Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable. It is the one unforgivable thing in my opinion and it is the one thing of which I have never, never been guilty.
– Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 10. Blanche accuses Mitch of "deliberate cruelty" in repeating slanderous stories about her told to him by Stanley. Her statement to Stanley that she has never been cruel is ironic. It ignores her guilt over her role in her young husband’s suicide. He shot himself when Blanche told him he disgusted her after he slept with a man. Blanche’s description of Stanley to his wife Stella as bestial, ape-like and survivor from the Stone Age could also be considered cruel.