Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire: A Study of Gender Stereotype

Author : Dr. Ayodhya Jadhav

Abstract :Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tennessee Williams’ milestone work ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ explores the different stereotypes and uses techniques to reveal the truth about society’s perception and attitude toward female and male characters. The present research paper discusses the inferior status of women in contemporary American society. Apart from this, the playwright focuses on stereotypes of femininity and masculinity through the characters such as Blanche, Stanley, Mitch, and Stella, and society’s attitude, and societal expectations of the characters through the present play. Women are deeply rooted in domestic work like Stella. They are marginalized and challenged in a male-dominated society. They struggle to find their existence and identity. On the other hand, men represent themselves as the symbol of power and authority. Williams explores very skillfully toxic masculinity through characters like Stanley. The female characters f ind problems because of their emotional and financial weakness, and men find obstacles in their lives due to their aggression and dominance. As a result, all that brings uncertainty, insecurity, and dependency in society, and each one stands opposite to society

Keywords :Male-dominated society, stereotype roles, femininity and masculinity

Conference Name :International Conference on American Literature and Gender Studies (ICALGS-25)

Conference Place Paris, France

Conference Date 2nd Jun 2025