Stanley feels that a man should be ‘King’ of the relationship with his ‘little woman’ to attend to his every whim. This is portrayed in Scene 3 at the poker night when he refers to the women as ‘hens’ and also when he belittles Stella in front of his poker buddies by giving her a hard slap on the thigh. Although this behaviour is carried out in mock playfulness, Stanley is really reminding Stella just who is in charge and she accepts this by not retaliating only complaining when he cannot hear by saying to Blanche ‘I hate when he does that.’ In the early scenes of the play Stanley and Stella appear to be affectionate towards each other and have a loving relationship, after all Stella gave up everything to elope with Stanley so the audience will obviously want to be reassured of why when taking the surroundings into consideration. Scene three opens up our eyes to the real relationship that Stella shares with her husband and we see Stella drifting further and further into unhappiness as Stanley’s obsession with Blanche’s past reaches its dramatic climax.
It is painfully obvious from the actions of the couple that their relationship is based on physical attraction, ‘desire’ and sex as opposed to mutual love and respect. After Stanley has hit Stella she runs away but is soon reunited with a whimpering, tattered man on his knees. I feel that this part of the play is difficult to interpret but I have come to two different conclusions. The first is that throughout the rest of the play we do not see any more violent action towards Stella from her husband, this only occurs when he is drunk. Stanley’s behaviour and dismay when he realises his ‘baby doll’ has left him would lead the audience to believe that Stanley cannot comprehend what he has done and is truly genuinely sorry for hurting Stella. The action ‘of pressing his face against her belly’ shows that he has emotions towards his unborn child and as he descends onto his knees this is truly an act of submission as opposed to confrontation. These ideas would lead me to think that Stanley just has anger management issues and was ‘at his worst’ due to drink. The second conclusion would simply be that Stanley cannot stand the though of Stella leaving him as it would demean his manhood. Stanley’s masculinity means a lot to him, as does his pride, if Stella were to walk out on him he would lose face amongst his piers. Therefore, he goes outside and makes a dramatic scene knowing that without a shadow of a doubt Stella’s desire for him sexually will make her unable to resist coming back. This would be an example of Stanley using sex as a weapon.
In conclusion I feel that Stella truly does love Stanley even if she perhaps doesn’t like him very much at certain times. After Stanley rapes her sister she must make the decision of who to believe and she chooses her husband over her own sister this could be interpreted as an act of love or an act of pure fear. Deep down I think Stanley cares for Stella but his background, love for sex and animal instincts would prevent him from feeling pure love for her. How could he love Stella and then have sex with her sister? Stella’s relationship is on a downwards spiral and she will ever escape, she is condemned to it for the rest of her life. The only way out would be if Stanley should decide to set her free.
The play ends with Blanche being taken into a mental institution so we do not find out what happens to Stella and Stanley, this is why Steve and Eunice are brought into the play. They show us how Stella and Stanley will be living in twenty years time. The two relationships are parallel; they both involve violence and confrontation followed by sexual reconciliation.
I am now going to examine the relationship between Blanche and Stanley. Blanche is representative of the dark and Stanley is representative of the light, with such conflicting personalities it is obvious from the instant they meet that we will not see a friendship form between the two. At first Stanley simply tolerates Blanche as her superior attitude irritates him but this eventually turns into blind hatred and the will to cause harm to Blanche. Their relationship is very tense and uncomfortable; usually when we see them in a scene together there is a moment of confrontation or an act of violence. It is fair to comment that Stanley and Blanche never once have a normal conversation.
This all leads back to the ideas about relationships between men and women in general, Stanley hates the fact that Blanche is a women who is better than him, perhaps they are equally immoral but Blanche is clearly more educated and used to nicer things. She has been given all the advantages in life that were never available to Stanley and he resents her for this, more so for the fact that she throws it in his face at every opportunity by referring to him as an ‘ape’ and a ‘Polack’. Stanley cannot stand the thought of a woman who is not going to be subservient to him and at first Blanche seems to have the will power to do this but sadly Stanley breaks her by tormenting and eventually raping her.
In conclusion, the relationships portrayed in ‘A Street Car Names Desire’ all focus on the ideals of male superiority and the inferiority of women. All the women are portrayed as emotionally or physically weak unable to function without the men by their side. Unfortunately in the case of Blanche and Stella it is not their weaknesses destroying their lives it’s the men who play roles in them.
Harriet Walker
