“You didn't know
Why doesn't Stella believe her sister? Stella doesn't believe her sister because if she allowed herself to do so, she wouldn't be able to stay with her husband.
Stanley tells Stella that Blanche was living at the disreputable Hotel Flamingo and had developed such a scandalous reputation that the hotel had kicked her out. Her home had even been declared off-limits to soldiers in the nearby military base.
Blanche fibs that she is actually younger than Stella, and that she has come to New Orleans because Stella is ailing and needs her assistance. She asks Mitch to put a Chinese lantern she has bought over the naked lightbulb.
Stella Kowalski (née DuBois) is one of the main characters in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. She is the younger sister of central character Blanche DuBois and wife of Stanley Kowalski.
Will learns Stella is still grieving the death of her older sister and best friend, Abby. Abby died a year ago in a diving accident. Stella blames herself; she was supposed to go on the trip but had a CF flare up and backed out.
● Gentle, impressionable and passive homemaker
Stella is empathetic and forgiving in nature. She is easily manipulated by both Blanche and Stanley, as she loves them both dearly. She is tolerant of both their extreme behaviours and is so passive that she can reflect the audience's position of helplessness in the play.
Blanche explains that she is nervous because Mitch is coming for her at seven. She tells Stella that she has created an illusion with Mitch that she is all prim and proper. She has also lied about her age because she wants Mitch to want her.
Blanche DuBois hid her teaching past to prevent hurting her sister Stella from the humiliation of having a sister fired from her teaching job. Blanche DuBois also lied by not telling about her failed marriage. Blanche DuBois was married to Allan Grey.
As Stanley comes around the corner, yelling for Stella, Steve, and Eunice, Stella assures Blanche that everything will work out. She gives Blanche a kiss and then runs off to join Stanley at the bar.
Progress booster: Stella's devotion to Stanley
It is obvious, even without her passionate declaration in Scene Four, that she is deeply in love with her husband, and this love is the cornerstone of her existence.
Throughout the play, Stella is placed between Blanche and Stanley. Blanche, with whom she shares a background and upbringing, represents her past; Stanley, with whom she is deeply in love/lust, represents her present and her future, as the play's ending indicates.
The men pull him off, the poker game breaks up, and Blanche and Stella escape to their upstairs neighbor Eunice's apartment. A short while later, Stanley is remorseful and cries up to Stella to forgive him. To Blanche's alarm, Stella returns to Stanley and embraces him passionately.
Famous, torrid scene in which Stanley (Marlon Brando), remorseful after a tantrum, shouts for his wife Stella (Kim Hunter), in Elia Kazan's A Streetcar Named Desire, 1952, from Tennessee Williams' play.
She leaves with Stanley to go bowling; just before Mitch arrives, a paper boy comes by and Blanche detains him long enough to kiss him because he reminds her of her young husband. When Blanche and Mitch return from their date, Blanche explains to Mitch how much Stanley apparently hates her.
At the beginning of the play she comes to visit her younger sister Stella in New Orleans, because she does not know where else to go. All of her family are dead except Stella. Blanche is helpless and seeks protection, because she has lost her home “Belle Reve”, her inheritance and her employment.
And Blanche's attraction to Stanley is evident from the beginning. But then again, Blanche is pretty much attracted to any man who shows her the slightest bit of attention. Blanche is no genteel lady of refinement as she would have everyone believe and Stanley sees through that delicate balancing act.
Stella's desire for Stanley pulls her away from Belle Reve and her past. Stella is drawn to Stanley's brute, animal sexuality, and he is drawn to her traditional, domestic, feminine sexuality. Stella is pregnant: her sexuality is deeply tied to both womanliness and motherhood.
Is Blanche jealous? We certainly know that she envies Stella the security and safe haven of her marriage while she, Blanche, was dealing with the loss of Belle Reve: “Where were you!
She appears to finally show remorse for her act of betrayal against Blanche, and so the fact that she is crying places her figuratively back in Blanche's possession.
Stella tries to reassure her as she leaves to join Stanley. She encourages Blanche's hopes of marrying Mitch. A young man calls, collecting subscriptions to a paper. Blanche flirts with him and kisses him, then sends him on his way, just before Mitch's arrival.
Stella cannot believe Blanche's story, but she cannot completely deny it either. Ultimately, Stella cries for herself, for Blanche, and for the fact that a part of her is glad to see Blanche go.
Stella's femininity is based not on illusions and tricks but on reality. She does not try to hide who she is nor hide from her present circumstances. Stella's pregnancy asserts the real, physical, unmasked nature of her conception of herself as a woman.
Stella represents Blanche's ideal concerning the fact that she is leading a contented life. The deeper significance of her name reveals her role in the play. The symbol of a star suggests light, hope and stability.
Stella says she can't believe the story if she wants to go on living with Stanley. She doesn't say that she thinks Blanche is lying; rather she's consciously choosing to think Blanche is lying so her life can continue without interruption.