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Essay / Stanley Kowalski is a traditional villain
“A Streetcar Named Desire” is the famous story of the passionate struggle for power between Blanche du Bois and Stanley Kowalski; Written by Tennessee Williams in 1947, the play is set in New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 1940s. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay To judge the extent to which Stanley is a villain, it is necessary to first assess what criteria of a typical villain he Throughout the play, Stanley proves that he inflicts emotional pain on Blanche, and by not letting her forget her past and destroying any possibility of love in her life, Stanley becomes an obstacle that she must try to overcome. However, although it appears that Stanley is vindictive and only bringing Blanche down for his own personal gain, it could be argued that he is doing it for his relationship with Stella, as Stanley would like things to return to the way they were before Blanche. arrived. Stanley explains that he wants their relationship to simply return to normal: "Stell, everything will be fine after she [Blanche] leaves..." Stanley first shows signs of villainy in the third scene, through his need to be dominant which foreshadows the conflict between him and Blanche which, later, leads to rape. At the start of the scene, he attempts to assert his authority by telling Stella and Blanche to “cut that conversation out!” » Throughout the scene, when he feels he is losing control and authority, he loses his temper; a trait of a traditional villain, in the form of hitting Stella after she shouts at him - "Drunk - drunk - animal thing, you!" It is clear to the audience that Stanley would have preferred to hit Blanche instead. The fact that Williams stages the scene so that the "strike" takes place offstage shows that this violence would have been just as shocking at the time the play was written as it would be to an audience today 'today. This scene makes Stanley a villain. and an obstacle to Blanche's progress at the beginning. It is possible to argue, however, that Stanley is not a traditional villain; in the opening scene, it is Stanley who is the civilian character, not Blanche. He seems friendly and even welcoming; “Well, take it easy.” The audience feels sympathy for Stanley who has just had his wife's sister arrive, clearly out of the blue, as he says; “I didn’t know you [Blanche] were coming to town.” One can identify more with Stanley than Blanche in this scene, as Blanche invades his house and although this comment is guarded, it is undeniably civil. The fact that Blanche has drunk some of Stanley's alcohol does not go unnoticed since the stage directions tell us that Stanley "holds the bottle up to the light to observe her exhaustion" before telling Blanche "Some people rarely touch her, but it often affects them.” - both indicate that he knows that Blanche is a heavy drinker and that she has been drinking his alcohol, but he does not question it. At first, he doesn't seem to mind Blanche and tries to make conversation, even though he seems to dominate. he. Although Stanley is not a villain in this scene, there is a growing sense of tension and opposition. The tension is evident as the two attempt to argue throughout the scene, and there is an obvious dichotomy between them. Blanche is depicted as having pale skin, a white suit, and a fleeting manner, suggesting a fragile moth, which contrasts with Stanley's bright colors and invasive nature. At the end of the scene, Stanley unnecessarily mentions Blanche's deceased husband, Allan; suggesting correctly for thefirst time Stanley has a cruel and nasty side as he clearly intends to inflict emotional pain by making Blanche remember Allan with the comment "What happened?" Another scene in which the audience feels sorry for Stanley is in scene four, when they hear Blanche trying to persuade Stella to leave Stanley. White Spots brings out the differences between her and Stanley, saying "Stanley Kowalski, survivor of the Stone Age!" “Such things as art – like poetry and music – such kinds of new lights have appeared since then!” We also feel sympathy for Stanley at the end of scene three when he begs Stella to come back: “I want my baby here. Stella, Stella! It is in scene ten that Stanley reveals the true extent of his villainy and provides the dramatic climax of the play. At the very beginning of the scene, Blanche looks into a mirror, she "raises her hand trembling" before slamming it down "with such violence that the glass cracks", giving a distorted image - a metaphor for her distorted vision of the world. Stanley enters wearing a “bright green” shirt – the bold color highlighting his personality and mood. Stanley senses Blanche's distress and mocks her fantasies and illusions of a rich admirer coming to rescue her; “Well, well. What do you know? The fact that she needs to be rescued underlines the fact that she is trapped; unable to escape her mind and the memories she tries to repress. Dramatic irony is used effectively in Stanley's statement "You can see it, you never know what happens" which foreshadows the rape. The audience expects a climax to the tension that has been building throughout the play and the scene is full of sexual references such as "hitting the bottle cap on the corner of the table", "the bottle cap comes off”, “bury the hatchet”. and “Loving Cup,” which allude to the conclusion of the piece. Throughout the scene, tension builds as the atmosphere between the two fluctuates; early in the scene, there is a moment where it appears that Stanley is going to make a friendly gesture towards Blanche, however, when she refuses, the previous animosity between them is reestablished. Blanche then makes a biblical reference to “casting my pearls before swine” which Stanley does not understand and takes as a direct insult. For a short time, he plays with her illusions before suddenly turning on her. At the end of the scene, Williams uses imagery to give Blanche's terror physical form in the form of "grotesque and menacing forms" that close around her and are animalistic. sounds can be heard and frightening, sinister "shadows and reflections" appear on the walls, moving like "flames" that mimic Blanche's nervous movements. Stanley's last sentence "We've had this date together all along" shows his intention and to some extent Stanley is right when he says this; Blanche and Stanley's relationship has always been sexual to some extent – Blanche was fully aware of Stanley's intense masculinity and she responded with provocative seductive and sexual behavior, even admitting to her sister that she knew of sexual desire – "when the devil is in you". This scene is technically very dramatic and the use of the blue piano and "inhuman voices like screams in a jungle" create a menacing and animal effect. The sounds of the train, of the tram named Désirée Blanche arriving, are heard throughout the play and become louder and faster. The train will inevitably crash as Blanche. The visual effects represent the present evil and the..