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Stella lives in denial. She denies that Stanley is a sexist, abusive man along with denying that Blanche is mentally unstable, a compulsive liar, and predator. Near the end of the story, she makes a decision between Blanche and Stanley, of course, she picks the father of her child and sends Blanche away to a mental institution. Once the doctor and nurse come to pick up the confused Blanche, Stella begins to regret her choice by saying "Oh, my God, Eunice help me! Don't let them do that to her, don't let them hurt her...What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?" (Williams 11. 176). Once Blanche left, not even Stanley's sweet words and temporary kindness could pick up her spirits because she finally realized that
In the character of Stella, the reader's primary reaction is to support and identify with her, but in reality she represents the type of person who has given up on the ideals she once knew and has, in a sense, joined forces with the enemy. She deserted Blanche at Belle Reve and has now settled for mediocrity. By the end of the play, our sympathies lie with Blanche because she was searching the world for security and ended up alone and mad. Williams is reminding the reader that, in this world, everyone is striving for a security and it was this natural desire that brought upon Blanche's descent into madness.
... ignorance; and this was the undeniable tragedy that caused her downfall in the end. Stanley was angry when Blanche told Stella that she did not like him, but he never gave her a chance. Stanley despised her from the beginning. Neither Stanley nor Mitch was intelligent enough to comprehend that not everything is black and white. They perceived her as a deceitful whore. Stella chose her violent husband over her sister. Also, Mitch could not overlook her mistakes. Mitch focused on her flaws which blinded him from seeing the beauty and love Blanche had to offer. Blanche wanted their love, but each of their individual flaws sunk her deeper into a hole. The people around Blanche were unwilling to change and develop an open-minded way of dealing with her situation. Blanche needed kindness and affection, but nobody was able to give it to her when she needed it the most.
... were both raised the same but they way they prefer their men is completely different. You can say that Stanley and Stella’s relationship is very complex, it is clear that they both love each other immensely but their relationship is abusive. Stanley has hit Stella countless times. And because Stanley is strong and masculine, that makes him a very good lover to Stella. She stays with him because she loves him more than anything. After Stella left Belle Reve and met Stanley he had became her life, her everything which is why Stella sees past his angry rages because in a way she kind of enjoys it. Yes Stanley and Stella fight, but they are great together and make each other happy. Blanche on the other had would never put up with that kind of behavior from any man. Mitch is very respectful of Blanche he is a calm person and is gentle with her, unlike Stanley and Stella.
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.
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?
No one knows what or who to believe, because one minute a character is revealing the truth about someone else and the next minute he is telling a lie. Stella struggles the most with uncertainty because in the end, she makes an ultimatum for herself of either believing her sister or her husband. In the book Stella says, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley,” (Williams, 133). She tells Eunice this after Blanche tries to tell her about what Stanley did to her. The uncertainty Stella and the other characters have to live with often alters their decision making process because they need to rely on their gut rather than the rumor being
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.
Blanche’s developmental history or character development points to her diagnosis. Blanche comes to New Orleans to stay with her sister Stella after being fired from her job as a schoolteacher due to having an inappropriate affair with a teenage student. When she arrives to see her sister, she is consumed with insecurities regarding her appearance and is condescending to her sister’s humble lifestyle. Stella’s husband Stanley immediately has distrust and dislike for Blanche and treats her
She passionately raves at length about the horrible deaths and her experience of loved ones dying around her; “all of those deaths… Father, Mother, Margaret, that dreadful way!” The horrific visions of bloated bodies and “the struggle for breath and breathing” have clearly cast a permanent effect on Blanche’s mind. She talks of the quiet funerals and the “gorgeous boxes” that were the coffins, with bitter, black humour. The deaths of Blanche and Stella’s family are important to the play as they highlight the desperation of Blanche’s situation through the fact that she has no other relative to turn to. This makes Stella’s decision at the end of the play seem even harsher than if Blanche had just simply shown up on her doorstep instead of going elsewhere.
She would be able to get sympathy with Stella, Stanley, and Mitch if she understood their condition as well. Stella’s condition is opposite from Blanche’s aristocratic lifestyle. She is living in poverty and is unable to provide for Blanche’s elaborate needs. “Streetcar quote” Blanche recognizes her current condition but fails to understand it and empathize, instead she Slanders Stella’s home and invades it “Some people rarely touches it, but it touches them often” If she was a decent guest and sister, she could seize the opportunity to help Stella in the home, perhaps by helping with the daily chores or by fixing it up to become more “homely”. By doing this she would then gain a sense of purpose, cleaning could possibly become a healthy coping mechanism, she would be doing something positive, and by helping around the home, she would gain a healthier, supportive, relationship with her sister and the homes other resident, Stanley. Being unable to empathize with Stanley was key for Blanche downfall; she invaded his home, degraded him in front of his friends and family, and tried to steal his wife from him. If Blanche was able to recognize the positive traits of Stanley, that he is passionate and loving towards his family, she would be able to ignore the “primal, animalistic” manner of Stanley. If she could empathize with his current
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.
Stella Kowalski’s character, parallels to Stanley’s and represents the ego in the play. herself from her hometown and start a life in this vigorous world made by Stanley. she stands for the ego who wants to create a balance between desires and ideas, between body and soul, heart and mind to have a normal life. Blanche is the only one who wants to warn her of what she does. Loving Blanche, she also dislikes her and at the same time fears her. She hopes Blanche marry Mitch for her sister’s sake and for herself too. Actually she wants to get rid of
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.
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.
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.