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The presentation of marriage in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' Essay
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This essay was marked as an A+ and explores the presentation of marriage in Williams' 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
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Exploring the presentation of marriage in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’Tennessee Williams’ modern tragedy play, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, published in 1957
however set during the late 1940s in New Orleans, heavily highlights and reflects upon the
marital situations present of this time period and how the gender roles in these marriages
were undergoing change. Williams demonstrates this in many ways, through the central
relationship of Stanley and Stella as well as the marriage of the Hubbels, not forgetting
Blanche’s situations too. These relationships explore concepts that can be argued as being
representative of larger society since the underlying focus on gender roles would have
undoubtedly been a huge part of many couple’s marriages or relationships – both parties
having to navigate this new post-war world they are living in, or indeed choosing not to
explore new ideas and rather sticking to the patriarchal society that was their norm.
Firstly, throughout ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, Williams presents marriage consisting of
stereotypical gender roles, contributing to the patriarchal pressures of society. Williams’
male characters adhere to a masculine code that emphasises dominance, power and
authority contrasting to the qualities of the women who are subservient, passive and
submissive of any male aggression. This is very evidently shown through Williams’ creation
of Stanley and Stella Kowalski – characters making up the central relationship in the play.
From the very beginning of the play in Scene One the audience is made aware of the
dynamic between the two characters, with their first interaction on stage illustrating this
with the use of their voice alone - “[bellowing]” is the stage direction used to show how
Stanley is speaking which very clearly contrasts that of Stella’s who is speaking “[mildly]”.
This very quiet, compliant response from Stella to Stanley’s greeting of “Hey there! Stella,
Baby!” creates the first suggestion that there might be a clear power imbalance in this
marriage which is later clarified for the audience as the play progresses. Adding to the
stereotypical roles of husbands and wives further, Stanley “heaves the package” of meat to
Stella where this idea of the man bringing home the ‘meat’ is bought about, symbolising
how this marriage is still heavily centred around traditional, patriarchal views of how the
family is to be run, with the husband taking the role of the family provider. Moreover, the
fact that Stanley ‘heaves’ the parcel to Stella is a rather forceful choice of adverb and
movement alike, hinting at how this play might unfold when a man has the ability to be this
violent even in such a basic, everyday action. The following scene also begins with a defiant
example of how the couple present ‘gender prescribed’ behaviour. After Stanley is seen
marching in to the kitchen, Stella “[jumps up and kisses him which he accepts with lordly
composure]”. This welcoming from Stella demonstrates what was seen as the perfect
greeting a wife could give to her husband, making the man feel appreciated, some might
argue ‘worshipping’ them. Adding to this, the ‘lordly composure’ that Stanley embraces
emphasises his enjoyment that he feels towards his wife’s greeting but more so the fact that
he is described like a lord symbolises his alpha male dominance and the sense of superiority
that comes with this. Stanley goes on to ask “How about my supper, huh?” with this sense
of entitlement in his phrasing, underlining the domestic role that is expected of Stella, and
when considering the fact that ‘Streetcar Named Desire’ was set during a time that had just
been through a war where women had moved from their domestic roles to more typically
male roles to help in the manual labour since the men had gone to war, for Stanley to be
demanding her to be like her pre-war self, domestic in every-way, it clarifies how society
(and moreover, men in particular) had a problem with accepting how perhaps gender roles
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