Stella Deserves Better than Stanley

         Stella is a young woman who decided to get married to Stanley in Tennessee Williams's 1947 A Streetcar Named Desire, filmed in 1951 by Elia Kazan. I am not sure why she (Kim Hunter) decided to marry Stanley (Marlon Brando), but she did. I personally do not like Stanley, and think that he is a slob for a husband. Stella could do much better than Stanley any day of the week, but I guess she does not see that until the end of the movie. In this essay I hope that you will see how Stanley really is and why Stella should not go back to Stanley.

         First of all, Stanley is very violent, especially when he drinks a more than normal. I do not know if he is mad because Blanche (Vivien Leigh) is there or why for sure that he is so violent. He is violent in the way that he acts towards both Stella and Blanche. Also, he hits Stella across the face a few times throughout the whole movie. Stella deserves much better than a violent man. Anyone that is violent in a relationship should get out. Stella does not see this, though, because she loves him and could not live without him. This is the way women are in a relationship that is violent. Stella can do much better than Stanley in that she could do without the violence.

         Next, Stanley wants stuff done his way or not at all. He wants Blanche's stuff--jewels and clothes--appraised because he thinks that she had stolen. Blanche had not stolen stuff at all. She had bought it, or someone gave it to her. Stanley was dead set that Blanche had stolen the stuff and demanded that the stuff be appraised. The same goes with Stanley towards Stella. Stella has to have stuff in the house a certain way and certain stuff in the house because Stanley said so. Stella should be able to put whatever she wants in her house because it is her house too. It is just wrong that Stanley wants to tell Stella where she should put stuff in her own house.

         Next Stanley is a very aggressive man. He is very agitated all of the time. It does not take very much to make him very mad very quickly. All throughout the movie, Stanley yells at Blanche and Stella for no reason at all. He has no right to yell at neither Blanche nor Stella for any reason at all. Stella deserves better than someone that yells at her all of the time. She can do much better than Stanley.

         Finally, Stanley raped Blanche. If I were Stella, then I would leave Stanley too because Stanley had touched another woman and was intimate with another woman not by her own free will. I would leave Stanley in a second if he were my husband and had sexual relations with another woman. This would make my very mad and very untrusting of Stanley just as I am sure that Stella is of Stanley right now.

         In conclusion, I do not blame Stella if she wants to leave Stanley. I would want to leave Stanley too if he showed all of the signs of a violent and uncaring husband. Also, if my husband screwed around with another woman, not by the woman's own free will, I would dump him. I would most assuredly dump Stanley too, if he raped a woman. That is just wrong to the woman and to Stella, his wife.

Michelle Loveridge

Table of Contents
1