In the commencement of the play, Blanche is quickly described as a damsel in distress. She is portrayed as a wealthy woman “in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earing of pearl, white gloves and hat…” (5). She resembles an embellished white moth. The fact that she is forced to live with her younger sister Stella and her domineering husband truly shows that Blanche is in a truly desperate situation. Her overall character is depicted as a traumatized woman that is in complete desolation. Experiences such as witnessing her family on a “...Long parade to the graveyard” (21). Being forced to live with your family until their tragic demise would emotionally and mentally torment anyone. She lives inside of her own world in which she…
The primary noticeable difference between Stanley and Blanche are the worlds that they both come from. Blanche believes in an illusionary world of which the upper and lower class people are separated, education is valued, races are separated and purity is preserved. In contrast, Stanley comes from a patriarchal society, which is morally corrupt, sinful and amoral. In the opening scene, the stage directions “her expression is one of shocked disbelief. Her appearance is incongruous to this setting” conveys her difference in class and how Blanche already does not fit into this new world foreshadowing the end of the play when Blanche is pushed out of the new world. The dialogue “ they mustn’t have- understood- what number I wanted” highlights Blanche’s confusion as she arrives at Elysian Fields, which suggests that Blanche is entering into a world that she does not belong in. The use of the derogatory terms “negro”, “brown” and “one white and one coloured” all suggest that unlike in Blanche’s illusionary world, Stanley’s world, New Orleans does not separate races instead they intermingle. Throughout the play there are many references to animalistic qualities. Blanche is represented, as a “moth” of which is fragile and attracted to light, which leads to danger and death. Stanley is compared to a lion, a predator of power and strong…
Willams successfully uses the imagery of animalism to exhibit stanley's primative actions, allowing us to see more of a villain in his character. He creates an intense atmosphere whereby Blanche is seeing the night as, "filled with inhuman voices, like cries in a jungle...", proposing Blanche's distant mind from sanity but also the ambience that Stanley may have formed this tense atmosphere which surrounds the two characters. Stanley displays primative behaviours by biting "his tongue which protrudes between his lips", which gives use the imagery of a snake observing his prey before attack. Stanley's connotations with primal actions are always interperated with him being the predetor, attacking the prey. Stanley attacking Blanche and raping her also gives us the impression that he is taking over her body; like he is marking his territory. The "rough house" treatment of Stanley towards Blanche suggest how the predetor is trying to attack, whislt the prey resists, fearing for their life. It may be interperated how Stanley wants Blanche to be resistant as it makes his victory more satisfying. .Williams also uses the setting of the bathroom to depict Stanley's victory over Blanche. The symbolism of the bathroom in previous scenes of the play was used as a sanctuary for Blanche to…
-In the end, Stanley's down-to-earth character proves harmfully crude and brutish. His chief amusements are gambling, bowling, sex, and drinking, and he lacks ideals and imagination. His disturbing, degenerate nature, first hinted at when he beats his wife, is fully evident after he rapes his sister-in-law. Stanley shows no remorse for his brutal actions. The play ends with an image of Stanley as the ideal family man, comforting his wife as she holds their newborn child. The wrongfulness of this representation, given what we have learned about him in the play, ironically calls into question society's decision to ostracize Blanche.…
Williams’ characterization of Blanche as a character of many layers and different emotions is particularly evident in this scene as he presents her in different lights through different mediums. In this scene, Blanche is presented as afraid. This effect is achieved through Blanche’s actions, which are revealed to us by stage directions. “She looks fearfully after him” this explicitly unveils to the audience Blanche’s reaction to Mitch’s arrival as well as his attitude. The adverb “fearfully” adequately captures Blanche’s true feelings; passing across the idea of fear to the audience. In addition to this effect, the phrase “after him”, directs Blanche’s emotion to a particular person and the audience understands that Blanche’s reaction is due to Mitch’s presence. However, it isn’t just in one instance that we see this fearful response; the passage is littered with actions that give evidence of anxiety, reiterating the point that she does not feel secure. Actions such as her “frightened gasp” show her instability and insecurity, the word “frightened” shows her fear, while “gasp” present her surprise. The audiences is then able to…
In A Streetcar Named Desire, the theme of violence is very frequent in the character Stanley Kowalski. Stanley is a married, young man, who comes across to the reader as quite an enraged person with animalistic attributes. A prime insinuation of Stanley’s difference to regular humans is when Stella DuBois (Stanley’s wife) explains to her sister that Stanley is of “a different species”, foreshadowing that Williams may be warning the reader that Stanley is capable of things that are not in the norm.…
Stanley's harsh, realistic world is often seen throughout the play this shows how different Blanches is. An example of this is Stanley's main interests: gambling, drinking, fighting, sex and bowling. All of these are very realistic things to do, very down to earth. Also throughout the play he shows no remorse for what he's done,…
Look at scene IV of 'Streetcar ' What does the scene tell us about the relationship between Stella and Stanley, and how does Williams portray this?…
This play has been so popular that it has been reproduced into a motion picture. This play’s significance revolves around marriage norms and the dependency of another. The play is accomplished through eleven scenes. The poem surrounds a marriage between Stanley and Stella Kowalski. The play begins to get interesting when Stella’s sister, Blanche, arrives from out of town. Blanche brings news that the family plantation back home is bankrupt. Stanley begins to question Blanche’s past and intentions with: “I got an acquaintance who deals with this sort of merchandise. I’ll have him in here to appraise it” (Williams 1828). This causes the first argument between the two when Stella replies “Don’t be such an idiot, Stanley” (1828). Stanley becomes standoffish with Blanch from this point on. He ruins the surprise that Stella is pregnant and continues to question her past. The play shifts to a poker night that reveals the dominance that Stanley has over Stella. When Stella and Blanche return home to a poker night, Stanley is drunk and rude to his wife. When she asks how much longer does the game have, he replies “Till we get ready to quit” (1833). Blanche begins to flirt with Stanley’s friend Mitch which makes him even angrier. Stanley ultimately hits Stella before the nights over. Stella excuses getting hit by telling Blanche that “When men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen. He didn’t know what he…
Stanley shows instability throughout the play, especially after the arrival of Stella’s sister, Blanche. Stanley does not allow his anger to take over him at first, but after many months of what he sees as disrespect from his sister-in-law and eventually from his wife he completely breaks down. The first scene of instability shown in the play is at the poker game where when Stella tries to act as head of the house and attempts to break up the poker game. Stanley jumps up and charges after her and slaps her. Another example of Stanley being pushed from sanity is in scene eight when he says, “What do you two think you are? A pair of queens? Remember what Huey Long said- “Every Man is a King!”And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!” (Williams 131).…
“Blanche as a Southern Belle represents all that is dead and decaying about the Old South, whereas Stanley stands for the dynamic, vibrant future.” To what extent do you agree?…
Stanley looks past the fake front that people put on and focuses on what is real and ignores the “Hollywood glamour” and lies that surround them (39). Stanley does not want any deviation from what is known to be true and wants “no ifs, ands, or buts” (43). Deep down Stanley needs to unearth any falsehoods when anyone feeds him a “pack of lies” no matter how dark they are (118). Regardless of the awful truths of Blanche’s life, Stanley states the truth in the simplest sense, and he finally reveals Blanche is not “such a refined and particular girl” as he gives out her dark truths. He pushes away Blanche’s pleasant dream and posters the harsh truth of Blanche’s problems in plain sight so no one, not Mitch, Stella, or even Blanche can not miss it. Ultimately, Stanley feels no empathy for anyone, and digs up the lies and falsehoods that surround…
Stanley, in the play, is described as a masculine person. He is physically strong and is often referred to as a beast. Animals, out in the wild, use sex to show dominance in their clan or group. For example the rest of the walruses looks up the walrus that has a mate. Stanley is in this way an animal. He allows his primal instincts to take over. Therefore he is the dominant male in the household and must have everything his way.…
At the start of the scene we can see that Blanche’s already eccentric character has retreated deeply into the world of fantasy, after being rejected by her previous suitor, Mitch in the previous scene. She is described as having “decked herself out in a somewhat soiled evening gown” and as the scene opens she is placing a tiara on her head. This very powerfully demonstrates how fragile and unstable she has become, as she appears to be dressing up for some fantastical event. Blanche’s fantasies are developed further as the scene continues; when Stanley arrives home she begins to tell him a variety of tall tales for example that she has been invited on a cruise with a millionaire acquaintance of hers. At first it seems she is merely lying to Stanley as she is described as “improvising feverishly” but as the scene develops she seems to become caught up in her own fantasy, leading to desperate attempts to contact her millionaire. All of this shows very clearly the rapidly declining stability of Blanche’s state of mind which is disturbing enough for the audience but when Stanley takes advantage of Blanche’s vulnerable state and rapes her, we are completely unsettled and disturbed as we see Blanche’s mind irreversibly damaged leading to her committal to a mental institution in the following scene. This disturbing decline in Blanche is symbolic of fantasy and illusion, key themes of the play; William’s demonstrates that when we are hurt unimaginably, we…
Stanley Kowalski struggles to cope with Stella's background as she seems to appear somehow “superior” to him because of her past and where she comes from. He believes he has finally managed to bring Stella into his world when Blanche storms into their lives and tries to win Stella over. This initiates a tug of war between Stanley and Blanche.…