A Streetcar Named Desire

Question 1

What are some stage directions that show Stanley is sexually promiscuous?

Answer 1

“the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it”

“he sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them”

Question 2

Quote about kings and queens showing Stanley’s assertion of power

Answer 2

“what do you two think you are? A pair of queens?”

“I am the king around here, so don’t you forget it!”

Question 3

Quote from Stanley before he rapes Blanche

Answer 3

“we’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!”

Question 4

Stage directions about Blanche’s appearance

Answer 4

“her appearance is incongruous to this setting”

Question 5

Quote from Blanche scolding herself

Answer 5

“I’ve got to be good–and keep my hands off children”

Question 6

Quote from Blanche about Stanley

Answer 6

“that man is my executioner! That man will destroy me”

Question 7

Insults from Blanche about Stanley

Answer 7

“animal”
“ape-like”
“subhuman”

Question 8

How Blanche wants to be perceived

Answer 8

“prim and proper”

Question 9

What did Blanche do?

Answer 9

“I had many intimacies with strangers”

Question 10

Why did Blanche sleep with lots of men?

Answer 10

“hunting for some protection”
“panic”
“after the death of Allan”

Question 11

What was Mitch to Blanche?

Answer 11

“a cleft in the rock of the world that I could hide in”

Question 12

What did Blanche want to do to Mitch?

Answer 12

“I want to deceive him enough to make him–want me”

Question 13

Blanche’s final words

Answer 13

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”

Question 14

Quote that shows how dependent Stella is

Answer 14

“Stanley doesn’t give me a regular allowance”

“this morning he gave me ten dollars to smooth things over”

Question 15

Quote from Stella after Stanley tells her about Blanche

Answer 15

“there’s not a word of truth in it and if I were a man…”

Question 16

Quote that shows Stella doesn’t believe that Stanley raped Blanche

Answer 16

“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley”

Question 17

Mitch quote

Answer 17

“you’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”

Question 18

Eunice quote

Answer 18

“men are callous things with no feelings”

Question 19

What context do we use in the Blanche paragraph?

Answer 19

1947 patriarchal society

Domestic containment of women after the second world war

Question 20

What context do we use in the Stanley paragraph?

Answer 20

New America - multicultural, urban, rough

Old South - elitist, rural, purist

Question 21

What context do we use in the endings paragraph? SND

Answer 21

1951 film version changed ending to have Stella likely to leave Stanley

Question 22

What did Kazan say?

Answer 22

“conquers with his penis”

Question 23

Who said “conquers with his penis”?

Answer 23

Kazan

Question 24

What did Guilbert say? (1)

Answer 24

“in 1947 men could have as much sex as they liked. Things were different for women. In 1947, if a woman was openly promiscuous, she was seen as mad”

Question 25

Who said “in 1947 men could have as much sex as they liked. Things were different for women. In 1947, if a woman was openly promiscuous, she was seen as mad”?

Answer 25

Guilbert

Question 26

What did Guilbert say? (2)

Answer 26

“according to Victorian double standards: men may have multiple sexual experiences, but women should be virgins until marriage and chaste after widowhood”

Question 27

Who said “according to Victorian double standards: men may have multiple sexual experiences, but women should be virgins until marriage and chaste after widowhood”?

Answer 27

Guilbert

Question 28

What did Vlasopolos say about Stanley and Blanche?

Answer 28

“critics have noted astonishing similarities between the two antagonists, Blanche and Stanley, such as… their charged sexual presence”

Question 29

Who said “critics have noted astonishing similarities between the two antagonists, Blanche and Stanley, such as… their charged sexual presence”?

Answer 29

Vlasopolos

Question 30

What did Vlasopolos say about Blanche being taken away?

Answer 30

“the troubling focus of the play” “the act becomes public and the woman is punished” “She is taken away under the consenting gaze of all the characters on stage”

Question 31

Who said “the troubling focus of the play” “the act becomes public and the woman is punished” “She is taken away under the consenting gaze of all the characters on stage”?

Answer 31

Vlasopolos

Question 32

What did Tischler say about Blanche?

Answer 32

“Blanche is given a gracious exit scene. Her dignity in this exit scene provides her with a moral victory in the face of a physical defeat”

Question 33

Who said “Blanche is given a gracious exit scene. Her dignity in this exit scene provides her with a moral victory in the face of a physical defeat”?

Answer 33

Tischler

Question 34

What did Tischler say about Stella?

Answer 34

“Stella seems likely to forgive and justify Stanley. Stanley is unpunished”

Question 35

Who said “Stella seems likely to forgive and justify Stanley. Stanley is unpunished”?

Answer 35

Tischler

Question 36

What did Tolman say about how the patriarchy defines Blanche?

Answer 36

“the patriarchy defines her as threatening, deviant, and bad”

Question 37

Who said “the patriarchy defines her as threatening, deviant, and bad”?

Answer 37

Tolman