"[Stella has embraced him with both arms, fiercely, and full in the view of Blanche. He laughs and clasps her head to him. Over her head he grins through the curtains at Blanche]" (Williams 84).
The stage direction above is significant because we see a change in Stanley's behavior after he overheard Blanche and Stella's conversation. Stanley is now fully aware of the way Blanche feels about him, and he is acting so affectionate towards Stella in order to spite Blanche. He does not want to give Blanche the satisfaction that she is right about him. He would like to prove Blanche wrong and prove to Stella that he can be a better husband. However, he does not kiss Stella later on in the scene because they are in front of Blanche. This is odd because if he were trying to prove to Blanche that she was wrong about him, he should have kissed Stella in front of Blanche to show his gentle love for Stella rather than his abusive nature.
Katie-I like the focus here on a stage direction rather than a line from the play. You point out, effectively, how important the information is here for our understanding of Stanley as well as the other characters. Very nice.
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