In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams explores the battle between the strong and the weak.”

“In A Streetcar Named Desire, Williams explores the battle between the strong and the weak.”

In light of this comment, explore Williams’ dramatic presentation of conflict in your answer. You must provide relevant contextual factors.

 

Williams uses various different techniques to present the concept of weak and strong in a time of great discrimination and dominance. He uses concepts such as gender roles in order to show paradoxical roles between man and woman which also represent the weak and strong. This paradoxical nature is also used to heighten the difference between New Orleans and Belle Reve. As highlighted before Williams uses polar opposites to portray his message as well as using metaphors and similes.

Williams’s introduces the notion of weak and strong from his opening stage directions, with the idea of duality, double-sided references. “2 story corner building, l&N tracks, 2 flats.” These all show a duality with can link to the sense of “light and dark” and the “old and new”. These all show paradoxes in how Williams was intending to extenuated the dominant trait of weak and strong. The emphasis of the duality suggests a foreshadowing of a confliction between two people, which eventually happens in scene three, where Blanche is frightened due to Stanley hitting Stella. This was not uncommon then as it was not long after it became illegal to hit you wife. This shows the strength of Stanley and the weakness of both Stella and Blanche. It was acceptable for men to see women as their possession so it was deemed acceptable to punish her in anyway fit. Stanley hitting Stella show’s an animalistic side to Stanley. This would leave many feminists outraged, as it is physical abuse and oppression of Stella by Stanley. One could argue that William’s included such an action into the play and the character’s reaction to it to remind people that abuse is wrong. The action may also have been influenced by the abuse William’s received by his partner, which lead to his mental deterioration.

Blanche DuBois appears in the first scene dressed in white, the symbol of purity and innocence. She is seen as a moth-like creature. She is delicate, refined, and sensitive. She is cultured and intelligent. She can't stand a vulgar remark or a vulgar action. She would never willingly hurt someone. She doesn't want realism; she prefers magic. She doesn't always tell the truth, but she tells "what ought to be truth." Yet she has lived a life that would make the most degenerate person seem timid. She is, in general, one of Williams' characters who do not belong in this world. And her type will always be at the mercy of the brutal, realistic world. Blanche represents a moth, which is attracted to the light, a provocative sense of moon and sun. Blanche represents the moon, fragile, magnetized, and is attracted towards the light, whereas Stanley presents the sun, imposing, strong, and radiant. This shows there is a clear difference in their personalities and it also links to the alternative title “Blanche’s Chair in the Moon”. This shows that the moon like conception is key to the play. Stanley is a clear “lad”, acting very masculine; the poker night emphasises this. The painting “the poker night” by Van Gogh represents the true nature of how masculinity is shown and is portrayed, this painting is referred to at the start of the scene. Blanche and Stanley have a hidden attraction to each other. Scene four ends with an intimate moment shared between Stella and Stanley. There is a “lingering brightness on their embrace”. Blanche finds it difficult to be around naked lights as she expresses to Mitch in scene three; this suggests that Blanche couldn’t stand to look at them due to her underlying jealousy for her sister.

Blanche also represents water. The continuous bathing sessions she undergoes increases when she is nervous or around new people, showing that she is very fragile and weak. The water is also significant as the other image of her, “moon”, is controlling the waves so it is saying that she is not in complete control of herself. Furthermore the conscious “bathing” may also be linked to her addiction to alcohol. The water shows that she is weak as she cannot completely control herself. This is also key with Stanley when he is pushed under the shower at the poker party; this event in the scene is very symbolic. As Blanche is representative of water, this shows Stanley being covered in Blanche and her presence. Stanley then violently reacts to such a reaction, brushing it off in blind rage, showing a rejection. This shows that there is nothing more to them but desire. The streetcar named Desire is a major symbol of this. The streetcar has a phallic meaning due to the idea of it running along the tracks. It’s representative of Stanley and Blanche’s desire for each other and how it isn’t going to go anywhere; it’s representative of Mitch and Blanche’s desire. In scene five, Blanche asks Mitch if the Streetcar is still running, meaning she is asking if his desire is still there for her. This shows a weakness in Blanche, as she also has a desire to be wanted and be called beautiful.

Stella is ambiguous to being both weak and strong. Stella is strong in the sense that she will stand up to Stanley rather than accept his abuse and do as she is told when he is being aggressive. In scene three, Stanley slaps Stella on the leg and she replies with “[sharply] that’s not fun, Stanley”. This is an example of her defending herself against him whilst holding her composure. However her desire for Stanley is a weakness. Stella always returns to Stanley, returning to their passion and love that she is so addicted to. Her sister Blanche is also a weakness, as she waits hands and feet for her to keep her happy. Stella brings the two protagonists - Blanche and Stanley - together, which of course creates the friction and opposition between the weak and strong characters we know so well.

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