Tennessee Williams

Tennessee Williams acclaimed play, A Streetcar Named Desire, depicts clashing personalities in a working class home in New Orleans in order to examine the relationships of different-minded individuals.   Stanley, Stella, and Blanche have their respective flaws, which Williams exposes through personal interactions and background information.   However, each character has their own unique way of handling their respective weakness.   Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams portrays a myriad of weak-minded characters with their own specific coping mechanisms in order to deal with their respective flaws.  
Throughout A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams explores the weak personalities of Stanley, Stella, and Blanche by examining their flaws and the way that they overcome those flaws.   For example, Williams portrays Stanley as an animalistic sadomasochist.   Stanley is completely insecure in his role as a man and thus he must exert control over every situation.   During the poker night, Stanley gets drunk and physically abuses Stella.   After a huge commotion, Stanley cries out for Stella and she faithfully returns to him despite their altercation, presumably to have intimate relations.   This demonstrates Stanley’s flaw of insecurity in his manhood as he has to demean Stella before becoming physically intimate to demonstrate his domination of her.   Stella’s flaw is her dependency on Stanley for love and satisfaction.   Even though Stanley severely overstepped his bounds by physically abusing her, she immediately forgives him for the satisfaction of his intimacy.   Stella’s flaw is her unconditional dependency on Stanley for her own happiness despite his abusive ways.   Finally, Blanche’s flaw is her need to live in denial so that she can avoid life’s problems and craft her own fantasy.   Her mindset stems from her early years when she caught her first lover in a homosexual relationship.   She confronted him about it, leading him to commit suicide.   Because... [continues]

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