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  • Essay / An In-Depth Analysis of Gender in The Handmaid's Tale and A Streetcar Named Desire

    With a focus on genre, Elia Kazan's film about Tennessee Williams' original play A Streetcar Named Desire (Warner Bros, 1951) and Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (Vintage, 1986) manage effectively to reflect concerns of time and place. Despite different contextual influences, these two texts manage to aptly explore similar gender issues, revealing the universality of gender concerns. A Streetcar Named Desire reflects the fact that adherence to a patriarchal hierarchy results in female passivity and male domination and that when patriarchal paradigms are imposed on society, the marginalization of women follows. Similarly, The Handmaid's Tale demonstrates how obedience to gender norms and expectations results in the oppression of women and how gender roles ostracize individuals and, despite the subversion of patriarchy, women continue to suffer. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayTennessee Williams' seminal film, A Streetcar Named Desire, reflects concerns of time and place, in which respect for a patriarchal hierarchy results in female passivity and male dominance is demonstrated. Williams draws parallels with her own era, early 20th century America, reflecting the treatment of women as inferior to men in the postwar industrial period. Traditional values ​​were adopted as men attempted to reassert their masculinity in the home after returning from war; what Williams saw in his own father. This notion is illustrated in the scene where Blanche is introduced to Stanley. As Stanley enters the house, he throws a package of meat at Stella and yells "Catch!" ". Stanley exercises his masculine power through the imperative, asserting his aggressive and virile nature. Meat is the physical manifestation of Stanley's sexual ownership of Stella, resulting in Stella's sexual complacency and infatuation with Stanley. The film continues to highlight Stanley's overtly aggressive and sexual behavior, epitomized by his costumes. Stanley undresses in front of Blanche and wears an undershirt as outer clothing. Thus, the character is described as intimidating by imposing his physicality. This is juxtaposed with Blanche's costume, which ironically wears white, a symbol of immaculateness, in order to hide her impurity. The costume therefore accentuates the glaring differences between the sexes, of which Williams is the originator of this power imbalance. Thus, in conforming to patriarchal ideals, Stanley's dominance and Blanche and Stella's inferiority are portrayed, thus reflecting concerns of time and place. Similarly, Margaret Atwood's pivotal novel The Handmaid's Tale expresses how gender as a concern transcends time and place through its representation. about how obedience to gender norms and expectations oppresses women and diminishes their identity. Atwood's examination of the patriarchy of Gilead reflects societal concerns, with the Moral Majority's condemnation of women's sexual expression during the Reagan presidency. Oppression of women has also been seen in countries like Iran, due to religious fundamentalism and the growing fanaticism of Iran's fundamentalist theocracy. Atwood reflects this critical idea of ​​women's oppression in the scene where Offred acts as an escort to the commander of the "Jezebels." The scene is established by the repetition used to describe the absurdity of the Jezebels' costume, "too red, too wet... tooclownish.” Through the abnormality of Jezebel's costume in a patriarchal society, underlined by the repetition of "also", the manipulation of the "Jezebel" is highlighted. This reveals that male desires are imposed on women, in order to appease them, thereby diminishing the woman's identity. This reflects Stella's adherence to Stanley's sexual demands. Additionally, the Commander takes Offred to the “Jezebels” in order to free herself from the regimes of an oppressive society. However, it is ironic that the location in which the Commander takes Offred explicitly displays the oppression and degradation of women. Similarly, Stanley's sexual and physical power mirrors Blanche's oppression, expressed through the oppression of Offred and the "Jezebels." This is manifested through the rhetorical question Offred uses to comment on the women's emotional detachment. “Is there joy in that?” That could be the case, but did they choose it? Offred is aware that the superficial contrast with the lack of joy in the Gilead she knows may only be an appearance, not reality. Therefore, the rhetorical question implies that women have limited power and resort to total submission by virtue of male superiority. Thus, the universality of gender concerns is demonstrated through the oppression of Offred and the Jezebels and the failure to recognize their individual identities. Furthermore, one can see through Tennessee Williams' reference to the gender concerns of his own historical era how, in A Streetcar Called Desire, when patriarchal paradigms are imposed on society, the marginalization of women follows. Through this, Williams alludes to his own ostracism and internal struggles, as he was known to have struggled with his own sexuality, and in his inability to conform to the "All American" ethos propagated by the returning soldiers of the war. Williams shows this through the scene where Mitch confronts Blanche about her cheating past. Chiaroscuro lighting is used as a motif throughout the play and Blanche's reluctance to appear in bright light shows her inability to grasp reality, foreshadowing her demise into madness. When Mitch forces Blanche to stand under the direct light, the literal and metaphorical truth of Blanche and her past is revealed, revealing her sexual maturity and disillusionment with reality. Mitch symbolically breaks the lantern, demonstrating his aggression to physically and metaphorically expose Blanche and destroy her facade which she uses as a mechanism to avoid ostracism and in an attempt to seek validation in a male-dominated society. The use of a close-up reveals Blanche in a direct light, revealing her true identity and exposing her struggle in a patriarchal society that led to her wanting to hide her past for fear of marginalization. This is juxtaposed with the high angle shot of Mitch looking at Blanche cowering, desperately trying to hide from him, revealing her mental instability and fear of the truth, which inevitably leads to her marginalization. Thus, the gender concerns of the 1940s are depicted through Blanche's marginalization due to her inability to conform to patriarchal values. Similarly, Atwood expresses gender concerns as a universal concept, demonstrating in The Handmaid's Tale how gender roles ostracize individuals, and despite subverting patriarchy. , women continue to suffer. These efforts to subvert gender stereotypes and inequality in The Handmaids Tale are a manifestation of the rise of feminism in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s and its looming threat from conservative forces. THE.