Stella Kowalski's Sexuality In A Streetcar Named Desire

In literature, the presence the outsider can be traced from ancient Greek dramas to modern literature, from Medea to the Underground Man. Most of the literary works pertaining to the outsider focus on the conflict between the outsider and the insider, conflicts that arise from the Otherness of the outsider. For example, in Jane Eyre, the Otherness of the titular protagonist—her fiery spirit and her subverting idea of equality based on individual merits rather than social status—leads to her alienation and conflicts with the insider wherever she goes. However, Tennessee Williams, in A Streetcar Named Desire, explored a different dynamic—namely the conflict between two outsiders, Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois. In the domestic sphere

Tennessee William’s 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in Elysian Fields, New Orleans, and portrays the marital situation of this time. This play illustrates conflict over the marriage of Stella and Stanley. This marriage can be seen as strict, and controlling but also full of lust. Stella’s sister, Blanche, sees through the illusion and can see how toxic the marriage really is. Stanley and Blanche come from distinctly different backgrounds, Stanley is from the working class while Blanche comes from wealth. Williams uses these two contrasting points of views on marriage, to show the issues of possessiveness, class, and sexism.

During the era of A Streetcar named desire (1947) and Death of a Salesman (1949), money and social status had power over peoples lives. In that sense, people were labeled for what they had. And the fast that money had power over the characters lives in both books, it showed that their world revolved around it. It also had so much power in the sense that both of the books ended in a negative note. So, i believe that Death Of a Salesman by Authur Miller and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams connected in a sense that money created problems between the characters.

One major similarity between Blanche and Stanley is that they both like to manipulate or control other people, to make themselves feel better. Even though there are different ways Stanley and Blanche take control of other people they still do it in a familiar matter. For example, Blanche takes power and influence over people by lying to others and herself, to make them believe in something that actually never happened, with fantacy, therefore makes Blanche feel greater, than she actually may be. To go deeper in depth, to prove that Blanche is manipulative she also says. ¨I don 't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!” (pg ). This quote proves that Blanche is an over controlling

Stella is a prime example for this case as she constantly shifts her loyalty between Blanche and Stanley throughout the play. Scene 11 is the pivotal scene where Stella makes the final decision as to who to side with. The dialogue “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” suggests she believes Blanche’s story to some extent but is consciously choosing to think Blanche is lying in order to live peacefully with Stanley. Stella’s choice is symbolic of relationships which are made to conserve an individual’s existence. She carries a seed of doubt towards her husband however in order for her to survive especially when she bears a baby, Stella chooses Stanley, hence sustaining her placid lifestyle. 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. Similarly, the

The play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is about an emotionally unstable lady named Blanche. She moves in with her youngest sister and her husband because the landlord took the land away from Blanche because they could not pay for it anymore. After being their for a while Blanche starts remembering her horrible past which is something she was trying to do in the first place. The husband of Stella, Stanley Kowalski was also someone that made Blanche’s life miserable for complicating everything and harassing her in every possible way.

Not only has Tennesse Williams portrayed Stella and Blanche to be seen as delicate and dependent, our own society has created this image but this not only affects how individuals see themselves but affects relationships immensely. Tennessee Williams reinforces the stereotype in which women are often the victims of unfortunate fate within the usage of the character Blanche. Throughout the whole play, we have witnessed Blanche being on the bitter end of life's miseries as she has encountered the tough loss of Belle Reve, dealing with her ex-husband's suicide and the loss of her relationship with Mitch. Arguably, the expectations and beliefs of women were either to be a housewife or a mother, whereas Blanche shows neither, as a result of automatically feeling out of place possibly leading to her downfall. Blanche was constantly fantasizing about the traditional values of a southern gentlemen, proving her dependence on this sex. Quote and Explain, In contrast, Stella has both a husband and a child, she has something to work for, leading her to be accepted into society. Although Stella exemplifies these common traits, she falls under the same category as her sister, Blanche. While being depicted as less in comparison to the opposite sex. The intense description of the stage directions in scene three, depicts Stella as the prey and Stanley as the predator as he vigorously abused

Stella hates to be away from him for too long. Stella chooses Stanley over Blanche multiple times. Even after Stanley yells and hits her, she still goes back to him despite Blanche’s wishes. She refused to leave him when Blanche insisted and didn’t believe Blanche when it came to her being raped.

In A streetcar named Desire, Stella is associated to this stereotypic role, she is an innocent woman and housewife who takes care of her husband by loving him in an outrageous way. Even if Stanley is hitting her, she still loves him. Whereas Blanche acts like a seductress, at first sight she seems to be pure by wearing a “daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice” (Williams 3). In reality the authors gives a false impression of her in order to affirm that stereotypes or first impression are not always true. Indeed, after several scenes Blanche uses her power of seduction in order to manipulate men and reach her objectives. She is, by far, in opposition with the theme of purity, the author reveals that Blanche is a liar. Indeed she is saying that she has been hiring from her job, which is not the truth. Blanche is one the most interesting character in the story because she does not fit to some gender stereotypes, this difference makes her attractive and

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). In other words, Stella is very aware that her sexual relationship with Stanley can help her sort out any problems between them. Also, shortly before Stanley rapes Blanche, Williams says in the stage directions that there were “inhuman voices like cries in the jungle” (399; sc. 10). Blanche, which means white wood, is out of her element in this jungle of Stanley’s and it is she, who once called Stanley “bestial” (322; sc. 4) and “sub-human” (323; sc. 4), who has now found herself being stalked and charged like prey being hunted by an animal. With his sister-in-law present, Stanley has been unable to fulfill his sexual desires and so he releases them out on Blanche. The rape can also be seen as Stanley asserting his dominance over Blanche as she has taken his wife’s attention away from him long

In today’s society, gender norms convince men that unless they are able to control women, they are weak. Considered the inferior gender, women must find new ways to prove their own strength, whether it be through manipulation or their sexuality. The battle between the two continues as men strive to remain dominant, often by immoral means, and women attempt to gain the upper hand. In the screenplay, “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, the sexual tension and struggle for dominion between Blanche and Stanley is evident, and as the play continues, Blanche's promiscuity and Stanley's predatory nature foreshadow an inevitable confrontation.

As she was kissing him and reached into his back pocket, took the money for herself and then tucked it in her bra. I found their relationship very affectionate throughout the movie where I did not picture this when reading the play. However, I think that the director was very clever when incorporating their passionate relationship between Stella and Stanley. I believe this because it proved how sexually driven and aggressive Stanley was which almost had a foreshadowing affect on the end relationship between Blanche and Stanley. I also think this portrayal of raw emotion was an extremely important aspect of the film because inner emotion and motives drove every characters actions throughout the play. For instance, Stanley’s aggression led to his ‘relationship’ with Blanche. Stella’s unconditional love for Stanley drove her to believe Stanley instead of her sister, and Blanche’s shame for her past decisions lead her to feel insecure and almost dirty which could have been the reason she constantly took baths. I think it may have been a mental tool to wash away her

Tennessee Williams is a world famous playwright. He has won many prestigious awards. In 1947, Williams penned one of his most famous plays, A Streetcar Named Desire, winning him the Pulitzer Prize. William’s background greatly influenced his writing, and because of this, alcoholism and mental illness are issues strongly reflected in his works (Williams 1817). A Streetcar Named Desire is a story about a women with mental health issues, named Blanche Dubois. In the play, Blanche loses her family 's estate, and goes to stay with her sister Stella.  Stella lives with her husband Stanley.  From the start of the play, the audience begins to notice Blanche and Stanley’s contrasted personalities. Williams uses symbolism to allow his characters to represent something stronger than themselves. Past and present are intertwined in A Streetcar Named Desire through Blanche and Stanley; Blanche represents the past: the Old South, aristocracy, and former sensitivity, while Stanley represents the present: the New South, the industrial class, and modern straightforwardness.

“A Streetcar Named Desire” is a very elegant film in which the Southern gothic culture is demonstrated profoundly. Tennessee Williams uses the characters in the play to bring about a sense of how corrupt society truly was in the 1940’s in the South. The 1940’s was marked by an immense amount of violence, alcoholism, and poverty. Women at the time were treated as objects rather than people. Throughout the play Tennessee Williams relates the aspects of Southern society to the characters in the play. As the movie goes on, it becomes more and more clear what Tennessee Williams is trying to convey to the audience. This being, Southern culture was deeply corrupted in many ways and the societal norms of the time period were like a drug that people

These rumors were a threat to what she has created in order to help her with the chaos in her life. Although she tried to build a new life with Stella, Stanley never gave in to her act and was constantly suspicious of her actions. Stanley's constant investigations and interrogations on Blanche’s old life. This is a representation of reality is starting to creep in of Blanche's newly created life. From the beginning Stanley has doubted Blanche, this is seen as he went through Blanche's things with Stella, questioning her belongings, “has she got this stuff out of teacher's pay?”(2.33). Stanley continues to impose his reality onto Blanche, which causes her more anxiety relying more and more on herself to create more of an illusion by creating an admirer for herself, saying that she ended it with Mitch because she does not deserve “deliberate cruelty”, and crating this alter ego for herself as being pure. While Stella is in the hospital, he and Blanche are left alone for the night as she continues bragging about her admiration coming from Sheep Hunt Leigh and how she just got a wire from him. Stanley catches her in her life, finally tearing apart Blanche's illusions. Although Stanley has been a threat to her through his suspicion and empowering masculinity over her, the last scene is where he finally takes final control over her, or symbolically where reality has a final triumph over her illusions. While catching her in the midst of her lies she reveals to Blanche that “[he’s] been on to [Blanche] from the start!” (10.225). towards the end of the play Stella, Mitch, and Stanley play a role in imposing reality into her allusions. As Stella calls for the Doctor to pick Blanche up it rips her away from her fantasies with Shep Huntleigh. When Mitch reveals to Blanche that she isn't pure enough to take home to his