way they take advantage of other people. Blanche takes advantage of the young boy who comes to collect the newspaper and gives him a kiss. Stanley takes advantage of Stella when he makes her feel bad and makes her do things. Williams has made it clear that even though Blanche and Stanley have differences, they also have similarities with each other.
Stanley (Stella's husband) represents a theme of realism in the play; he is shown as a primitive, masculine character that is irresistible to Stella and on some levels even to his "opponent" Stella's sister Blanche.