How does Williams portray the themes of masculinity and femininity in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’?

The themes of masculinity and femininity can be seen to clash and conflict in William’s contemporary play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. The character of Stanley is presented as the alpha male of the play, displaying a violent form of masculinity. Through his carnal lust and brutish behaviour, Stanley is presented as having an animal magnetism, which instinctively causes him to satisfy his sexual desires and parade his physicality. Stanley accentuates his strong physicality in scene three, where his violence towards his wife Stella is encouraged by his intoxication. The actor playing Stanley could even exaggerate his ‘sub-human’, animalistic masculinity by transforming the line ‘STELL-LAHHHHH! into an almost mating call and create cohesion with the sexualised initial description of him as a ‘richly feathered male bird among hens’. The character Blanche contrastingly presents a delicate, illusive femininity, showing the post-world war two female dependency on males. Williams uses the stage directions in scene one to describe Blanche as a ‘moth’, due to her white clothes, insinuating a feminine vulnerability, and as having a ‘delicate beauty’ that ‘must avoid a strong light’. This both alludes to the idea of her Southern ‘Belle’ grandeur being false and coheres with the symbolism of ‘The Paper Lantern’, which protects her ageing exterior appearance in order to attract possible male suitors. Both a modern audience and an audience of the 1940s could recognise through Blanche the past and current social pressures forced upon aging women compared to men. Lakoff’s gendered language theory can further support the contrast between the gender themes. Stanley uses obscene, ‘blue collar’ worker language, such as ‘hens’ and ‘dolls’, which starkly contrasts Blanche’s hypercorrect grammar and super polite forms like ‘if you don’t mind’. Not only does this theory support the gender contrasts, but also suggests the differing social classes and styles of drama the characters represent. Williams therefore uses these themes to show the transition from melodrama (Blanche) to realism (Stanley) in contemporary drama and the changing industrial society of post-war America, leaving behind its antebellum values.