The Great Gatsby And A Streetcar Named Desire

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Compare and contrast the presentation of the role of women in all three texts In “The Great Gatsby”, “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the collection of poems by Sylvia Plath, there is a unifying theme presenting the struggles of female characters against their societal roles and while some women are seen to accept their roles in society, others are insurgent and are punished for it. In “A Streetcar Named Desire”, Stella is presented to conform willingly to her acquiescent role in society, while contrastingly, the wife in “The Applicant” is seen to be trapped in her subservient role as a wife, which she conforms to under duress. Yet, ironically, the poem “Mirror” depicts a woman who experiences melancholy due to her inability to fulfil her decorative…show more content…
Stanley is sexually dominant over Stella in their marriage, seen as he proclaimed that he "pulled [Stella] down off them columns ". The phallic imagery of the column as well as the metaphorical dragging down of Stella depicts Stanley averring dominance sexually. The word “pulled” suggests that Stanley’s major concern is for his sexual desire to be fulfilled, giving Stella no alternative. This domination is further highlighted by the imagery of Stanley physically assaulting Stella, which is parallel to the 1900s Chase and Sandborn advisement where a husband is seen to be physically abusing his wife, and hence both occasions highlights the subordinate role of women in marriages. Stanley is based on the playwright’s father who oppressed William about his effeminacy, hence the character of Stanley highlights William’s disapproval of the aggregate dominancy of an alpha male that left women with sentiments of inadequacy and imperceptibility in a marriage. Similarly to how William felt controlled by his father, Stella is forced by her role in society to be indifferent to the rape, with her fortitude to resuscitate her marriage, notwithstanding her desolation, being customary in this era in which women disregarded infidelity as their submissive roles in their marriages prohibited them from…show more content…
The purity connoted by “Daisy’s white dress” is juxtaposed with the sexual image of the dress “billowing upwards”, whilst the false image of purity connoted by Blanche’s equally “white” outfit and her “flowery dresses” further suggests an innocence that is contrasted to her canal sexual desires. The use of the flower image highlights Blanche’s failure to bloom into the role of an innocent, pure and respected upper class belle. In addition, both women also choose their spouses based on pecuniary gains, highlighting the lack of nativity in their characters. In this era, new money was presented as ostentatious and ephemeral, hence, Daisy selecting Tom, the epitome of old money, depicts her to be materialistic and morally questionable, as she selects the most finically secured paramour. Similarly, Blanche selects Mitch as a potential lover majorly for financial security, after her loss of Belle Reeve. Hence both women do not display a sense of ingenuoisity when choosing potential spouses but are instead very calculating and amoral. Daisy is speculated to be modelled on Fitzgerald’s wife, Zelda Fayre, who similarly to Daisy and Blanche, did not fulfil the role of being a virtuous woman. Due to Fitzgerald’s success as a novelist, the Fitzgerald engaged in lavish consumption and hedonistic immoral displays. This led to the

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