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Stanley Kowalski
Stella is Blanche DuBois’s younger sister and Stanley Kowalski’s wife. She is the emotional center of the play. Stella is the calm, reasonable foil to Blanche’s frenetic hysteria, and she is the soothing, feminine voice that counteracts Stanley’s violence. Although she loves Blanche and is hurt when Blanche is hurt, and although she is wistful, Stella has no desire to return to her past: she has chosen her present circumstances willingly, and she has made her life in New Orleans with Stanley. Stella’s pregnancy underscores her commitment to her Kowalski future, not her DuBois past. Stanley dominates Stella: she is drawn into the magnetic pull of his powerful physical presence. By modern-day standards, Stella is the victim of domestic violence, but in the play, her decision to return to Stanley even after he hits her is not judged as definitively right or wrong.
Stella Kowalski Quotes in A Streetcar Named Desire
The A Streetcar Named Desire quotes below are all either spoken by Stella Kowalski or refer to Stella Kowalski. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Scene 1
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Stella, oh, Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!
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Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go? I let the place go? Where were you! In bed with your–Polack!
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Scene 3
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STELL-LAHHHHH!
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Scene 4
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There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant.
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What you are talking about is brutal desire–just–Desire!–the name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter.
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Don’t–don’t hang back with the brutes!
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Stella Kowalski Quotes in A Streetcar Named Desire
The A Streetcar Named Desire quotes below are all either spoken by Stella Kowalski or refer to Stella Kowalski. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Scene 1
Quotes
Stella, oh, Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!
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Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go? I let the place go? Where were you! In bed with your–Polack!
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Scene 3
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STELL-LAHHHHH!
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Scene 4
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There are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark–that sort of make everything else seem–unimportant.
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What you are talking about is brutal desire–just–Desire!–the name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through the Quarter.
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Don’t–don’t hang back with the brutes!
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