A Struggle of Wills

A theme that I found interesting in the play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is the power struggle between Blanche and Stanley. They are both headstrong and confident, and both know what they want. The real difference between them, I feel, is that they each have different ways of persuading people and getting what they want. Stanley is physical and aggressive and relies on his natural strength and intimidation to get what he wants. Blanche, on the other hand, has to be more subtle about the way she goes about things, and instead uses her charm and manipulative ways to get to people.

Stanley is seen as a force of brute strength and aggression, and this is evident throughout the play, but particularly in two parts. The first part is when he lashes out at Blanche and Stella for disrupting his poker game. “Stanley stalks fiercely through the portiers into the bedroom. He crosses to the small white radio and snatches it off the table. With a shouted oath, he tosses the instrument out the window.” (page 1137) Stanley then proceeds to hit Stella and takes his anger out on her. He has to be pinned down by the other men before he can come to his senses, but this is not the end of his violent escapades. His worst act is yet to come, when he rapes Blanche. “He springs toward her, overturning the table. She cries out and strikes at him with the bottle top but he catches her wrist….. She sinks to her knees:He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed.” (page 1171). This excerpt clearly indicates that Stanley is nothing more than a bully who uses his strength and physical prowess to get what he wants. This scene is particularly disturbing and gives the audience a sense of his brutal and animalistic nature.

Blanche is more subdued with her attempt to gain power, and indeed much of her manipulation and sway over people is sexual in nature, and she uses her natural good looks to get what she wants. This is evident in the scene where she reveals to Mitch that she was sleeping around with multiple men ever since her husband committed suicide, eventually ending up in trouble because she was caught with a student of hers. However, I think her most telling moment is in the beginning of the play, where she tries with all her might to persuade her sister to leave Stanley. “In this dark march towards whatever were approaching, don’t-- don’t hang back with the brutes!” (page 1144). Even though Blanche is unsuccessful at persuading her sister, I feel this scene is a good indicator of how she works. Doing it behind Stanley’s back, playing on Stella’s emotions and fears about Stanley, and using what had happened on the poker night as a fall back. Her manipulation is unsuccessful however, and the results are disastrous.

I feel that with these two types of personalities and ways of accumulating power butting heads throughout the play, I feel that William’s is making a broader generalization about society as a whole. I feel he is taking the worst stereotypes that exist in people’s minds about both genders and making them into two distinct characters, which I find fascinating. Williams was very clever with the numerous themes woven throughout the story, and I think the ending is fitting because both really do not get what they want in the end. Stanley and Blanche both have some redeeming qualities and some bad ones. Ultimately, the ending was realistic and the resolution of the play is shocking to say the least.