Stanley Kowalski

Stanley Kowalski is the working-class husband of Stella Kowalski. Stanley is described as “of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his

life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependency, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens” (Scene One, p. 27).

Stanley is immediately at odds with his sister-in-law, Blanche, believing her to be attempting to swindle his wife. Stanley sees through Blanche’s debutante façade and proceeds to track down information about her history in Laurel and the foreclosure of the plantation’s mortgage. When Stanley discovers the truth of Blanche’s illicit past, he attempts to confront her with it and send her away from...