Streetcar Named Desire

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.

It was not just her self that put her in the lime light of being a victim; it is also her new change of environment and people. Stanley is Stella's husband; he is described to be very masculine and aware of his sexual magnetism. “Strongly, compactly built”. He is mostly at ease with people however, if they lack loyalty and affection to him, he will bully them. Especially women, as he believes them just to be easy conflict. It is seen in scene 3 that Stanley has little respect for women. “I said to hush up!” This is addressed to his wife who is seen emotionless and impassive in this play. As for Blanche how is fussy and at edge, she would be very effected by the crude attitude that Stanley presents and so tries to hysterical take Stella away from her husband. Stanley does not forget of this act of interference and makes him all the more determined to be rid of Stella’s “charity case”. The real reason for Stanley’s bulling is that Blanche immediately received all Stella’s attention. “How about my supper huh? I’m not going to no Galatorires’ for supper” This made Stella dominant in power over Stanley and Blanche, something Stanley was not used to. “I put you a cold plate on ice”.

Willy is unable to acknowledge any of his failures and completely exaggerates all of his success to the point where he lives a lie, while Blanche rejects her new life by rebelling against the more coarse values of the southern environment around her. In their descent into madness, both Willy and Blanche completely lose grip of reality and become tragic victims of their own delusion, becoming examples of the Aristotelian notion of hamartia in their delusional error. But their characters also demonstrate elements of Aristotle’s notion of anagnorisis, or the epiphany of realizing a tragic error and attempting to rectify it.

Stanley's violent side excites her, and that desire will continue to keep her with Stanley. When Blanche explains that she has a plan to let her leave Stanley, Stella says to her that, “You take it for granted that I am in something that I want to get out of”(80). Stanley’s corrupt nature does not make

Our first scene with Stella is her in complete submission to her husband, with him throwing a package of meat at her, when Stanley “heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but manages to catch it: then she laughs breathlessly. Her husband and his companion have already started back around the corner” (4). Stella happily does whatever her beloved Stanley asks. She also has an air of being proud of her house, when in reality it is nothing special and could even be called shabby, when Blanche asks why Stella did not tell her that

She’s so set on her idea of a perfect relationship that she sees right through his aggressive personality. It starts in the very beginning when Stanley raises his voice to her, and even though she acknowledged it was rude, she still accepted it. He isn’t pleased with her sister, Blanche, and makes him even crueler. She doesn’t understand why Stanley feels the need to be harsh towards her sister. Even after the news of Stella’s pregnancy, Stanley still acts disrespectful towards her.

In 1949 women were viewed as inferior to men in almost every aspect of life. They were not given the same opportunities or rights as men. In Arthur MIller’s Death of a Salesman, women are portrayed in this same way. Linda Loman’s depiction as the typical housewife, the female role as objects of the males’ advancement, and the blaming of “The Woman” as the cause of the destruction of Biff’s and Willy’s relationship are the key elements used by Miller to confirm the traditional woman's role in society. Linda Loman is the typical housewife, is unable to stand up to Willy, and lacks respect from the male figures in the play.

He has Stella wrapped around his fingers, and she will do anything to please him. Ultimately, his desires have taken over her desires for anything else. He exudes an animalistic nature that is also portrayed in his regard to women. He demands respect and power within him home, the place of a king. Stanley early on makes a comment about a woman who was seeking out compliments and how he will not be subject to appeasing women in that particular way.

He almost seems threatened by her. Since she just walked in one day and took the attention away from him as Stella is worried about her sister. Stanley is taken the back burner in Stella’s mind when Blanche shows up. Since she ends up staying months, Stanley’s yearning for power starts to overwhelm him. Knowing that Blanche is afraid of him gave him leverage to control the situation going on in his

During a conversation Stanley is having with Blanch, he practically tries to shoo Stella away, “Your

On the other hand, it could show the sexual power he has over Stella and the idea she is happy to catch the meat gives the audience an impression that she is infatuated by his sexual dominance. This in turn puts herself to blame for the weakness of her character. We notice that during the play, Stella is oppressed by her husband but still obtains the marriage. In search of reasons why, a modern day reader would understand that divorce was not an acceptable thing to do in the time it was written. The masculinity of Stanley contributes to the weaknesses of Stella as a character.

Death of a Salesman and Women’s Roles in the 1940s Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman takes place in the late 1940s when women did not have many rights. Women were being treated like second class citizens by their husbands and did not have much of a voice back then. In this play women only seem to be pursuing the roles of a typical house wife. Female characters in Death of a Salesman depict the limited rights of women in the 1940s. The roles of women have definitely changed over the decades drastically.

For my analysis paper, I have chosen the full-length play by Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire. The drama containing several forms of realism was released in December of 1947 and stayed open on Broadway for two years until December of 1949. The play in set in New Orleans, Louisiana in a simi-poor area, but has a certain amount of charm that goes along with it. Williams creates a vast web of emotional conflicts thought all the characters, which leads to great tension thought the play. In my analysis I’m going to talk about the plot and characters in the play, the theme, dictation, music choices, spectacle and the convention.

In the first scene of the play Stanley calls Stella to the front door of their apartment and throws at her a package of raw meat for her to catch and keep in the icebox. Stanley and Stella share a very sexual relationship and Stanley is depicted as being a primitive man. This scene tells us what kind of relationship Stanley and Stella have:

Stanley's search for power and dominance and for reaffirming women as the weaker sex is exhibited in different ways. The play begins with Stanley carrying a package of meat which he throws to Stella (CITE). This act establishes Stanley as the dominant male in the. It is one of many instances in which symbolism is used to display the sexual proprietorship that Stanley has over Stella. His description in the first scene serves to