Explore Williams Presentation of Stanley
Explore Williams Presentation of Stanley
of Stanley
Stanley Represents a New America
- an America that was born after World War. Stanley, having fought in the
Second World War, as “a Master Sergeant in the Engineers' Corps”, is now a
part of the working class in New Orleans. He represents the American Dream of
freedom and opportunity for all.
He calls himself an ‘American’ despite being a second-generation immigrant.
Rejecting his immigrant roots and asserts himself as a New American Man
Primitive
Williams takes great care in drawing parallels between Stanley’s behaviour and
primitive man, using dialogue, stage directions and his actions. "Animal joy in his
being is implicit,", “Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle!”
(Blanche,
Scene 4). Additionally, “jungle sounds” are instructed to play when Stanley
stresses
Blanche out, to reinforce the audience’s sense of Stanley’s animalistic nature.
“he throws back his head like a baying hound and bellows” are stage directions
that
reflect his animalistic behaviour, almost like an animal in heat, as he shouts for
Stella after
he physically abuses her in scene 3.
Symbolism
The Light
Stanley contrasts the idea of Blanche’s affinity to darkness. “He [Stanley] holds
the bottle to the
light to observe its depletion” - Stanley’s first instinct to check to see how much
alcohol is
missing, using the light, foreshadows how he eventually will bring to light
The Rape
"inhuman voices like cries in a jungle" are stage directions that accompany the
rape scene, this
illustrates not only the trauma of the actions but also the primitive and animalistic
dominance
over the carefully constructed ideals that Blanche fights for. The happenings on
the street that
accompany the scene add to the tension and theatricality of the scene. The rape
is an event
where Blanche finally breaks down and crosses over to almost completely
delusional. As for
Stanley, at this point, Stanley can be considered from the feminist lens as
irredeemably evil as
he goes on to show no remorse for his actions.
Analysing Stanley's choice of words, “We’ve had this date with each other from
Paragraph Example
In presenting Stanley's relationship with his wife Stella, Williams portrays him as a
vicious partner who sees the bond between them as hierarchical, hence making him
seem unsympathetic to, in particular, a modern audience. In scene one, even the
stage directions seem to depict him as womanising; the line 'the centre of his life has
been pleasure with women' emphasising this. The fact that sex has been 'the centre
of his life' illustrates just how the developing North American South no longer valued
the gentlemanly behaviour Blanche is so desiring throughout the play. This line also
brings up questions of his loyalty to Stella as a partner, and seemingly Williams is
trying to foreshadow how he betrays her by brutally raping her sister - 'we've had this
date with each other from the beginning!' - and hence Williams is displaying how, to
Stanley, as the masculine figure in the relationship, he can do whatever he likes
while Stella bears the submissive status. The line 'every man is a king! And I'm the
king around here so don't forget it!' further demonstrates how Williams is portraying
how Stanley callously regards his marriage, and that Stella is ruled over by Stanley
as a husband, and therefore a 'king'. In the 21st century, Williams' Stanley would
especially be seen as impossible to sympathise with in this regard due to the recent
rise in feminist thinking, further campaigns for gender equality and greater
awareness of domestic violence. Hence, Stanley's portrayed actions within his
marriage would be understood as categorically shameful. However, at the time of the
first performance, the audience's reception would have been very different, as in