Analysis Of Stanley Kowalski In A Streetcar Named Desire

Most people consider themselves pretty ordinary, fairly normal, and maybe even a little common. Stanley Kowalski, from Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire, certainly considers himself common, a fact he is both proud and ashamed of. He lives in a rougher city, where love is not always well understood. When his wife’s sister, Blanche, lives in his house for a while, Stanley is outraged and wants her gone, as she is everything he is not. Throughout the play, Stanley seems to dominate the scene with his loud presence. There are a few scenes of remorse, but he does not change throughout the play. He only continues what he knows how to do, which is abuse, dominate, and then be remorseful, but not remorseful enough to actually repent of his abusiveness.
From the beginning, Stanley is shown as a man who needs to be manly. The very first description of him, where he is shown as “the emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer” (Williams 1826), one can see that he views the gentler sex as lower than him. He sees them as vessels for his pleasure, and while he might be willing to take a girl to completion, …show more content…
Liquor brings it out in sharp focus, and while some might blame drinking, the alcohol only brings out what is already there. He does not like the radio getting turned on without his permission, which to him smacks of rebellion. Stanley needs to be the one in charge and cannot be undermined by mere women, especially one that he dislikes. When Stella leaves because Stanley hit her, he becomes remorseful, as he senses his control over his life is slipping. Despite him calling her back “with heaven-splitting violence” (Williams 1842), Stella takes him back, and does not demand change at all. In fact, “her eyes [went] blind with tenderness” (Williams 1842), which reinforced Stanley’s idea that he can be abusive as long as he apologizes. In this way, Stella is a stumbling block in getting Stanley to