“A Streetcar Named Desire” presents a sharp critique of the way the institutions and attitudes of post-war America placed restrictions on women's lives. Williams uses Blanche and Stella's dependence on men to expose and analyse the treatment of women during the transition from the old to the new South. Both Blanche and Stella see male companions as their only means to achieve happiness, and they depend on men for both their sustenance and their self-image. Blanche recognises that Stella could be happier without her physically abusive husband, Stanley. Yet, the alternative Blanche proposes (contacting Shep Huntleigh for financial support) still involves complete dependence on men. When Stella chooses to remain with Stanley, she chooses to rely on, love, and believe in a man instead of her sister. Williams does not necessarily criticise Stella, instead he makes it quite clear that Stanley represents a much more secure future than Blanche does.
George Bernard Shaw was a socialist who was greatly influenced by K. Marx and Darwin’s ideas of evolution. This was presented in Higgins’s speech as he talks of the progress of Art, Science, and Literature as part of human’s evolution:
“…You can taste it and smell it without any training or any work. Not like Science and Literature and Classical Music and Philosophy and Art.”
In this evolution, only those who could have access to a “higher” way of living were the survivors.
Higgins’s speech is very parallel to Blanche’s. She also speaks of the “new progress”. Blanche labels Stanley as the “Survivor of the stone age”. She notifies her sister of the progress that mankind has achieved through “things such as art- as poetry and music-” of which Stella cannot take part off if she stays with Stanley. Blanche believes that humankind has evolved too far past the “beast” that Stanley is and that her sister has reduced herself too much to become on his level.
Blanche’s speech articulates Williams's examination of the widely held belief among plantation owners and their descendants that the end of the South's agrarian culture led to a decline of American civilization. He depicts Blanche as an antiquated relic of a dead society, while Stanley epitomises the new type of American, who lacks refinement, education, and spirituality. Yet, although Williams gives voice to Blanche's homesickness and exposes her fears, he does not necessarily share her belief that the new Americans are lesser beings on the evolutionary scale. He even illustrates the irrationality of Blanche's opinions by having her hysterically cry to Stella, "Don't—don't hang back with the brutes!"
From her speech we can see how the family among the new Americans runs. The nuclear and patriarchal family is the common one that Stanley and Stella belong too. This gives Stanley the control and power within his family, as he is the breadwinner. Blanche is aware of his power as she and the audience notice that he is “the only one that’s likely to get anywhere” among his friends. He also has the highest status among his friends as he was leading the cards game during the poker night. However, Blanche’s speech underestimates his intelligence. During the play we realise that Stanley is aware of his legal rights as a husband. He questions Blanche about Stella’s inheritance, as he is conscious that Stella’s properties will belong to him as stated by the Napoleonic Code. He also relies on a network of friends for information to reveal information on Blanche’s past.
Higgins’s notifies Eliza that the life in the gutter is “violent” and “warmth”, of which reflects on the life of Stanley and Stella’s:
“Bearing raw meat home from the kill in the jungle! And you- you here- waiting for him! Maybe he’ll strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you!”
This implies that there is a link between Higgins’s speech and Blanche’s. They both talk of the new progress and the life of the gutter which is filled with violence and yet some love. The only difference between the two speeches is the speaker and the context of which affects our understanding of each speech.
Higgins’s is a male professor who is teaching Eliza to become a lady. During the time setting of “Pygmalion” the society was male dominated therefore what he said to Eliza was taken for granted. The language he spoke in was cold, honest and direct as it displayed his superior strength as a male in a male dominated society. On the other hand, in Blanche’s speech (of which contained the same contents) we as audience perceive it in a different way to the way we perceive Higgins’s speech. This is because she is a needy, vulnerable and fake female character who sees herself to be superior to others. The language she talks in may be passionate but has a sense of sarcasm and shows us that she has no authority, for this reason we do not take in everything she says for granted, even thought Williams provides to us a lot of evidence to support her judgement of Stanley; his bestial behaviour “licking his lips” and his secret predatory actions “he turns stealthily”, but we do not completely accept her judgments as she is a dependant woman who is financially, emotionally and mentally unstable and always “…relied on the kindness of strangers”.
Blanche becomes defeated as she looses her sister to Stanley. The new world and the American dream also wins over her as the fact that she once came from a middle class family gives her no superiors to those living in New Orleans. Higgins too looses the lady that he made, as Eliza becomes a reveal to Higgins. She also clashes with the male dominated society she lives in, as she becomes the breadwinner of her husband and her father. She, contrasting to Stella and Blanche becomes financially and emotionally independent.
