Gender differences take a big place in every story and can lead to some conflicts. According to Cliffsnotes,“Gender stereotypes are simplistic generalizations about the gender attributes “(Cliffsnotes 1). In other words, it exists some stereotypes that categorized people. In A streetcar named Desire written by Tennessee Williams, there is some conflictual situations based on gender differences between Mitch, Stanley, Stella and Blanche. Based on this idea, each character represents a specific type of gender stereotypes. In this story, Tennessee Williams each main character such as, Stanley, Mitch, Blanche and Stella, embodies a specific behavior that does not always fit to the gender stereotypes that they belong to. Indeed, the author categorizes Mitch as the “good guy” who feels some emotions
The Fight for Dominance 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.
Past and Present Intertwine Through Symbolism 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.
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.
Her image of a prim and proper Southern gentlewoman clashes with the down-to-earth, easy-going lifestyle of the lower middle class. Her incongruity as a refined Southern gentlewoman in an industrial, lower-middle class New Orleans neighbourhood marks her status as an outsider and contributes to her final
Would one rather accept reality- death, sickness, loneliness- or explore a pretend world of happy endings? Tennessee Williams’ exceptional play, “A Streetcar Named Desire” brilliantly showcases the struggle to accept reality through all the loss and sadness rather than imaginary happiness. Blanche tries to wash away her past and hide her present from her family and Mitch, all while Stella ignores the truths of their dysfunctional marriage, and Mitch is struggling with the inevitable death of his mother. Throughout the play, the ugly truth is overlooked and replaced by a string of beautiful lies. “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams portrays the inability to accept reality rather than the imaginary through Blanche’s past and present,
This shows that women in “A Streetcar Named Desire” happen to be weak against the opposite sex, or controlled and overpowered by men. To illustrate, in the article by Roth Foley about women being victims in “A Streetcar Named Desire”, the writer mentions that Stanley’s visible aspect provides an intuition on how to control women, and lead them using their weaknesses destroying them. Blanche and Stella were both victims of male dominance, they were Stanley’s toys and he could take advantage with any of them without considering that Stella is
Gender and Power in the Tennessee William’s play A Streetcar Named Desire is crucial factor and is portrayed well through the play. The essay also is going to plan to examine the different ideas about female sexuality that convey from the character of Blanche.
In conclusion, “A streetcar named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, uses characterization of the main characters to convey theme of the desire and how it can influence and change someone’s personality. Because of the situations and arguments the characters get in, Williams is able show how desperate the characters are to get what they want. Stanley was willing to put his wife and his baby’s lives at risk, only to prove that he was the man of the house. Blanche ruined her chance of getting married because her promiscuous past caught up with her. Tennessee Williams uses his upbringing to show the theme of male versus female in many of his plays and it especially shows in “A streetcar named Desire”.
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. When it comes to Stanley’s marriage to Stella, one of the most notable characteristics is how possessive Stanley is. An example of this is when Stanley found out that Blanche and therefore Stella, lost their estate.
A Streetcar Named Desire Literary Analysis The late 1940’s were characterized by the emergence out of World War II that led to a dependence on the idea of The American Dream, which meant men were working harder to achieve a more comforting lifestyle and opportunity while women were still fighting the oppression of caused by unequal representation. This idealistic dream is illustrated throughout Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire”, which has a rigid dichotomy between illusion and reality revealed throughout multiple characters and their dysfunctional lives that are a direct result between fantasy and actuality. Illusion is taken advantage of as an alternative to the unfair circumstances that the characters in “A Streetcar Named
Imagination can be defined as the ability of an individual to from images and to think in a creative or inventive way ,the ability to dream and create an illusion of ourselves and it is something that everyone processes. The imagination of a human being can be a blessing in disguise or beautiful nightmare. Either one of these can affect the way an individual 's willingness to embrace or reject an uncertain future. When someone imagination is shaped by dramatic desire and moral rejects the world around them begins to feel like a frightening place. The wellness to reject an uncertain future will become far more prominent than for other people compared to an individual that hasn 't been faced with the same chances.
“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
Stella is demonstrated to live her life consumed with illusion until the final scene of the play where, as Blanche is taken away and loses her mental stability, Stella realises the problems that she may have caused by not defending Blanche from Stanley, as she is blinded by her own illusions of her relationship Stanley. Stella lives in denial of her abusive relationship with Stanley by creating excuses and illusions that everything is fine. This is evidenced when Stella says “You’re making too much fuss”, therefore it is obvious that Stella is used to the abuse she receives from Stanley and shows to Blanche that it is a regular thing that would happen to women in New Orleans, however she creates the illusion that it is okay or that it does not happen, as she dismisses giving any information on it. This could be a portrayal of her Southern Belle
The themes of violence and power in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ hold an important role in the criticism of 1940s American society. Conflicts perpetuated by violence and power, such as abusive relationships and violent oppression are projected through the characters within the play. Williams uses these conflicts to highlight his criticisms of faltering values and social norms, from the perspective of an individual constrained by the expectations of a strict, Southern society.