stanley Kowalski: streetcar named desire Flashcards
“roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes”
dress pictures him as working class, casual and modern right from the offset. the stereotype of the new American man - motivated and driven by money/power (driven by being repressed by society)
“when you’re swindled under the napoleonic code I’m swindled too. and I don’t like to be swindled”
scene 2 - spoken by Stanley. repetition highlights his focal concern - he doesn’t like to be cheated. to be cheated is to be undermined and to be undermined is to lose ones power. he needs control over blanche and all the things she’s lying about. Stanley also views himself as the pinnacle of truth
he is a ‘richly feathered male bird among hens.’
scene 1- Stanleys introduction to the play. constant zoomorphic imagery to describe him
” the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it”
scene 1 - Stanleys introduction to the play. he gives it to stella and takes it from blanche
“bears the emblem of the gaudy seed - bearer”
scene 1 - Stanleys introduction to the play. he has animalistic psychical vigour. presented as predatory and king of the jungle
“people from Poland are poles, not polices.”
scene 8 - proud of his heritage. not only correcting blanches linguistics, but also how she defines him as ‘other’
“I am one hundred percent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it”
- social criticism, this shows patriotism isn’t defined by heritage or an ancestral line
- scene 8 - American pride resonates with the audience - specifically post WW2.
keen to emphasise that he is American by birth, he is entitled to the same rights as everyone else
“stanley was a master sergeant in the engineers corps”
scene 1 - when Stella describes him to blanche. Stan would be highly prized the audience of the time due to his veteran status
“I knocked you down off them columns”
scene 8 - old south vs. new America. he converts Stella and knocks her off her elitist pedestal. this is why he is threatened by blanche - her elitism in both class and intelligence makes him feel emasculated
‘stanley kowalski - survivor of the Stone Age’
scene 4 - blanche views him as sub human and brutish. the sibilance mocks him. she believes his needs are basic, his behaviour is ugly and that he has an untamed and predictable manner. he encompasses both the past and the future
“we’ve had this date with each other from the very begginning”
scene 10 - the rape is about power and domination. it takes place offstage and takes Stan beyond empathy. he goes from sexual to perverse. reference to fate - one of them had to win in the end
