In a Street Car Named Desire What do we learn about Stanley in the first two scenes

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What do we learn about Stanley in the first two scenes?

The play ‘A Street Car Named Desire’ by Tennessee Williams has many characters with different personalities. One character that seems to play an important part in this play is Stanley. The ruff and hardened blunt husband of Stella, this is shown to us in the first two scenes introduces this character to the audience, and shows his attitude towards the environment that he lives in. Through out the following I shall be discussing about how Tennessee Williams introduces Stanley to the audience and this helps us learn about him.

At the beginning of the first scene the audience meets Stanley, Tennessee presents Stanly and a friend (Mitch) as ‘They are about twenty-eight or thirty years old roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes’. This gives us an immediate impression of a classic American working class guy, that doesn’t have an impressive education record. Tennessee shows another example that ‘Stanley’ is of a low status, when he addresses ‘Stella’ as ‘Baby!’. This shows the audience that Stanley is not being rude, but it is just the way in which he has developed his vocabulary in a slang street manor. It also shows the audience that he shows little respect even with the use of this slang terminology.

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Another aspect that the audience will learn about Stanley is that he is adored by his wife ‘Stella’ this is shown when she asks Stanley if she can come and watch him play bowling. This would not be normal behavior of average women in the time since, the time when the play is set bowling was to be a manly sport. However one is left to wonder whether if Stanley simply draws women to him in this idealistic way. This extravagant entrance for the character Stanley , makes the audience feel that he has an important influence in the ...

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