Danielle Mickens

06/04/15
Period 4

Streetcar Named Desire and Macbeth Essay

Both Shakespeare in the play Macbeth and Tennessee Williams in A Streetcar Named
Desire coherently expresses that gender roles, human behavior, and societal expectations for both
men and women impact the desires and ambitions of the people.
In the play A Streetcar Named Desire, each characters decisions were influenced by
societal pressures. The main character Blanche was fixated on always looking young and
beautiful. During the time of these plays, women are always expected to be delicate nurturing
sex symbols who have a decent education, understand the rules of cosmetics, and remain
obedient to men. Blanche wanted to be the perfect women. She made sure she was always
standing in the perfect lighting to look young and beautiful. I feel so hot and frazzled. Wait till I
powder before you open the door. Do I look done in? (Williams 47) said Blanche, who never
wanted to look unpresentable in front of others. Women are expected to be clean and groomed
with perfect skin, hair and nails. Stella who even after being hit by her husband Stanley
continued to stay with him because she knew that it was a womens job to obey their husband.
They fought but always ended up together. The same went for the relationship between Eunice
and Steve. One minute their yelling and fighting and the next thing you know their laughing and

drinking. Lady Macbeth also had these characteristics that women were supposed to have but
she asked that her nurturing and delicateness be taken away so she had the power of a man to
take part in the death of King Duncan. Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts, unsex
me here Come to my womens breasts, and take my milk for gall (Shakespeare 1.5. 47-48,
54-55), said Lady Macbeth before Macbeth murdered King Duncan. Her inner humanity and
guilt eventually lead to her downfall.
Men also have societal expectations that affect their choices and ambitions in life. Men
are supposed to be strong tough risk-takers who hold manly occupations such as police,
firefighter, lawyer, etc. Theyre also assumed to be handy and know how to fix things. They are
allowed to be sweaty and dirty sometimes unlike women. Stanley really represented what a
typical man was supposed to look like and how they were to behave. He expressed his
dominance in the house aggressively. He is compactly built and sizes women up at a glance
with sexual classifications. (Williams 29) His wild and animalistic behavior followed the rules
of men in society. Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh The men laugh
(Williams 48), this clearly shows that men had no respect for women those days. Macbeth also
followed these rules of masculinity. He was ruthless and killed any man, woman, or child that
got in the way of his destiny. I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting
ambition which oerleaps itself (Shakespeare 1.7.25-28), said Macbeth before he killed King
Duncan.

Gender roles, human behavior, and societal expectations for both men and women impact
the desires and ambitions of the people as shown in plays Macbeth by Shakespeare and A
Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams. These rules have lead characters to make
unfortunate and irrational decisions that inevitably lead them to their downfall.