The brutality and inevitability of oppression is a dominant theme in literature as it is a key theme presented in A Streetcar Named Desire. In this piece, Williams calls for the reform of social constructs such as patriarchy and highlights patterns of oppression in society, including the physical and psychological brutality of oppression as well as conformity and the potential for escape. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayThe crescendo of violence in A Streetcar Named Desire depicts the physical brutality of oppression. The build-up to violence begins when Stanley "lifts the package"[1] of meat onto Stella in the first scene. Even though this action is small and could be considered insignificant, it gives the reader insight into Stanley's character as he seems carefree, but the small acts of physical violence add up to Stanley's ultimate act of physical brutality at the END. Another time Stanley is physically violent is when he "gives a big hand"1 to Stella's thigh in scene 3. Stanley acts as if he is possessing his wife through the sexually possessive action of hit her thigh and treat her like he did. wanna. His male dominance is reinforced by Stella's ineffective response, who says dryly: "It's not fun, Stanley", while the laughter of the other men at the table that follows only further emphasizes the passive role of women in the room. Yet this was nothing compared to the physical violence Stella faced later in this scene. Stanley's pent-up anger and irritation in this scene was soon released with the "thumping noise"1 and it then became obvious to the audience that the recipient was Stella due to the "Stella screaming"1 in the directions. scenes which culminate in the blow. This act of violence not only exposes Stanley's true character to the audience, but it also reveals the downside of the bustling, vibrant life created by the atmosphere of New Orleans seemingly liberated in the first scene. Williams therefore points out that New Orleans is not what it seems and that there are underlying problems such as frequent violence, which foreshadows the violence that will continue throughout the play. ending with the rape of Blanche. However, some critics claim that Stanley is neither cruel nor violent and that the rape resulted from "Blanche's licentious provocation".[2] This critic places the blame on Blanche by stating that she instigated Stanley to rape her. There is clear evidence that Stanley is violent, especially towards Stella, and even the rape itself is cruel and violent. Stanley is presented as cruel through his psychological brutality. Once Stanley discovers the "truth" about Blanche, he torments her for the rest of the play, leading her to madness at the end of the play. His desire to discover the truth comes from his mask of false virtue. In the third scene, this is evident when he goes through Blanche's things after Stella tells him about Belle Reve. After assuming that Blanche had sold him out, he uses the “Napoleonic code”1 to act as if he was protecting Stella from a “swindle”1 by her sister. However, the Napoleonic code favors him because he would get the money and so Stanley uses this code to assert his patriarchal power over Stella and claim Belle Reve as his own. Thus, when Stella is presented as the voice of compassion by Williams when she explains that the "diamonds"1 on Blanche's "crown"1 (as Stanley says) are actually "rhinestones"1 ona “tiara”1, Stanley does not want to believe this because it would go against his fantasies. Once again, in scene 5, Stanley acts as if he is trying to find out the truth about Blanche by mentioning the "Flamingo Hotel"1 when what he really wants is to shame her and get revenge on her. her to maintain her male dominance. The audience is immediately made to feel sympathy for Blanche through Williams' use of dramatic irony. The fact that Stanley now knows what the audience already knew, Blanche was a prostitute, puts the audience in fear because we know Stanley would use this information to harm her. Stanley only seeks factual truths rather than psychological truths. This is why, unlike the public, he is incapable of understanding her. Williams suggests through Stanley that “all cruel people describe themselves as models of candor”[3]. Stanley is not honest because if he were, he would be telling the whole truth and getting facts not only from other sources but also from Blanche herself. This can be seen in the seventh scene when he tells Stella that Blanche is a prostitute and that she has "got mixed up"1 with a seventeen year old boy. Since Stanley did not state that the only reason this happened was because Blanche was going through the trauma of her husband's death which occurred when he was around this boy's age, this shows that he wasn't telling Stella that out of a need to be honest. This was also the case when he told Mitch this information, Stanley was acting like he was a good friend when in fact he only told Mitch to ruin Blanche's life with his only chance at happiness. This brutality and oppression is only reinforced by the conformity of the characters in the play and in society too, making it unavoidable. This conformity is seen after Stella is beaten by Stanley and the men are calm about it as if it is nothing out of the ordinary. Additionally, Eunice points out that this isn't the first time Stanley has done this to Stella as she says she hopes he gets locked up "like last time"1. This indicates that the violence is recurrent and occurs often. Even if this is the case, the scene ends with Stella returning to Stanley, her eyes becoming “blind with tenderness”1. This suggests that the only reason this is happening again is because she allows it to happen and immediately forgives him. The scene that follows this scene (Scene 4) only highlights this further as Stella remembers her wedding day when Stanley broke all the light bulbs. She normalizes her violence by telling Blanche that she was “delighted”1. By doing this, Stella excuses her oppressor and thus conforms to the oppression while allowing it to become a social norm. In scene nine, Mitch also conforms to these societal norms as he begins to act like Stanley when he discovers that Blanche was a prostitute. Mitch no longer has psychological truth but “just realistic”1 truths, he is therefore incapable of having compassion towards Blanche. when he learns of the death of his husband. Some critics believe that Blanche "delights" in "making fun"[4] of Mitch when he is unable to understand why she became a prostitute. However, this is not true because Blanche does not “take pleasure” in explaining herself to Mitch. In fact, she's disappointed that he chose to conform to the patriarchy. Finally, in the eleventh scene, Stella conforms to oppression again when she says that she “couldn't”1 believe Blanche about the rape and “continue to live with Stanley”1. Eunice reinforces this conformity by telling him to “never” believe it because “life must go on”1. This shows that the lives of these women.