Streetcar Named Desire

3 Pages 735 Words

In the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams, the family is
broken up due to the desires of both Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski.
However, Stella, Stanley’s wife, also contributes to the unfaithfulness of her
husband. It is Stella’s weak demeanor and complete difference in identity from
that of her sister, Blanche, that drives Stanley to commit an unfaithful act with
Blanche. No one person is to blame for the breakup of the DuBois/Kowalski
family. Blanche, Stella, and even Stanley played their own role is disrupting the
peace that was once shared among them.
Blanche desires what her sister has all though it is not much. Stella has a
husband to care for her. A husband that loves her, that no one could question,
meaning that he is not gay. Stella’s life is one that is settled and complete.
Blanche, on the other hand, has a life that is in turmoil. She arrives in New
Orleans a talkative, witty, arrogant, fragile, and eventually a crumbling figure.
Blanche once was married to and passionately in love with a tortured young
man. He killed himself after she discovered his homosexuality, and she has
suffered from guilt and regret ever since. She wants a cultured man but is often
subconsciously attracted to strong, macho male characters, perhaps a
response to her marriage with a cultured, sensitive man which ended in disaster.
So, although Blanche dislikes Stanley as a person, she is drawn to him as a type
of man who is obviously heterosexual and who is strong enough to protect her
from a harsh world. Stanley is ultimately what she wants, yet detests, and,
because of Stella she can not have him.
Stanley desires a woman who is cultured, who has seen the world and has
the ability to be outspoken. This is not to say that Stanley does not love Stella, in
fact he loves her a little too much, sometimes Stanley just yearns for something
greater. He is tired of his everyday life...