There are quite a few plays which have made a mark on the theater industry, along with the characters in the play. Some may recognize the following line: “Hey, Stella!” For those of you, who are unfamiliar with this line, the character Stanley Kowalski delivers this line. It is from Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.
This play has an interesting and different plot. A young woman, Blanche Dubois, comes to New Orleans to come visit her sister, Stella Kowalski. Blanche stays with Stella and Stella's husband, Stanley. Blanche was only supposed to stay for a short while, but the visit goes on longer than Stanley can handle. There are then quite a few problems, which occur within the Kowalski household. For those who haven't read or seen the play, I leave this task to you, as this is not the topic I wish to discuss.
The three main characters, Blanche, Stella, and Stanley, are very different from each other, but are interesting for this reason. It could be said that this is one aspect of the play, which moves the plot forward.
The first character to discuss is Blanche Dubois. The first time she appears, Blanche wears something, which does not fit with the rest of the background, with the rest of the setting. This is already a clue of Blanche's integration with the rest of the characters and setting. The audience may notice that she does not quite fit in. Blanche comes from an aristocratic family and was well off, until there was nothing left to past on to Blanche and her sister.
And she doesn't. As the play progresses, the audience may notice more and more that Blanche lives in a world of her own, a world that she has created for herself. In the end, the audience may question her sanity. It is not always clear whether she is genually insane or not. Tennessee Williams does not appear to state this clearly.
Then there is Blanche's opposite, Stanley. From the first moment that these two characters are next two each other, the audience may see that Stanley is not like his sister-in-law. As the play progress, Williams make it a lot more obvious that Stanley and Blanche are from two different planets. Unlike Blanche and Stella, Stanley does not come from a wealthy family. He was raised in the working class.
Stanley has always been, or appeared to be, a tough guy. He is very much the man around the house. It might be said that he enjoyed the way things were before Blanche arrived. He sees her as a disturbance, as a nuisance. Stanley does not think that Blanche belongs there. It is his home.
Finally, there is Stella. She plays the role of the mediator between her husband and her sister. She is stuck in the middle. She loves both of them and tries to keep the peace in the house. During the whole play, she must endure two people she loves fight.
Stella is an emotionally strong woman, primarily because of this fact. She is pregnant and she is forced to play the role of the mediator of the household. This shows some degree of strength in a character, as well as an individual.
All three characters are different, but at the same time, it may appear that they complement each other.
