How do the characters attitudes to sex and sexuality create dramatic conflict in 'A Streetcar Named Desire?'

Authors Avatar

Caroline Neal 12M

How do the characters attitudes to sex and sexuality create dramatic conflict in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire?’

In Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, the attitudes towards sex and sexuality, prominently shown through Blanche and Stanley, create dramatic conflict in the play.  Blanche has had an eventful past, and it is particularly the knowledge that she caused the suicide of her husband that consumes her.  Her guilt seems to have been transferred to sexual feelings, and the way these feelings are acted upon cause several instances of dramatic conflict, primarily that between herself and Stanley.  Her past also creates conflict between herself and Stella, as she has never experienced the lasting physical relationship her and Stanley have due to her own brief sexual experiences, which are a complete contrast.  It is also through degrading herself sexually that Mitch finally rejects her, when he finds out the truth about her past and sees that she is not the prim and proper woman the thought her to be, and instead is a flirtatious whore.   However, the attitudes of the characters (and particularly Blanche) do not only create conflict between characters, but also show the difference between illusion and reality – highlighted by Blanche’s lies.

Stanley’s violence is part of his sexual prowess, and is carried out in the middle of the play where he brutalises his pregnant wife, and also when he rapes Blanche.  Williams establishes throughout the play that Stanley is cruel and domineering, not only to the two principle women in the play but also to his best friend Mitch, who he informs of Blanches sexual misdeeds as well as the other men, who he forces to obey him.  Stanley’s desire to dominate everyone around him finds its ultimate expression in his conflicting relationship with Blanche.  That desire is frustrated in scene 1, firstly when he attempts to frighten Blanche by exhibiting his physical prowess as a result of Blanche’s flirting, and secondly when he finds that physically intimidating Stella causes Blanche to try to take her away from him.  From that moment in the play he becomes obsessed with finding Blanche’s weakness, so as soon as he discovers that she has committed sexual indiscretions in Laurel and senses her feelings of guilt, he immediately acts.  The conflict between these two characters, as well as between Blanche and her sister are shown through several confrontations, all centered on their sexual attitudes, and all mainly concerning Blanche’s promiscuous past.

Join now!

From the audience’s first introduction to Stanley is when he ‘heaves the package’ of meat at Stella to the last, when his ‘fingers find the opening of (Stella’s) bra as the doctor and nurse take Blanche away, Stanley is shown as an expression of animalistic territory – the sexual domineering male.  It is immediately clear that there is going to be conflict between him and Blanche, as in their first encounter he is irritated as she has been drinking his liquor.  He immediately senses an invasion of his territory by Blanche, who has taken something that belongs to him. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay