I found the play, "A Streetcar Named Desire" to be very interesting. But to me it depicted the south as a culture only in a person rather than a whole. Blanche who was Stella's sister seemed to try to be as much as the "southern belle" as she could trying to hold on to the past and things she know. But from the play you know the culture has changed and immigrants have come in and the southern culture is in this play almost lost, except for Blanche who is holding on to it for dear life.
What I found interesting is how Blanche acted. She made it seem like she was so much better than them especially Stanley. But through the whole play you know she seems slightly strange, but there is no knowing if they stories are true until Stanley finds out and exposes her. But what I find disturbing is how Stanley rapes her to get her out of the house. He know she wasn't stable and he knew he could break her but attacking her like he did. He also know no one would believe her because of all the lies she has told. I know Blanche was a ignoring person to live but but I do not agree with what Stanley did at all.
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I think that the rape scence was the most confusing part of the whole play. It didn't come right out and say that he raped her, but ther reader/viewer knows what he did. At first I didn't really understand why he would do something like that, but when we talked about it in class it seemed to make a little more sense to me. He used her sexuality against her. It's weird though because the whole time Stanley and Blanche seemed to have some kind of sexual attraction to each other even though it seemed like neither of them could stand the other. It was all a strange twist, but interesting none the less. I think that Stanley went too far like you said. Although Blanche was very irritating and couldn't do anything for herself, he took advantage of her without consequences.
I was actually very surprised when the rape scene occurred in the play. I was actually confused while reading it, and had to reread this scene two times to make sure I was understanding what was going on. This was a very shocking scene and I felt it was unnecessary. I know that Stanley did this to show that he had the upper hand and held power over Stella and Blanche, and this only added to this idea.
I agree with you that the play represents the ideas of the "old south" as only existing in one person. I think this may have actually been a reality of the time. At the time this play was written it was almost mid-twentieth-century and the idea of the old south may have begun to become an old notion and an idea. It was no longer a reality that many people were experiencing.
I agree that the rape seems to come, somewhat, out of nowhere. But we know Stanley as an uber-macho, tough guy with animalistic desires, and we saw Blanche flirt with him at the beginning of the play, and he appears to like it. He rapes her to show his power over her and perhaps also to satisfy an urge he has had since Blanche came into town.
I didn't really see Stanley as really that stable of a character in this play. He seemed just as moody and crazy as Blanche. Who rapes someone to get them out of their house? not a sane person that's for sure. It just seems a little funny to me to say that Blanche was the only one off her rocker.
I don't know if I think that Stanley raped Blanche as a way to get her out of the house. I think it was definitely more based on the fact that she had now been exposed as a promiscuous woman, and Stanley, who clearly has an ego problem, went on a power trip. The main reason for rape, in general, is for the rapist to feel a sense of power over the person being raped. I definitely think this was a leading factor in Stanley's decision to rape Blanche.
I think the use of sexuality was more of a social commentary on society by the author. Sex has been used against women for ages and why should this situation be anydifferent. Perhaps it was more disturbing because Blanche was supposed to epitomized the values of the old south- and in raping Blanche, Stanley victimized all women. I think it interesting that that with Blanche, it comes to rape, but with Stella, Stanley is only uses violence because she likes it...
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