The Street Car Named Desire Essay Research

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In the Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams, Stanley

Kowalski displays his brutality in many ways. This classical play is

about Blanche Dubois?s visit to Elysian Fields and her encounters with

her sister?s brutal and arrogant husband, Stanley Kowalski, and the

reveling truth of why Blanche really came. Stanley Kowalski is a very

brutal and barbaric person who always has to feel that no one is

better than him. His brutish and ferocious actions during the play

leave the reader with a bad taste in their mouths. Stanley?s

brutality is shown in several places during the duration of The Street

Car Named Desire . For example, his first array of brutality is

evident at the poker night when he gets so angry and throws the radio

out the window. Another example of his brutality is displayed when he

beats his wife, Stella. Lastly, his arrogance and ferocious actions

are most apparent when he rapes Blanche, while his wife is in labor in

the hospital.

Stanley Kowalski?s first exhibition of his brutal actions

occurs at poker night. Blanche turns on the radio, but Stanley

demands her to turn it off. Blanche refuses and so Stanley gets up

himself and turns it off himself. When Stanley?s friend, Mitch, drops

out of the game to talk to Blanche, Stanley gets upset and he

even gets more upset when Blanche flicks on the radio. Due to the

music being on, Stanley, in a rage, stalks in the room and grabs the

radio and throws it out the window. His friends immediately jump up,

and then they drag him to the shower to try to sober him up. This is

the first example of Stanley?s rage and brutality.

Not only does throwing the radio out the window represent an

impure demeanor, but so does beating your wife. During his entire

rage during poker night he is not sober which leads to another

problem. When he threw the radio out the window, he then immediately

charged right at his wife, Stella. He was in such rage and he was so

drunk that when he reached her he hit her in the face. Luckily, before

he can get another blow off his friends grabbed him and pinned him to

the floor. This action leads the reader to believe that he is a very

brutal person and needs some psychological help to aid him to control

his temper. This is another example of why Stanley is so brutal.

Lastly, and the most evident action that leads the reader to

believe that Stanley is very ferocious and rapacious is when he rapes

Blanche Dubois. When Blanche finds out that Stanley has to spend the

night at home because Stella did not give birth yet, she becomes wary

and is alarmed at the thought that of being alone in the house alone

with him is a scary thought. When Blanche tells Stanley that she has

put Mitch in his place for being mean to her, Stanley explodes in

terror. Then Stanley retreats to the bathroom to put on his silk

pajamas. When he comes out of the bathroom, Blanche is threatened by

his words and 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 shows that Stanley is very

brutal and avaricious because it shows that he was greedy to the

fact that he could not just have one woman, and it also showed that he

is very arrogant because he feels that now because he ?conquered?

Blanche and he has won.

In Conclusion, in The Street Car Named Desire, by Tennessee

Williams, 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 the window are all examples of why Stanley is

such a fierce and intimidating character in this play.