I found the dynamic between Blanche and Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire very interesting. They seem very close, but Tennessee Williams makes it clear that they have some underlying problems that they sort of dance around.
In Scene Three, Blanche playfully flirts with Stanley while Stella is out on the porch. While it seems she does this to try and sway Stanley away from the conversation he wants to have about what happened to Belle Reve, it doesn't seem very sisterly nonetheless. After Stanley has had enough of her nonsense, she gets serious: "A woman's charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important I tell the truth, and this is the truth: I haven't cheated my sister or you or anyone else as long as I have lived."(644) Moments after her attempt to seduce her sister's husband fails, she uses her sister as support for why she hadn't cheated anyone, insinuating that she loves her sister so much she would never cheat her. Makes sense, but not quite so much given the timing. I believe that if Blanche thought for a second she could wiggle her way out of her difficult situation with Stanley by sleeping with him, she would have. Ironic, given that Stanley rapes her at the end of the play and she ends up getting shipped off to a mental institution.
Another scene I found interesting was the first time Blanche and Stella sit down and chat after Blanche arrives in New Orleans in Scene One. We really see how dramatic Blanche is and how Stella just takes it all with a grain of salt. Stella says, "You never did give me a chance to say much, Blanche. So I just got into te habit of being quiet around you."(635) Not only that, while Blanche's weakness is vanity, Blanche tells Stella she has gained weight and makes her stand up and be inspected. Again, Stella just complies. Williams sets Blanche up as the domineering sister and Stella as the weaker, compliant sister right at the beginning of the play. In the first scene alone there are at least three references in the stage notes to Stella "complying reluctantly."
I think its kind of weird how weak Stella is depicted. Blanche is the tragic character, so maybe she has to be shown strong at first so that she can fall. Stella seems almost afraid of Blanche-and Stanley, to some extent. But it also is very clear that Stella loves her sister very much. The day after Blanche critiques Stella like she was an Top Model contestant Stella reminds Stanley to compliment Blanche on her appearance. I found their relationship so interesting because Blanche is so caught up in her make-believe world that she has lost her grip on reality and Stella loves Blanche so much that she can't drag her back into the real world for fear of hurting her. I found this more tragic than Blanche's downfall. While Blanche's undoing was her fault, Stella, with all her love for Blanche, cannot do the one thing to help Blanche the most-grab by the shoulders, shake her, and scream WAKE UP! Stella, at the end of the play, is left with the loss of her sister, which, with her new baby binds her increasingly closer and more dependent on Stanley.
8 comments:
I agree with your point of view Matt. I sort of wish I read your blog before doing mine just because we almost wrote about the same thing. Partial concern for Stella. It seems that all the relationships in the play are fake between everyone.I noticed that each set of characters are close, but they overpower one another and in the end someone gets hurt.
I don't agree with the idea that Stella is the weaker sister. I think that she is by far the stronger sister. Stella may comply with her sister but in reality I think is stronger. Stella left home and established her won life away from the tradition of Belle Reve. She has made a life in New Orleans. Blanche on the other hand has stagnated in the past and withered away. This contrasts Stella's relative success.
I agree that Stella is depicted as the weaker sister but I don't believe that this is true. I agree with Kyle's comment I think that Stella only makes herself seem weak because she knows how to control people and not get involved with all of the drama that surrounds Blanche. Just look at how Stella handles Stanley, Stanley hits her, she runs away, he calls her back but she makes him feel like dirt and makes him want her. I think that she knew that if she appears to be weak than she can get everything she wants.
Matt,
I feel that the two women, Blanche and Stella are from a time where nothing was ever truly discussed, especially between women. Everything was supposed to be kept “hush hush” and swept under the rug. I feel that their relationship, although not healthy in the least, is what they are used to and have become accustomed to. I feel that Stella is very much aware of her sister’s flirtatious ways and has just accepted it for so long that it does not bother her, nor does she even really think about it. She seems to like playing the role of a tender, motherly housewife and therefore just wants everyone to get along. I do not think that she fears Stanley or Blanche, she merely just wants to “iron out all of the creases” in their relationships rather than making a fuss. Although it was frustrating to see that Stella did not try to bring her sister back to the world of reality, I feel that this would not have helped Blanche and would have just disrupted her and everyone else around her as a result instead.
First of all I love the name of this blog, definately laughed a bit. I agree with you stating that Stella may be the weaker sister. Granted she has obligations in a marriage, but she also has obligations to her sister. Blanche was the one left to take care of Belle Reve through its downfall, while Stella made a new life full of a hot guy and making babies. It only seems to make sense that she would want to help her sister at her weaker moments, and her inability to do so makes me think she may be the weaker of the two.
I don't know if I necessarily think Stella is the weaker of the two sisters, if anything I think they are both equally weak and unstable, just in different aspects. Stella keeps quietly to herself, and is absolutely a follower rather than a leader. But this doesn't make her weaker than her sister, considering Blanche is a pathalogical liar, not to mention a manipulative woman who doesn't want to own up to any responsibility for the situations at hand.
I agree with you in that it seems that Stella is weak. It is like she doesn't know what to do, she has an abusive husband but she loves him and would never leave him, also because the baby is coming. It seems that Stanely's power over her is changing her, actually making her to have to rely on Stanley more. Also it seems Stella doens't know what to do with Blanche even with her rudde comments so she just kinda takes it, still waiting on Blanche and defeding herself.
I also think that Blanche was more insane in the movie. While reading the play I knew that she was a little crazy, but not like in the movie. Watching the movie made it more obvious why Stella sent her away to an institution. When I read this part in the play I was really surprised because until that point I had only really thought of Blanche as being really needy with a tragic loss in her life. To me it just seemed like Blanche needed to get away from Stella and vice versa, but in the movie it's very obvious that she needs help. Not only is she scarred by her first husbands death, but just crazy and the viewer sees this earlier on in the movie than in the playwrite.
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