The Impression Of Women In The 1940's

In the 1940s men were the ones that held the power in society as they are seen as superior to women since they are physically stronger. This then allowed them to have more opportunity and left the women to be more vulnerable. It implemented this mindset of society looking down upon women, and treating women as if they are less than and not equal to men. Tennessee Williams portrays men as more dominant and aggressive than women through the interactions Stanley has with the women in his life. Staneley uses his aggressiveness to show that since he is a man he is able to do whatever he wants, whenever he pleases. In scene 2, page 34, “Don't be such an idiot, Stanley! He hurls the furs to the daybed. Then he jerks open a small drawer in the trunk

Through this quote, you can see that Stanley acts like an animal and has major anger issues. He does not like that he is being told what to do, especially by women. He feels as if his authority is being questioned, which is why he instead questions her so that he can maintain his dominance in their relationship. In addition to this, in the same scene he says “Don’t play dumb”. You know what!”...“Where are the papers in the trunk?”...”[Stanley crosses to the trunk, shoves it roughly open and begins to open compartments]”. Through this, you can see that he gets annoyed because things aren't going exactly the way he wants, so he uses force when handling things. Stanley is demanding for the paper, trying to make it clear to Blanche that he is pissed off so she could be afraid of him. By roughly opening things and his commanding tone, he is trying to prove that if he does not find those papers, there are going to be consequences for her. Stanley uses violence towards women to show that he has the

In scene 3, page 63, it states, “STELLA: You lay your hands on me and I’ll- [She] back out of sight. He advances and disappears. There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out].” Through these lines it shows how Stanley is not able to control his anger issues and acts violently towards his own wife. He again feels challenged by the fact that a woman is trying to stand up for herself against him, making him feel emasculated. In order for him to feel like a man and get his anger out, he hits her. After he hit he went back to her trying to be apologetic, and Stella accepted him back because she believes that they are in love. This proves how because Stanley is a man he is able to get away with things since he proved his dominance in their marriage, making Stella believe that this situation is justifiable. Stanley also uses violence towards Stella's sister. Stanley rapes Blanche to show that she isn’t as strong as she thinks. Stanley says on page 162, “Oh! So you want some rough house! All right, let's have some rough house! He springs toward her, overturning the