What drives Stanley to seek Blanche's destruction in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire"?

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M.Ianiri                What Drives Stanley to seek Blanches Destruction

He is loud mouthed, opinionated, sexist, aggressive and animalistic- all overriding characteristics of Stanley Kowalski the man who in no small part is responsible for the dramatic collapse of Blanche. On first impression there is very little reason for the audience to feel sympathetic towards Stanley, but in my opinion it is unfair to hate Stanley for actions and characteristics that he has little or no control over. Stanley’s actions are largely motivated by his wish to protect his wife and unborn baby, surely a natural reaction for which he should not be judged so harshly.

Stanley sees Blanche as a threat, an invasion of territory, something that needs to be dealt with. Stanley is continuously described as bestial by Blanche a fact that he never protests, why then are we shocked, even horrified by the rape of Blanche when Stanley is only in-keeping with a pattern of behaviour over which it is obvious he has little or no control. In my opinion Blanche is as much if not more to blame for her eventual downfall at the hands of Stanley. From very early on Stanley establishes himself as a symbol of the old World, whereas Blanche remains a symbol of the old world of white houses, frilly dresses and slaves. From the beginning we see that Blanche does not fit in with the people of her new community, nor her physical surroundings in her new home. We can see that she did not fit in with the people of the community by comparing the manner in which women in the story handle their social life with men .Much of Blanches attitude shows how she is unwilling to accept the new world and so also unwilling to accept Stanley. In my view Blanche seals her own fate by encouraging the mutual attraction that exists between the two from the start. Stanley seems right when he says “We’ve had this date from the beginning” Blanche must have been able to see that her behaviour towards Stanley from the first moment they met was forcing Stanley into his later actions. It appears clear that Blanche needs a person like Stanley to survive but she also has no choice but to fight him for survival, this is a dilemma that is never solved. I believe that Blanche’s inability to decide about Stanley is what eventually forces Stanley to find a new level on which Blanche has no way of beating him. The scene when Stanley rapes Blanche is the beginning of the end for Blanche. Sex is her most obvious weakness. That is the reason why she ran to New Orleans in the first place. Since she had come to New Orleans she had tried to avoid it. But, once again, Stanley is in direct contrast to this. Blanche is almost a direct contrast to Stanley.

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Blanche loves living in an idealistic world, while Stanley strictly relies on facts. In the story Blanche makes up a good portion of her past for the majority of the play. When she was young she lived an eloquent life in a mansion, but she eventually lost it due to unpaid bills. She tells everyone this part of her history but neglects to tell them what she had done during the interim period, before she came to Elysian Fields. Ms. DuBois never told them about the promiscuous life she lived before she came. Stanley, on the other hand, persisted in ...

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