Stella and Blanche Comparison

The relationship between Blanche and Stella is pivotal to Tennessee Williams’s Street Car Named Desire. It is through the characters’ relationships and interactions that the crux of the play hinges. There is the dynamic Stanley who is vibrant and earthy and acts almost as the antithesis to Blanche’s ethereal and flighty fragility. I believe that Stella acts as the medium between the two of them, almost like the translator, the bridge between the two extremes.

From the very beginning we are shown that Stella has great affection for her sister. She greets her joyfully however; we are also shown that it is a more controlled affection than that of Blanche’s for her. This is one example of how Williams uses the sisters to show the contrasts in their personalities. Already, Stella is anxious about Blanche . Williams’s language in this first greeting between the two sisters clearly demonstrates their different personalities. Blanche tends to witter on whilst Stella says much less. From the first meeting, the reader may wonder whether Stella is more stable and grounded or, alternatively, maybe she is just much more placid and easily dominated by a more forceful personality such as Blanche’s. We shall see that this is the case when we see her interaction with her husband, Stanley.

It is important to remember that Stella is Blanche’s baby sister. This would normally imply that Blanche should be more protective of Stella but it seems that due to Blanche’s frailty that Stella is the protective one. She defends her to Stanley over the loss of Belle Reve . Realistically, Stella could be angry at Blanche over the loss of their family home but instead she looks to protect her from Stanley’s questioning . This shows a strength from Stella that maybe was not to be expected. She has already explained how enthralled she is with her husband and to try and protect Blanche from Stanley must be a difficult situation for her as she normally