True love between a man and a woman is more than just a physical or sexual attraction. Love is a driving force that gratifies and honors commitment, respect, and dignity in a relationship. This type of gratification occurs regardless of the peaks and troughs throughout a relationship. Most importantly, true love is logical and filled with prosperity. The bond that holds Stella and Stanley’s marriage together is most certainly not held by love. If Stanley truly loved Stella he wouldn’t have constantly abused her while she was pregnant or say “I am the king around here” and then impulsively hurl a cup and saucer to the floor; that could’ve ricocheted and hurt her (Stanley 1218). A real man in love with his wife would say romantic lines like “I am the king of this house but you are the queen of my heart. Or you are the beat that keeps my heart going” But yet Stella copes with this abuse because of her deep animalistic infatuation for Stanley! This infatuation is evident when Blanche asks Stella, “Out of all the men playing poker who is superior?” (Williams 1186). Stella replies by saying “Stanley’s the only one of his crowd that’s likely to get anywhere… Look at him.” The magnitude of Stella’s infatuation imprudently galvanized her to leave the comfort of Belle Reve, to live with an abusive, unrefined, common, brute in a disarrayed shanty.
According to Dana Peach’s “Infatuation” she said “Infatuation is known as "being a fool for love". Most of us recognize it as a state in which a person’s normal ability to think clearly and act rationally are flung aside with suspicious eagerness. Desire focuses on a particular someone and suddenly nothing matters but that compelling attraction. The dictionary strongly suggests that the overt result of infatuation is a reduction in mental capacity.” When Peach mentioned a reduction in mental capacity she simply describes delusion. Stella perfectly illustrates delusion when she said "I couldn't go on believing her story and live with Stanley" (Stella, 1232). The infatuation Stella had for Stanley, motivated her to self-preserve, when she said this phrase. Basically, in order for Stella to self- preserve she had to blockade her rationality by deluding herself. Her rationale while deluded was, in order for her to live with her husband she had to get rid of her sister. Getting rid of Blanche protected her from potentially acknowledging the truth of her husband raping Blanche. If Blanche stayed, Stella would have no choice but to believe her. Stella’s animalistic infatuation for Stanley made her blind to the truth, weak; for being only sexually attracted and dependent on Stanley, and deluded; just to protect herself at the expense of her dear sister.
Like Stella’s infatuation her delusion is universal. According to famous psychologist Kübler Ross, people go through five stages when coping with death. The five stages are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The stage of denial is most closely related to Stella’s mechanism of delusion because; denial is a form of delusion. Writer, Robin Hewett, explains in her literary work “5 Stages of Coping with Death”, that denial and disbelief of the death of a loved one, is an immediate way to protect a person from the intensity of the loss and diminishes the shock of the death. People who unfortunately experience mortality use denial as a security blanket in the same manor Stella deludes herself to self-preserve. Self-preservation and the blanket of denial circumvents unwanted truths.
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