a streetcar named desire: Blanche

Question 1

who is blanche Dubois?

Answer 1

Blanche is the older sister of Stella Dubois, She is an older woman

Question 2

what type of character does Blanche play?

Answer 2

Blanche plays a tragic heroine, whose weaknesses, coupled with failure of others to understand her, lead to her breakdown and committal to an institution

Question 3

how does Williams describe blanche differently to others in the beginning of the play

Answer 3

to begin with, the characters appearing in scene one are dismissed with only brief descriptions (if any) of their appearances. when blanche appears, however Williams describes her in more detail - not only her clothes, but also the impression she gives of moth like delicacy and vulnerability.

Question 4

what happens to Blanches appearance the further we get into the play ?

Answer 4

as we the audience reads on Blanches appearance gradually becomes clearer, and so does her character. Her appearance - slim figure, a face of delicate, fading beauty - is described in the stage directions, and the readers also gather further information about her from the other characters comments.

Question 5

what do blanches long baths symbolise?

Answer 5

Blanches long baths are a symbol of her yearning to wash away her guilt over the suicide of her late husband

Question 6

what happens to Blanches mental state throughout the play

Answer 6

Blanches mental state gradually deteriorates the further into the play we get, we also witness Blanche try and use her familiar techniques to run from her problems. Blanche would drink and she would take long baths. By the end of the play blanche is taken to a mental instItution, a result of her having to face her problems and her SA

Question 7

Blanche is…

Answer 7

lost in a fantasy world, she can’t tell the difference between illusion and reality

Question 8

“ive got to…

Answer 8

keep hold of myself”

Blanche is trying to stop herself from emotional collapse, blanche would drink and take long hot baths to cleanse herself in efforts to wash off the guilt and dirt from her past

Question 9

‘I don’t want realism…

Answer 9

I want magic!’

Blanche is immersed in her own fantasy world, she isn’t interested in reality

Question 10

‘leave of…

Answer 10

absence’

one of Blanches lies/euphemisms

Question 11

‘I don’t tell the truth…

Answer 11

I tell what ought to be the truth’

Blanche continuing to tell her own distorted and controlled version of the truth