In both Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Sylvia Plath's Ariel, there is great concern about how masculinity and femininity. Both texts present archetypal interpretations of gender and juxtapose figures that undermine these stereotypes, both actively and passively. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayOne of these archetypes prevalent in both texts is the notion of brutal men. In A Streetcar Named Desire, Stanley is an example of this. When he is introduced, the caption reads: “The animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes.” This implies that his interests are base in nature, far from an anthropomorphic sphere of interest, thus presenting masculinity as brutal. The animalistic attitude of men embodied by Stanley can be further discussed as Stanley rarely speaks in complex sentences, instead they are typically short and to the point; “What is this here? A solid gold dress, I think! And this! What are these here? Fox pieces!” The use of simple sentences and incorrect grammar (“What are these here?”) projects Stanley as mentally inferior to his female counterparts, yet he maintains his dominance through physical superiority. This is contrary to how the stereotype of brutal masculinity is displayed in Sylvia Plath's writings, as she often does not employ the use of animalistic imagery. Rather, the morally condemnable tendencies of men are often alluded to through association with well-understood evils. For example, in Plath's poem "Daddy", some references seem to present masculinity as brutal; “Panzer-man, panzer-man, O You –” By comparing the character's father to the German tanks of World War II, Plath evokes the image of an industrial and destructive man, thus perpetuating the idea that masculinity is often brutal . Furthermore, the use of the dark apostrophe when speaking of the father further emphasizes the image of death in the verse. This text is only one of Plath's many "Holocaust poems", and the period in which the text would have been received was the recent post-war period. Therefore, the allusion to Germany would have had a greater impact in enforcing the notion of brutality on contemporary audiences due to recent history. In A Streetcar Named Desire, more animalistic imagery is used later in the aforementioned case of the captions, as it is stated that Stanley derives pleasure from sexual relationships with women and revels in the power and pride he receives from such relationships. He is compared to a “richly plumed male bird among the hens.” From this it can be understood that men occupy a position of high sexual autonomy compared to women as they are described as sharing attributes with peacocks – known for their overt displays of mating, and the connotation of richly plumed birds implies sexual trust. It is presented later in the text that men abuse this privilege of sexual autonomy through the cases of rape committed by Stanley and Mitch's attempts to pressure Blanche into having sex. The effect of this is that masculinity is shown to be quite bestial and impulsive, as men are portrayed as incapable of controlling their sexual impulses, even seemingly honorable men like Mitch. Williams would have had extensive exposure to the destructiveness of vulgar and irresponsible men as his father was an alcoholic whom he despised. This implies that he would project his understanding of his father onto Stanley (also an alcoholic) and detail alcohol-infused ragesof Stanley with disdain, knowing that it would make the character more brutal and unpleasant. Furthermore, the fact that Williams was homosexual can be interpreted to mean that he would have been very critical of the patriarchal discourse of the time (which would heavily stigmatize his sexuality). This could be interpreted as another reason why the audience interprets Williams' comment on masculinity as brutal and negative. When interpreting A Streetcar Named Desire through a Lacanian psychoanalytic approach, the theory of phallocentrism can be interpreted as the primary source behind Stanley's motivations and, by extension, masculinity as a whole. The theory postulates that having a penis grants privilege in society and social relationships. This is demonstrated when Williams writes: “From early manhood the center of [Stanley's] life has been pleasure with women [...] He evaluates women at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images that they flash into his mind and determine the way he smiles at him." The phallus is the center of Stanley's sexual world and the ordering of his social world. Women are seen as conquests and his relationships with them are described as merely sexual, thus implying that the phallus is the primary element in his social interactions. Therefore, Stanley's brutal nature, especially in regards to his treatment of women, can be attributed to his phallocentric view of the world as informed by a. Lacanian reading of the text. The brutal nature of men in A Streetcar Named Desire is predominantly presented as patriarchal oppression in a visceral form. For example, Blanche often identifies Stanley's wild attitudes; “What such a man has to offer is animal strength.” This implies that it is intrinsic to masculinity and part of male nature. In Ariel, masculinity is similarly presented as brutal, however, it is implied that this brutality is structured and systemic, as opposed to bestial and natural strength. It is presented as a tool used by men to oppress women and allow patriarchal values ​​to thrive. This is evident in 'The Couriers', where the gold wedding ring is described as “Lies. Lies and pain. Marriage is a structure of society, this is demonstrated by the fact that it has legal value. Furthermore, men typically proposition women, and if marriage is to be understood as “lies and pain,” it can be interpreted as a structured oppression of women imposed by men. The effect of this is that it potentially presents brutal masculinity in Ariel as even more pernicious than its manifestation in A Streetcar Named Desire, as it is a conscious decision by men to oppress and act callously, yet in A Streetcar Named Desire Call Desire can be understood as a more natural need and an essential instinct for all men. The dominant female archetype presented in both A Streetcar Named Desire and Ariel is that of the passive woman, typically a domestic mother. Women are often interpreted and understood in terms of their function and role in society as defined by their male counterparts. The entrapment felt by women in a measured life is evident in Plath's poem "A Birthday Present"; “Measuring flour, cutting off excess, Adhering to rules, rules, rules.” This presents women as helplessly tied to the structure of motherhood and domesticity, in which menial tasks and tedious duties are continually repeated. By simultaneously employing an epizeuxis of the "rules" of the world and fulfilling the rule of three, Plath creates enormous emphasis on the suffocating formality of the "rules" and protocols to which a woman must adherewho hopes to maintain her feminine values. The protagonist is expected to cook and be submissive, and consequently has low expectations of happiness; "I don't want a big present." This lack of pleasure and surplus in archetypal female roles is also reflected in A Streetcar Names Desire, as Stella states: "Stanley doesn't give me a regular allowance, he likes to pay the bills himself." Since Stella has little money to spend, it is implied that she is often at home because she would not have the money to go out and spend money on luxury goods. If one interprets the above examples of femininity through a Freudian psychoanalytic approach, it is evident that female passivity and dependence on men are necessary. Female penis envy dictates that, after the phallic stage of psychosexual development, women experience anxiety because they do not have a penis. When applied to Stella and Stanley, it can be argued that Stella's dependence on Stanley is due to his ability to satiate her penis envy. Furthermore, Freud noted that narcissistic tendencies are the result of unresolved penis envy, a trait that Blanche's often exudes; «Do you know that I haven't gained an ounce of weight in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer that dad died and you left us..." This potentially serves as an explanation for Blanche's anxiety and hysteria, thus defining her as a woman dependent on men. Freud's theory of the Electra complex is immensely evident in Plath's poem, particularly in "Daddy", where the woman in the poem confuses her dead father with her husband. This psychoanalysis is highly applicable to Plath as her father died in her youth, thus emphasizing the emotional cavity left by Plath's father, which can be identified as being projected onto the woman in the poem. This develops the understanding of the character, as it further implies the reliance on masculinity and therefore undermines the. female individuality, creating the image of a passive woman. The theme of motherhood and family in A Streetcar Named Desire is strikingly detailed in the final scene where Eunice states, in reference to Blanche's statement that Stanley l 'he raped: “Never believe it. Life must go on. Whatever happens, you have to move forward." Stella follows this advice, demonstrating how she is so determined to sacrifice her faith in her sister's integrity to maintain the stability of being Stanley's partner and to actualize her socially determined goal of being a mother in a nuclear family. This can be interpreted to mean that women's fixation on motherhood can force them to live in disillusionment and passivity, for fear of uprooting the family. This anxiety to protect the family structure is lost in Ariel, where a markedly different feeling about motherhood and family values ​​can be detected, particularly in the poem "Morning Song" with the line "I am no longer your mother / of the cloud that distills a mirror to reflect its own slow/Effacement by the wind.” This nihilistic interpretation of motherhood confirms the detachment between mother and child, and the simile of the cloud distilling a mirror highlights the distance from the reflected subject, further exaggerating the disjunction between the expectations of motherhood and the mother's actual relationship with her child the period in which A Streetcar Named Desire was written, strong families were seen as highly desirable especially in contrast to the previous catastrophes of the Great Depression and World War II. Therefore, by keeping family values ​​strong, society could symbolically takedistances from previous tragedies. The nuclear family model was idealized by the media, where women were presented as housewives and passive housewives. This explains the onset of the Baby Boom era in which a record 3.8 million babies were born and the development of the “MRS” college graduate stereotype, a trope in which women supposedly went to college to find husbands. This meant that women were largely denigrated and disenfranchised as a gender, and were reduced in their ability to function as child-rearers and home-maintainers. A contemporary female audience would have shared the same concerns about motherhood due to the social expectations of their time, and therefore the feelings of maternal nihilism in "Morning Song" would be extremely powerful and counter common social discourse on the topic of motherhood. This creates a more powerful image of submissive women who are passive and reluctantly fulfill their maternal duties. Despite the prevalent nature of passive female archetypes, there are examples in both texts of femininity presented as active, and these iterations of female identity that combat gender roles in the texts. The most striking example of an active woman in A Streetcar Named Desire is obviously Blanche Dubois. Blanche's existence contradicts society's values ​​defined in patriarchal terms; she displays rampant sexual autonomy and is consequently left without Laurel; “But the Flamingo management was also impressed by Dame Blanche! In fact, they were so impressed with Dame Blanche that they asked her to return the key to her room, forever!” This shows that overt displays of sexuality in women were not tolerated in 1940s American society and that women were expected to maintain restraint. Spreading sexual autonomy would upset family structures and endanger the integrity of maternal principles; therefore, it was treated as crude and unpleasant behavior and led to society's rejection of anyone who challenged female archetypes with explicit sexuality. Ultimately, Blanche's active behavior is addressed by labeling her hysterical and treating her clinically. This clinical approach to the repression of women is also evident in Plath's poem "Tulips", where another embodiment of female agency is demonstrated. In the poem, it is suggested that the protagonist is a wife and mother who has attempted suicide. Just like Blanche's rampant sexuality, this also leads to the destruction of the family, and is therefore shunned as an option for people in society. This contradiction of patriarchal boundaries is addressed too clinically; “They bring me numbness in their bright needles, they bring me sleep.” The medical numbing of women implies that women must be toned down and made less vigilant to conform to patriarchal expectations of women. This feeling of forced female conformity is echoed by Andrea Dworkin in her essay “Women Hating”. She states that "In fact, when she's good, she's so passive in life that death just has to be more of the same." Dworkin would argue that, in the eyes of patriarchal society, active women who display uncontrolled autonomy must be numbed and committed to mental institutions to limit and pacify them. Dworkin notes that active women are marginalized in fairy tales as evil witches or evil stepmothers and, by extension, this can be understood in relation to the diagnosis of hysteria in more contemporary active women. If a woman is not submissive then she is despised and stigmatized, as often are those locked up in psychiatric institutions and hospitals for suicide. This ties back to the womanmentioned in "Tulips", as Dworkin's writings suggest that the protagonist's suicide attempt will be met with further attempts by the patriarchy forced to suppress her autonomy as her existence disrupts patriarchal society by failing to live up to expectations for women , especially their duties as mothers. In Plath's poem "Lady Lazarus", the subject's refusal to remain passive is also manifested in a suicide attempt. He rails against patriarchal confinement, stating that he will not conform and will reduce his autonomy; “Herr God, Herr Lucifer / Attention / Attention.” Plath conglomerates God and Lucifer and since they represent the most significant patriarchal evils, she sends them a warning. By assuming the German language in the context of World War II, it is implied that God and Lucifer both represent fascist authoritarian forces and are enemies of both the antagonist and, by extension, Plath herself. The analogy between Nazi Germany and patriarchal values ​​can be identified, as in both there is systematic oppression of those deemed less superior, and both are governed by the authoritarian command of men. Plath also attempted suicide, so it is possible to read the poem in a self-mythologizing way. Plath never presented her poems as confessional and always referred to them in the third person. The effect of removing the themes of the poem from Plath's personal life is that the presentation of figures in the poems becomes more applicable to masculinity and femininity holistically, instead of referring only to Plath's life. It is evident that the fictional characters and anonymous women who display active behavior demonstrate the repercussions of the denial of passivity on a much more applicable level than simply connecting the poems to Plath's life, or the potentially similar marginalization that Williams felt as homosexual. Streetcar Named Desire and Ariel provide interpretations of masculinity that differ from the typically presented archetypes of brutish men. Masculinity in both works sometimes involves paternalistic attitudes and kind, compassionate behavior. This strong paternal instinct is undoubtedly evident in A Streetcar Named Desire, where Stanley states: "When the phone rings and they say, 'You've got a son!' I'll tear him up and wave him like a flag!" This details how Stanley will enjoy the birth of a child, and therefore is capable of compassion and love, not just bestial sexual love as is often shown with Stella. This contrasts with the masculine ideal presented in the rest of the play, where the boundaries of men's concern and care do not extend beyond the realm of physical and bestial pleasure. The emphatic nature of his statement and the use of multiple exclamation points denotes the true happiness he is experiencing, as exclamation points typically. are used with Stanley only when he is angry; his animalistic emotions have, for once, been translated into joy. This therefore makes his elation even more poignant men rather than women, as is often the theme of Plath's poetry. The weight of expectation is manifest in the lines “I notice you're stark naked / What do you think of this dress? / Black and stiff, but not bad." The applicant is expected to be a worker, where a dress and what it connotes can give him purpose and value. Without it his body would be naked both literally and figuratively. Like women, men also take on the social roles established for them, and 'The Candidate' highlights this with the repeated question “Will you marry him?” Men are also subject to the burden of the expectation of marriage.