Gender Roles In A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams

In the 1950s a male and a female did not share equal responsibility or power in a relationship. As seen in A Streetcar Named Desire the male portrays a role of power and success whereas the female is seen almost as an accessory to the male. The male partner would go to work every morning and the female would stay home, cooking, cleaning, and making sure everything was acceptable for her husband’s return that night. When a male and a female were married in the 1950s the male partner became entitled to all of a female’s possessions, however, she was not granted the same power. This relationship has changed drastically in today’s society. It is no longer common to see this large power gap between the male and female figures in a relationship,

Within Tennessee Williams's story about love and abuse within marriage and challenging familial ties, there lie three very different characters that all see the world in vastly different ways. These members of a family that operate completely outside of our generation’s norms, are constantly unsure of themselves and their station within the binary not only of their familial unit, but within the gender binary that is established for them to follow. Throughout the story of the strange family, each character goes through a different arch that changes them irrevocably whether it is able to be perceived or not by those around them. The only male, Stanley is initially the macho force in the home who controls everything without question. He has

     As women's studies programs have proliferated throughout American universities, feminist "re-readings" of certain classic authors have provided us with the most nonsensical interpretations of these authors' texts. A case in point is that of Kathleen Margaret Lant's interpretation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in her essay entitled "A Streetcar Named Misogyny." Throughout the essay, she continually misreads Williams' intention, which of course causes her to misunderstand the play itself. Claiming that the play "has proved vexing to audiences, directors, actors, readers, and critics" (Lant 227), she fails to see that it is she herself who finds

In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, gender roles were reflected on gender roles in the American Society in the 50’s. The male gender was predominant while the female gender was considered less powerful. Williams really emphasizes this stereotype, yet he focuses on the females in the play the whole time.

In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Stanley Kowalski is portrayed as a very stereotypical and animalistic man; he feels the need for dominance and is very condescending towards not only the women in the first three scenes, but those who he considers friends too. He is a common working man and his intentions with women are always sexual and demeaning.

In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, the representation of male and female characters are based on gender stereotypes, which represent a patriarchal society. The way in which Tennessee Williams portrays the main characters: Blanche, Stanley and Stella, by using gender stereotypes demonstrates the patriarchal society`s value, norms and beliefs of the 1940s.

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

treats his wife is also an inconspicuous way of saying that’s how his father would treat not only

The representation of gender roles is among the most prominent recurring subjects in theatre, literature and expressive art as we know it. Gender, and what it means to human beings, is a subject that is as difficult to precisely define as death, race, and the concept of existence. Anne Beall, Ph.D. graduate in Social Psychology at Yale University, details in her book The Psychology of Gender that “Gender is socially defined masculinity and femininity. Social psychology studies how gender is defined, created, and maintained through social influence, especially in the course of social interaction” (Beall; 10). The nature of gender roles is ultimately dictated by temporal, societal, biological and even geographical dimensions that are out of our control and though it is a given that gender as a concept has kept as relevant as it is ancient, there has only been under a hundred years of significant progress or general awareness on the matter. The subject matter of important art in any given time period is a reflection of that society’s most urgent struggles and the topic of gender has remained a constant across human history. The physical and emotional features of characters in art and literature are manifestations of the creator’s perception on subjects such race and gender. The message that a creator seeks to deliver on a topic, determines how they will convey the thoughts,

Stanley is portrayed in a negative light throughout the play, with his mind mainly focused on himself. Williams paints this impression of Stanley by emphasizing the importance of his possessions by describing, “his car, his radio, everything that’s his.” (25) At first glance, Stella and

Stereotypical gender roles have existed as long as human culture has, becoming a natural part of our lives. Nevertheless, images and depictions of what we perceive to be either masculine or feminine in appearance and behaviour depend on the individual's perception. Within each gender lies a variety of stereotypes and expectations, most notably for men they are often depicted as tough and the family provider. Whereas women are often shown to be soft and vulnerable resulting in their dependence on men. The play A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in the 1950s in New Orleans following World War II, this violent and dramatic play discusses the ongoing struggle between men and women within the American society. The author; Tennessee Williams illustrates this struggle within the usage of the main characters, Stanley and Stella Kowalski, Harold Mitchell and Blanche Dubois. Although gender equality has improved immensely as the decades bypass, certain labels still continue to remain for both genders. In this time period, Tennessee Williams illustrates the expected roles for both men and women, and how these roles influence

Many different depictions of gender roles exist in all times throughout the history of American culture and society. Some are well received and some are not. When pitted against each other for all intents and purposes of opposition, the portrayal of the aspects and common traits of masculinity and femininity are separated in a normal manner. However, when one gender expects the other to do its part and they are not satisfied with the results and demand more, things can shift from normal to extreme fairly quickly. This demand is more commonly attributed by the men within literary works. Examples of this can be seen in Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire”, where Stella is constantly being pushed around and being abused by her

In fall of 2013 the female voice of apple software "Siri" became available in a male's voice. It was seen that people throughout the US were more comfortable listening to a males voice because of the perception that it was somehow intelligent and able to provide more correct information. Applying gender stereotypes to a nonpartisan digital party shows the extent of how gender stereotypes seen throughout history are still alive and well today. In classic literature such as Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra" and Tennesee Williams "Streetcar Named Desire", both authors display gender stereotypes in their female leads. Although in both works the female is seen as a strong lead character, both works display the woman as allowing their emotions get in the way of their rational thought processes,

Men: The ones worthy of praise whereas women are just accessories to be flaunted then left in the closet when not worn. Tennessee Williams reinforces this idea throughout the course of the play by the use of the characters Stella, Blanche, Stanley, Steve and Eunice; and their relationships with each other.

Especially the American south was an epitome for patriarchal society (90). Women were meant to be inferior to men and had to fit into the “good girl” picture, otherwise they were close to shunned by society. The play “A Streetcar Named Desire”, written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, depicts such a patriarchal society. The main conflict is between the protagonists Blanche DuBois and her brother in law Stanley Kowalski, which ends with Blanche being admitted into what seems to be a mental facility. I will argue that the patriarchy, which is especially represented by Stanley Kowalski, is the cause for the mental destruction of Blanche. In order to do so I will first elaborate what is actually meant by the term patriarchy. Then I will try to explain how Stanley Kowalski can be seen as an epitome for a patriarchal man and how he fits into the attributes attached to such. In the second chapter I will try to define the role a woman had in the patriarchal society of the 1950s and to whether Blanche DuBois fits into it or not. Last but not least I will attempt to connect the dots and show how Stanley, as the representation, and the patriarchy itself lead to Blanche’s mental