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Domestic Abuse In Tennessee Williams A Streetcar Named Desire

548 Words3 Pages

While reading stories, people tend to easily detach fictional characters from different time period from real life and possible situations in the present day due to the characters having what seems like perfect lives. As the writers from Masterplots noted that “A Streetcar Named Desire” is different: “[the author] shows the reality of people’s lives…” (Masterplots) Tennessee Williams’ play “A Streetcar Named Desire” shows that there are many ways to get hurt, emotionally and physically, in which most cruelty never gets justice that, unfortunately, is still occurring today. Within the first scene of the play, abuse can already be found. Blanche mentally abuses Stella buy saying “You’re all I got in the world, and you’re not glad to see me!” …show more content…

Even when going to the bathrooms at school there are usually posters hanging up with domestic abuse hotline numbers along with disturbing pictures of what an abusive relationship is like. Stanley and Stella are the poster couple for abusive relationships like the Masterplots authors said “his nasty streak of violence against his wife appalls even his friends.”(Masterplots), but that’s not all he also abused Blanche as well and in the process mentally abused Stella, they also mention that. “His rape of Blanche is a horrifying and destructive act as well as a cruel betrayal of Stella.”(Masterplots) Rape is one of the biggest problems in America at the moment. However, an even bigger problem is the fact that the victims almost never get justice. Approximately half of rape kits are either lost or never tested to help find and prosecute the criminals. Furthermore, the few rapists that are ever found guilty get less sentencing than people who committed petty crimes. The worst of all is when loved ones do not even believe in the victim’s story. This was the case between Stella and Blanche when Stella said “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley.”(1838; sc.11) Since Stella did not believe her, Blanche never got the justice that she deserved and in fact she was the one punished instead of Stanley. In “A Streetcar Named Desire” written by Tennessee Williams real relationships and problems are used

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