Stella Kowalski Quotes

STANLEY: Catch!
STELLA: What?
STANLEY: Meat!
[Be heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but manages to catch it; then she laughs breathlessly. Her husband and his companion have already started back around the corner.]

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 1. Stanley is the 20th century version of the primitive caveman hunter gatherer, as depicted in this opening scene with his wife Stella. He is portrayed as the dominant one in the marriage. And she the submissive one who catches the meat he throws to her to cook for them. The way Stanley "heaves" the package of meat to Stella is symbolic of the sexual relationship between them.

I can hardly stand it when he is away for a night… When he’s away for a week I nearly go wild!… And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 1. From Stella’s comments to her sister Blanche about husband Stanley, we can deduce that their marriage is built upon sexual passion. In a simile she compares herself to crying like a baby when he returns after being away, showing her dependence on her husband. This reflects a societal gender power balance very much in favor of men at the time and place of the play.

BLANCHE [slowly]: The loss – the loss…
STELLA: Belle Reve? Lost, is it? No!
BLANCHE: Yes, Stella.
[They stare at each other across the yellow-checked linoleum of the table. Blanche slowly nods her head and Stella looks slowly down at her hands folded on the table. The music of the "blue piano" grows louder. Blanche touches her handkerchief to her forehead.]

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 1. Stella learns from Blanche that their ancestral home Belle Reve is lost to the family. The great plantation is a major part of the sisters’ past and there is an intense sense of shock and sadness at the family’s loss. The "blue piano" music reflects this mood.

STANLEY: What’s all this monkey doings?
STELLA: Oh, Stan! [She jumps up and kisses him which he accepts with lordly composure] I’m taking Blanche to Galatoire’s for supper and then to a show, because it’s your pok’r night.
STANLEY: How about my supper, huh? I’m not going to no Galatoire’s for supper!
STELLA: I put you a cold plate on ice.
STANLEY: Well, isn’t that just dandy!
STELLA: I’m going to try to keep Blanche out till the party breaks up because I don’t know how she would take it. So we’ll go to one of the little places in the Quarter afterwards and you’d better give me some money.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 1. Gender roles are on display when Stella announces to Stanley that she is taking Blanche out for a meal and a show. It’s poker party night for Stanley and his male friends and Stella believes that it’s not be the place for her sensitive sister to be. Unused to his wife going out, Stanley exerts his male authority and demands to know about his supper. As man of the house he expects his wife to cook a hot meal for him every night. He is not happy that she is leaving a cold plate for him. Blanche’s arrival has upset the balance in the Kowalski household. Stanley is resentful that is no longer getting all the attention from Stella and she is prioritizing Blanche over him. We also see the theme of social class here, with Galatoire’s being a high-class French restaurant which working class Stanley doesn’t want to go to. Stella’s financial dependence on her husband is shown when she has to ask him for money.

You have no idea how stupid and horrid you’re being! Now close that trunk before she comes out of the bathroom!
[He kicks the trunk partly closed and sits on the kitchen table.]

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 2. Normally the obedient wife, an angry Stella abandons her usual submissive female self to stand up to Stanley. Enraged and shocked at Stanley’s criticisms of Blanche and his rifling through her personal belongings, she lets fly at his stupid and ugly behavior. It is one of the first occasions for Stella to take her sister’s side over her husband. Stanley further shows his male aggression and dislike for Blanche by kicking her trunk in response.

STELLA: You lay your hands on me and I’ll – .
[She backs out of sight. He advances and disappears. There is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out. Blanche screams and runs into the kitchen. The men rush forward and there is grappling and cursing. Something is overturned with a crash.]

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 3. Stanley is a violent and aggressive man who embodies toxic masculinity. Disregarding Stella’s warning him not to lay hands on her, he strikes his wife so that the other men are forced to intervene, restrain him and force him into the bedroom.

STANLEY [with heaven-splitting violence]: STELLLAHHHHH!
[The low-tone clarinet moans. The door upstairs opens again. Stella slips down the rickety stairs in her robe. Her eyes are glistening with tears and her hair loose about her throat and shoulders. They stare at each other. Then they come together with low, animal moans. He falls to his knees on the steps and presses his face to her belly, curving a little with maternity. Her eyes go blind with tenderness as she catches his head and raises him level with her. He snatches the screen door open and lifts her off her feet and bears her into the dark flat.]

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 3. After Stanley hits Stella their reunion is described in animalistic terms as they "come together with low, animal moans." The personification of the clarinet music so that it also "moans" highlights the very strong sexual bond that exists between Stella and Stanley. Stanley’s cry "STELLLAHHHHH" and his falling to his knees to press his face to her pregnant belly does show a less dominant masculinity and more tender side to him. But even through his display of vulnerability he is showing his power over Stella. Wife beater he may be, but Stanley wants Stella back and Stanley won’t be denied.

He didn’t know what he was doing… He was as good as a lamb when I came back and he’s really very, very ashamed of himself.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. Stella shows that she too can sometimes find it hard to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Blinded by lust for Stanley, she excuses his violence towards her by saying he didn’t know what he was doing and is very remorseful. She uses an animal simile to compare him to a lamb, suggesting a Stanley that is innocent and child-like. This contrasts with the insensitive, bullish and aggressively masculine image he generally evokes.

Stanley’s always smashed things. Why, on our wedding night – soon as we came in here – he snatched off one of my slippers and rushed about the place smashing the light bulbs with it… I was – sort of – thrilled by it.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. There is an undercurrent of sexuality to Stanley’s aggressive behavior, which Stella finds a turn-on. Instead of running or screaming at him for smashing things on their wedding night, Stella explains to an incredulous Blanche that she was thrilled by this. This shows Stella retreating into a fantasy world to avoid the ugly reality that she is married to a violent man.

Oh, well, it’s his pleasure, like mine is movies and bridge. People have got to tolerate each other’s habits, I guess.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. As Stella mops up the mess from her husband’s poker parties and heavy drinking, she shares her philosophy for a successful marriage. She tells Blanche that tolerance is the key, and compares Stanley’s abusive habits with her own harmless pastimes. We see here clearly defined stereotypical gender roles: the hard-drinking and playing men and the women who clean up after them.

BLANCHE: Stop it. Let go of that broom. I won’t have you cleaning up for him!
STELLA: Then who’s going to do it? Are you?
BLANCHE: I? I!
STELLA: No, I didn’t think so.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. A disgusted Blanche tries to persuade Stella from cleaning up after Stanley’s poker party. In the Kowalski household keeping the place clean is seen as a woman’s job. But when Stella wonders if Blanche might do it, her sister responds with an air of shocked social superiority at the very thought of it.

But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark – that sort of make everything else seem – unimportant.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. Stella’s sexual attraction for Stanley is so great that she stays with him despite the fact that he hits her, gets drunk and is verbally abusive. These things she dismisses as unimportant. Stella is explaining to Blanche about her overwhelming love for Stanley. It is one based, not on any emotional connection, but on pure physical attraction and sexual passion. This is the glue that bonds the two together.

BLANCHE: What you are talking about is brutal desire – just – Desire! – the name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another…
STELLA: Haven’t you ever ridden on that streetcar?

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. Blanche uses the streetcar as a metaphor to tell Stella that sheer brutal sexual desire is no basis for a marriage. Stella continues the metaphor by asking if Blanche has never given into that same desire.

[Stella has embraced him – with both arms, fiercely, and full in the view of Blanche. He laughs and clasps her head to him. Over her head he grins through the curtains at Blanche.]

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 4. These are the stage directions after Stanley overhears Blanche’s conversation with Stella about his "bestial" nature. Stella shows her dependence on Stanley when she chooses his sexual and animal appeal over her sister. Despite Blanche attacking him as sub-human, Stella decides to remain loyal to her husband. This foreshadows Stella’s later decision to send Blanche to a mental asylum rather than accept that Stanley raped her. In the battle between Blanche and Stanley for power over Stella, his sinister victory grin informs us that he knows he has won.

Lately you been doing all you can think of to rub her the wrong way, Stanley, and Blanche is sensitive and you’ve got to realize that Blanche and I grew up under very different circumstances than you did.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 7. Stella puts family first by jumping to her sister’s defense when she and Stanley are not getting along. She emphasizes the differences in social class because of her and Blanche’s upbringing and Stanley growing up in a working class environment.

But when she was young, very young, she married a boy who wrote poetry…. He was extremely good-looking. I think Blanche didn’t just love him but worshipped the ground he walked on! Adored him and thought him almost too fine to be human! But then she found out… This beautiful and talented young man was a degenerate.

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 7. Themes of sexual desire and dependence on men are found in this speech by Stella providing context for Blanche’s past. A young Blanche married a boy that she worshipped and then discovered he was a "degenerate." Her husband Allan Gray – like the author Tennessee Williams – was a gay man in a 1940s America that criminalized same sex sexual activity.

STELLA: I said, Is Mitch through with her?
[Blanche’s voice is lifted again, serenely as a bell. She sings "But it wouldn’t be make-believe if you believed in me."]
STANLEY: No, I don’t think he’s necessarily through with her – just wised up!

– Tennessee Williams

A Streetcar Named Desire, Scene 7. From the bathroom Blanche sings her song about love and illusion unaware that Mitch is no longer smitten by her and won’t be marrying her. A simile describes her voice as being as serene as a bell. This is an example of the Williams using Stanley’s speech and Blanche’s song contrapuntally to build up tension by creating dramatic irony.
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