Psychology of Males who are Abusive to Females

In some households there are certain men who are abusive to females and their family. Most men who are abusive in their householder are abusive to maintain their dominance. In addition there are many other factors towards why men are abusive towards females. A key factor could be jealousy. A man could see another man with his wife or girlfriend and could immediately become angry and abusive towards his wife. Others are a lot more disturbing than other. In an interview with Oprah a man who abused his wife stated:  "I had every intention to take her life. I felt like I had power and control over something in my life,". Here it is evident that this man wanted to maintain his dominance and masculinity by abusing his wife. He found enjoyment in beating her continuously. Moreover, the fear that his wife produced because of these beatings made her neglect him thus causing him to abuse her even more as she showed no signs in being intimate with him or even having sex with him. So men may also be abusive if they are being ignored and wanting attention. Other reasons why men are violent include that they want to control their wives or families. Some even believe that they have the right to act any way they please within their respected household and that all 'real' men should be tough and powerful. Other factors towards their violence may even include stress and alcohol but often times these factors are seen as excuses. Men may even be abusive because of the influence they have had in their past. Some men may have grown up in a abusive household thus influencing their overall character and how they treat women and those around them. The fact that they even come from lower socioeconomic groups could cause for their abusiveness as well although this reason is a small fraction of why men are abusive towards females.   

Themes in A Streetcar Named Desire: Men's Dominance over Women

One of the key underlining themes of a Streetcar Named Desire is the theme of Men's Dominance over Women. In the play both key female roles of Stella and Blanche present themselves as very dependent on men therefore calling for their dominance in the play. Stella's husband is a very dominant male that presents himself as animalistic and powerful within the play. He has much control over his wife and often has absurd outrages within the play a number of times. His dominance of Stella is spread to the extent that Stella chooses Stanley's love over her own sister's after Blanche's inevitable fate has been decided. In Stella's eyes Stanley will provide a brighter future for her and their baby. Stanley's outreach to keep his dominance present can be seen in scene 8 of the play, Blanche's birthday. Stanley is fed up with the influence Blanche has on his wife. This influence causes him to be insecure because he feels that his dominance is slowly withering away by the presence of Blanche in his household. This influence is made evident throughout the entire play as Blanche emits words such as "pig", "animalistic", and "Polack" to describe Stanley. Moreover, Blanche knows that Stanley is not the ideal husband for her sister and she tries to get her point across by using such diction and influences towards Stanley. Stanley takes note of this and eventually becomes extremely fed up with Blanche's presence. In scene 7 Stanley reviles all of Blanche's events of the past in Laurel both to Mitch and Stella thus crushing her dreams of being together with Mitch as he will then fall out of love with her.  In scene 8 Stanley surprises Blanche with a birthday gift, bus tickets back to Laurel in which he shows his ultimate gesture in trying to get Blanche to leave his household. He does all this to show his dominance over the house he lives under and to win Stella and to draw Stella away from Blanche. There are other key events in the play that call for the dominance of males such as in the first scene of the play when Stanley throws a hunk of meat at Stella, he presents himself as 'caveman like' as if they were in a neanderthal era and Stanley was bringing back food from a hunt. Moreover, an association to a historical document also portrays Stanley's dominance such as the fact the he makes a reference towards the Napoleonic Code which ensure that he has full control over his wife's affairs especially in the presence of a baby. He uses this as an excuse to gain all Blanche's papers on Belle Reve as the Napoleonic Code was a document that stated a man has full control over his wife and children.  On the positive side Stanley's brute force and masculinity call for a sexual appeal that appeals to Stella. This adds to the fact that she favors Stanley and how "common" he is. On the other hand Blanche is completely terrified by Stanley.

Dramatic Irony in a Streetcar Named Desire

Dramatic irony is when the words and actions of the characters of a work of literature have a different meaning for the reader than they do for the characters. This is the result of the reader having a greater knowledge than the characters themselves.
 http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/dramaticIrony.htm


There is a great example of dramatic irony in a Streetcar Named Desire when Blanche continuously sings the lyrics to "Its Only a Paper Moon". Her singing of this song is relatable to her desired future with Mitch. On the other hand us as the readers are given the truth about Blanche and her scandals in Laurel such as having a relationship with one of her students thus causing for her casting out in Laurel. Therefore Blanche's future with Mitch lies in the hands of his believing of her act. Later in the play we learn that Stanely has reviled Blanche's scandals to Mitch in which us as the readers may then realize the dramatic irony present. This is because in scene 7 Stanley eventually tells Stella about Blanche's events in Laurel in which he then reviles that he has also told Mitch about her acts. Where is Blanche during this scene? Blanche is bathing in the shower while she is singing the lyrics to "Its Only a Paper Moon". Therefore the dramatic irony can clearly been seen as Blanche sings her about her future with Mitch the will never come to be as we as the readers know about her scandals along with Mitch, Stanley, and Stella thus Mitch will fall out of love with Blanche in the following scene (secen 8) where Blanche learns about Stanley's reviling of who she really is. The song also foreshadows the fact that Mitch falls out of love with Blanche after his vision of her is destroyed by Stanley and her acts in Laurel.