Stella Kowalski

• Stella justifies Stanley's abuse by referring to the violence he displayed on their wedding night that thrilled her.
• Stella prioritizes her marriage and life with Stanley and their baby over Blanche.
• Stella prepares Blanche to meet Stanley by emphasizing the difference between the Old South aristocratic men and the New American working-class men.
• Stella disbelieves Stanley when he discloses Blanche’s past but considers everything he has said afterward.
• Stella is thoughtful towards Blanche and knows how compliments help her feel good.
• Blanche and Stella's relationship is characterized by Blanche having authority over Stella.
• Stella creates a delusion to live under, similar to Blanche.
• Stanley uses sex and money to make up for his abuse.
• Stella Kowalski is the younger sister of Blanche Dubois and the wife of Stanley Kowalski.
• Stella, like Blanche, has the disposition of aristocracy as they were both educated and raised on a plantation in the Old South.
• Stella's descent is an issue when Blanche comes into the Kowalski’s lives, bringing with her prejudice against his working-class habitus.
• An honest and open character, Stella is the light her name carries.
• Eunice shelters Stella from Stanley when the incident of physical abuse occurs and tells Stella to never believe the rape occurred and content with her life.
• Eunice, Stella’s upstairs neighbour and friend, is also Kowalski’s landlady and serves as a parallel embodiment of the working-class life Stella has chosen.
• Stella is a stable character, unlike Stanley and Blanche.
• Stella is all of the aforementioned for both Blanche and Stanley.
• Stella, in A Streetcar Named Desire, is characterized as more realistic than Blanche in her outlook on life, but this is contested at the end of the play as she chooses to believe that the rape is a figment of Blanche’s imagination and remains with Stanley.
• A star can be considered a symbol of light, a beacon of hope and as it is never changing, stability.
• Blanche comes to Elysian Fields, looking for Stella who is her last hope for stability.
• For Stanley, Stella is his life, wife and mother of his child, despite his abusive behaviour, he loves her in his way and is possessive about her because she is his hope for an enriching future and stable life with their child.
• Stella, much like her name, is the star in the household.
• Stanley feels threatened in a household with an aristocratic majority particularly when he hears Blanche’s words from Stella’s mouth.
• Stella is empathetic and forgiving in nature, easily manipulated by both Blanche and Stanley, as she loves them both dearly.
• Stella is tolerant of both their extreme behaviours and is so passive that she can reflect the audience’s position of helplessness in the play.
• Stella reflects the 1940’s subjugated and dependent woman, returning to Stabley despite his abuse, writing it off as “passion”, and at the end, choosing to reject the rape of Blanche so that she can continue to live with him.
• Stanley feels threatened by Blanche's presence and the threat she poses to his masculinity.
• Thomas Adler points out that Stella’s friend circle consists of battered housewives, finding comfort and support in each other and developing female bonds over the suffering, something common with victims of domestic abuse.
• Harold Bloom believes Stella embodies the battered housewife who loves her husband.
• Stella is treated like a child by Blanche.
• Stella is passive towards the abuse and issues she faces.
• J.M McGlinn looks at Stella as delusional like Blanche, as she believes she is happy with Stanley who abuses her.
• From a Marxist lens, Stella can be seen accepting the rise of the working class by marrying and dwelling with them.
• Stanley's birthday dinner is a good example of him feeling threatened by Blanche, mainly because of the sisters' heritage.
• In “Most Famous of Streetcar”, Siever uses the Freudian understanding of the subconscious to translate the characteristics of Stanley and Blanche.
• Stanley lashes out at Stella, verbally and physically, on multiple occasions.
• Stanley dominates Stella to an extent where he uses domestic violence to assert his role and subjugate Stella.
• Stella enjoys the display of Stanley's masculinity on many occasions.
• Stella can be the ego, operating on the Reality principle.
• Williams successfully portrays the patriarchy and its effects in the play.
• Stanley is the Id, working on the animalistic pleasure principle which drives all his actions while Blanche is the superego that struggles to stand on Morality.