From Beast to Brute

A Streetcar Named Desire introduces audiences to the character of Stanley. He is a working class man that lives in a modest flat with his wife Stella. Through the duration of the play Stanley’s true character comes to attention. Stanley reacts to various situations with violent outbursts and overreactions. When one takes in to account the character of The Beast in The Tiger’s Bride, Stanley becomes less human than originally thought. It is through the comparison to The Beast that one can truly see the vastness of Stanley’s brutishness. These primal behaviors that the two share prove to be a hindrance when trying to interact with others in their settings. Just like The Beast, Stanley cannot properly connect with the women in his life because he displays these bursts of inhumanity. The two use their anger to instill fear into those very women they are trying to connect with. The personalities of both men make the interactions they share with their surroundings detrimental for everyone involved.

The first comparison one can draw from the two characters is that the two enjoy a game of cards. The competition they show can be attributed to their primal behaviors slowly pushing itself into light. Stanley as well as The Beast loses their temper easily when things don’t go their way at the card table. Stanley throws a fit of rage as The Beast “made a sudden, dreadful noise, halfway between a growl and a roar…”(Carter 55) both men without self-control. One would expect such a reaction from a hybrid of beast and man, something so connected to a primal background. When Stanley demonstrates similar growls of anger it makes it hard for both the others in the play and the audience to connect to him. When compared to the tenderness of his wife Stella and the aristocratic behavior of her sister Blanche, Stanley’s anger is out of place and unwelcome. In his environment, Stanley just seems like an ill-tempered man, but when compared with an actual beast, he can be seen for what he truly is, an animal.

Each character toys with appearances to help shield their actual beings from the outside world. The Beast walks through the scenes with a mask to cover up what he truly is. The mask is described as “a mask with a man’s face painted most beautifully on it”(Carter 53). The Beast wishes to be viewed as normal to a foreign culture he does not belong. This type of masking can be seen within Stanley. He is a strapping, young man that is trying to mask a more sinister side from his bride and friends. This fact becomes clear once compared to The Beast, even the daughter notices that The Beast is too beautiful to be believed as human. His outward appearance is too unbelievable to ever pass as an actual human. The Beast’s mask is described as “one with too much formal symmetry of feature to be entirely human: one profile of his mask is the mirror image of the other, too perfect, uncanny” (Carter 53). Stanley puts on a façade of warmth and caring to help distract those around him. Though he seems to be personable he allows his anger to abuse both Stella and Blanche. Though once his abuse is over he quickly tries to adorn this fake mask once again and regain trust from the people he delivers fear to.

Stanley and The Beast use their power and fear throughout their stories to hunt women that they desire. The Beast uses his intimidating demeanor to pressure the daughter into displaying her nude body in front of him. The daughter denies at first but The Beast’s persistence forces her to disrobe in front of him. He used his fear and past stories of him “gobbling up” people to get what he wanted from the girl. Similarly, Stanley uses his fear to get what he wants from both Stella and Blanche. Though Stanley abuses Stella, he uses his kindness to win her back. This allows him to release his primal anger without losing a crucial piece of normalcy to the outside world. In turn, Stanley uses fear and anger to push Blanche into a corner and eventually rape her. The Beast and Stanley share primal wants and needs that lead them to eventually “gobble” up those in their path.

It is through the comparison to a character so animalistic that one can see that Stanley is truly out of place in A Streetcar Named Desire. His actions and attitude only add to the assumptions that he too is a wild animal only relying on his instincts to interact with others. The Beast tries so very hard to look and act like a human but cannot help his primal nature to shine through his fake façade. Stanley experiences a similar struggle as he tries to suppress those very same emotions throughout the play. Fear, anger, and intimidation are the key indicators one can use to compare The Beast and the brutish Stanley. Two animals trying to interact with the human realm.