Blanche and Stanley are the protagonists of the play - "A Streetcar Named Desire". Discuss the supporting roles of Stella and Mitch.

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Man Ju       Y12D

English

Blanche and Stanley are the protagonists of the play – “A Streetcar Named Desire”. Discuss the supporting roles of Stella and Mitch.

    In this essay, I will discuss the supporting roles of Stella and Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire”. To begin with, I would like to introduce briefly the background of these two characters. Stella Kowalski, Blanche’s younger sister, about twenty-five years old and have a mild disposition. She possesses the same timeworn aristocratic heritage as Blanche, but she left her hometown for New Orleans in her late teens. There, Stella married to the lower-class Stanley. The other role, Mitch, who is Stanley's army buddy, co-worker, and poker buddy, courts Blanche until he finds out that she lied to him about her past. Mitch, like Stanley, is around thirty years old. Though he is clumsy and sweaty, Mitch is more sensitive and more gentlemanly than Stanley and his other friends.

    Here, I will begin to discuss more in depth about these two supporting roles. First, I would like to talk about Stella. Starting with her name, Stella DuBois suggests symbols since Stella means star, giving her the quality of delicacy and softness. Stella is totally different to her sister, Blanche. She is a "gentle woman", and has different outlooks and attitudes to life and other people compared to her sister. The only thing the two women share is their upbringing, but they are distinguishable here by their present situation. Blanche has stayed comfortable for as long as she can, whereas Stella has already willingly given up her privileges to be with the man she loves. This definitely says something about Stella: she is not materialistic or snooty, and she regards people other than her self as important.

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    Throughout this play, Stella needs two essential things to let her survive. They are sex and Stanley. She desperately needs a strong man and sex because she does not want to be left out of her and Stanley's relationship. We can tell that Stella is very easily persuaded and she needs sex.  When the poker night ends up by Stanley hitting her and she goes to Eunice's house and starts crying. Meanwhile Stanley comes out and starts shouting, “I want my baby!” and “Stella”. Stella is easily persuaded by Stanley's cries and she later comes back down ...

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