Two Sides to Everyone

In Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley is a character that has been portrayed as a brute beast in the first few scenes. He has a hard time getting along with Blanche- who is his wife's (Stella's) sister- and many conflicts occur as the play progresses. In the first three scenes, Stanley is portrayed as a man who seems to be dominant, aggressive, and sexual in the play. Stanley sees himself as the provider and the head of the household and sees Stella as only someone who is suppose to cook and clean for him, and take care of him but also, she is expected to respect him. For Stanley, he is a man who enjoys spending time with his male friends playing poker and going bowling, playing his part as a man and maintaining power.

When Blanche arrived, the relationship between Stanley and Stella changes. Stella starts to focus on Blanche more and do not listen to what Stanley has to say about Blanche. Later on in scene 8, Stella changes the role and tells Stanley to clean up his own dishes and orders him around. Stanley feels this change in his relationship with Stella when Stanley tries to tell her about her sister and how all that Blanche is saying are all lies.

Now do we see Stanley as something else rather than a brute beast? We can say there is another way to look at Stanley because in scenes 4-8, Stanley finds out the truth about Blanche and he is only looking out for Stella and Mitch. He can be seen as a good guy because he is warning the others, yet no one is listening to him. He bought Blanche a bus ticket to Laurel when he could have just kicked her out in the first place. He's not all beast and hard but he has a soft side that was shown when Stella left to Eunice's room because he had beaten her when he was drunk. He cried for her throughout the night until she came back to him. Blanche also treats Stanley like an ape and views him in a negative way. She mentions in scene 4 that he is like an animal and has animal habits. Blanche does not really have enough experience as to who Stanley is to judge him in the way that she does. She does not like him because they both treat each other with no respect. Stanley does not respect Blanche because of the way she talks about him and because he is suspicious about her. Blanche does not respect Stanley simply because she "worries" about her sister and the condition she is in, but also because she has an idea that Stanley is figuring her out.