A Streetcar Named Desire SCENE 1 Flashcards
What is the significance of ‘Elysian Fields’?
In classical mythology this is the equivalent of paradise, the place where those favoured by the gods go after death. There is obvious irony in the choice of this name for a rundown street, but we should also remember that the Elysian Fields were the dwelling place of the dead. Blanche’s ultimate fate will be the living death of the asylum
Analyse ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’
Here it is used ironically; equally, however, it might be seen as a metaphor for the driving force of sexual desire.
What is a ‘Polack’?
Contemptuous American term for people of Polish origin
and the contempt of a Southern aristocrat for a vulgar immigrant.
‘The long parade to the graveyard’
Blanche’s obsession with death is rooted in her appalling experiences at Belle Reve. Her account is all the more affecting for what is left unsaid. We might also notice here the absence of any sentimentality, indeed of any emotional involvement, in her description of the deaths. Is this due to self-discipline, or is it again her self-absorption and lack of empathy?
Analyse the quote ‘Stella, you’re crying!’
Blanche seems surprised at this. Is it because Stella is usually firmly in control of herself, or is it that Blanche lacks the insight into other people’s feelings, and so is surprised when her cutting words do inflict a wound?
Describe the opening part of the scene - the first communication between Stella and Stanley.
Involves the package of bloody meat - an obvious sexual symbol which depicts Stanley in the same way as Blanche later describes him to Stella: He is a “survivor of the strong age! Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle; and you - you here - waiting for him.” This scene, therefore, sets a tone of commonplace brutality and reality into which the delicate and sensitive Blanche is about to appear.
How is Blanche described at the beginning?
Wearing white and having a moth like appearance. Williams often dresses his most degenerate characters in white, the symbol of purity. Blanche’s dress hides her inner sins and contributes to her moth like appearance. Her actions also suggest the fluttering of a delicate moth. And as a moth is often attracted by light and consequently killed by the heat, later we will see that Blanche is afraid of the light and when Mitch forces her under the light, this act begins Blanche’s destruction.
How is Blanche described at the beginning?
Wearing white and having a moth like appearance. Williams often dresses his most degenerate characters in white, the symbol of purity. Blanche’s dress hides her inner sins and contributes to her moth like appearance. Her actions also suggest the fluttering of a delicate moth. And as a moth is often attracted by light and consequently killed by the heat, later we will see that Blanche is afraid of the light and when Mitch forces her under the light, this act begins Blanche’s destruction.
What is the symbolic use of names used throughout the play?
Blanche Du Bois means white of the woods. The white is a play on Blanche’s supposed innocence and the woods are used as a Freudian phallic symbol. Stella’s name means star. The name of the plantation home was Belle Reve or beautiful dream, thus the loss of Belle Reve correlates with the loss of a beautiful dream that Blanche once possessed.
When are we first introduced to Blanche’s aversion to light?
In the first meeting between Stella and Blanche, Blanche tells Stella to “turn that over light off!”
It correlates with her moth-like appearance and will later develop into one of the controlling motifs throughout the play. Her fear of light will be seen to be connected with the death of her first husband and her fear of being too closely examined in the cold hard world of reality. She prefers, instead, the dim, illusionary world of semi darkness.
Describe Williams’ depiction of Stanley
“Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements.’ This is the opposite of the delicate and ethereal Blanche. Furthermore, the “centre of his life has been pleasure with women.” He is the “emblem of the gaudy seed bearer.”
What can be taken from the first meeting between Stanley and Blanche that coincides with the overall symbol of the play?
Essentially, the play can be read as a series of encounters between the Kowalski world and the Blanche Du Bois world. Each of these encounters will intensify with each subsequent meeting. The first encounter occurs at the end of Scene One and by the end of it, Blanche is feeling sick. Thus, Stanley’s rough, common, brutal questions end by focusing on the most sensitive aspect of Blanche’s past life - her marriage with the young boy. Stanley’s animalism almost destroys Blanche’s sensibilities even in this first meeting. Thus the conflict is between the oversensitive aristocratic world of Blanche and the brutal, realistic, present day world represented by Stanley.
