A gender role is defined as a set of social norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex (gender role). Gender roles have been present throughout all of history and it has varied significantly. At the moment of birth, we as humans are assigned gender roles. People learn from those who are around them. In society masculine roles are traditionally associated with strength and dominance, while feminine roles are traditionally associated with nurturing and subordination. One way to view this idea is through American Literature. In The Yellow Wallpaper and A Streetcar Named Desire the gender roles are extremely prominent. These two forms …show more content…
The play is set on a street in New Orleans called Elysian Fields, which is considered a poor section that had raffish charm. The play contains eleven scenes. Like The Yellow Wall-Paper many themes can be found throughout this play, however; one of the most prominent themes found in Williams’s play concerns gender roles. Stanley, a main character in the play, is depicted as a dominant male figure. In the play, he is described as having an extremely masculine or fierce quality about him, suggesting that he is not only physically in shape, but that he has a unpleasant temper as well. In the opening act Stanley is seen throwing a package of meat at Stella, while this incident seems friendly, the lack of respect that he has for his wife is extremely evident. He fits perfectly into the stereotypical male role of that time period. ““Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movement and attitudes…the center of his life has been pleasure with women” suggests that because he is so attractive, Stanley can easily take advantage of other women” (Gender Roles in “A Streetcar Named Desire”). This proves that Stanley sees himself as being superior to women. Stanley’s direct attitude is evident throughout the play, through the way he treats both Stella and Blanche. In one part of the play his personality is clearly shown, when he violently hits his wife, Stella, after he becomes drunk. This happens after he tells Stella he is going to stop
Her Otherness and incongruity in the lower-middle class New Orleans neighbourhood are apparent from the moment she enters. At the beginning of the play, the inhabitants of Elysian Fields enjoy themselves in some earthly, bawdy activities. Eunice and the coloured woman are chatting “on the steps of the building” (3), making ribald jokes about Stanley’s “package” (4). Mitch and Stanley are going to the bowling club while Stella rushes to join them (4-5). Then Blanche, “daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, …, white gloves and hat” (5), the very image of a Southern gentlewoman, steps into the scene.
Stanley’s behaviour represents the power that men have in society in comparison to women, and how, through violence, they gain respect not only from their wives but also from all the women around them. Stella represents the submissive wife who must be obedient and tolerate the violence her husband forces upon her. Whenever Stanley loses his temper and beats her, she runs away, but then she comes back with him, because since she is pregnant, she does not have another alternative but to love with him. However, her pregnancy is not the only reason why she endures the aggression of her husband. Stella should continue with her stereotypical gender role as the submissive wife because it is what the society of the Forties dictates for all the women.
A Street Car Named Desire is a play written by Tennessee Williams which tells the tale of the neurotic Blanche Dubois, who comes to New Orleans to live with her passive sister, Stella and her ruthless husband Stanley after losing the family home. In this essay, I will focus on Stanley Kowalski as Tennessee Williams conveys numerous behaviour traits through him. Williams uses numerous dramas and literary techniques to develop Stanley Kowalski behaviour traits.
Nevertheless, ideas of what are perceived as typically masculine and feminine in behavior and even appearance depend on an individual’s perception of what he or she has. “I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can’t be alone!” (Williams 17). One would assume that the quote is a woman speaking because it sounds needy and vulnerable, and they would be right. This is because of the ideas held by masculine and feminine qualities.
That is why he hates Blanche because she is not the same as the girls he has seen. He sees her as a threat in the sense that she will ruin the marriage between Stella and Stanley. However, he has feelings of self conscious and feels threatened because he feels like she can ruin him. He hates that Stella and Blanche were always wealthy and he feels as if they look down on him for being poor. He does not feeling submissive which is why he reacts harshly most of the time.
The 1951 film version of A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, gives a visualization of the working-class Americans in the 1940’s. The film gave a better understanding of the characters, and their perspective as their lifestyle was brought to life. The household of the average working-class is depicted in the opening scene when Blanche comes to visit Stella and sees her apartment. The apartment is broken down and located on a small street in New Orleans. It is small, with ‘two’ rooms separated by a curtain.
Williams uses the expressionist technique “The ‘Varsouviana’ is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” to parallel Blanche’s inner mind and depicts Blanche’s deranged mental state after Stella’s betrayal. The imagery ‘Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes’ highlights her mental turbulence and the stage directions ‘mysterious voices behind walls, as if reverberated through a canyon of rock…the echo sounds in threatening whispers’ heightens tension, positioning the audience to witness the overwhelming fear and exaggeration of her senses, further emphasising the detrimental impact Stella’s decision made. The Streetcar Named Desire also examines the influence that a person’s social standing can have. Stanley’s statement in scene 2 ‘The Kowalskis and Dubois have different notions’ indicates their social upbringing has influenced the way they think, hence disrupting their connection and loyalty towards one another. The use of their family name is metonymic for their ancestry and social standing, addressing the barriers derived from a social hierarchy which have affected their relationship.
1). Williams states that he takes with “the power and pride of a richly feathered bird among hens”(265; sc. 1). This comparison to animals portrays Stanley as the alpha male in this story. He views woman as objects and his sexual desires are strong and primitive. Whenever he fights with Stella, the “things that happen between a man and women in the dark… make everything else seem – unimportant” (321; sc.4).
Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” (Williams, 1947) It is based in New Orleans a new cosmopolitan city which is poor but has raffish charm. The past is representing old south in America 1900’s and present is representing new America post world war 2 in 1940’s. Past and present are intertwined throughout the play in the characters Stanley, Blanche, Stella and mitch. Gender roles show that males are the dominant and rule the house which Stanley is prime example as he brings home food and we learn of one time when he got cross and he smashed the light bulbs.
It has been said that the setting of a story shapes its course of events, its narrative and the perspective of its characters. This notion is proven to be true in the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. The city of New Orleans, Louisiana provides the perfect backdrop for A Streetcar Named Desire; The home of Mardi Gras, Jazz and Bourbon Street provides a unique blend of old wealth, traditional southern sophistication, and a new immigrant blue collar culture. This blend of different cultures provides the ideal environment for the development of the main character, Blanche Du Bois. Much like Blanche, the once pristine city has fallen onto hard times in the post World War Two world.
It also highlights Stella’s submissive nature, and how she conforms to the sexist societal expectations of a helpless and fragile woman. Although the surrounding male characters disregard Stanley’s abuse, the audience is repulsed by it and identifies it as morally wrong. This shows how Williams is criticising the acceptance of this abusive behaviour in society, using Stella’s dilemma as a victim to plea for a change. Stanley is even abusive when displaying his
During this time men brought in the money for the household, while the mother’s would stay at home and watch over the children of the family. With this came a sense of pride and authority for the men. Throughout the film Stanley continually abuses Blanche and even goes to the extreme of raping her. He depicts an animal-like man with no awareness of morals. When he gets angry he has no control of his reactions and results to physical violence.
Tennessee Williams is acclaimed for his ability to create multi faced characters such as Blanche Dubois in the play, A Streetcar Named Desire. She comes to New Orleans after losing everything including her job, money, and her family’s plantation Belle Reve, to live with her sister Stella. During her time there she causes many conflicts with Stella’s husband Stanley and tries to get involved with the people there, all while judging them for their place in society, although she is imperfect too. Through her, Williams has created a complex character. She is lost, confused, conflicted, lashing out in sexual ways, and living in her own fantasies throughout the entirety of the play.
By taking a psychological approach to the characters, it is evident that they stand for more than just Southern Gothic characters trying to get by in the 40s. What is present and portrayed by the writer, Tennessee Williams, is that he uses similar ideologies as great Psychologist Sigmund Freud. Williams does this because of the diversity of the city of New Orleans and the ability it can shape and potentially adapt to the various lifestyles. The human psyche divided into three categories is present in the play as the main characters play each one: Stanley as id, Stella as ego, and Blanche as superego. Each character works as their own, but also in unison just as seen in
Blanche and Stanley are two very different characters of the play written by Tennessee Williams. Blanche represents the high class, aristocracy and Stanley is the working group of people. They become opponents the same as those two groups clashed with each other in the first half of the 20th century. The problem with them is that they are both right from their points of view, what makes difficult the choice of the side to the audience. And there is also the issue with interpretation: how the director or the author interprets the play determines the spectator’s feelings.