A Streetcar Named Desire Essential Flaws Essay

Essential flaws are bound to be a part of people’s character. Flaws are a trait in human nature that everybody has because nobody is perfect. This play represents essential flaws in the way the 3 main characters express negative ways of being. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennesee Williams sketches many flaws that we encounter in ourselves and others in real life - Blanche’s desire for escapism, Stanley's incapability for sympathy and empathy, and Stella’s passivity. This affects each character’s interaction with another by keeping them from being able to connect with each other. They’re unable to form any type of real relationship with one another because of all of their flaws.

Escapism is the mental diversion that the mind creates in order

Stanly Kowalski is a rough character who lacks empathy. Stanley is a Polish man who is portrayed to be the ideal American as a child of immigrants. He represents masculinity as animalistic, aggressive and dominating. He gains pleasure by dominating and devaluing women. He is a violent and abusive man who doesn’t exercise moderation or control over the things he says or does. He is only focused on himself. The lack of empathy in his character prevents him from being able to connect with people and he cannot see or doesn’t care about the pain that he causes. Stanley and his wife Stella had problems in their marriage. Those problems became worse when Stella’s sister Blanche came to stay with them. Stanley became more short tempered and reckless with his actions around Blanche. He treated Blanche poorly which affected her already fragile mental stability. When Stella walks out on Stanley after an argument between them, the writer unveils a vulnerable side to Stanley that we haven’t seen before. He walks out of their house and falls down on his knees and calls out, “Stell-lahhhhh” (Williams 66). This displays the strong attachment that he has to Sella, but is it love? Although he may be physically stronger, the emotional attachment he has to her cannot over power that. They’re relationship is built off of lust and that is no way to have a healthy

It is allowing people to do things to you without setting or enforcing boundaries as well as being very submissive. Throughout the play we see Stella’s character tend to avoid conflicts. She is very comfortable with her life and sees no need to challenge it. When Blanche comes to stay with them, she takes notice of how their relationship isn't normal and tries to make Stella see that. This affects her relationship mainly with her sister and then with Stanley. Stella doesn’t stick up for herself and she doesn’t seek to confront her husband’s abusive behavior. As a result, there is tension between Stella and Blanche. Blanche notices her passiveness and sees it as a weakness that is holding Stella back. Stella is very aware of Blanche’s fragility and her past trauma’s but chooses to ignore them to avoid conflict. In the end of the play when Blanche told everybody that Stanley raped her, nobody believed her. Stella and Eunice are talking about Blanche’s situation and Stella says, “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Williams 165). Choosing to not believe her sister’s accusations against her husband is only destroying their relationship. She is imprisoning herself by staying with an abuser and overlooking everything he does. Stella embodies her sister’s essential flaw and lies on Blanche to protect her comfort and the man that has abused them