Performing Genders in a Streetcar Named Desire Essay

Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire, considered as one of his closely famous works, exposes the relationships between Stella and her sister, Blanche, who has come to visit her. Her arrival reveals the tensions in Stanley and Stellas couple. Blanche quickly discovers that her sisters flavour is not at all the support she believed it to be, and that her sister lives with a violent man, Stanley. But Stanley is not the only one who tries to insure his true identity. Indeed, Blanches arrival in revolutionary Orleans is not innocent. She tries to escape her bad reputation and comes with her deepest secrets. In this play, the protagonists perform a role to affirm their gender and hide their real true nature. This staging also aims at dramatizing the action of the play. Stellas husband, Stanley, is the prefect representation of the violent and macho man.He does everything to be seen as a powerful man when citing Huey Long he tells Stella that every humanness is a King And I am the king around here (Williams, 77). As Koprince notes Like most batterers, Stanley believes in male superiority He especially believes in male dominance within the institution of marriage. He is completely in charge of the Kowalski household, calling all the shots and expecting his wifes acquiescence. (51) Stanley establishes a conjugal life in which his wife is not allowed to say what she wants as he growls dont ever lambast that way to me (77). However, Stanley is not only arrogant when he speaks to his wife, he also mistreats her. During the Poker Night, he first crosses to the small white radio and snatches it off the table. With a shouted oath, he tosses the instrument out of the windowpane and then charges Stella (35). Stanley thus intimidates his wife and decreases her as Dutton analysesPhysical assault may be accompanied by verbal abuse, psychological abuse This constellation of evil actions more fully represents a continuum of coercive control and, some would argue, therefore constitutes the proper subject matter for a psychology of interpersonal violence. (6)In world the way Stanley acts allows him to acquire power and control under Stella. She behaves exactly how Stanley wants her to react that is asa battered and dominated woman He Stanley didnt screw what he was doing He was as good as lamb when I Stella came back and hes really very, very ashamed of himself. (41) According to Stanley, display his feelings to his wife would be intolerable and is not the behavior a man has to adopt. Nevertheless, his violent behavior and the role that he performs convey the feelings he has for Stella. Indeed, he is algophobic that his wife can leave him Stanley Stella My baby dolls left meEunice? I want my baby Eunice Ill keep on ringin I talk with my baby (37) Stanley Stell-lahhhhh (37)By saying Eunice, I want my girl to come down with me (38), Stanley gets belligerent again and proves that primitive instincts animate him. Blanche, talking to his siste r, highlights that Stanley acts like an beast, has an animals habits (47). She also asserts that theres even something subhuman- something not quite to the stage of humanity (47) which implies that her brother-in-law performs the male role to the extreme. Besides, this extreme is r distributivelyed when Stanley rapes Blanche telling her weve had this date with each other from the beginning (97). Thus this act reminds Blanche of her past of prostitute and reveals what Blanche tried to hide through her staging. Blanche performs the role of the fragile and the romantic woman in suppose to hide her deepest secrets.Through Stellas eyes, Blanche appears as a sensitive woman (69) and has always to be complimented. She thus recommends Stanley to admire Blanches dress and to tell Blanche shes sounding wonderful (17). In this connection, Blanche also highlights that she needs kindness (39). Moreover Blanches sensibility is highlighted by her romance. She tells Mitch that she has old-fashi oned ideals (63) and calls him her Rosenkavalier (57). Related to this idea, Cortade asserts Blanche DuBois saccroche aux derniers vestiges de romantisme qui appartiennent une autre poque. (209) Blanche DuBois stay emotionally attached to the relics of romanticism which belong to another time, my translation. In a sense, Blanches romantic ideals allow her to play the role of a modern Emma Bovary.In the manner of Flauberts character, Blanche entertains hopes of escaping from human beings through love. Blanche idealizes love and describingthe love she had for her husband, Allan, she says that it was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, thats how it in love the world for me (66). But like Emma Bovary who lost her lover Rodolphe and fell into depression, Blanche loses Allan and this loss overwhelms her completely. She thus behaves as a desperate woman and loses her mind.By qualifying Blanche as a refined and particular type of gi rl, Stanley unmasks her and reveals the reason why Blanche has to perform. Indeed Blanche stages in order to hide her past of prostitute. Stanley explains to Stella that Blanche moved to the Flamingo A inferior hotel which has the advantage of not interfering in the private social life of the personalities there (71). He also adds that men in Laurel got wised up after two or three dates with Blanche and then they quit, and she goes on to another, the same old lines, same old act, same old hooey (71). Besides Blanche is conscious of her act and qualifies herself as a big spider (87). Nevertheless, her behavior hides some deeper injuries. As she analyzes she was hunting for some protection and this was all she seemed able to fill her empty heart with (87). In this connection, Blanche is a desperate woman who always depended on the kindness of strangers (107).In conclusion, Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire depicts characters that perform in order to hide their true nature. By saying that Poker should not be play in a house with women (36), Mitch proceeds to a separation of genders revealing Blanches and Stanleys staging. Indeed, two of them perform the roles of the violent man and the fragile woman. Stellas husband appears as a choleric man and frightens his wife and his sister-in-low, Blanche. Blanches staging allows her to escape mankind and she is able to overshadow her past. Indeed her past makes her fragile and facing the reality would be too hard to face. Stanley and Blanche also share the same fear. Indeed, they are numb to be abandoned. Whereas Stanley depends on Stellas presence, Blanche needs the kindness of strangers. Although they hate each other, they share several common points. Indeed both of them know that the other hide a secret.SourcesWilliams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. London Penguin Modern Classics, 1927 2004. 218 p.Cortade, Ludovic. Le cinma de limmobilit. Paris Publications de la Sorbonne, 2008. 308 p.Dutton, Donald G. The domestic assault of Women Psychological and Criminal referee Perspectives. Canada University of Washington Press, 2001, 337 p.Koprince, Susan. Domestic violence in a Streetcar Named Desire Blooms Modern Critical Interpretations A Streetcar Named Desire New Edition, Ed. Harold Bloom, New York, 2009 49-60.