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Stella, kcjf - Coggle Diagram
Stella
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Defending Blanche
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• “Nobody was tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her, and forced her to change.”
• Symbolic moment: Rips Stanley’s shirt to stop him leaving – a rare moment of physical resistance, representing internal conflict and protective instinct.
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Characterisation
• Described in stage directions as “a gentle young woman… of a background obviously quite different from her husband” (Scene One).
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• Passive, quiet, emotionally reserved – contrasts sharply with Blanche’s emotional volatility.
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Devotion to Stanley
• Stella’s sexual and emotional dependence on Stanley is central to her character and the play’s dramatic tension.
• Scene Four: her passionate defence of Stanley illustrates that her loyalty lies with him, not Blanche.
• Stella chooses marital loyalty over familial duty, a key decision that leads to Blanche’s downfall.
• Her complicity in Blanche’s committal underscores this loyalty – her refusal to believe Blanche’s accusations avoids confronting the truth about Stanley.
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• She becomes increasingly assimilated into his world, perhaps as a means of psychological survival.
• Represents the moral ambiguity of survival in the modern world – she sacrifices truth for stability.
Thematic Significance
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• Her presence allows Williams to explore the cost of emotional repression, the limits of familial loyalty, and the tragedy of compromise.
Central Conflict
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• Devotion to Stanley – husband, father of her child, source of sexual passion.
• Loyalty to Blanche – her sister and emotional link to the past (Belle Reve, Southern gentility).
• Her struggle reflects the moral and emotional complexity of Williams’s characters and the broader tension between desire and duty.
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Avoidance and Denial
• Scene Eleven: To Eunice, about Blanche’s rape accusation:
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Moments of Assertiveness
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• Language shows brief moments of domestic authority, though not sustained.
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AO3: Context
• Stella represents women in post-war America caught between traditional expectations and emerging freedoms.
• Her acceptance of domestic violence and patriarchal structures reflects societal norms of 1940s America.
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