Feminist Criticism
Women
Marriage
Williams' Experiences
Williams' Life Influence
Blanche's Southern version of Puritanism probably contributed to her husband's suicide and her inability to comprehend her guilt led her into promiscuity
If womanhood is a role defined by society rather than a natural condition few societies have defined it more tightly than the American South
She and Stella both realize that the traditional woman has few choices: she must be the good daughter, sheltered and virginal; the good wife, protected and faithful; or the good mother, loving and wise
Some feminist critics have attacked Tennessee Williams for portraying these women as victims and losers.
They are especially appalled at Stella's easy acceptance of spousal abuse.
This is not a fair criticism: Williams was not interested in a political agenda. He wrote most of his plays long before the modern wave of feminism had defined its position on such issues
Stanley and Mitch are realistic portrayals of men who try to force their women into neat categories.
Williams knows that a woman like Stella would choose to stay with a brutal husband once she has children rather than risk the poverty and bleakness of life as a single mother
Both sisters married for love, but chose unsuitable husbands. Blanche's disappointment in Allan's ambiguous sexual identify may have led Stella to select an aggressively heterosexual man of the wrong social class
Only a blind romantic would expect her to make a grand gesture at the end of the play. Williams' recognition of this essential pragmatism in playing the cards one is dealt demonstrates his sensitivity to women's issues
Women all too often remain in abusive relationships, curiously attracted to their persecutor in a painfully passive response.
In other cases like his own mother the woman might be forced by economic circumstances to endure years of either physical or psychological abuse. But when she had an alternative- money- she did rid herself of her husband
Williams was describing behaviour he had witnessed for women.
As a gay man Tennessee Williams felt he was particularly sensitive to the status of women- powerless and defined as 'other'. He himself was on occasion the victim of sexual abuse
He knew how frightening it could be. In fact, Blanche is often seen as the spokesperson for Williams himself
Having watched his sister struggle to become this kind of Southern Belle that his mother expected, he knew how cruel this definition of roles could be
Williams loved and admired many women for their courage and their integrity. Showing what women endure and the mark of survival after all the trial faced
It is not surprising that a man raised by an unhappy mother always at odds with her husband, would see marriage as less than idyllic.