Are you sure you want to remove #bookConfirmation# In the first scene, he is seen bringing home the raw meat. Blanche becomes a threat to his way of life; she is a foreign element, a hostile force, a superior being whom he can't understand. Moreover, he is a controlling and domineering man, demanding subservience from his wife in the belief that his authority is threatened by Blanche's arrival. The husband of Stella. He is the man who likes to lay his cards on the table. However, the character that is the most fascinating is Stella’s husband and the antagonist of A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley Kowalski. She has never conceded to him his right to be the "king" in his own house. He must present her past life to his wife so that she can determine who is the superior person. The usual reaction is to see him as a brute because of the way that he treats the delicate Blanche. He is in his late 20s and works as a traveling salesman. Vital, coarse, sensual, accustomed to humor himself in everything, Stanley Kowalski is a monkey man, with a sleeping soul and primitive inquiries. Blanche DuBois. When Blanche He wears lurid colors and parades his physicality, stripping off sweaty shirts and smashing objects throughout the play. Very useful for A-Level English Literature with accompanying quotes per scene. Character Analysis: Stanley Kowalski – “A Streetcar Named Desire”. The first introduction of Stanley in Williams’s play surfaces in Act I, Scene I. Blanche has just arrived to Stella and Stanley’s apartment and is gains details on Stanley. He does not concern himself with the feelings of Blanche. and any corresponding bookmarks? to which Blanche doesn’t belong, because she is a relic from a defunct Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire research papers are a character analysis on Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' play. is evident in his love of work, of fighting, and of sex. This explains his use of legal terminology. He can understand no relationship between man and woman except a sexual one, where he sees the man's role as giving and taking pleasure from this relationship to his wife. 1827 words (7 pages) Essay in Psychology. It is a survival of the fittest. He knows that this would not have occurred if Blanche had not been present. But even the management of … It is the survival of the fittest, and Stanley is the strongest. At the beginning of the play, we see the main male character Stanley Kowalski as a hero as he is very loyal to his friends and very passionately in love with his wife. His disturbing, degenerate nature, first hinted at when he beats This is unquestionable, and is evident numerous times throughout the play. All rights reserved. bowling, sex, and drinking, and he lacks ideals and imagination. Women tended to be restricted to a single major societal role—housewife. Stanley’s animosity toward Blanche manifests itself in all We cannot deny the fact that Stanley Kowalski is a fascinating character. of Stanley as the ideal family man, comforting his wife as she holds He is controlled by natural instincts untouched by the advances of civilization. His dress is loud and gaudy. The Character of Stanley in A Streetcar Named Desire A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, is a classical play about Blanche Dubois’s visit to Elysian Fields and her encounters with her sister’s barbaric husband, Stanley Kowalski. by asserting that he was born in America, is an American, and can only It looks like you've lost connection to our server. social hierarchy. When he finds out that she has slept so indiscriminately with so many men, he cannot understand why she should object to one more. Life After War: PTSD and the Character of Stanley Kowalski Madison Elizabeth Little College. Each quote selected is given with an analysis that can be used as a prompt for the understanding of the text. He also (rightly) sees His extreme virility is… read analysis of Stanley Kowalski He grunts and has a loud, bold personality. Most people consider themselves pretty ordinary, fairly normal, and maybe even a little common. Blanche's character boldly demonstrates delicate femininity, while Stanley's character shows aggressive masculinity. Instead of a normal typical way of loving, Stanley and Stella live a life filled with sexual intimacy. He is the man who likes to lay his cards on the table. The wrongfulness of this representation, given bookmarked pages associated with this title. Stella in Scene Eight. Character Analysis Of Stanley Kowalski 's A Streetcar Named Desire. 884 Words 4 Pages. A STREET CAR NAMED DESIRE: CHARACTER ANALYSIS OF STANLEY KOWALSKI Stanley Kowalski, Stella's husband, is a man of solid, blue-collar stock - direct, passionate, and often violent. Stanley serves as the antithesis to Blanche … Stanley sees himself as a prosecutor exposing the truth about Blanche's past for the benefit of his family. He is loyal to his friends and passionate to his wife. are. He is like the Stone Age savage bringing home the meat from the kill. He sees himself as a social leveler, as he tells Stanley He wants only to force the issue to its completion. Stanley first feels the threat when he finds out that Belle Reve has been lost. The play ends with an image To the over-sensitive person, such as Blanche, Stanley represents a holdover from the Stone Age. He feels that having proved how degenerate Blanche actually is, he is now justified in punishing her directly for all the indirect insults he has had to suffer from her. Then the following morning when he overhears himself being referred to as bestial, common, brutal, and a survivor of the Stone Age, he is justifiably enraged against Blanche. In his mind, she has never been sympathetic toward him, she has ridiculed him, and earlier she had even flirted with him but has never been his. Now the Flamingo is used to all kinds of goings-on. Thus he buys her the bus ticket back to Laurel and reveals her past to Mitch. He possesses no quality that would not be considered manly in the most basic sense. In the play, A Streetcar Named Desire, author Tennessee Williams does a wonderful job developing the character of Stanley Kowalski. By more sensitive people, he is seen as common, crude, and vulgar. Stanley is a crude, domineering man who is physically imposing. He is the man who likes to lay his cards on the table. He goes straight to the truth without any shortcuts. Stella’s husband, is full of raw strength, ferocity, violent masculinity, and animal magnetism. His clothes are loud and gaudy. But, in that sense, Stanley Kowalski is exceptional, partly because of Marlon Brando, who created the role, and largely because of how Williams conceived the … 2.1 Stanley Kowalski lives in a basic, fundamental world which allows for no subtleties and no refinements. Stanley Kowalski is a very brutal person who always has to feel that he is better than everyone else. Stanley possesses an animalistic physical vigor that He is animal-like and his actions are such. Stanley Kowalski. If someone gets destroyed, that is the price that must be paid. Stanley Kowalski: Villain or Family Man? calls him a “Polack,” he makes her look old-fashioned and ignorant Now that he feels his superiority again, he begins to act. He resents her superior attitude and bides his time. harmfully crude and brutish. Or he breaks dishes or strikes his wife. She is a challenge and a threat. Throughout Blanche's stay at his house, he feels that she has drunk his liquor, eaten his food, used his house, but still has belittled him and has opposed him. But this dislike would stem from too much identification with Blanche. Stanley Kowalski is a fictional character in Tennessee Williams ' play A Streetcar Named Desire. to fool him and his friends into thinking she is better than they However this love is quite different from what the audience expects. He has lost property, something that belonged to him. Stanley Kowalski, from Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, certainly considers himself common, a fact he is both proud and ashamed of. His chief amusements are gambling, Stanley is the epitome of vital force. Some will even go so far as to dislike this man intensely. The Dubois clan, embodied by Blanche, represents the genteel society of the Southern plantation owners that presided through… Stanley is hated by Blanche as well as most readers for his actions and how he treats the characters in the story. He sees his pregnant and glowing wife Stella preparing him dinner. Stanley Kowalski Character Analysis in A Streetcar Named Desire | SparkNotes A Streetcar Named Desire Audience members may well see Stanley as an egalitarian hero at the play’s start. When aroused to anger, he strikes back by throwing things, like the radio. 10. his wife, is fully evident after he rapes his sister-in-law. This powerpoint is a thorough breakdown of the character Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. from your Reading List will also remove any shows no remorse for his brutal actions. Stanley Kowalski : She moved to the hotel called Flamingo which is a second class hotel that has the advantages of not interfering with the private and social life of the personalities there. He lives in a rougher city, where love is … These two worlds are so diametrically opposed that they can never meet. The roles of women and men through the mid 1900’s were vastly different. Stanley Kowalski, fictional character, the brutish husband of Stella and brother-in-law of Blanche DuBois in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) by Tennessee Williams. To the reader’s sensibilities, his actions are abhorrent. His family Stanley’s intense hatred of Blanche is motivated in part Stanley Kowalski stumbles home drunkenly to his upstairs apartment. His language is rough and crude. His only concern is to discover whether he has been cheated. With the appearance of Blanche, Stanley feels an uncomfortable threat to those things that are his. He sees himself as the ruler of his family. Blanche asks Stella if Stanley will like her (Williams, 1121). character of stanley kowalski Essay Examples Top Tag’s fahrenheit 451 i believe causes of the civil war university of florida death penalty american revolution acts compare and contrast values globalization christmas cold war courage textual analysis poetry Stanley is loud, often bellowing and banging things around, in contrast, Blanche's character is dainty, she's quiet, and can't handle loud noises. He can understand no relationship between man and woman except a sexual one, where he sees the man’s … Consequently, when we approach the rape scene, we must understand that Stanley perceives Blanche as having made him endure too much. CliffsNotes study guides are written by real teachers and professors, so no matter what you're studying, CliffsNotes can ease your homework headaches and help you score high on exams. Analysis of Stanley Kowalski’s Mental Health. In the end, Stanley’s down-to-earth character proves His attack is slow and calculated. Stanley, then, is the hard, brutal man who does not understand the refinements of life. He can understand no relationship between man and woman except a sexual one, where he sees the man's role as giving and taking pleasure from this relationship. question society’s decision to ostracize Blanche. When he is winning, he is happy as a little boy. A Streetcar Named Desire Character Analysis Stella Kowalski The glaring contrast and fierce struggle between the two worlds of Stanley Kowalski and Blanche DuBois are the main themes of Williams' play. at being called “Polack” and other derogatory names. He's a man of habit and structure, and his desires in life are quite simple: 1) he enjoys maintaining stereotypical gender roles in his home, with himself as the respected head of the household; 2) he likes spending time with his male friends; and 3) his sexual relationship with his wife is very important to him. Thus, he must sit idly by and see his marriage and home destroyed, and himself belittled, or else he must strike back. In Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire, the main antagonist, Stanley Kowalski, can only be described as down-to-earth and brutish. He is loyal to his friends and passionate Research papers on Stanley in William's A Streetcar Named Desire give a character portrayal of one of literatures most beloved characters. Whereas most men … He probes into the problem without tact or diplomacy. Characters such as Blanche, Stella, Mitch and Stanley are used to represent the aristocracy and working class. Certainly, his frankness will allow for no deviation from the straightforward truth. be called “Polish.” Stanley represents the new, heterogeneous America of his actions toward her—his investigations of her past, his birthday "Animal joy in his being is implicit," and he enjoys mainly those things that are his — his wife, his apartment, his liquor, "his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer.". With his Polish ancestry, he represents the new, heterogeneous America. He begins to compile information about Blanche's past life. He is, then, "the gaudy seed-bearer," who takes pleasure in his masculinity. Stanley Kowalski lives in a basic, fundamental world which allows for no subtleties and no refinements. their newborn child. He can understand no relationship between man and woman except a sexual one, where he sees the man's … When he is losing at poker, he is unpleasant and demanding. He sees himself as a social leveler, … Streetcar Named Desire Character Analysis of Stanley Kowalski A Streetcar Named Desire revolves around the association of Blanche with Stanley, who represents contemporary social values driven by male dominance. Thus when the basic man, such as Stanley, feels threatened, he must strike back. April 24, 2019 by Essay Writer When looking at A Streetcar Named Desire – a tragedy, after all – it is traditionally required that there should be a selected antagonist, a ‘villain’ so to speak. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Stanley loves Stella ––she is the soft, feminine foil to his violent ways. His outside pleasures are bowling and poker. gift to her, his sabotage of her relationship with Mitch. He is loyal to his friends, passionate to his wife, and heartlessly cruel to Blanche. what we have learned about him in the play, ironically calls into Stanley is Stella's husband, a former military man, a lower-level worker, “a great breeding producer,” who appears in the book as the opposite of the main character. If his wife has been swindled, he has been swindled. He does not care for Belle Reve as a bit of ancestral property, but, instead, he feels that a part of it is his. Stanley Kowalski, Scene 7. He is the man who likes to lay his cards on the table. Previous Stanley feels the first threat to his marriage after the big fight he has with Stella after the poker game. is from Poland, and several times he expresses his outrage Stanley Kowalski lives with his wife Stella in a small apartment in New Orleans. Stanley Kowalski lives in a basic, fundamental world which allows for no subtleties and no refinements. When I first heard that we were going to be performing scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire for our Acting Techniques class in November, I couldn’t determine whether I was excited or worried about it. Analysis of Stanley Kowalski’s Role in Tennesee Williams’ Book, A Streetcar Named Desire Ambur Dumais Using the first three scenes of “A Streetcar Named Desire”, it is safe to use certain words to describe Stanley Kowalski: animalistic, dominance-driven, and hotheaded. Stanley wouldn't be surprised if a law was passed against Blanche and people like her. Thus, when something threatens him, he must strike back in order to preserve his own threatened existence. hero at the play’s start. by the aristocratic past Blanche represents. He relishes in loud noises, and his voice rings out like a loud bellow. Even the symbols connected with Stanley support his brutal, animal-like approach to life. Stanley Kowalski lives in a basic, fundamental world which allows for no subtleties and no refinements. It is her presence which is causing the dissension between him and his wife. The description of Stanley from page 24-25 also gives the audience an insight into Stanley’s character. When he has his information accumulated, he is convinced that however common he is, his life and his past are far superior to Blanche's. He eats like an animal and grunts his approval or disapproval. © 2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He is bestial and brutal and determined to destroy that which is not his. Removing #book# He wears lurid colors and parades his physicality, stripping off sweaty shirts and smashing objects throughout the play. He is the man of physical action. Class conflict is represented throughout the play, A Streetcar Named Desire in various ways through characters, symbols, ideas and language. Stanley often bellows when he speaks. Audience members may well see Stanley as an egalitarian Actor Marlon Brando delivered a powerful performance in the role, both on … His extreme virility is a direct contrast to Blanche’s homosexual husband who committed suicide. Thus, he rapes her partly out of revenge, partly because one more man shouldn't make any difference, and finally, so that she will be his in the only way he fully understands. He has no patience for Blanche and the illusions she cherishes. First including his body type, “He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built”; giving the audience a chance to observe his physical outline. To me, his character seemed most like that of a true person. He feels most strongly that she is a threat to his marriage. her as untrustworthy and does not appreciate the way she attempts A-Level English Literature with accompanying quotes per scene to all kinds of goings-on considered manly in story! 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