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Williams' Presentation of the Relationship between Blanche and Stanley: What is at Stake in the Conflict between them?

Blanche as Disturbing Feminine Mirror of Stanley


Discuss the ways Williams presents the relationship between Blanche and Stanley, explaining what you think is at stake in the conflict between them.


?A Streetcar Named Desire? (henceforth ?Streetcar?) revolves around the strained relationship, often turning to open hostility, between its two main characters. When the play is staged or filmed, it is essential that the two actors have a strange mix of sexual chemistry and violent thoughts between them to try to capture this, being the main points of their interaction, and this goes a long way to explaining the feelings of the play. There are three main threads that run through the protracted conflict between them: sex, snobbery, and savagery. The central question however is, despite these differences and contrasts, the similarities between the two.

The first theme, that of sex, is one that is often understated and near undetectable in Williams? work - the situation in drama at the time allowed only a certain amount of even remotely sexual behaviour, with all the overtly sexual acts being hinted at or happening offstage.
However, it is near impossible to underestimate the influence that sex exerts in both the environment and relationships evoked in ?Streetcar?. Within seconds of meeting Blanche, Stanley has already forced her into ?drawing involuntarily back from his stare?, a stare that has implicit ?animal joy? and ?crude?sexual classifications?. He quickly proceeds to ?make himself comfortable? by removing his shirt. Blanche is obviously flustered by this act, stuttering and embarrassedly trying to conceal her attraction: ?Please, please do? Here you are!? Following in scene two Williams uses sexual behaviour to heighten the tension before Stanley explodes; Blanche is engaged in ?fishing for a compliment?, ?smiling? and ?playfully spraying him?, and is obviously impressed by Stanley?s power and energy: ?Ouuuuuu? she screams in a light-hearted way as he ?booms? at her. She later admits to Stella that she was indeed ?flirting with (her) husband?, and seems shaken by the whole experience. Sex has obviously always been a big part of Blanche?s life, but she suffers from denial thereof: ?Virgo the virgin? is her star sign, derided by Stanley with a ?ha?. When in scene five Stanley confronts Blanche with the testament of Shaw and his damning evidence about ?The Flamingo?, Blanche?s voice ?contains a note of fear.? If this were true, she stands to loose the love of her sister, and perhaps more importantly for her long-term future, Mitch. She wants to ?breathe quietly again? in Mitch?s protection, and so her ?lily white? reputation must be kept. Although she denies her loose morals, she then quickly proves that she is in fact a woman of very questionable sexual values, as she kisses a young man she does not know, admitting that she ?should keep (her) hands off children.? Of course her loose sexual morals, yet complete affectations to sexual squeamishness, annoy Mitch and Stanley, and they contribute to her eventual destruction. As encounters like this lead us to believe, Blanche really is too similar to Stanley for her own admission: she too enjoys the ?giving and taking? of sexual pleasure, and her ?line (that) she?s been feeding to Mitch? as Stanley puts it, is simply a denial of this.

The second theme is that of snobbery and cultural clashes, which pervade the relationship between Blanche and Stanley, and become oft-used ammunition in the fights between them.
Blanche is from the old French aristocracy of Louisiana, (Blanche DuBois ? ?It?s a French name. It means woods and Blanche means white??) and as such appears to cling to the values of this system. These include a large country house, perhaps a plantation run by slaves, and thus breeds incredible snobbery. To her, Stanley is simply a ?polack?, an ?animal?, and of course should not have married into her high French family. She makes continual references to the idea that they are animals, and only good for the kind of meaningless sexual encounters that she so enjoys: ?In bed with your ? Polack!? and ?The only way to live with such a man is to - go to bed with him!? She then uses these kinds of terms in front of Stanley, often dressing them up as being more patronising than anything: ?You healthy Polack, without a nerve in your body?? and Stanley?s recounting of ?Pig ? Polack? being two of the most memorable examples. Blanche of course frequently takes other opportunities to make longer statements about how she is of course a paragon of cultivation in an attempt to blind Stanley to her true nature, which is perhaps all to similar to his. She speaks for example of art: ?I like an artist who paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours.? Of course, here is an indication to one of the central ironies of the story, one that Stanley picks up on. Blanche is of course not what she claims to be; very few of the Southern aristocracy ever were. Primary colours are representative of simple and base pleasures and ideas like Sex: ideas that Blanche claims to reject.
Stanley too is prone to snobbery, as many who had worked for their houses and possessions would be. He is suspicious of Blanche simply because she is an aristocrat, before he has even found basis for this: ?So what?s the deal, huh?? Stanley quickly enquires over the ?loss? of Belle Reve. Indeed, as he barks to Stella: ?The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions.? This prejudice comes out again and again throughout the play with comments like ?Dame Blanche? and ?Her Majesty.? Of course Blanche?s behaviour has a lot to do with these appellations, but the fact remains that the two of them are from different worlds: exemplified by the ?white columns? and ?cemetery? of Belle Reve an ancient place of quiet and solitude; and the ?raffish charm? and ?cosmopolitan city? of New Orleans, from which Stanley hails. Belle Reve is old, disappearing, outmoded, just like the rural, agricultural values of its owners. At the same time, the dynamic and fluid structure of the city is the industrialised future where chances for renewal and advancement for all are given. This dynamism, in which Blanche looks ?incongruous? whilst Stanley is perfectly at home, is an indication of the eventual winner. Whilst the stakes of the personal conflict between Stanley and Blanche are material and emotional, Williams could be seen to be suggesting that the stakes in the Deep South include a very way of life. A way of life so old and inbred that it is being overtaken and upturned by a radical but fresh mode that seems unstoppable. The constant references to ?locomotives?thunder(ing) past? and Stanley?s mechanics job help to show Blanche?s life?s loosing fight for survival.
The third and final facet of the presentation of the relationship between Blanche and Stanley is Violence. There are several examples of violence in the play; not all of them perpetrated by Stanley. For example, the fights between Steve and Eunice show that Stanley is not alone in resorting to violence and shouting. However it must be recognised that Stanley is not an articulate man, and thus resolves many of his issues through violence. However, as with the sexual content of the play, much of the violence is strongly suggested, but takes place off-stage.
From scene two onwards we become aware of Stanley?s violent tendencies as he ?jerks? open Blanche?s affairs and ?hurls? her furs to the bed. Blanche soon experiences her first taste in this scene as well. Stanley ?booms? at her and ?seizes her atomizer and slams it to the floor? before ransacking her letters and papers at nearly no provocation. In the following scene ?with a shouted oath, he tosses the (radio) out of the window? after Blanche turns it on. In the ensuing violence Blanche sees Stanley hit her sister before brawling with his poker-buddies. No doubt this makes Blanche far more wary in future, and leads directly to her impassioned plea for Stella to ?Pull (herself) together and face facts? and not to ?hang back with the brutes.? However, Blanche has to suffer little direct violence from Stanley, more shouts and veiled threats. In scene eight for example, Stanley clears his plates in the way that we would expect (?He hurls the plate to the floor.?), but does nothing to Blanche, or even Stella for that matter. However, the tension that these sporadic bouts of violence, tense conversations (?She throws back her head land laughs, STELLA also makes an ineffectual effort to seem amused. STANLEY pays no attention??) and exits (?STANLEY stalks out on the porch and lights a cigarette?) build up to a horrific climax where Blanche really does suffer Stanley?s violence. The sexual violence in scene ten serves Stanley as a means of venting his anger and hatred of Blanche, who has humiliated and abused him right up until that moment: ?Swine! And I?m thinking not only of you?? Williams presents it as near inevitable: ?We?ve has this date with each other since the beginning.? He also shows the hopelessness of resistance by Blanche as Stanley easily disarms her of the bottle top. The final scene serves as an effective conclusion to the relationship between Blanche and Stanley, as it resolves all of the suppressed violence that we have so far seen. Here, the stakes are reduced to simple animal instincts and survival. Blanche is no longer fighting for her future with Mitch or her sister?s love; simply Stanley?s violent urges.

In concert with the themes of ?Streetcar?, the presentation of conflict between Blanche and Stanley is one of a weak, fading, and delicate person against a powerful, vibrant and brash one. The stakes vary, being at the beginning optimistic hopes for Blanche of salvaging her life, to being at the end the love and protection of her sister and being able to stay off the streets. Of course she looses the fight, and to the eyes of many this is Williams commentary on the way the world works: the old giving way to the new, the weak to the powerful, and the delicate to the brash.

by Brian Melican





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