Throughout ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ Tennessee Williams explores the role of women in the 1940s. He presents women as needing to be subservient to men, and illustrates the impossibility of any attempt at challenging this. He also conveys the flaws of the ideal of the ‘Southern Belle’ and the harm these unrealistic and idealised expectations of what a woman is and what her role should be can cause.
Stella and Blanche are the central women in the play, and their relationships with both themselves and the men in their lives are very telling when it comes to how Williams intends to present women. Williams shows both Stella and Blanche to be dependent on men in terms of gaining happiness and stability in their lives. They were both raised as Southern Belles, an important concept to the American south at the time, and were therefore taught that their main goal in life should be to get a husband and maintain a comfortable home for the family. Stella cannot see her life without Stanley in it and is wholly dependent on him for her happiness despite his cruelty to her. When he leaves for only a night, Stella can “hardly stand it” and “when he’s away for a week [she] nearly [goes] wild.” This illustrates Stella’s inability to properly function without a man directly in her life, despite the violence and cruelty he regularly displays toward her. This could be due to the fact she had been taught that to serve a husband is her main purpose.
Although Blanche sees that Stella would be better off without Stanley, she too is desperate for a male figure in her life, seemingly aimless without one. Blanche is so ashamed of her past that goes directly against the expectation of women of the time that she makes up so many lies she eventually loses track of reality, but seems to believe that marriage to Mitch can put everything right. Through her lies, she turns herself into a stereotype that she has been taught men desire, signifying her desperation for him to become a significant part of her life. It is almost as if who she is in herself depends on the man she is trying to be with. When she eventually fails in her quest to marry Mitch, she begins looking for another man that can become the definition of herself and the centre of her life, turning to an old flame Shep Huntleigh. No matter how unreasonable the idea that Shep will come into her life again, she clings to it desperately in an attempt to maintain her sanity. She sees him as her only hope of financial and emotional stability. Blanche can’t achieve this without a man in her life and is fully dependent on the influence of men.
Being brought up as Southern Belles had a profound impact on both Blanche and Stella on their behaviour later in life. They were expected to marry a respectable young man, become a perfect wife and dedicate themselves to the family and community. Even as children, they both have been taught that women are inferior to men and that they should act accordingly. They grew up to be beautiful ladies, submissive to the power of their fathers, and later of their husbands. Although Stella broke free of Belle Reve and the expectations she had been raised on, she still ended up subservient to her husband, Stanley, as the teachings of what a woman should be could never fully leave her. She is unable to break free of the role of inferiority society forces upon her as a woman, and doesn’t seem to even want to. She “laughs” as she tells Blanche of Stanley’s violence, that “he smashed all the light bulbs” with her shoe and rather than being annoyed or afraid she was “thrilled.” Although Blanche monologues about how Stanley is “a survivor of the stone age” and Stella would be better off without him, Stella “embraced” Stanley “fiercely,” highlighting the fact that she would chose to be the subservient wife and wouldn’t want to fight against his authority and even the balance of power, despite this power imbalance being the cause of their violence.
Despite Blanche plainly seeing and warning Stella of the injustice of the total inferiority of her to her husband, she can’t escape the mentality instilled in her after being raised as a Southern Belle either. She romanticises everything around her and has such high standards and expectations both for herself and her sister. She chastises Stella for marrying a “common” man and is insulting about her current place of residence compared to their childhood home. Her being raised as a southern belle, in which the value of a woman is to be pure, beautiful and a good wife means she cannot stand her own past and romanticises it with lies. She says “I don’t want realism. I want magic!” as if she can’t stand to view life, especially her own as it actually is. In order to fill the void left by the loss of Belle Reve and her first husband, the two things she was taught to base her worth on, she turned to alcohol and men. She cannot quite seem to come to terms with the fact that she has ultimately failed to become the woman she was raised to be, in her eyes, she has defiled womanhood as a whole, and because of her need to cover over this with lies to be able to stand herself, she seems to lose the ability to tell the difference between reality and the fantasy she has made for herself. This directly contrasts with the role of men. Men are often seen to drink much more than women, and be engaged in a great deal more sexual activity, but are never once punished for this, especially not the way Blanche punishes herself. Through this, Williams illustrates the divide between men and women. Women seem to be idealised as the culmination of purity and femininity and if they ever were to engage in any behaviour that is in any way unsatisfactory to this ideal, they are seen as inferior and disagreeable.
Williams exhibits this again in Blanches relationship with Mitch. While Blanche’s worth as a partner is based off her past, Mitch never has his past scrutinized the way she does. He holds Blanche to a standard that he does not apply to himself or his friends. Not only does this indicate the unrealistic expectations women are forced to live up to, it also implies the reluctance of men to give women a second chance. It is also interesting to note that Mitch finds out about her past through men. Stanley tells him after finding out from another man who he knows, and before questioning Blanche herself about these rumours or trusting the positive impression he had gained from time spent with her, Mitch believes them fully enough to not show up to her birthday celebration. When he finally does interrogate her about these accusations, she is direct and confirms the rumours with thedignity she should be able to feel, but society deems unacceptable for her to feel. Despite her previous act to Mitch, she is honest in this instant about her previous indiscretions and about the amount she has suffered, but Mitch is unforgiving toward her. He deems her an unworthy partner due to her past, stating that she isn’t “clean enough,” not once considering that she has been practically forced into this life by the men who have wronged her in the past. Her life has been dictated by the actions of men, such as her first husband who married her despite his homosexuality, and now they get to control the narrative as well, eliminating any future prospects she may still have had. Williams conveys the inability of women to control their own narrative. If only women are judged so harshly by their past, only men get control over their past and futures.
Ultimately, Williams uses Blanche’s story to illustrate the inability of women to challenge male authority and the total inferiority of women in society. Blanche openly defies Stanley and the masculinity he represents, taking control of her own sexuality and allure in a way deemed unacceptable of women. She recognises and exploits her owns strengths and weaknesses to get what she desires, both a partner and the ability to regain the control over her own life men have taken from her. Rather than completely breaking out of the gender role, she challenges and twists it to her own advantage. However, this is enough to guarantee her subsequent downfall. Stanley cannot bear to allow his authority or power to come into any question, so he retaliates in the ultimate display of dominance over her and in a way men have been shown not to be judged or punished for, sex and violence. In her quest to gain some form of control or power in her life, she ends up more helpless than ever before. Similarly, in any event of Stella standing up to Stanley, he squashes any shred of power she may have asserted. When he is drunk, she calls him an “animal” and threatens him not to lay his hands on her, however he immediately follows and beats her and later after she asks him to clear the table, he “seizes her arm” before yelling at her and smashing a cup and saucer onto the floor. Stanley will not bear any semblance of resistance to his power from women and pushes them back into subservience if they ever dare challenge him.
Through this Williams also raises the issue of who is allowed to have desire. Stella, only desiring what she is taught to, realises her desire through a life with Stanley, albeit a violent one. Stanley uses his status as a man to take whatever he desires, no matter how it affects others, especially women. His rape of Blanche and constant violence toward Stella highlight how his unrestrained desires for sex and obedience can be extremely dangerous to them, but he doesn’t care as he feels justified due to being a man. However, Blanche is not allowed unrestrained desire like Stanley, and unlike Stella, doesn’t want to settle for a life of violence. She desires more than society allows her and is therefore destroyed.
Overall, Williams uses the characters to comment on the unfair treatment of women in society. Their inferiority is unescapable and it is “the law of nature” according to Blanche, that it is the lady that must “entertain” the man, and also live up to their unrealistic standards of a perfect wife. Their subordination is accepted, expected and enforced by society with any challenge to this leading to punishment.
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