Willmore's Double Seduction: A Streetcar Named Desire

Willmore’s “double seduction” (Pacheco 328) encompasses a very detailed method. As depicted when he says, “Angellica! That beauty has been to long tempting” (223). His strategy is to seduce, but claim to be the victim of seduction. Which is imbedded in a masculine power structure. This sexual construction gives authority to male force and invalidates claims of non-consent. This structure is that the female form is not allowed to say no, so in the case no is said the woman is judged a tease. So, no matter the female reaction to sexual assault only male power can be affirmed. Meaning no matter how much Willmore believes in Florinda’s consent, his belief is rooted in a denial of female independence and is endorsed by societal norms, stereotypes and legal practices. Florinda’s next threat with rape, the third indication of rape in the play, is instigated by Blunt, who can be described as a male avenger against femininity. Blunt is an example of the seduced from Willmore’s seduction model. In Blunt’s humiliated response to Lucetta’s actions, he decides to take

Stealing the portrait is an assertion of male arrogance and violence. This is presented in the large flight the action causes, which the English win and claim ownership of the portrait “by conquest” (Behn 191). The structure of rape presents it as an act of competitive masculinity. The scene appears as a case of out-of-control male desire, a situation the forces responsibility on the woman. Furthermore, Willmore claims his harassment is due to love. This representation of masculinity as self-asserted desire suggests romance is used to confuse rape with love. Willmore tries to play the role of the victim and in turn criticizes the seductress. He uses the role of the victim as a duality of depicting woman’s guilt and disguises his violence as a compromised moral authority and frustrated