Sisters Suffering from a Brutal Man

         What is wrong is wrong for all. Blanche does not seem to believe that. Blanche is a hypocrite in Elia Kazan's 1951 movie version of Tennessee Williams' 1947 A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche (Vivien Leigh) tells her sister, Stella (Kim Hunter), how she needs to leave her husband, Stanley (Marlon Brando), because she is too good for him, but yet Blanche has led a very interesting life of her own by making bad choices with men.

         Stanley is not a nice a nice man nor a good husband. Throughout most of the movie he appears drunk and even hits Stella a few times. He shows no respect for her or her wishes. Blanche is right. Stella does not need to be in a relationship with a man that treats her so badly. She definitely should get out of the relationship.

         Blanche in the past has had promiscuous relationships with men who also did not respect her. Both sisters, Blanche and Stella, need to get out of the relationships they are in. Their relationships are very dangerous and could hurt the two women. I truly believe that Blanche wanted to change for the better, but Stanley would not want to give her a fair chance since he ruined her engagement with Mitch (Karl Malden) by telling him that she had "been around."

         The difference between the sisters is that Blanche does feel for Stella's situation enough to talk to her about getting out of it. Stella is a weak person who is unable to stand strong and tell her sister about her knowledge of her promiscuous behavior. I think that Blanche could have changed if she would have seen strength out of her sister, Stella. I think Blanche needed to heighten her self-esteem since her past with the seventeen-year-old boy, that had caused her to be fired from her job. Unfortunately, Stella is too weak to warn Blanche about Stanley's having told Mitch about her past. Therefore, Blanche has to find this but from Mitch himself when comes over later, flings it in her face, and tries to assault her, but she throws him out, with her already low self esteem completely shattered.

         I think they are both women who deserve better than the way Stanley has treated them. He is a volatile man that has ruined both of the sister's lives. I think he was unfair to Blanche because I think she could have started a new life with her sister if Stanley would not have gotten into her business. I think both of the sisters need to pack up their bags together and leave together and find men who respect them for the ladies they are.

Courtney Wenande

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