Animalism In A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire is a renowned play, written in 1947, by American playwright, Tenessee Williams. The play unravels an intense series of confrontations made between Blanche Dubois and Stanley Kowalski, which inevitably leads to the “death” of the traditional Southern values that Blanche represents, and thus, the rise of new, post-war American values, which is portrayed through Stanley. Williams was strongly critical of modern America, and disagreed with the inequality present between men and women, and disliked the tough, callous society that came with modern America. This criticism of modern American values led Williams to deliberately present Stanley in a negative manner, through his animalistic characteristics, lack of emotion, and dominating qualities towards women. Thus, Williams makes use of characterisation, stage directions, and props to reveal how Stanley’s powerful, yet negatively portrayed characteristics, represents the social group of the working class of modern America. Williams focuses on Stanley’s bestial behaviour to show how the "normal" behaviour of people of modern America is aggressive. This animalistic representation is first depicted when he hurls a bloodied package of meat to his wife, Stella (14). Williams’ use of

Unlike Blanche, Stanley does not appreciate refinements of life such as arts and poetry, which shows how the modern working-class America is driven by more primitive, simple instincts; or "brutal desire", as Blanche describes (70). A Streetcar Named Desire symbolises the clash between old and new values, and how America has inevitably developed to become a society governed by desire, as represented through Stanley. Williams questions whether or not these modern values of being more impervious, and less sensitive truly benefits society as a