To what extent do the plays present a social Darwinistic vision of the

world?
Power is defined as being the ability to do something or act according to
the preferences of ones will, but also as having the potential to influence
the behaviour of others. The plays "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1947) by
Tennessee Williams and "Death and the Maiden" (1990) by Ariel Dorfman
explore this concept of power, and represent how it creates conflict
between characters. Blanche's and Stanley's struggle for power in "A
Streetcar Named Desire", for example, sets the tone for the entire play,
and one could even argue that Roberto's and Paulina's conflict in "Death
and the Maiden" represents the human habit of establishing and
relinquishing power that is derived from the primal fight or flight instinct.
The use of biological theories to explain human behaviour and social
mechanisms is quite common and one example is the concept of social
Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a collection of theories which came into
prominence in the 1870s and sought to link the imbalanced, mostly selfmotivated nature of society to Darwins theories of natural selection. The
concept is based primarily on the notion that individuals with less
desirable traits or less leverage over others are subject to 'social
extinction' if they do not strive to exert their own power over others. The
theories place the struggle for power in a position of relative importance
in the hierarchy of needs of the human being and generally conclude that
individuals who are relatively assertive in comparison to their peers are
more likely to be socially accepted and therefore more likely to survive.
The concept of social Darwinism has ties to Nietzsche's idea of a will to
power as the governing force behind human behaviour and in both plays
characters are portrayed as mostly self-motivated. A Will to Power is one
of the most notable concepts of Friedrich Nietzsche's school of philosophy.
Nietzsche's theory of the will to power suggests that human behavior is
shaped primarily by an aim to establish power over others and that even
basic actions are performed with the aim of establishing or retaining
power. For example, Gerardo's apparent concern for Paulina could be
construed as being motivated by his unwillingness to be caught in a
scandal that would affect his career and undermine his position of power.
His reluctance to lose his power supersedes his moral obligation to
provide justice to Paulina. Williams' play "A Streetcar Named Desire" is,
meanwhile, set in a shifting society where the blend of genteel civility and
unchecked discrimination of the socially elite upper classes were slowly
replaced by the grit and simplicity of the unpolished lower classes. This
shift is used by Williams to propel his character Blanche, who represents
the plummeting aristocracy, into conflict with Stanley, who represents the

attitude of the emergent middle class demographic of the time, and has
the intended effect of making Blanche seem overbearing and disparaging
to the audience. This shows a very definite shift of the balance of power
between the upper and lower classes, with resentment towards the elite a
common feeling after the repercussions of the war were felt mostly by the
middle and lower classes. This power-shift counters, in some respects, a
core ideal of social Darwinism, which - based on the nature of human
genealogy argues that power is kept in the hands of those who already
have it, and thus predicts the rich getting richer and the poor becoming
poorer. But what it does not oppose is the idea that humans are driven by
competition. Another concept expressed by this shift is that power is more
transient and is easily ceded to those who strive to exert it on others; for
example, Stanley is apparently in a position of power from the outset but
in the struggle of power between him and Blanche that follows, the power
is shifted to the latter and back again, with Stanley ultimately establishing
dominance because of his unflinching self confidence and animalistic
nature. In many aspects, therefore, both plays represent a social
Darwinistic vision of the world and both plays use events and characters
to reinforce the idea of a constant struggle for power.
It could be argued that of the characters in 'A Streetcar Named Desire'
Stanley stands out most to a modern audience since he represents a more
modern form of power: power as conviction, as expressed through him
having an "animal joy in his being" this type of self confidence represents
an interesting shift in a society where moral frameworks were beginning
to be drawn from the self as opposed to gods and other entities and
therefore such an audience would appreciate the level of self justification
that Stanley exhibits. Williams' decision to portray Stanley as being able
to exert and maintain power over others purely through self justification
as opposed to material wealth or social status is also indicative of a form
of social evolution in that changing social, economical and political
contexts affect what characteristics are seen as providing leverage and
the lack of these characteristics cause some characters to be interpreted
as being submissive, this shows us that Stanley's apparent ease of
exerting power is the result of his unflinching self confidence and
assertiveness which is "implicit in all of his movements and attitudes" the
lack of these powerful traits cause other characters to yield to his displays
of power which could be interpreted as a sort of social 'survival of the
fittest' where people with stronger variations of these traits are more likely
to survive in a social context. For example Williams' places Stanley at the
pinnacle of his habitat due to his apparent ability to act without
impediment which is evidenced in the first scene when he asks Blanche if
she would mind if he took his shirt off while in the process of removing it

which signifies a total domination of his surroundings that extends to

others around him, It could be argued that the idea of Williams presenting
a socially Darwinistic vision of the world is in part refuted because the
idea of Blanche worrying if Stanley will 'like' her seems to betray a deep
rooted need to be accepted that does not seem to be motivated by a need
to establish power over him, however if Nietzsche's idea of a will to power
is to be applied in this situation it would seem that Blanche's need to be
accepted is born of a desire to gain control of Stanley. In another
interesting parallel with biology this type of social Darwinism leads to a
linear chain of power resembling feeding relationships within a collection
of organisms with several hierarchies of power being built on top of each
other. This juxtaposes 'A Streetcar Named Desire" with "Death and the
Maiden" in that the limited amount of characters in the latter play causes
transference of power among characters to be more frequent and results
in a linear hierarchy of power being absent. The playwrights' portrayals of
characters as being motivated mostly by self interest serve to emphasise
that both plays -to differing extents- offer a socially Darwinistic view of the
world.
Both playwrights use various techniques to emphasise the struggle for
power and use structure, form and language in their respective works to
suggest the evolving hierarchies of power. Williams' stage directions are
particularly interesting in that the use of animalistic metaphors, for
example describing Stanley as a 'richly feathered male bird' and Blanche
as a moth, might not have gained as much traction in the 1940s whereas
a modern audience might relate more to such literary devices, this might
be indicative of the fact that the illusion of human society being above
basic instinct prevented audiences of the time from accepting that
biological urges shape behaviour, however, recent advances in scientific
knowledge and increased awareness among the public might cause
differences in interpretation. The animal metaphors aren't limited to the
stage directions however, Blanche's monologue in the fourth scene is rife
with both direct and indirect references and comparisons to animals, for
example "Somebody growls -some creature snatches something- the fight
is on!" Williams' relegation of characters to animal like status may also be
interpreted as a kind of disapproval of social Darwinism, however, this
objection may be more relevant to a feminist reading of the play which
will mainly identify Blanche as a protagonist and therefore a victim of
social Darwinism.
Elaborating on the idea of there being victims of social Darwinism, both
plays arguably offer a socially darwinistic vision of the world and both
could be interpreted as either condemning and supporting the act of

establishing power over others by physical and even non-violent means

for the sake of social 'survival'. In "A Streetcar Named Desire" Stella is
seen as a victim of the struggle for power between Stanley and Blanche
while in "Death and the Maiden" Dorfman portrays both Paulina and
Roberto as being victims of the abuse of power under different
circumstances. The playwright's backgrounds also seem to affect their
interpretations of the morals of social Darwinism and it could be argued
that their interpretations are reflected in their respective work, for
example it could be suggested that Williams' play is shaped mainly by his
personal experience as being considered effeminate and might have been
written as a form of catharsis for him, he was quoted saying that the play
"said everything I want to say" this is in contrast to Dorfman whose play
represents a spectrum of broader issues and seem to be rooted in a desire
to arouse the attentions of people who were subject to injustice and
helplessness as part of their daily lives under the unrelenting dictatorship
of Chile that had been removed but vestiges of which remained well after
and continued to warp justice and enforce censorship. It could be
suggested that to a certain extent there are always victims of the struggle
for power, Stella in 'A Streetcar Named Desire' is a good example since
her quiet and mild nature forces her to the sidelines, however an
interesting balance has been created by Williams' between Stella and
Stanley in that Stella's attraction towards Stanley is based mainly on her
ability to enjoy being under his power, a direct interpretation of this
relationship would make it seem as though Stella is submissive and while
this view would not by wholly wrong it is also thought provoking to view
Stella as being in a higher position of power than even Stanley since in a
rare moment of realisation he comes back to her begging for her
forgiveness, also of note is that most of Stanley's machinations against
Blanche are to bring things back to normal with him and Stella.
Freudian psychoanalysis could also be applied to explain how characters'
actions shape their success in attaining power in a social context. The
Freudian psychoanalysis consists of several ideas which suggest that
human behavior is shaped mainly by childhood experiences and irrational
drives and that the human psyche is composed of three parts (the id, the
ego and the super-ego) which have varying effects on outward
personality, the id is considered to be the instinctual part while the superego plays the role of a moral center while the ego balances the two. Slight
variations in this structure of the psyche can occur and with these
variations different personalities are created. There is a very distinct
correlation between the Freudian psychoanalysis and the disposition of the
characters in both plays. For example in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Stanley immediately strikes an audience as being mainly instinctual but

Williams portrays him as having realised that he is the 'unrefined type'

which represents a certain level of self awareness but also self confidence
and comfort this is in contrast to Blanche who -while possessing a degree
of self awareness- lacks Stanley's complete self confidence which enables
him to assert himself casually and without doubt. This would mean that
Stanley psyche is biased to his id or alternatively his superego becomes
less of a factor, this would explain his complete disregard for his peers'
reactions in his behaviour. This is noteworthy since Stanley lacks many of
the traditional components of gaining power such as wealth and
popularity but continues to establish power over less resolute characters
such as Mitch and Blanche, this could be interpreted as representing a
rather dramatic shift of the characteristics which enable an individual to
gain power and could again be tied to the biological concept of evolution
and elimination of those characteristics deemed unnecessary or
inefficient.
Gender is also a key factor in attempting to explain how power is gained
and kept, for example in "Death and the Maiden" Paulina is a female
character that seems to take on many traditionally male gender specific
characteristics to assert power over Roberto. While on the surface it would
certainly seem like there is a shift of power from Roberto and Gerardo to
Paulina, deeper analysis of Ariel Dorfman's characterisation of Paulina
proves that her behaviour is changed drastically by the presence of
Roberto, She embodies a male gender role and also seems to be under
significant stress when playing this role. Dorfman's decision to have
Paulina's power over Roberto be based primarily on the gun seems to
embody a more gender specific type of power with phallic imagery
underlining the idea that Paulina as a woman will not obtain as much
power as a male in her position would. Gerardo on the other hand
seemingly serves to establish the opposite, he typifies a female gender
role and seems to lack the dominating spirit of Paulina, however, it is
apparent that Gerardo's behaviour may be motivated in part by self
preservation as he does not seem to trust Paulina in her deranged state
with the gun.
In conclusion I feel that both plays to a certain extent present a socially
Darwinistic visions of the world, both plays condemn and support the
theory in various degrees however overall the events of the plays strongly
oppose the idea of social Darwnism as a moral framework or as grounds
to act without impediment. The playwrights express this view by
portraying socially powerful characters as having negative effects on less
socially powerful characters and by constructing events that are shocking
like Stanley raping Blanche and Paulina torturing Roberto, in both these
situations the character portrayed as performing the morally unsound

deed is most often identified as the protagonist or even the character that
most audiences could relate with, this resonates especially powerfully in
"Death and the Maiden" due to Dorfman's decision to have a mirror
covering the action on stage at the climatic moment of the play, this shifts
the decision to audiences and encourages an insight into how power can
affect how we make our decisions and that the search for and the
possession of power can shape our behavior as social beings. In this
aspect social Darwinism is seemingly morally reprehensible since the idea
of being responsible for the effect of one's actions on another individual is
tightly embedded in today's society, however it could be argued that
social Darwinism can have no moral obligation on the grounds of it being
justified due to the similarity of the theory to Darwin's theory of natural
selection, in sum the extent and the morals of social Darwinism as
portrayed in the plays are certainly dependent on personal interpretation
and individual reading as the mirror in "Death and the Maiden" so aptly
demonstrates.

http://www.creatorix.com.au/philosophy/20/20f09.html
http://resources.mhs.vic.edu.au/streetcar/critical.htm