A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE- SCENE 3 QUESTION
How does Tennessee Williams make this moment so revealing in ‘A Streetcar Named
Desire’?
Tennesse Williams in his dramatic play, ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ explores different kinds
of desire between men and women and how it changes with class and gender. This moment
in the third scene of the play theorises on this ‘desire’ which is also mentioned in the title.
Using the means of language with animalistic imagery and stage direction, dominant and
submissive themes as well as binary opposition between the characters and their
relationships.
The animalistic imagery adds to the theme as well as character of the play.
When Stanley ‘bellows’ like a wounded animal- a “baying hound” for her, it adds to the
predatory nature of his character and adds a wolf-like spirit to him which is also reminiscent
of the supernatural phenomenon of new orleans where the story is set. it shows us that
they share a physical and primal relationship. In this scenario blanche can be considered the
prey to stanleys predator as she searches for ‘sanctuary’. Blanches gentile moth-like nature
thereby stands in contradiction to stanley’s brutish one.
The theme of dominance and submission underscore the entire play. In this particular scene
the theme is highlighted by how ‘desire’ or brutish passion is used to establish control.
Blanche and Stanley contrast each other and the conflict between them is about what the
each stand for, and whose ideas will dominate. Stanleys desire is blatant while blanche
conceals hers, showing that there are two sides to the same coin. This aspect of them being
similar yet different sets the conflict between in them in motion with each trying to
establish their dominance.
When stella chooses to forgive stanley after he beats her up while he is drunk and angry
that it could be suggestive of him giving in to her and letting her dominate him as well.
Stella has enough sway over stanley to make him sob like a child and beg his ‘baby’ to come
home.
Stanley’s main objective is to establish his authority over his home and wife even if it is with
violence, expecting stella to be a traditional submissive wife who is dependant on him to
provide for her. In the song in the beginning of the extract, the speaker asserts that he will
‘buy a paper doll’ that he can call his own that will not flirt with other men, and when he
comes home at night ‘she will be waiting’. The speaker then explains he had a fight with his
girls and is ‘through with all of them’. The song echoes the fight between stanley and stella.
When Blanche enters the story she threatens this authority Stanley has over stella and
thereby makes him react violently at her intrusion. He deflects his anger at blanche first on
the radio and then on stella. Stanley regains his dominance over stella through sexual desire
which blanche is unable to understand and is horrified by.
The contrasting of masculinity and femininity ; physical and emotional along with brutish
and civilised is created through the binary oppositeness of the characters in the play.
Stanley and Blanche and what they represent, along with the extreme ideas of femininity
and masculinity portrayed through Blanche’s elegance and Stanley’s roughish personality
How does Tennessee Williams make this moment so revealing in ‘A Streetcar Named
Desire’?
Tennesse Williams in his dramatic play, ‘A Streetcar named Desire’ explores different kinds
of desire between men and women and how it changes with class and gender. This moment
in the third scene of the play theorises on this ‘desire’ which is also mentioned in the title.
Using the means of language with animalistic imagery and stage direction, dominant and
submissive themes as well as binary opposition between the characters and their
relationships.
The animalistic imagery adds to the theme as well as character of the play.
When Stanley ‘bellows’ like a wounded animal- a “baying hound” for her, it adds to the
predatory nature of his character and adds a wolf-like spirit to him which is also reminiscent
of the supernatural phenomenon of new orleans where the story is set. it shows us that
they share a physical and primal relationship. In this scenario blanche can be considered the
prey to stanleys predator as she searches for ‘sanctuary’. Blanches gentile moth-like nature
thereby stands in contradiction to stanley’s brutish one.
The theme of dominance and submission underscore the entire play. In this particular scene
the theme is highlighted by how ‘desire’ or brutish passion is used to establish control.
Blanche and Stanley contrast each other and the conflict between them is about what the
each stand for, and whose ideas will dominate. Stanleys desire is blatant while blanche
conceals hers, showing that there are two sides to the same coin. This aspect of them being
similar yet different sets the conflict between in them in motion with each trying to
establish their dominance.
When stella chooses to forgive stanley after he beats her up while he is drunk and angry
that it could be suggestive of him giving in to her and letting her dominate him as well.
Stella has enough sway over stanley to make him sob like a child and beg his ‘baby’ to come
home.
Stanley’s main objective is to establish his authority over his home and wife even if it is with
violence, expecting stella to be a traditional submissive wife who is dependant on him to
provide for her. In the song in the beginning of the extract, the speaker asserts that he will
‘buy a paper doll’ that he can call his own that will not flirt with other men, and when he
comes home at night ‘she will be waiting’. The speaker then explains he had a fight with his
girls and is ‘through with all of them’. The song echoes the fight between stanley and stella.
When Blanche enters the story she threatens this authority Stanley has over stella and
thereby makes him react violently at her intrusion. He deflects his anger at blanche first on
the radio and then on stella. Stanley regains his dominance over stella through sexual desire
which blanche is unable to understand and is horrified by.
The contrasting of masculinity and femininity ; physical and emotional along with brutish
and civilised is created through the binary oppositeness of the characters in the play.
Stanley and Blanche and what they represent, along with the extreme ideas of femininity
and masculinity portrayed through Blanche’s elegance and Stanley’s roughish personality
