Analsyis

Stanley at a Glance

Stanley is referred to multiple times throughout the play as animalistic, from his entrance in the stage directions, to Blanche's description of him when she complains about his behavior in Scene 4. In the stage directions of Scene 1, he is described as having an "animal joy...implicit in all his movements and attitudes" and having "the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens." In short, he is the epitome of a masculine man.

He's very domineering in all aspects of his life, from his dynamics with his friends to the dynamic with his wife. Stanley dislikes being told what to do.

"STELLA: You come out with me while Blanche is getting dressed."

"STANLEY: Since when do you give me orders?" Page 993, Scene 2, lines 106-107.

Thus, when this dominance of his is questioned or threatened, he'll go to extreme measures to stop any disruptions.

A Deeper Dive

Why Stanley Dislikes Blanche

We can see from the way Stanley treats Blanche that he immediately distrusts her, initially due to the loss of Belle Reve. In their first interaction in Scene 2, Blanche attempts to flirt with Stanley a bit, but he's more focused on figuring out what happened to Belle Reve because he feels he's been cheated out of a property that could be worth a lot of money due to his misunderstanding of Louisiana's Napoleonic Code.

But it extends past just Belle Reve. Stanley doesn't like how Blanche disrupts his domineering dynamic that he has grown so comfortable with when interacting with the people around him. In Scene 3 during the poker night, Blanche refuses to turn off the radio she keeps playing music from. Stanley, in response, hurls the radio out the window and proceeds to cause a scene. This implements a sense of fear of Stanley into Blanche, but it does not stop her from voicing all of her opinions of him to Stella when she thinks they are alone. Stanley overhears Blanche's words, calling him a "survivor of the Stone Age" and referring to him as an "ape" and a "brute."

Stanley doesn't take kindly to these words and does some digging into Blanche's past. Upon discovering how drastically her past contrasts with the persona she puts on in front of everyone, he decides to reveal this information to Stella and Blanche's boyfriend, Mitch. After revealing Blanche's activities to Stella, he comes to the conclusion to send Blanche away. Upon Stella's reaction to this, he attempts to soothe her by appealing to the life they had before Blanche showed up.

"Stell, it's gonna be all right after she goes and after you've had the baby. It's gonna be all right again between you and me the way that it was. You remember that way that it was? Them nights we had together? God, honey, it's gonna be sweet when we can make noise in the night the way that we used to and get the colored lights going with nobody's sister behind the curtains to hear us!" Page 1028, Scene 8, line 54.

This makes all of Stanley's motivations for kicking Blanche out clear. He thinks she's a sketchy individual putting up a false facade to seem innocent, and, most importantly, she threatens the very dynamic that he's always valued between him and every relationship he's ever had--dominance. When someone questions his place or refers to him in such a disrespectful manner, he doesn't take very kindly to it. All of her lies and behaviors leads to Scene 10 where Stanley ends up taking advantage of Blanche.