Blanche Flashcards
‘Blue piano’
It is first described to show the ‘spirit of life’ before Blanche arrives - then after Blanche arrives it becomes to symbolises sadness and her longing (‘blue’)
‘Her appearance is incongruous to this setting’
Blanche’s privileged background is implied heavily from her first appearance
‘She is daintily dressed in a white suit’/ ‘suggests a moth’
White symbolises purity which later becomes ironic - a moth is often drawn in by flames and bright things which eventually lead to them getting hurt - Blanche has been drawn in my a new start but this will end badly for her
‘Your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard’
This is ironic foreshadowing as at the end of the play Blanche is drunk and losing her mind
‘You haven’t said a word about my appearance’
Blanche is always conscious about the way she looks and seeks reassurance from everyone
‘It means woods and Blanche means white so the two together mean white woods’
Connotations of purity with the white - wood is meant to be a strong material however can easily be cut down which is perhaps showing Blanche’s instability
‘She approaches a little’
Like Stanley she is closing in on him to assert her dominance - this time however it is flirtatious
‘I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off of children’
This scene again is almost a bit of comic relief - foreshadows the revelation of Blanche’s affair with her student
‘You are light as a feather’
This suggests again her delicacy and fragility that makes her vulnerable to the world
‘Slipped through her lily white fingers’
Stanley is making fun at the fact Blanche tries to act pure
‘Crumpled white satin evening gown’
Her purity is being damaged - foreshadows her later brokenness - stopped caring about appearance’
‘Slams the mirror/glass cracks’
This is a symbol of bad luck - foreshadows what is yet to come in this scene
‘Physical beauty is passing. A transitory possession. But beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart - I have all those things’
Blanche has this revelation about physical beauty too late because she has already made her bed - her mind is also at this stage far from beautiful
‘Has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe’
Blanche is now a fallen woman - she is meant to be felt sorry for by the audience
‘Look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience shows on her face’
During the play she has been seen to feel all human emotion - fantasy, reality and the unimaginable - this journey is showed at this moment
