Nessie School of Languages

PLOT

    The two main protagonists of this famous
drama play come from a former wealthy family, 
but one of them, Stella Kowalski, is now living with her arrogant
husband in a small apartment in the multiracial city of New Orleans. She
receives her sister?s unexpected visit, Blanche Dubois, who is a schoolteacher
from Laurel, Mississippi. Even thouth they hadn?t seen each other for a few
years, Blanche has got in mind to stay at Stella?s apartment for a long time,
because she had nowhere to go. She was forced to tell her younger sister that
she had lost Belle Reve, their
ancestral home, after all their relatives had died. She also tells her that she
has been allowed not to work for a few months because of her bad nerves.
Despite not having enough money to pay for a hotel room, Blanche doesn?t like
the Kowalskis? two-room apartment and its location in a noisy, working-class
neighbourhood. Stella?s husband, Stanley Kowalski, who is an American citizen
from Polish origins, dislikes his sister-in-law immediately. Stella appeared to
be happy enough to forget her formal social status, just because she loved
having sex with her husband, who came from a much lower social class. Kowalski
is suspicious of Blanche?s  cheating Stella,
as far as their family inheritance is concerned. Blanche is forced to reveal
that she had lost Belle Reve, because
she couldn?t pay for a mortgage. Her heavy drinking habit, which she is trying
to conceal from her sister and brother-in-law, shows the heavy difficulties she
is having in life.

    Stella and Stanley?s difficult relationship
is eventually revealed when he hosts a poker game with his drunken male friends
at the apartment. Blanche gets in love with Stanley?s close friend, Mitch.
Stanley gets angry when he realises what can happen, and has a terrible
argument, first with Branche and later with his wife, who he tries to beat. The
two sisters escape to Eurice?s apartment, their upstairs neighbour. A short
while later, Stella goes back to her husband and spend the night together. The next
day, Blanche tries to convince Stella to leave Stanley, and suggests that they
should get in touch with a millionaire called Shep Huntleigh, who may help them
escape from New Orleans.

    Meanwhile Stanley overhears Blanche and
Stella?s conversation, in which Blanche confesses she is broke and hates
Stanley, who has found out her sordid past. Years ago, her young husband
committed suicide after she discovered his homosexuality. After losing the
Dubois mansion, Blanche moved into a 
motel from which she was eventually evicted because of her several
sexual liaisons. Also, she was fired from her job as a schoolteacher because
the Principal discovered that she was having an affair with a teenage student.
Stanley told Mitch everything, and he didn?t turn up at Blanche?s birthday
dinner. Stanley gives her as a present a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel.
Several hours later, Mitch tells her they can?t get married because he already
knew her past, although he still wants to have sex with her. Later, Stanley returns
from the hospital where his wife was about to give birth to find Blanche drunk.
She tells him that she will soon be leaving New Orleans with a millionaire who
had been a former lover of hers. Stanley doesn?t believe her story and have
another argument, and he uses his physical strength to take her to bed and rape
her.

    The last scene takes place a few weeks
later, as Stella and her neighbour Eunice are packing Blanche?s bags. A doctor
arrives to take Blanche to an insane asylum, although Blanche believes she is
leaving to join her millionaire. Stella confesses to Eunice that she simply
cannot believe Blanche?s raping. Mitch begins to cry, as he realises he had
lost her. Finally, the doctor convinces Blanche to leave with him. She allows
him to lead her away and does not look back or say goodbye as she goes. Stella
is crying deeply with her child in her arms, and Stanley is telling her some
loving words.    

CHOSEN THEME:

BRUTALITY

    Tennessee Williams?s A Street Car Named
Desire is a classical American play, which displays ruthlessness in many
ways. It deals with Blanche Dubois?s visit to Elysian Fields and her disputes
with her sister?s brutal and arrogant husband, Stanley Kowalski, and the
revealing truth of Blanche?s reasons for coming. Kowalski is a very cruel and
heartless person, who always has the feeling to be better than anybody else.
His violent actions during the play leave the reader with a bad taste in their
mouths. His brutality is shown  numerous  times during the play, but we have only
chosen the three most violent scenes.

     We can see his first array of brutality at
the poker night when, all in a sudden, he gets very angry and throws the radio
out of the window. Blanche had turned the radio on, but Stanley asked her to
turn it off immediately. Following to her refusal, he got up and turned it off
himself. When Stanley?s friend, Mitch, drops out of the game to talk to the
woman, Kowalski gets furious and even more when Blanche turns the radio on
again. Due to the music being on, Stanley, in a rage, comes into the room and
catches the radio and throws it out of the window. His friends immediately
jumped up, and then they took  him to the
shower, as they had realised he was completely drunk.

    Another brutal scene is displayed when he
beat his wife Stella. Not only did throwing the radio out of the window
represent a terrible behaviour, but so did beating his wife. During his entire
rage during poker night, he is not sober, which leads to another problem. After
the scene with he radio, he immediately wanted to hit Stella. He was in such a
rage and he was so drunk that when he reached her, he hit her in the face.
Luckily, his friends threw him to the floor and avoided the heavy beating. This
action leads the reader to believe that he is a very brutal person and
definitely needs some psychological help to aid him to control his brutal
temper.

     But, lastly, his most barbarous action
comes when he rapes Blanche, while his wife was in hospital. When Blanche finds
out that Stanley has to spend the night at home because Stella hadn?t given
birth yet, she gets scared just with the thought of being alone in the
house  with him. When Blanche tells
Stanley that she has put Mitch in his place for being mean to her, Stanley
explodes in terror. Then Stanley goes to the bathroom to put on his silk
pyjamas. When he comes out , he shows his arrogance again and Blanche feels
threatened by his words. She smashes a bottle on the table to use the sharp
edge to fend him off. Stanley approaches her carefully, but Blanche swings at
him and Stanley catches her arm and forces her to drop the weapon. She then
collapses at his feet and he picks her up and carries her to the bedroom and
rapes her.

    This event is a good example of Stanley?s
brutality, because it shows that he was greedy to the fact that he couldn?t
just have one woman, and it also showed that he is very arrogant because he
feels well now, because he had conquered Blanche and he had won.

     In conclusion, Stanley?s brutality is
evident throughout the entire course of the play. Clearly, his rape of Blanche,
beating of Stella, and throwing the radio out of the window are all examples of
why Stanley is such a fierce and intimidating character in this play.

MY POINT OF VIEW

    A Streetcar Named Desire presents a
sharp criticism of the way the institutions and attitudes of post-war America
placed restrictions on women?s lives. Williams uses Blanche?s and Stella?s
dependence on men to expose and criticise the treatment of women during the
transition from the old to the new South[1]. Both Blanche and
Stella see male companions as their only means to achieve happiness, and they
depend on men for both their maintenance and their self-image. Blanche
recognises that Stella could be happier without her physically abusive husband,
Stanley. Yet, the alternative Blanche proposes?contacting millionaire Shep Huntleigh
for financial support?still involves complete dependence on men. When Stella
chooses to stay with Stanley, she chooses to rely on love, and believe in a man
instead of her sister. The author does not necessarily criticise Stella?he
makes it quite clear that Stanley represents a much more secure future than
Blanche does.

    For herself, Blanche sees marriage to Mitch
as her means of escaping from total poverty. Men?s exploitation of Blanche?s
sexuality has left her with a poor reputation. Blanche sees marriage as her
only possibility for survival. When Mitch rejects her because of what Stanley
had told him about her reputation, Blanche immediately thinks of another man
who might rescue her. Because Blanche cannot see around her dependence on men,
she has no realistic conception of how to rescue herself. Blanche does not
realise that her dependence on men will lead to her total downfall. By relying
on men, Blanche puts her fate in the hands of others.

    It is one of the best drama plays I have
ever read. Its powerful language introduces deeply in the plot. Any reader can
feel the events immediately and let off a feeling of pity for the women?s fate.

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