The brutality and inevitability of oppression is a dominant theme in literature as it is a key theme presented in A Streetcar Named Desire. Williams calls for the reform of social constructs such as patriarchy in this play and brings to light the ways of oppression in society, these include the physical and psychological brutality of oppression as well as conformity and the potential for escape. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The crescendo of violence in A Streetcar Named Desire portrays the physical brutality of oppression. The buildup of violence begins when Stanley “throws the package”[1] of meat at Stella in the first scene. Although this action is small and could be seen as insignificant, it gives the reader insight into Stanley's character as he appears careless, but the small acts of physical violence add up to Stanley's ultimate act of physical brutality at the end. Another moment in which Stanley is physically violent is when he "gives a strong blow with his hand"1 on Stella's thigh in scene 3. Stanley acts as if he possesses his wife with the sexually possessive action of hitting her thigh and treating her like he wants. His male dominance is reinforced by Stella's ineffective response, she says "bluntly: it's not funny, Stanley", 1 while the laughter of the other men at the table that follows, only serves to further emphasize the passive role of women in the show. However, this was nothing compared to the physical violence Stella faced later in this scene. Stanley's pent-up anger and irritation in this scene was soon released with the "sound of a bang"1 and then it was obvious to the audience that the recipient was Stella from the fact that “Stella shouts”1 in the captions leading up to the banging. This act of violence not only exposes Stanley's true character to the audience, but also reveals the negative side of the vibrant life created by the New Orleans atmosphere seemingly liberated in the first scene. Therefore, Williams points out that New Orleans is not what it seems and that there are underlying problems such as frequent violence and this foreshadows the violence that will continue throughout the play concluding with Blanche's rape. However, some critics argue that Stanley is not cruel or violent and that the rape is the result of "Blanche's licentious provocation"[2]. This critic places the blame on Blanche by claiming that she provoked Stanley into raping her. There is clear evidence that Stanley is violent especially towards Stella and even the rape itself is cruel and violent. Stanley is presented as cruel due to his psychological brutality. As soon as Stanley finds out the "truth" about Blanche, he proceeds to torment her for the rest of the show, which drives her to madness at the end of the show. His desire to discover the truth arises from his mask of false virtue. In scene three this is evident when he goes through Blanche's things after Stella tells him about Belle Reve. After assuming that Blanche has sold him, he uses the "Napoleonic code"1 to act as if he is protecting Stella from being "conned"1 by her sister. However, the Napoleonic code favors him as he would get the money and so Stanley uses this code to assert his patriarchal power over Stella and claim Belle Reve as his own. So when Stella is presented as the voice of compassion by Williams while explaining that the “diamonds”1 on Blanche’s “crown”1 (as Stanley claims) are actually “rhinestones”1 on a “tiara”1, Stanley doesn’t want believe it because it would go against his fantasies. Once again, in scene 5, Stanley doeshe acts like he is trying to find out the truth about Blanche by mentioning “hotel Flamingo”1 when what he really wanted to do was shame her and get back at her for supporting his male dominance. The audience is immediately made to feel sympathy for Blanche thanks to Williams' use of dramatic irony. The fact that Stanley now knows what the audience already knew, Blanche was a prostitute, makes the audience feel terrified because we know that Stanley would use this information to harm her. Stanley seeks only factual truths rather than psychological truths, which is why, unlike the audience, he is unable to understand her. Williams suggests through Stanley that “all cruel people describe themselves as models of frankness”[3]. Stanley is not honest because if he were then he would be telling the whole truth and not only would he be getting facts from other sources but also from Blanche herself. This can be seen in scene seven when he tells Stella that Blanche is a prostitute and has “confused”1 with a seventeen year old boy. Since Stanley didn't say that the only reason it happened was that Blanche was going through the trauma of her husband's death when she was around that boy's age, it shows that he wasn't telling Stella this out of her need to be sincere. This was also the case when he told Mitch this information, Stanley was acting like he was a good friend when in reality he only told Mitch to ruin Blanche's life with her only chance at happiness. This brutality and oppression is only reinforced by the conformity of the characters in the play and also in society, which is what makes it inevitable. This conformity is seen after Stella is beaten by Stanley and the men are calm about it as if it is not out of the ordinary. Furthermore, Eunice points out that this is not the first time Stanley has done something like this to Stella as she says she hopes he gets locked up “like the last time”1. This indicates that violence is repeated and occurs often. Even if this is the case, the scene ends with Stella returning to Stanley with her eyes "blind with tenderness"1. This suggests that the only reason he comes back is that she allows it to happen and immediately forgives him. The scene that follows this (scene 4) only highlights this further as Stella remembers her wedding day when Stanley broke all the light bulbs. She normalizes his violence by telling Blanche that she was "thrilled" by it1. In this way, Stella excuses her oppressor and thus conforms to oppression by allowing it to become a social norm. In scene nine, Mitch also conforms to these social norms by starting to behave like Stanley when he discovers that Blanche was a prostitute. Mitch no longer has psychological truths but "only realistic" truths1, therefore he is unable to be compassionate towards Blanche. when she learns of her husband's death. Some critics believe that Blanche “delights” in “teasing”[4] Mitch while failing to understand why she became a prostitute. However, this is not true because Blanche doesn't "enjoy" explaining herself to Mitch. In fact, she feels disappointed in him for choosing to conform to the patriarchy. Finally, in scene eleven, Stella conforms to oppression again when she says she “couldn't”1 believe that Blanche had been raped and “continue to live with Stanley”1. Eunice reinforces this conformity by telling her to “never” believe it because “life must go on”1. This shows that life for these women means living under patriarchal rule even though there is an awareness of being powerless, they are forced to conform. This is part of the cycle of their lives and there is nothing women can do about it. On the contrary, there are elements in the work where.