Explore the ways in which Williams presents power and control in
A Streetcar Named Desire. You must relate your discussion to
relevant contextual factors.
(25 marks)
Tennessee Williams explore the theme of power and control through
multiple lenses within the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Power and
control are illustrated through themes such as gender, setting and
consciously constructed characters. The theme of power and control
aligns with Stanely Kowalski and the pivotal role he plays with the tragic
downfall Blanche Dubois. The ways different characters within the play
present their capacity of maintain power and control align with Williams
own life and how power dynamics worked in his household and illuminates
societal conflict and divides at the time Williams was writing. Overall, the
theme of power and control plays a fundamental role in the events which
unfold within the play revealing Blanches tragic hamartia and a society
which allows men who embody hegemonic masculinity such as Stanely to
flourish.
Through the tragic portrayal of female entrapment, William suggests that
rigid power and controlling structures of hegemonic masculinity and
female inferiority are inevitably present in 1940s American society which
presents women as socially subordinate to men leading them to be
marginalised and restrained in patriarchal structures which are built off a
foundation of power and control. The opening of scene 3 within the play
demonstrates the physical and mental power and control Stanley holds
over all those within his surroundings, and particularly his wife Stella. This
is shown through the quote he ‘smacked her thigh’. The verb ‘smacked’
reduces Stella to a physical object within Stanley’s domain. This displays
how physical control over women has become normalised in a society
(which at the time Williams writes) ignored the domestic sexualisation of
women and furthermore viewed domestic cruelty as a normalised act of
violence dismissed by the law. Furthermore, Stanleys violent and
commanding nature embodied through his physical and psychological
abuse of Stella after exclaiming she is not to ‘talk that way’ to him again
presents how females are trapped in a society which allows men to be the
head of the household and for women to rely on them entirely. Stella's
entrapment is solidified as she connects with him through ‘low animal
moans’ presenting how men's predatory nature arises above all
illustrating how hegemonic males maintain power and control both
outwardly and inwardly in the ‘cosmopolitan city’ of New Orleans by
objectifying their wives and displaying them as their prey. William
illustrates the female characters as those who are confined within their
physical and psychological worlds while he constructs the male characters
A Streetcar Named Desire. You must relate your discussion to
relevant contextual factors.
(25 marks)
Tennessee Williams explore the theme of power and control through
multiple lenses within the play A Streetcar Named Desire. Power and
control are illustrated through themes such as gender, setting and
consciously constructed characters. The theme of power and control
aligns with Stanely Kowalski and the pivotal role he plays with the tragic
downfall Blanche Dubois. The ways different characters within the play
present their capacity of maintain power and control align with Williams
own life and how power dynamics worked in his household and illuminates
societal conflict and divides at the time Williams was writing. Overall, the
theme of power and control plays a fundamental role in the events which
unfold within the play revealing Blanches tragic hamartia and a society
which allows men who embody hegemonic masculinity such as Stanely to
flourish.
Through the tragic portrayal of female entrapment, William suggests that
rigid power and controlling structures of hegemonic masculinity and
female inferiority are inevitably present in 1940s American society which
presents women as socially subordinate to men leading them to be
marginalised and restrained in patriarchal structures which are built off a
foundation of power and control. The opening of scene 3 within the play
demonstrates the physical and mental power and control Stanley holds
over all those within his surroundings, and particularly his wife Stella. This
is shown through the quote he ‘smacked her thigh’. The verb ‘smacked’
reduces Stella to a physical object within Stanley’s domain. This displays
how physical control over women has become normalised in a society
(which at the time Williams writes) ignored the domestic sexualisation of
women and furthermore viewed domestic cruelty as a normalised act of
violence dismissed by the law. Furthermore, Stanleys violent and
commanding nature embodied through his physical and psychological
abuse of Stella after exclaiming she is not to ‘talk that way’ to him again
presents how females are trapped in a society which allows men to be the
head of the household and for women to rely on them entirely. Stella's
entrapment is solidified as she connects with him through ‘low animal
moans’ presenting how men's predatory nature arises above all
illustrating how hegemonic males maintain power and control both
outwardly and inwardly in the ‘cosmopolitan city’ of New Orleans by
objectifying their wives and displaying them as their prey. William
illustrates the female characters as those who are confined within their
physical and psychological worlds while he constructs the male characters
