The Representation of Gender in “A Streetcar Named Desire”

“A Streetcar Named Desire” was one of Tennessee Williams’ most critically acclaimed works, for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1984.

Although one of Williams’ initial purpose in writing the play was to shed light on the social injustices women go through in postwar America, a feminist lens may suggest that the play undermined the female experience.

How? By allowing the male character, Stanley, to get away with his abuse of power.

From the second Stanley enters the house, or even before, his character is set around the idea that he is the dominant one, because of his gender. An uneven male and female power balance is established in both Stanley’s relationship with Stella and Blanche, to represent the unfair treatment of women in general in the public scene.

The irregular power balance is shown when Stella enters the scene and asks him if she can watch him while he’s bowling. The reader understands that Stella has to ask for permission, because Stanley is the one who has authority.

Later, Stanley refers to Stella as the “little woman”, proving the point that he’s objectifying her. This situation is not frowned upon, as Stanley’s character is introduced as a macho, overly-sexual, masculine person which make him “attractive” and “handsome.“Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens.”

His comparison to an animal and the commentary about his perception of women shows that he takes pride in being a man: the ultimate power holder, physically, sexually and socially.

On top of this, by casting Marlon Brando, an actor known by his good looks (in the play and the movie), a long lasting cliche is perpetuated, because it seems that he gets away with the terrible things he has done because of his physical appearance.

Being ‘handsome’ creates a situation where viewers unconsciously sympathize with him because of their attraction. I believe that if a ‘traditionally unappealing looking’ person was casted as Stanley, there would be a whole different conversation around his character.

Societal standards have created positive connotations around ‘beautiful/handsome’ people and negative ones around ‘ugly’ people. Therefore audiences are more trusting towards the ‘beautiful’, while they expect the worst from the ‘ugly’

This is one of the wrong choices Williams makes in depicting him as an antagonist, because Brando’s “pretty privilege” gets in the way of people hating him, which is how normally viewers should feel about an abuser.

Stanley’s status as the power holder allows him to manipulate everyone around him. He first gets away with beating his wife in front of everyone by telling her he loves her and that he’s sorry. Later, when he rapes his wife’s sister at the end, he doesn’t even have to make an explanation.

It’s because everyone ultimately believes Stanley is the reliable one, again because of his gender and also because Blanche’s mental health is deteriorating from her trauma.

At the end of the story, while Stella loses her sister, freedom, and Blanche loses everything, Stanley loses nothing; because a power holder’s status never changes.

As Tennessee Williams makes the choice to end his story this way, he makes a powerful commentary on the harsh realities of life. However, if he really wanted to make an impact on inspiring women, or showing new possibilities, like Stella leaving Stanley, he could have inspired many more American women, who were not used to taking radical decisions since they were limited by the social conditions of their time.

By letting the antagonist win, he reinforces the idea that no matter what men do, they will always leave the battlefield unwounded, simply because they have dominance over women.

Do you think Tennessee was in the wrong? Did you ever sympathize with Stanley’s character at some point because you found him handsome? Here you can find the link for a scene from the movie to make the judgement for yourselves.

Let me know by commenting down below!