Scoop Rosenbam and Stanley Kowalski are both characters from plays, The Heidi Chronicles and A Streetcar Named Desire, respectively. Both are portrayed in a negative light by the playwrights, and are used to show the negative sides of men. This is done in a variety of ways, and very different ones, from character to character.
Scoop is shown as a very analytical man, who rates everything, including women. He states at one point that Heidi is a perfect 10, but that he settled for a good 6. This shows the objectification that Scoop feels towards women. However, he does it out of habit, not out of any malicious intention. He is seen as rating bands, newspapers, and all sorts of other things, which shows him as simply being analytical, and not emotional.
This is a stark contrast to Stanley, who again rates women, but in a much more sinister way. He looks women up and down at the first chance he gets. He objectifies them, treats them like rubbish. Stanley treats women with malicious intent, even famously raping Blanche. This is completely different to Scoop, who it is possible to see as timid towards women.
Scoop is scared of what would happen if he was to date or even marry Heidi, he fears the inevitable conflict that it would bring for them, and knowing that it would make them less happy, he doesn't "make a move". This shows him to care about Heidi a lot more than is immediately obvious in the play. Scoop is very pragmatic, and does what he believes is best for the situation, regardless of its immediate impact, or its "moral" status. Stanley is similar, in that he doesn't care what the action looks like, morally, but he doesn't take his time. Stanley acts on instinct, and through passion
To be honest, the way to look at the comparison between the characters is like this. Both are two sides of the same mindset. Scoop represents the analytical and calculating side of the male psyche, the side that will take care of himself, and will be pragmatic and cold, doing what's best for himself. Stanely represents the passionate and impulsive side of the male psyche, and represents men who are completely governed by emotion and impulse.
Scoop is shown as a very analytical man, who rates everything, including women. He states at one point that Heidi is a perfect 10, but that he settled for a good 6. This shows the objectification that Scoop feels towards women. However, he does it out of habit, not out of any malicious intention. He is seen as rating bands, newspapers, and all sorts of other things, which shows him as simply being analytical, and not emotional.
This is a stark contrast to Stanley, who again rates women, but in a much more sinister way. He looks women up and down at the first chance he gets. He objectifies them, treats them like rubbish. Stanley treats women with malicious intent, even famously raping Blanche. This is completely different to Scoop, who it is possible to see as timid towards women.
Scoop is scared of what would happen if he was to date or even marry Heidi, he fears the inevitable conflict that it would bring for them, and knowing that it would make them less happy, he doesn't "make a move". This shows him to care about Heidi a lot more than is immediately obvious in the play. Scoop is very pragmatic, and does what he believes is best for the situation, regardless of its immediate impact, or its "moral" status. Stanley is similar, in that he doesn't care what the action looks like, morally, but he doesn't take his time. Stanley acts on instinct, and through passion
To be honest, the way to look at the comparison between the characters is like this. Both are two sides of the same mindset. Scoop represents the analytical and calculating side of the male psyche, the side that will take care of himself, and will be pragmatic and cold, doing what's best for himself. Stanely represents the passionate and impulsive side of the male psyche, and represents men who are completely governed by emotion and impulse.
I completely agree with you when you say that Scoop and Stanley represent two sides of the male mindset. I actually never saw the similarities in both the characters previously. For me I think cultural context has such a great influence over how one looks at characters. The fact that the settings are completely different. Scoop comes from a higher class family, in a completely different era and different upbringing where as Stanley is part of the working lower class and a much earlier time period. But what your blog post does is rids us of this cultural context and simply looks at men in general and how they are portrayed. Illustrating that regardless of era, time, upbringing there are certain qualities in men that do not change. Do you think this is true? Do you think that some qualities remain despite the opposing environments?
ReplyDeleteBut I would disagree with you when you say that Scoop is portrayed in a negative light. Of course I feel that he is somewhat of a coward as we discussed earlier in class, but when introduced to Scoop within the play I actually warmed up to him and thought of him as a comical, witty character. And as the play progressed I began to see how confused and lost Scoop really was, and not that he was necessarily purposefully hurting Heidi but just was unsure of himself and what he wanted as it seems at the end. Although I definitely felt that Stanley was the antagonist throughout the play, being portrayed as an ape like beast like creature.Also I think it would be interesting to see what makes you feel like they are portrayed negatively? What specific literary features? Personally I felt Tennessee Wiliams's stage directions and introduction of Stanley influenced me. What are your thoughts?
Where you say that there are certain qualities in men that don't change, I guess I agree. There are certain things in our culture that haven't changed in hundred's of years, and I believe that the male psyche is one of them. Based on the fact that Scoop and Stanley both have different environments, I would agree that some qualities of people stay the same, no matter what environment they grew up in.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Scoop is portrayed negatively in the fact that he is always shown along side Heidi, and that Juxtaposition, and the clear sexual tension, while not necessarily showing him in a "bad" light, it does show him in different one to Heidi. I completely agree with the idea that Tennessee William's influence our ideas of Stanley through the italics. This is why I don't think I found Marlon Brando's portrayal of the character as menacing. We didn't have those italics to shape our thoughts about the character.