A Streetcar Named Desire Flashcards
Learn Quotes and Analysis
“She springs up…pours half a tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes the tumbler at the sink.” (1.5) Analyse this quotation.
Blanche is hiding her drinking. “springs up” shows her desperation and eagerness to have a drink. “tosses it down” means in one fast gulp, showing that she is accustomed to hard drinking. “carefully” means she took her time to ensure she did it correctly, telling us she is very keen to keep this secret.
“She is daintily dressed in a white suit with…necklace and earrings of pearl” (1.3) Analyse this quotation.
This is Blanche’s first appearance and she is dressed in a very smart and classy outfit, as she wishes to be seen as a respectable lady. “white” symbolises purity and innocence, which is how she would like people to see her.
“Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” (1.6) Analyse this quotation.
Blanche hiding from the light symbolises her hiding from the truth. “merciless” personifies the light to make it seem cruel. It would be cruel to make Blanche face the truth of her situation.
“The Varsouviana? The polka tune they were playing when Allan…”
Blanche hears the polka tune inside her head, which symbolises the guilt she feels when she thinks about her husband’s death. The ellipsis at the end shows she is unable to bring herself to say the words “killed himself” out loud. This was the beginning of her downward spiral and creates sympathy for her.
“I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth. ”
Blanche doesn’t see her lies as being lies. She sees them as giving people the version of herself that they would like to be true, and that she wishes was true.
“…the struggle for breath and bleeding”
Blanche describes the deaths at Belle Reve in language which makes them sound brutal and disturbing. This is another factor in the development of her mental illness.
“had many intimacies with strangers”
Blanche finally admits that she has been promiscuous - which means that no respectable man will now marry her
“I can hardly stand it when he’s away for a night”
Stella is completely infatuated with Stanley. This is why she would never choose her sister over him.
Q
“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley”
Stella chooses to believe that Blanche lied about Stanley attacking her. The word “story” suggests that fiction, Blanche has made it up.
“I’m afraid I’ll strike you as the unrefined type”
Stanley is aware that Blanche will look down on him as she has a superior background. This is at the root of his resentment towards her.
“There isn’t a goddamn thing but imagination! And lies and conceit and tricks!”
Stanley forces Blanche to face the truth. The list emphasises the vast amount of lies he knows she has told.
In the final scene, Blanche can no longer tell the difference between her fantasies and reality. Stanley’s attack has shattered her fragile sanity.
“The shadows are of a grotesque and menacing form”
in scene 10, Blanche is seeing and hearing things. This makes the scene more shocking for the audience (who can see and hear them too) and emphasises the deterioration of her sanity. The shadows and noises also help us to understand her fear.
“He seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the lightbulb, and extends it towards her. She screams”
at the end, Stanley rips off the paper lampshade which symbolically suggests him cruelly forcing her to face the truth. “seizes” and “tearing” emphasise the brutality of his actions, and “screams” emphasises how much it upsets her.
“I can’t stand a naked lightbulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action”
Blanche to Mitch. She is trying to make herself appear prim and refined, while also hiding her age by dimming the light. The lampshade also symbolises her hiding from the truth in general.
