In A Streetcar Named Desire, a recurring theme throughout the play is how the characters fall into their desires, ultimately leading to their destruction. Tennessee Williams explores the destruction desires can cause through the characters Blanche Dubois, Stella Kowalski, and Stanley Kowalski. Each character has a downfall in various ways due to their individual desires. Stella, for example, desires Stanley and has passionate and unconditional love for him. She also loves her sister, which causes conflicts in her life because of the issues Stanley and Blanche have with each other. Stanley desires to be the man of the house, and because of Stella's submissive nature, he is, but when Blanche challenges him, this causes him to become very angry. Although Stanley does not …show more content…
Stella is driven by her passion and unconditional love for Stanley. Stanley is a rough man who abuses Stella, yet she stays with him despite her sister's efforts to help her. Stanley hits Stella at his poker party because she stood up for her and her sister. Blanche is appalled by his behavior, and rightfully so. However, Stella excuses his behavior by saying, "But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark- that sort of makes everything else seem-unimportant"" (Act 1, scene 4). She excuses his behavior because of her wholehearted love for him. She convinces herself that despite his brutish and unacceptable behavior, she likes him how he is, and his violent tendencies are just something you need to tolerate. It is inferred that Stella even enjoys his violent tendencies when she tells her sister about her wedding night in which Stanley broke all the lightbulbs with her shoe. Stella chooses to prioritize her relationship with Stanley and dismisses his actions. If Stella had chosen to leave him after this scene, the following conflicts could have been
At the end of A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella ‘sobs with inhuman abandon’ and Stanley kneels beside her, unsure what to do. Stella feels incredibly guilty for letting her sister, Blanche, be taken to the mental hospital, she feels as though its her duty, as her sister, to look after her. However this is impossible because Stanley raped her and Stella refuse to believe it, so, she does nothing and the play ends with Stanley's fingers finding ‘the opening of her blouse’. ………………..other reading…………….
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?
"Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire is to some extent living an unreal existence," according to Jonathan Briggs, book critic for the Clay County Freepress. In Tennessee Williams' play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the readers are introduced to a character named Blanche DuBois. Blanche is Stella's younger sister who has come to visit Stella and her husband Stanley in New Orleans. After their first meeting Stanley develops a strong dislike for Blanche and for everything associated with her. Among the things Stanley dislikes about Blanche are her "spoiled-girl" manners and her indirect and quizzical way of conversing. Stanley also believes that Blanche has conned him and his wife out of the family mansion. In his opinion, she is a good-for-nothing "leech" that has attached itself to his household, and is just living off him. Blanche's lifelong habit of avoiding unpleasant realities leads to her breakdown as seen in her irrational response to death, her dependency, and her inability to defend herself from Stanley's attacks.
Stanley’s biggest issue with Stella and Blanche is that they always “undermine” him. He struggles to remain in control and appear as the head of their household as Blanche encourages Stella to stand her ground with Stanley. Stanley hitting and yelling at Stella is him showing dominance and his “masculinity”. Stanley is always trying to portray an image of masculinity and control whether it is directed at Stella or Blanche. But with Blanche constantly insulting him and undermining his authority he has to strive even harder to show dominance. As the story progresses Stanley becomes more frustrated with Stella and becomes aggressive with her in order to appear in control of the situation. Stella: ”…You come out with me while Blanche is getting dressed.” Stanley: ”Since when do you give me orders?” (2.70-1) Once Mitch discovers that Blanche is not the pure woman she made herself out to be, he feels entitled to having the same benefits other men have had with her. When Blanche turns down his advances, he becomes angry with her and tries to force her to have sex with him. Blanche becomes scared and threatens to expose him by opening the window and screaming “fire!” until he runs out of the apartment. Blanche: “...What do you want?” Mitch: “What I been missing all summer.” Blanche: ”Then marry me, Mitch!” Mitch: “I don’t think I want to marry you anymore.” Blanche: ”No?” Mitch: ”You’re not clean enough to bring in the
In Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire the characters represent two opposing themes. These themes are of illusion and reality. The two characters that demonstrate these themes are Blanche, and Stanley. Blanche represents the theme of Illusion, with her lies, and excuses. Stanley demonstrates the theme of reality with his straightforward vulgar ness. Tennessee Williams uses these characters effectively to demonstrate these themes, while also using music and background characters to reinforce one another.
Our lives are consumed by the past. The past of what we once did, what we once accomplished, and what we once could call our own. As we look back on these past memories we seldom realize the impact these events have on our present lives. The loss of a past love mars are future relationships, the loss of our family influences the choices we make today, and the loss of our dignity can confuse the life we live in the present. These losses or deaths require healing from which you need to recover. The effects of not healing can cause devastation as apparent in the play A Streetcar Named Desire. The theme of A Streetcar Named Desire is death. We encounter this idea first with the death of Blanche and Stella's relationship as sisters. Blanche and Stella had a life together once in Bel Reve and when Stella decided to move on in her life and leave, Blanche never could forgive her. This apparent in the scene when Blanche first arrives in New Orleans and meets Stella at the bowling alley. Stella and Blanche sit down for a drink and we immediately see Blanche's animosity towards Stella. Blanche blames Stella for abandoning her at Bel Reve, leaving Blanche to handle the division of the estate after their parents die. As result of Stella's lack of support, we see Blanche become dependent on alcohol and lose her mental state. Blanche comes to be a a terrible reck through out the play as we learn of the details of her life at Bel Reve. Her loss of the entire estate and her struggle to get through an affair with a seventeen year old student. This baggage that Blanche carries on her shoulders nips at Stella through out eventually causing the demise of her relationship. As Blanche's visit goes on with Stella, the nips become too great and with the help of Stanley, Stella has Blanche committed to a mental hospital, thus symbolizing the death of the realtionship they once had. The next death we encounter in the film is the death of Stella and Stanley's marriage. Our first view of Stanley is of an eccentric man, but decent husband who cares deeply for his wife. However, as as Blanche's visit wears on, we come to see the true Stanley, violent and abusive.
The ideology of male dominance has existed since the beginning of mankind. In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, it is especially apparent that Stanley, who is a working class man, feels the need to assert and reassert this principle of power constantly. Williams makes clear, through the character of Stanley, that the yearning for others’ recognition of their power and capability is the motive behind men’s masculine inclinations.
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 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.
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” 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.
Tennessee Williams in A Streetcar Named Desire creates one of the most profound accounts of desire versus death; in doing so he designs Blanche Dubois whose only wish is to be desired. Unfortunately in this tragedy death prevails over desire. The two elements of death and desire as binaries are not able to to exist without each other, and this idea is manifested throughout the main character, Blanche Dubois.
In A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams, each character is best represented by how they react with the other people in their home. One of the stronger relationships in the movie adaptation is between Stella and Stanley. They are in love toward the beginning of the movie but the relationship is toxic and it take a third party to point out that Stella is in an abusive relationship. After that there is more fighting and in the end Stella abandons Stanley. Williams characterizes Stella as a
How do Blanche Dubois’s interactions with males in A Streetcar Named Desire lead to her self-destruction?
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.