Gender Roles In A Streetcar Named Desire

Clash of Genders in A Streetcar Named Desire

During the twentieth century America, social upheaval amongst the different classes of the society was visibly rampant. The occurrence of the two World Wars had created a major impact on the mind-set of the people, creating visible changes in the role of men and women. It would be too far to assert that the respective roles of men and women in the society had undergone a reversal, but it is certainly befitting to say that women and their importance received much more significance than they had earlier received from the male dominated society. It is true that till the end of the 19th century, the forbearance of the men was evidently restricted to their own gender. Menial labour, work that required

Women received rights to assert their own personality, and were allowed to pursue jobs of their own liking. The leeway had been provided and it was accepted with much gusto. But such a change did not last long. By the mid twentieth century, there was an overwhelming sense of despair and hopelessness in the society. The devastation and bone chilling effects of the two World Wars had fully and finally impacted the minds of the populace and there began an existential crisis. The futility of life and the inevitability of death asserted itself strongly in the minds of the people, and as a result, the male ego started crumbling under the pressure. As a boost, the rights and assertions of the women started getting ignored, and the male section of the society began to once again, take

Williams has depicted beautifully and quite intricately, the struggles of different sections of a developing society: both the higher class/lower class conflicts as well as the male/female discrepancies. The American society, during this time, was fretted with struggles between class ideals, one section of the population belonged to the Old South, that prided itself over the high class ideals and richness of culture, and the other section belonged to the New America, the uncultured and slightly lesser educated section, whose main aim was to earn more money, through any means. Both these binaries are described beautifully in the play, the former being represented by the character of Blanche DuBois, and the latter by Stanley Kowalski. However, in this paper, the main area of concern is the problematic description of the gender struggle between different characters.

Tennessee Williams has not charted his main characters on a simple black and white binary, although a first glance may not make such an intricacy apparent. Through the description and actions of some characters, Williams has questioned the basic identity that society has imposed on Man and Woman. The relationship between Stanley and Stella, his wife, is very problematic in itself. However, if we were to consider such a relationship from the standpoint of the majority of America during this time, it would appear