|
Page
|
Quotation
|
Analysis
|
|
116
|
Stanley [bellowing]: Hey, there! Stella,
Baby!
Stanley: Catch!
Stella: What
Stanley: Meat!
|
The first impression of Stanley comes from these quotations. It
clearly shows he is a very primitive almost cave-man like character who
doesn’t treat women the way that a woman should be treated. Similarly he
calls her “Baby” which also gives an image of unequal status as she is
harmless and useless whilst he was described with his friends as hard working
laborers in blue denim work clothes.
|
|
128
|
Stanley throws the screen door of the
kitchen open and comes in. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his
movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood….. pleasure with women….
Power and pride…. Richly feathered bird… heartiness… rough humor… love of
good drink and food and games… his car, his radio.. gaudy seed bearer..
|
These animalistic connotations are of relevance with the
theme of men overpowering women. The men in this play, mostly represented by Stanley are primitive,
meaning they are more animalistic than actual gentlemen. Like animals in the
wild, there is often an alpha-male or the most dominant figure in the group,
or the pack leader. In this case, Stanley
is the pack leader. Many words such as
“animal joy” “since earliest manhood” “richly feathered bird” are evidence of
Stanley being the most dominant figure as a richly feathered bird represents
a peacock, and male peacocks are usually the biggest and brightest of the
peacocks who show themselves off to the females. In relation to Stanley, he is the
biggest and shows himself off by taking his shirt off in some of the scenes. Furthermore
he is a worker in blue denim clothes which give a muscular, hard working
image of a man. It’s interesting in the fact that peacocks have bright
feathers to attract females relates to Stanley.
Blanche does not like to be revealed in true light as it will show her age,
but Stanley constantly slowly reveals this and the other truths she has tried
to hide. Thus metaphorically, he is as bright as a peacock in that he is the
light that will reveal the truth behind Blanche.
|
|
129
|
[He starts to remove his shirt]
Blanche: Please, please do.
Stanley: Be
comfortable is my motto
|
Stanley is a flirtatious womanizer.
Although he doesn’t know Blanche well at the beginning of the play, he
already shows off his upper body by removing his shirt. Furthermore he gives
evidence of flirtatious behavior to all women despite his passionately sexual
relationship with his wife. Additionally, it could be suggested that Blanche
can be seen here as taken aback or mesmerized by Stanley’s body after he takes off his
clothes with the words “please, please do.” This is where the audience sees a
first few signs of Blanche not being as innocent as expected.
|
|
134
|
Stanley: I got an acquaintance who deals
in this sort of stuff…..
Stanley: I got
an acquaintance who works in a jewelry store.
|
Williams also portrays Stanley as very childish. This is one
example as he keeps repeating “I’ve got an acquaintance” to Stella about
Blanche. He does this because he doesn’t want to hear what Stella is telling
him and always tries to show that It isn’t true. He doesn’t understand the
superiority of Blanche and Stella’s past of superiority in the autocratic
society.
|
|
138-139
|
Stanley: There is such thing in this
state of Louisiana
as the Napoleonic code…
|
Stanley fears of Blanche’s use of
deception and persuasion skills to lure her sister into her world. Stanley tries to
protect his wife by stating that a Napoleonic Code applies to him meaning
whatever Stella owns, he owns. This is clearly a way of protecting his wife
as Blanche sold her property in the past and tries to persuade her sister to
get away from this society. By stating that men own everything, it relates to
the theme of men overpowering women and the theme of unequal rights for women
as it was at that time of the play.
|
|
148
|
Sit down!
|
Williams develops Stanley
as the most dominant figure in the play. To the audience, he orders people
around and does not care about anybody else but himself. This fact is also
supported by the fact that his appearance represents his personality. He is
very primitive and muscular, but he also has a very strong sexual drive for
his wife.
|
|
190
|
Stanley: You’re goddamn right I told him!
I’d have that on my conscience the rest of my life if I knew all that stuff
and let my best friend get caught!
|
Stanley is a very difficult character to
everybody, even with his wife and friends. The quotation shows that Stanley told Mitch
about Blanche’s past in order to stop him from marrying her. One interpretation
suggests that here he is trying to protect Mitch from Blanche’s deception about
her past and so he tells him about her to stop them from marrying, thus it
makes him seem more caring towards his friends and a hero. However, a
contradicting interpretation suggests that Stanley doesn’t care about Mitch and his
feelings but focuses only on one aim: to get rid of Blanche. So he told her
in order for Mitch to think twice about marrying her and destroying their
relationship which makes Blanche’s life even worse as she will lose the only
person in the story she has a common life with.
|
|
213
|
Stanley: I’ve been on you from the start!
|
Although Stanley
is quite childish, spoilt and an uneducated worker in society, he is still
however quite cunning and street-smart. He hates Blanche and when he buys
Blanche a ticket out of his world, he expects her to go feeling destroyed. So
when Blanche tells Stanley
of meeting a millionaire he makes sure to discredit this lie and remove even
the pretence of dignity that it would have given Blanche. We see again that he
isn’t fooled easily by her words. We know that Blanche is very deceiving as
she does not show her true side or her true appearance as she constantly avoids
the light. However, unlike the other men, Stanley isn’t fooled. The quotation further
emphasizes the fact that Stanley
resembles a predator.
|
|
226
|
Stanley: [voluptuously, soothingly]: Now,
honey. Now, love..
|
Stanley doesn’t care anymore about what
happens to Blanche as she leaves. He has won the war with Blanche and now can
turn back to Stella and his baby. The use of the words “Now, honey. Now,
love” suggests that he is back in control and so there will be peace and they
are now bonded together like before Blanche invaded their home. Their bond
has tightened by the fact that Stella has had her baby and it is the mixed
blood of both the world of Stella and the world of Stanley. Furthermore, he doesn’t care about
anybody’s need except his own as he reaches inside her blouse even though she
mourns the fact that her sister is leaving.
|