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Themes of a streetcar named desire
A central theme of a streetcar named desire
A central theme of a streetcar named desire
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In the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Blanche DuBois is Stella’s older sister and was a high school English teacher in Laurel, Mississippi. Stella Kowalski is Blanche’s younger sister, about twenty-five years old, and lives in New Orleans, Louisiana with her husband Stanley Kowalski. Both Stella and Blanche possess the same high-born heritage growing up on the Belle Reve plantation in Mississippi, however; Stella in her late teens decided to go down a different path and head to New Orleans where she was to find lower class Elysian Fields to be her heaven escape. Once the two sisters reconnect years later when Blanche comes to stay with Stella after the loss of Belle Reve, you realize just how different these two characters …show more content…
She mostly stands back and listens, especially since Blanche LOVES to talk. In Scene One of A Streetcar Named Desire, Stella quotes, “You never gave me a chance to say much, Blanche. So I just got in the habit being quiet around you” (Williams 13). This remotely explains Stella’s relationship with her older sister, and how much she runs around for Blanche because she cares and wants to simplify protect her. Also for the fact, Blanche “loves to be waited on”. Another character trait of Stella’s is she is a push-over. In Scene Four, after the night when Stanley abuses her, Blanche asks her sister why she has given into this man? Stella replies with “People have to tolerate each other’s habits, I guess” (Williams 74). Stella allows the man she loves and cares about to step all over her and tolerate his bad treatment towards her. Her relationship with Stanley is all she desires, regardless of how badly he treats her, and nothing can change her mind. Her attraction to Stanley is purely sexual. Even after Stella got a beating from Stanley, he fixed the situation by having sex with her knowing how much she would like it. Enough so, Stella ignored every …show more content…
Although Stella is very obedient and a quite push-over, she can come across as a passionate character. Whenever Stanley has a proposition, she usually goes along with whatever he has to offer. But in Scene Seven, when Stanley is telling Stella all the rumors he has heard about Blanche around town, Stella exclaims with much fed-upness, “What--contemptible--lies!” (Williams 120). When it comes to her sister, Stella stands up for Blanche. She will not listen to such accusations and lies put upon her own blood. She respects and cares for Blanche and feels almost insulted Stanley would judge and treat her so unkindly because he doesn’t know the Blanche Stella does. Although these actions show Stella as a very loving character towards her sister, it also makes her very naive. It is almost as if she doesn’t think enough sometimes and generally takes what she wants to believe out of a situation. For example, after Blanche was raped by Stanley, Stella explains to her neighbor Eunice “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 165). This quote indicates Blanche had told Stella of the rape and she decided to consider her options:
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.
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
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
Her character represents absolute indifference due to her largely domestic and submissive role. Stella is almost a prisoner in her own home; she is continuously indoors from the outset of the play. Her character is subjugated by the language in the play. She is rarely called by her name, and is continuously referred to as "honey", "baby", or "sweetie" instead. This is one of the characteristics of the feminine struggle for equality within contemporary society; her name is not used to confirm her identity - instead she is branded by condescending labels which overwhelm her individuality. Stella is often belittled physically through the violence her husband subjects her too; for example, Stanley 's response to her request for help to clearing the table:
In 'A Streetcar Named Desire' we focus on three main characters. One of these characters is a lady called Blanche. As the play progresses, we gradually get to know more about Blanche and the type of person she really is in contrast to the type of person that she would like everybody else to think she is. Using four main mediums, symbolism and imagery, Blanche's action when by herself, Blanche's past and her dialogue with others such as Mitch, Stanley and the paperboy, we can draw a number of conclusions about Blanche until the end of Scene Five. Using the fore mentioned mediums we can deter that Blanche is deceptive, egotistical and seductive.
Stella isn't doing this out of incompetence or disregard for her sister but because she truly believes she doesn’t have another option. Or, as Stella's neighbor Eunice says, “Don’t ever believe it. Life has got to go on. No matter what happens, you’ve got to keep on going” (Williams, pg. 133). This line in particular is interesting because it sounds like survival instinct. These words, “survival” and “instinct,” should send the reader back to Blanche’s rant against Stanley in Scene Four. Where Blanche tells her sister that Stanley represents the law of the jungle, ape-like passions, and that Stella should move forward and progress with the world instead of her grueling counterpart. She begs her sister, “Don’t hang back with the brutes!” (Williams, pg. 72). Yet, Stella ignores all logic in hopes of achieving her American Dream which Stella feels she needs to live a happy and acceptable
... 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.
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.
The conflict between Stanley and Stella climaxes in scene ten. In this scene Stanley openly takes Blanche apart piece by piece he begins with unenthusiastic comments such as "Swine huh?
As a result of Blanche not being totally honest with her, Stella has no choice but to disbelieve Blanche’s claims that Stanley forced himself upon her. Throughout the play there are examples of Blanche lying to Stella, or not telling the complete truth. The earliest of these instances is when Blanche tells Stella, “So Mr. Graves - Mr. Graves is the high school superintendent - he suggested I take a leave of absence” (Williams 14). Stella also witnesses Blanche twisting the truth when Blanche wires Shep Huntleigh, an old boyfriend of hers. In the correspondence to Shep, Blanche writes, “Sister and I are in desperate situation,” (Williams 78) which is not true. Due to Blanche’s constant lying, and Stella’s knowledge of it, it leads Stella to distrust Blanche and disbelieve things she says. When Blanche confronts Stella and tells her of Stanley’s raping her, Stella can’t make herself believe it, as she thinks it is just another one of Blanche’s stories. Stella confides in Eunice, telling the woman, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 165). It is also presumed that Stella was the one who called for the doctor as she, again, confides in Eunice: “What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?” (Williams
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…………….
Stella Dubois is unconcerned about her survival and is more concerned about her life with Stanley. The plot is introduced when Stella’s sister Blanche moves in with Stella and her husband. Blanche is a dynamic character and that causes conflict with other characters, revealing the other character’s true nature, including Stella’s. Blanche consistently comments to Stella about Stanley’s character stating that “he’s common… He’s like an animal…Yes, something- ape-like about him”(Williams, 82-83). Despite Blanche and Stella’s wealthy and privileged upbringing, she’s head over heels in love with Stanley, who even described himself as unrefined. In Scene three, Blanche stirs trouble with Stanley by turning on the radio when he told her to turn it off.
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
Eunice(Stella’s neighbor) a few scene after. In P. 63 Stella tells Blanche “You are making much too much fuss about this.'; And later says “it wasn’t anything as serious as you seem to take it.'; Blanche will never understand how, or why Stella would go back to Stanley because she doesn’t fit into their community, just like Laura will never fit into hers either.
Blanche Dubois, a refined and delicate woman plagued by bad nerves, makes her first appearance in scene one of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. She unexpectedly arrives in New Orleans to visit her sister Stella Kowalski who ran away after their father’s death. Upon their reunion, Blanche is sharp-tongued and quick to state her shock over the unsavory status of the apartment in comparison to the luxurious plantation where the two sisters were raised. Though dissatisfied by the living conditions, Blanche quickly explains that she had been given leave of absence from her teaching position due to bad nerves and could not stand being left alone—her excuse to invite herself to stay with Stella for an undetermined period of time. It