The Street Car Named Desire Essay, Research Paper
In the Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Stanley
Kowalski displays his brutality in many ways. This classical play is
about Blanche Dubois?s visit to Elysian Fields and her encounters with
her sister?s brutal and arrogant husband, Stanley Kowalski, and the
reveling truth of why Blanche really came. Stanley Kowalski is a very
brutal and barbaric person who always has to feel that no one is
better than him. His brutish and ferocious actions during the play
leave the reader with a bad taste in their mouths. Stanley?s
brutality is shown in several places during the duration of The Street
Car Named Desire . For example, his first array of brutality is
evident at the poker night when he gets so angry and throws the radio
out the window. Another example of his brutality is displayed when he
beats his wife, Stella. Lastly, his arrogance and ferocious actions
are most apparent when he rapes Blanche, while his wife is in labor in
the hospital.
Stanley Kowalski?s first exhibition of his brutal actions
occurs at poker night. Blanche turns on the radio, but Stanley
demands her to turn it off. Blanche refuses and so Stanley gets up
himself and turns it off himself. When Stanley?s friend, Mitch, drops
out of the game to talk to Blanche, Stanley gets upset and he
even gets more upset when Blanche flicks on the radio. Due to the
music being on, Stanley, in a rage, stalks in the room and grabs the
radio and throws it out the window. His friends immediately jump up,
and then they drag him to the shower to try to sober him up. This is
the first example of Stanley?s rage and brutality.
Not only does throwing the radio out the window represent an
impure demeanor, but so does beating your wife. During his entire
rage during poker night he is not sober which leads to another
problem. When he threw the radio out the window, he then immediately
charged right at his wife, Stella. He was in such rage and he was so
drunk that when he reached her he hit her in the face. Luckily, before
he can get another blow off his friends grabbed him and pinned him to
the floor. This action leads the reader to believe that he is a very
brutal person and needs some psychological help to aid him to control
his temper. This is another example of why Stanley is so brutal.
Lastly, and the most evident action that leads the reader to
believe that Stanley is very ferocious and rapacious is when he rapes
Blanche Dubois. When Blanche finds out that Stanley has to spend the
night at home because Stella did not give birth yet, she becomes wary
and is alarmed at the thought that of being alone in the house alone
with him is a scary thought. When Blanche tells Stanley that she has
put Mitch in his place for being mean to her, Stanley explodes in
terror. Then Stanley retreats to the bathroom to put on his silk
pajamas. When he comes out of the bathroom, Blanche is threatened by
his words and she smashes a bottle on the table to use the sharp edge
to fend him off. Stanley approaches her carefully, but Blanche swings
at him and Stanley catches her arm and forces her to drop the weapon.
She then collapses at his feet and he picks her up and carries her to
the bedroom and rapes her. This event shows that Stanley is very
brutal and avaricious because it shows that he was greedy to the
fact that he could not just have one woman, and it also showed that he
is very arrogant because he feels that now because he ?conquered?
Blanche and he has won.
In Conclusion, in The Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee
Williams, Stanley?s brutality is evident throughout the entire course
of the play. Clearly, his rape of Blanche, beating of Stella, and
throwing the radio out the window are all examples of why Stanley is
such a fierce and intimidating character in this play.