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StreetMalf - Gender - Coggle Diagram

- - - - For example, Williams uses the prop of the radio to act as a prolepsis to the domestic violence and rape of Blanche
      - early on, Stanley is introduced as the 'minister sergeant in the Engineers' corps', immediately introducing a theme of violence and masculine control that would permeate the whole play
      - Stanley is said to 'stalk' towards the radio, he 'snatches' and 'tosses' it with a 'shouted oath'
      - the animalistic connotations of 'stalk' suggest that Stanley acts without reason or logic, and instead acts instinctively, like an animal defending its territory
      - 'chief ape-man Stanley Kowalski' (Clurman)
      - the balance of 'tosses' and 'shouted oath' combines both physical and verbal dominance, emphasising the masculine power of Stan
      - the radio soon becomes Stella, his wife, as he hits her and 'Stella cries out'
      - at this time there were no laws against domestic or sexual violence such as this, in fact rape within marriage was not outlawed until 1993. domestic violence was considered a 'family matter'
      - Stanley is able to get away with his violence as Stella is 'the girl who closes her eyes' (Kazan) and forgives him
      - she says 'he was as good as a lamb when I came back, and he's really very, very ashamed of himself'
      - the use of epizeuxis here symbolises the repetition of Stanley's actions, as it is so normalised and he is allowed to get away with it
      - the imagery of the lamb has biblical connotations to sacrifice, as this showcases how Stella sacrifices her physical safety to be with Stanley, as she relies on him, especially sexually
      - this is because 'life with Stanley - sex with Stanley - is her highest value' (McGlinn)
      - Stella allows Stanley's behaviour by continually forgiving him, as 'she feels helpless to change the way he treats her' (Bloom), and thus 'Stella contributes to Blanche's disintegration' (McGlinn), as Stanley's domestic violence reaches its climax with the rape of Blanche
      - during the rape, Blanche sinks to her 'knees' and he carries her 'inert figure', symbolising subjugation and passivity
      - this was his 'ultimate penetration' (Shead), which led to Blanche's ruin
      - in the first production of the play, audiences applauded the rape scene as they felt that a 'madwoman...had been successfully exorcised' (Spector), this showcases the power of Stanley as a man to elicit sympathy in a society that normalises his violence
      - critics have posited that Stanley's possessive nature derives from his time as a soldier, as he struggles to readjust to his new 'territory' which is merely two rooms
  - - - Ferdinand clearly has incestuous feelings for his sister
      - in fact, in a German production of the play in 1946, the playwright included a prologue in which Ferdinand confesses his incestuous love to his sister
      - Ferdinand imagines a 'strong thighed bargeman' having sex with his sister, emphasising his disgust, as he is threatened by a masculine man of a lower class
      - Dusinberre speaks of a 'dark web of lust' that Ferdinand has around his sister
      - indeed, he says 'damn her, that body of hers' which shows how he blames her for his feelings, which are out of her control
      - it also shows how he views her only for her body, as she is a 'lusty widow'
      - the incestuous feelings of Ferdinand cause him to have male dominance of the Duchess, as she is subject to his jealousy which eventually drives him mad and causes her murder
      - his 'most perverse and turbulent nature' is shown by 'impassioned raving' (Bliss)
      - he wishes to make the Duchess mad also, 'she'll needs be mad' with a 'deadly dogged howl'
      - the alliteration here emphasises the full extent of torment that the Duchess is subjected to
      - although the Duchess retains power by claiming 'I am Duchess of Malfi still', Williams never actually names the Duchess, not giving her true independence or agency
      - The Duchess 'achieves heroism through her death' (White)
      - however, the tragedy of her murder still encapsulates the masculine power of Ferdinand, and how he exerts this over his sister which causes her tragic death
      - in this time, such patriarchal powers against women were normal, such as in the contemporary text 'the arraignment of lewd, idle, froward and unconstant women' by Joseph Swetman which claimed 'women are all necessary evils'
      - however, critics such as White have suggested that Williams is condemnatory of this misogynistic behaviour, as
      - moreover, Williams chooses for the Duchess to live on after her death, in the form of an echo, granting her more agency and cementing her status as a hero against the patriarchy
      - some critics have posited Williams as a proto-feminist for this, compounded by the fact that the female character is eponymous
- - - - New Orleans used to be a French Colony, but by this time had come to represent a melting-pot of cultures, amplified by an influx of immigration, represented by Stanley the 'polack', the Mexican flower vender, Eunice, and the jazz music
      - this is shown by the still existent French quarter in New Orleans
      - Blanche Dubois is associated with the French, due to her French name and higher class, more sophisticated background
      - therefore, the setting is 'a city of extremes, a place operating in contrasts' (Brilley)
      - it represents the conflict between the Old South, and the New
      - the conflict between Stanley and Blanche - 'refinement and barbarism' (Adams) - is represented by the rape of Blanche by Stanley, as he ruins her and her Southern Belle facade, and thus destroys the Old South
      - thus, Williams is using 'the tragedy of Blanche Dubois to illustrate the changing nature of the postwar South' (Brilley)
      - this is showcased by Blanche's facade as a Southern Belle, a stock character representing the gentility and romanticism of the Old South, eradicated by the outlaw of slavery which was their main source of income and power
      - Stanley instead represents the New South, with new values. he represents the American dream and opportunity for all
      - 'Blanche' means 'white' and is a symbol of purity or innocence, or the supposed superiority over the black class that they enslaved. In any way, it represents the old, as innocence can be corrupted
      - Stanley frequently exerts his pride over lessening the status of his wife Stella, saying 'I pulled you down off them columns'
      - the use of the emphatic verb 'pull' suggests a relish and aggression to his actions
      - he uses the 'columns' as a synecdoche to represent the Old South, due to its classical and refined architecture
      - this architectural symbol is akin to the symbol used in The Duchess of Malfi
        
        The Duchess says to Antonio, 'this godly roof of yours is too low built, I cannot stand upright in't'
        
        the use of 'godly' reflects the contemporary view that social status was divinely appointed, as god dictated the order of society, Great Chain of Being
        
        despite this, the Duchess wishes to alter it, by raising Antonio's status in a progressive form of social mobility, through marriage
        
        she does this through her own desire, but also the goodness of her morality
        
        she 'combines virtue with powerful sexual desire' (Callaghan) and also 'excitingly revers[es] the gender roles' (Gibbons)
        
        she greatly opposes Stanley in this sense, as she is happy to raise her partner's status through her own sacrifice of safety, whereas Stanley is happy to lower his partner's status to save his own pride
  - - - Webster chose to set the play in Italy, so that he could analyse the issues of British courts through the lens of Italy.
      - however, he implies that the main characters are actually of Spanish descent
      - the Spanish royal Hapsburg family was renowned for its incestuous inbreeding which caused grotesque birth defects
      - it is estimated that between 1500 and 1700, 80% of Hapsburg's marriages were incestuous
      - thus, Webster uses the setting to immediately signal the incestuous feelings of Ferdinand, which he weaponises to maximise control over his sister, and it eventually leads to her murder
      - moreover, it is soon established that the court is corrupt, facilitated by the 'princely brothers' who are like 'plum trees...o'erladen with fruit'
      - 'plum' connotes the colour purple which signifies royalty, showcasing how the brothers exploit their social positions for their own gain
      - this image also suggests the prevalence of sycophancy in the court, as the brothers are fed off of by others. People in the court flatter and feed off of the fruit of the trees
      - moreover, the mention of fruit signifies a future 'fall' which highlights the presence of 'evil and decay that drags all mankind to death' (Bogard)
      - moreover, the natural imagery used in this simile reflects how the brothers were put into this position through inheritance, and do not actually deserve it, breeding corruption
      - such corruption affects the Duchess, who is morally better than her brothers and their 'cool, unemotional detachment' and 'impassioned raving' (Bliss)
      - this corruption manifests itself in 'a common fountain' which is 'poison[ed] near the head' which causes 'death and diseases through the whole land spread'
      - this reflects the theory of body politic, which dictates that the corruption of a leader spreads outwards into the land
      - the corruption of the brothers has spread out and affected Bosola also, which all contribute to the Duchess' death
      - the court and its structure facilitates the 'naked patriarchal power' (Gibbons) of the brothers
      - Italy was associated with corruption, due to it being the hub of Catholicism whilst England was Protestant
      - moreover, Italy was associated with Machiavelli who wrote the Prince, which suggested that one should gain power in any way possible, even through 'nefarious' means, further corruption