Tara Walker April 3, 2010 English 293 Sec. 2
Stella Kowalski: A Fragmented Catalyst for Careful Destruction One of Tennessee William’s most famous plays, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), is the tragic story of a southern belle, Blanche DuBois, who arrives in New Orleans to stay with her younger sister. Fleeing from a dark and seedy past, Blanche appears in a fragile state of mind with hopes for a bright future. Later, her emotional and mental state is completely destroyed upon being raped by her sister’s husband Stanley. Through all of this, one character holds the key of control the entire time. Known throughout the script as “Stella, baby” (Scene 1, 1161), “Mrs. Stanley Kowalski,” (Scene 1, 1162), and “Stella DuBois”, (Scene 1, 1162) it is often felt that she seems to play a somewhat obscure role in the unfolding of the plot and development. One critic claims that A Streetcar Named Desire is, “After all, a tragic gladiators' battle between the coarse, menacing Stanley and Stella's sister, the elegant, unraveling Blanche DuBois… [And Stella is] a vibrant woman who loves having sex with her husband” (Hoffman). Rachael van Duyvenbode speaks of Stella as one who has been “driven wild by the desire of [Stanley]” (212), while Daniel Jacobs suggests that, “in the end, [Stella] must choose between loyalty to her sister and loyalty to Stanley… so she chooses life [and] her husband” (329-‐330). Consequently, Blanche and Stella both suffer, one with her decision, the other with the outcome. Although Stanley and Blanche are in the forefront of Tennessee William’s drama, it is of equal necessity to explore the quieter but more stabilizing role of Stella. In addition to her ambiguous place as Blanche’s quiet sister and Stanley’s sexually satisfied wife, I argue that Stella Dubois Kowalski is not just a bystander in A Streetcar Named Desire, but consciously acts as a catalyst for the events that lead to the psychological destruction of her sister.
Stella Kowalski’s first crucial role in A Streetcar Named Desire is to play the part of
peacemaker. Stella actively smoothes things over in every situation she encounters with her easily excitable husband and sister. Within the first line of the opening scene, the audience gets a good look at Stella’s relationship with Stanley after he calls to her, “Hey there! Stella, baby!”(Scene 1, 1161). She good naturedly responds by telling him not to holler at her and proves herself unaffected when shortly after, she goes to watch him bowl. Following this interaction, Blanche shows up looking for Stella. She is dressed all in white, appears nervous, and looks out of place. As soon as Stella returns and finds Blanche there she is overjoyed to see her despite the unexpected visit, proof of her easygoing nature. However, she is immediately critiqued by Blanche who comments on the shadiness of the neighborhood, the less than acceptable living conditions, and even Stella’s obvious weight gain. To all of this her response is, “You never did give me a chance to say much, Blanche. So I just got in the habit of being quiet around you” (Scene 1, 1165). Here, the reader and audience discover that Stella is not passive but chose long ago to keep things to herself. Likewise, she is someone who holds everything together behind the scenes with quiet determination. “The best I could do was make my own living” (Scene 1, 1167). Blanche accuses Stella of abandoning their childhood home Belle Reve, but Stella’s declaration of independence proves her strength and ability to make things go her way. Despite her sister’s condescending description and Stella’s willingness to wait on Blanche and Stanley, she accepts criticism well and finds no trouble in meeting others’ needs. However, her obvious refusal to take responsibility for what has happened not only to Belle Reve but also to Blanche proves she is not above looking out for herself. Still, Tennessee Williams masks this complexity in Scene Two when Stella begs Stanley not to ask Blanche how Belle Reve was lost in
order to keep her from falling apart. “There’s plenty of time to ask her questions later but if you do now she’ll go to pieces again” (1171). Here Stella’s subtle suggestion turns the course of events while alleviating emotional buildup within her home. The second important and controversial aspect of Stella’s character that leads to Blanche’s downfall deals specifically with Stanley. Stanley establishes his dominance over Stella early on and then continually throughout the remainder of the play. Still, despite his bravado, Stella holds the power to drive him to meek humility, even if it is simply by threatening to withhold sexual intimacy from him. This is particularly apparent after Stanley strikes his pregnant wife during the poker match in Scene Three. At first Stella cries that she wants to go away, and Blanche rushes her to the neighbor’s. But later, after Stanley yells for her over and over again to come back, she meets him with tenderness at the bottom of the stairs and quickly forgives him (1183). In the following scene, Blanche cries and refers to Stella as, “Baby, my baby sister,” and argues that the two of them must leave as soon as possible (Scene 4, 1184). Stella acts contrarily to that of a baby sister and in the way of a wise and seasoned wife, calms her “excitable” sister while backhandedly apologizing for the latter’s naiveté around drunken men playing poker (Scene 4, 1184). She advocates that Stanley could not be held responsible for his actions simply because “he didn’t know what he was doing” (Scene Four, 1184). Some question whether this scene establishes Stella as a blindly forgiving woman who has accepted her place and will endure the abuse of a sex-‐crazed husband. However, I argue that it proves Stella’s devotion to her wild-‐man of a husband and that she understands how to get what she wants without rocking the boat. Unfortunately, by getting the intimacy and security she so desires, Stanley is assured that he may do as he pleases and still remain in good graces with her. Later,
Stella’s acceptance and belief that she is “not in anything [she] want[s] to get out of,” proves to be devastating for Blanche who happens to be the next victim of Stanley’s riotous behavior (Scene 4, 1185). Shortly after Stanley has blackmailed Blanche and given her a one way ticket back home, Stella reprimands him. “You needn’t have been so cruel to someone alone as she is… nobody, was tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her, and forced her to change” (Scene Eight, 1207). Here, Stella separates herself from Blanche by describing to her husband the effect that harsh, cruel, self-‐interested men have had upon her sister. An even greater contrast lies in the fact that even though Stanley pulled Stella down from her white columns, because she was far from home and bent on making her own living, she accepted him and changed of her own accord. Consequently, and later ironically, Stella is not the victim of another’s choices but was able to decide her own fate. Some scenes later, Stanley comes home from the hospital to find Blanche drunk and beside herself. After aggravating her with jibes and insults, he lustfully forces her into bed with him. Knowing full well what her husband was capable of and without ever really doing anything but rebuking him for his treatment of Blanche, Stella indirectly allows her sister’s rape to occur. In the final scene of A Streetcar Named Desire Stella has already decided Blanche’s fate. Stella knows what Blanche has told her is true but relates to her friend Eunice, “I don’t know if I did the right thing…I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley” (Scene 11, 1217). When Stella refuses to believe Blanche, she crushes her sister’s final chance of hope for a normal, stable life. Instead of choosing to do the right thing, she selfishly decides to avoid it in order to keep her own life secure. Contrary to Eunice’s reassurances, it was never her only choice.
In the end, unassuming Stella is the deciding factor for the outcome of the play. Without her conscious and weighty decisions to appease the people in her home, overlook Stanley’s behavior and finally, turn a blind eye to Blanche’s rape, A Streetcar Named Desire would have taken a highly different track. Although Tennessee William’s work falls sometime after the works of other high-‐modernists, Stella still accurately fits under Ernest Hemmingway’s idea of the Iceberg Principle; there is a lot more to her than meets the eye. William’s careful construction of Stella’s character as one whose depth is never explored stands in stark juxtaposition to that of Blanche or Stanley. The fractures of the varied lifestyles found in William’s drama like rich and poor, moral and immoral, harmonious and that of discord illustrate the literary influence of the time period upon his writings. A Streetcar Named Desire is an intense look at the power of choice and a human’s capacity to “make things new”. Despite the fragments that dictated Stella’s choices, she truly was a catalyst for sister’s careful destruction.
Works Cited Hoffman, Jan. "The Importance of Being Stella (Then Being Her Again)." New York Times (1923-‐Current file) 9 May 2005, ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 -‐ 2006), ProQuest. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. Jacobs, Daniel. "Blanche, Stella, Tennessee and Rose." Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. 61. (2006): 320-‐333. Print. Van Duyvenbode, Rachel. "Darkness Made Visible: Miscegenation, Masquerade and the Signified Racial Other in Tennessee Williams' Baby Doll and A Streetcar Named Desire." Journal of American Studies 35.2 (2001): 203. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. Williams, Tennessee. "A Streetcar Named Desire." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 'Ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2008. Print.