blanche Flashcards
‘white suit with a fluffy bodice and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as it she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party’
white - symbolises innocence and purity, ironic
out of place in elysian fields - part of the upper class , she is a stranger to this type of setting as opposed to her sister
there is a lack of colour, as blanche is simply wearing white. conveys the idea that the upper class is declining, as it lacks the vivacity of the working class, which williams believes will replace the upper class as the new driving force in america.
exploring the idea of the “white suit” can be linked up to the mid-nineteenth century play la dame aux camélias (1848), where a fallen woman (the play’s protagonist) wears a “white camelias” when she is available to her lovers - blanche appears to be drawn into prostitution
moral chastity
‘they told me to take a streetcar named desire, and then transfer to one called cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - elysian fields’
sexual promiscuity was considered evil and morally wrong.
symbolises death and sex - death of morals
intense desire leads to death and decay
500,000 cases of std’s every year
williams critical of the heteropatriarchy
‘suggests a moth’
attracted to light - kills them
avoids attention yet secretly wants it
her fate lies in self-destruction
death and darkness is closely related to moths
symbol of change
‘she pours half a tumbler of whisky and tosses it down. she carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink’
alcohol addiction
secretive - ruin her image
in private she leisurely drinks however in public, her tendency to drink a lot is scraped from her image
disregards stereotypes
‘i’ve got to keep hold of myself’
reminding herself of her status within society - upper class, must be polite and ‘ladylike’, in a way she sticks to the stereotypes that were present around rich women and reflects stanley in the way that she thinks and incorporates the stereotypes of society into her character.
that it is ‘out of character’ for her to act that way as she comes from a very prestige society as opposed to stella.
anxious
‘you must have some liquor on the place! where could it be, i wonder? oh, i spy, i spy!`
alcoholic
ironic
williams suffered from the negative externalities of alcohol abuse from his father as a child, and so this is a sensitive topic for him, beginning of play, we see how blanche pursues her urges and uses it as an escape which is one of her factors in leading to her downfall.
alcoholism undermines the purity she tries to put across. the fact that her first lie is about drinking is incredibly important, as it establishes the idea that blanche is ashamed of her mental distress.
this internal demonisation of her own coping mechanisms, reflect her adherence to a strict idea of what a woman should be, which has been ingrained in her by a bourgeoisie upbringing.
‘never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture - only poe! only mr edgar allan poe! - could do it justice! out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of weir!
reference to poe’s poem ulalume in which the protagonist visits their dead lovers grave - suggests that blanche is describing stella’s home as a tomb - humanity prone to sin and self destruction
blanche thinks her place is horrible, especially because she is used to living in a colonial home in belle reve.
gothic literature
subconscious allusion to her past, as the audience goes on to learn of her own lost love
‘you haven’t said a word about my appearance’
typical southern belle - beauty is part of identity
moth like tendencies
scared of losing her beauty - old south
‘god love you for a liar! daylight never exposed so total a ruin! but you–you’ve put on some weight, yes, you’re just as plump as a little partridge!’
being hypocritical - always hiding things
motif of light - blanche’s view of the power/ role of light to ‘expose’ ‘ruin’, justifying her avoidance of it throughout the play
foreshadowing
women expected to be pretty
‘you messy child, you, you’ve spilt something on that pretty white lace collar’
infantilising stella
projecting her insecurities onto her younger sister because she can’t bring herself to face them on her own self.
purity is stained
‘i stayed at belle reve and tried to hold hold it together’
clinging onto the past - old south
tennessee emphasizes on the importance of keeping up with the world, or else one will be alienated and lose oneself among the incoherence of the new world
trying to act like the hero
‘the long parade to the graveyard! father, mother! margaret, that dreadful way! so big with it, it couldn’t be put in a coffin!’
semantic field of death
end of the old south
responsibility of a southern belle without the benefits
‘blanche is bathing’
recurring motif throughout the play
washing away sins
escapes to her fantasy world
fist full of costume jewellery’
putting on an act
trying to make her fantasy seem a reality
not real jewellery
superficial and fake personality
‘life is too full of evasions and ambiguities, i think. i like an artist who paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours. i don’t like pinks and creams and wishy washy people’
describing how important it is to her that people be bold, she is actually attempting to flatter stanley, as she knows that this is the kind of person he is.
in reality, the colours here represent blanche’s manipulative nature and her control over men.
reference of an “artist” could allude to her husband, enveloping her grief
the semantic field of the verbs ‘strong’ and ‘bold’ are contradictory to the fact that she must avoid a ‘strong light,’ - the reader is able to break through her illusion and lies, further revealing the extent of her fragility. the repetition of “colours” makes her seem mentally unstable, almost as if her thoughts are cyclical as she is lost in her fantasy.
‘honey, do me a favour. run to the drug store and get me a lemon coke with plenty of chipped ice in it! - will you do that for me, sweetie?
infantilising stella
patronising
telling her to go away
controlling nature
lemon symbolises a bitterness, but also love and fertility - blanche is bitter towards love, sexuality and fertility - she wishes her life had turned out differently
‘she doesn’t understand you as well as i do’
blanche knows men like stanley - knows what they’re really about
stella doesn’t - in love with him so can’t see his flaws
‘these are love letters, yellowing with antiquity, all from one boy’
old - past
yellow is a symbol of mental illness
youthful colour- stuck in the past
progressively corrupting idea of what love is
shows the downfall of the upper class, as all that is left of blanche’s love is these letters, which are disappearing like a vapor and a mist.
‘the touch of your hands insult them!’
ruins purity - not clean enough, working class
doesn’t want her romantic depiction of the past to be tainted by corruption of the present
‘i hurt him the way you would like to hurt me, but you can’t! i’m not young and vulnerable anymore’
wants to act naïve - not naïve , juxtaposition between her and her husband
abusive
dangerous
recognition of stanley’s deepest desires to hurt her, however she underestimates his ability.
‘our improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and brothers exchanged the land for their epic fornications’
having sex outside marriage - why they gave up their land
couldn’t resist their desire
had to pay the price -generations of old south money lost of trivial pursuits such as gambling
‘yes - i was flirting with your husband stella’
lacks boundaries - reflects her mental state
knows she shouldn’t do it
he only way she knows how to communicate with men is through flirting, as all her life men have viewed her by sexual means and have therefore initiated conversation through flirting.
in this way, blanche is seen as similar to stanley as he only ever views women through sexual classifications
‘maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost belle reve’
embrace the new south
that her and stella do not belong to the southern elite anymore- trying to convince her sister to leave stanley and live a better and more free life
‘blanche crosses into the bedroom and partially closes the portieres’
wants attention - trying not to show it
hamartia
men and women separated
‘oh am i?’
‘you’re standing in the light blanche!’ - stella
fond of the male gaze
knows exactly what she’s doing
‘i hate beer’
conforming to stereotypes
masculine thing to do
trying to cover up addiction
repressing inner self
‘it’s a french name. it means woods and blanche means white, so the two together mean white woods. like an orchard in spring! you can remember it by that.
upper class took pride in their heritage - colonised
true american - sophisticated
romantic france
purity and innocence
wood seems hard to break but is actually flammable
‘she’s somewhat older than i’
scared of ageing
lying
needs to be attractive
mitch:
‘you might teach arithmetic’
not her - masculine
maths has a clear answer - always avoiding this
english
opinionated and well spoken
fictional worlds
‘she presses her knuckles nervously to her lips’
declining mental health, this could also signify her worry for her sister after the previous night’s events
see this early within the play so that williams can build upon her mental vulnerability.
paralleled when blanche suffers failure to function due to her mental health in scene 11 and as a result is sent into institutionalisation.
‘why! i’ve been half crazy stella!’
blanche shows excess amount of fear and a nervous personality.
‘crazy’ fear contrasts to Stanley’s crazy animalistic nature.
this creates ideas of what each character’s hamartia is
unaware of mental state
represents stella because after all the abuse and the mistreatment from stanley’s part stella still sticks around; blanche knows it.
stella had the opportunity to escape the abuse physically and mentally, but instead she decided to stay.
‘you are, blanche. i know how it must have seemed to you and I’m awful sorry it had to happen, but it wasn’t anything as serious as you seem to take it. in the first place, when men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen. it’s always a powder-keg. he didn’t know what he was doing…. he was as good as a lamb when I came back and he’s really very, very ashamed of himself’
blanche is a hypocrite
cassandras truth
making excuses for stanley
‘your fix is worse than mine is!’
knows stella has a problem
addicted to stanley
corruption of the new south
‘stella, i can’t live with him’
sees danger
not normal for a southern belle
‘dont hang back with the brutes!’
don’t give in to animalism
stand for what’s right
picture of progression
stanley represents hanging back is ironic due to the context the play is set in as well as the wider ties between stanley and modernity
illustrates blanche’s illusion, as she is still attached to the values she was brought up in, and sees them as modern despite the fall of the old south.
‘blanche is seated in the bedroom fanning herself with a palm leaf’
upper class
out of touch with the norms of the new south
ironic - symbolise integrity and eternal life
‘darling shep. i am spending the summer on the wing, making flying visits here and there. and who knows, perhaps I shall take a sudden notion to swoop down on dallas! how would you feel about that? ha-ha!’
losing reality
moving to fantasy
lying
williams shows how individuals are influenced by an ideal - blanche needs to be perfect
‘i must jot that down in my notebook. ha-ha! i’m compiling a notebook of quaint little words and phrases I’ve picked up here’
mocking them - upper class can’t take things seriously
making memories
making herself look sophisticated
‘virgo is the virigin’
ironic
reflects her want to be pure
‘the odour of cheap perfume is penetrating’
only used to be worn by prostitutes
lower class place
‘people are soft- soft people have got to shimmer and glow - they’ve got to put on soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings,’
only way to survive - prostitution
semantic field of fragile femininity, blanche is excusing her past behaviours on the fact she’s ageing and has been unable to fulfil her lovers, especially her ex-husband as he was homosexual.
there are anaphoric references to the paper lantern and the butterfly and she is described as a delicate moth in scene 1 and it shows that she is no longer who she wants to be, the stereotypical young southern belle
‘but i’m scared now, awf’ly scared i don’t know how much longer I can turn the trick . and I - I’m fading now!’
telling stella - first time she’s not hiding
scared of prostitution
beauty is fading - feels as though she is getting old she is fading with her power, she relies on beauty and validation of men to source her own self worth
‘but on the other hand men lose interest quickly. especially when the girl is over - thirty. they think a girl over thirty ought to - the vulgar term is- ‘put out’
always thinking about men - it’s a man’s world
stella knows she’s acting
shows the stereotypical gender roles in the 1940’s that a woman would change themselves to date a man. as they were the providers and create stability for their wives.
here blanche is expressing her insecurities on the fact she is not financially stable and needs a husband before its too late, this is why she uses mitch
‘could you give me a light?’
phallic imagery
make herself feel youthful again
‘neurasthenic personality’
frayed
blanche’s inability to enjoy the date despite her attempts points to her deteriorating mental health
the real blanche is coming out
‘i’ve outstayed my welcome’
faking her chastity
euphemism for sex
assumes that mitch would prefer her if she was ‘putting out’ but she is unsure of what would be most acceptable.
doesn’t understand this new world ideal of women.
‘i’m looking for the pleiades, the seven sisters, but these girls are not out tonight. oh, yes they are, there they are! god bless them!’
in western astrology they represent coping with sorrow
an allusion to a star constellation is it and it is significant for a variety of reasons in this context: , it can be noted that the comment on a specific star constellation demonstrates the notion that blanche is well educated and a cultured woman-as was to be expected of a typical ‘southern belle
stars exist in their own entity even if they are part of a constellation and in this way, it can be commented that blanche is just a small star and a vast universe
her apparent love first or astrology may stem from the idea that blanche is trying to make desperate sense of the vast world around her, linking it to contextual ideas about the ‘old south’ and the ‘new south’- given the constellations to a design to tell a story in this create a dream world to explain normal occurrences
stars symbolise her escape
fate?
‘single girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she’ll be lost’
suggests that she’s experienced loneliness as a result of a damaged relationship before, and wants to prove a point by protecting herself, which she wasn’t capable of before
ideally pictures herself as the innocent, naïve girl that she presents to mitch. even though this is a pose for her, she feels that it is the pose that she, as the southern belle, must take. feels it is her duty to entertain men and to make them feel welcomed. truly blanche is the depraved woman whose past, stanley uncovers and reveals.
‘i want you to have a drink! you have been so anxious and solemn all evening, and so have I; we have both been anxious and solemn and now for these few last remaining moments of our lives together - i want to create–joie de vivre! I’m lighting a candle’
reliance on alcohol
wants to create a show - fantasy world
showing herself - lost in fantasy
‘voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? vous ne comprenez pas? ah, quelle dommage!’
showing off her education - makes mitch feel inferior
subverting stereotypes
trying to present herself as romantic - french is a romantic language
her inability to understand other people, isolated as she is in the world of her imagination.
do you want to have sex with me?
‘she rolls her eyes’
sick of acting
the exhaustions of mental health
fed up with the fantasy she creates in her mind soon before she speaks the truth of her husband’s death
stanley:
‘some canary bird, huh!’
used to send them down mines in the war
stop singing if there was gas
symbolise blanche’s delicate and weak self
kept in cages, symbolising blanche’s entrapment by stanley in his home
‘blanche is no lily! ha ha! some lily she is!’
innocent and pure
flowers associated with beauty
weak and silly
sees through blanche’s façade
also symbolise death and are typically associated with funerals, symbolising that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death ironic use of the title ‘sister’
‘say it’s only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea - but it wouldn’t be make-believe if you believed in me!’
flying away
truth coming out simultaneously
easily destroyed and unstable nature of her fantasy
moon is a symbol of the rhythm of time
speaker in the song says that if both lovers believe in their imagined reality, then it’s no longer make-believe
‘possess your soul in patience!’
hamlet - shows education
trying to look smart
soul has connotations with beauty, truth and spirituality which is set against the physical; the body and its raw, obscene processes.
‘blanche didn’t just love him but worshipped the ground he walked on’
intense feeling - destructive nature of excessive passion
pedestal - women expected to treat men this way since they were the breadwinners
religious connotations
needs a man to fulfil her southern belle duties
‘tell us a joke, tell us a funny story to make us all laugh. i don’t know what’s the matter, we’re all so solemn’
she is being tolerated - no one is happy with her
lacks social awareness - bad mental state
no room for outdated culture in this society
wants to escape reality
‘i must run through my repertoire!’
going through her acts
delusional
‘his auntie knows candles aren’t safe, that candles burn out in little boys’ and girl’s eyes, or wind blows them out and after that happens, electric light bulbs go on and you see too plainly’
sense of wonder from the world disappears
light went out when allan died
trying to replace with the artificial light of mitch
the dim light of candles can hide the truth; cast a warm glow over situations whereas electric lights are garish. Shows how she struggles to cope with the harsh realities of the modern world
candles symbolise her fantasy world
‘el pain de mais, el pan de mais,
el pain de mais sin sal.
el pain de mais, el pain de mais,
el paid de mais sin sal…’
possessed - southern gothic tropes
fantasy - french
spanish - losing grip on reality
bread without salt - poor food
nothing to do with what’s going on in the play
delusional
echolalia of street sellers - impact of her surroundings
‘whisper the words of a song’
getting worse
varsouviana
feeding her delusions ,delusions are feeding upon her
‘she rushes about frantically, hiding the bottle in a close, crouching at the mirror and dabbing her face with cologne and powder’
back to façade
determined to hide her demise
acting like a child and being all giddy all because mitch is at the door - emphasises the extent of her regression to the audience
‘i don’t know what there is to drink. i - haven’t investigated’
parallels first scene
desperate to drink - doesn’t even try to hide it
‘i don’t tell the truth, i tell what ought to be the truth’
new south is violent, although it is accepting
no morals compared to the old south
shouldn’t be like this - it should be better
‘how about taking a swim, a moonlight swim at the old rock quarry? if anyone’s sober enough to drive a car! ha-ha! best way in the world to stop your head buzzing! only you’ve got to be careful to dive where the deep pool is - if you hit a rock you don’t come up till tomorrow…’
spectre of death is there
foreshadows danger
‘i have been foolish - casting my pearls before swine’
biblical reference
sad - people don’t care about personality, only beauty
uses this allusion to describe what she sees as her own actions - sees herself as generous, and though she is monetarily poor, she is rich in spirit, her mind beautiful
wasting their time by offering something that is helpful or valuable to someone who does not appreciate or understand it
swine = lower class - has to show people she’s better than them
‘some awful thing will happen! it will!’
ironic - it will happen to her
stanley already knows this process
fate - hero downfall - aristotelian tragedy
‘try and locate a bunch of artificial violets’
still concerned about looks
funeral flowers - foreshadows her demise
still faking herself
associated with death and a young woman’s sorrow over losing a loved one
‘yes it will do! i’m anxious to get out of here - this place is a trap’
parallels stanley’s attack
too late
is a trap
‘that doesn’t mean they’ve been washed’
just because you live like this, doesn’t mean it’s okay
purity/clean
alludes to the old south
‘i don’t want to pass in front of those men’
contrasts scene 3 when she would’ve done this eagerly
can’t be part of that world
‘i can smell the sea air. the rest of my time i’m going to spend on the sea. and when i die, i’m going to die on the sea. you know what i shall die of? i shall die of eating an unwashed grape’
fantasising about her death
it won’t go like this - mental hospital
more trauma
delusions have grown more romantic and literary as she retreats further into madness.
given up on trying to reconcile her visions with reality and surrendered completely to fantasy.
wants to cleanse herself with the ocean
‘please don’t get up, i’m only passing through’
old south manners fading
realising they’re gone
contrasts scene 3
‘i have always depended on the kindness of strangers’
williams said this himself
he was ill
