Blanche Flashcards
Blanche’s first description (stage directions)
‘Shocked.... ‘Appearance is... ‘Daintily... ‘Delicate.... ‘Something about... ‘White...
‘Shocked disbelief’
‘Appearance is incongruous to the setting’
‘Daintily dressed’
‘Delicate beauty must avoid strong light’
‘Something about her uncertain manner that suggests a moth’
‘White clothes’
Blanche’s streetcar journey
‘They told me to take a streetcar named desire and then transfer to one called cemeteries’
and get off at ‘Elysian fields’
Blanche described as insect
‘Moth’
Irony is moths are attracted towards light
Repellent creature - how Stanley views Blanche
Blanche’s interaction with Eunice at start of play
Reluctant to engage in conversation with her - ‘Yes…’
‘Wanting to get rid of her’ (stage direction)
Description of Blanche waiting for Stella in the apartment (stage directions)
‘Sits in a…’
‘Legs…’
‘Hands tightly…’
When she sees the alcohol and how she drinks it
‘Sits in a chair stiffly’
‘Legs pressed close together’
‘Hands tightly clutching her purse’
‘Springs up’ when she notices the alcohol and then ‘tosses it down’
What does Blanche say when she is alone waiting for Stella?
‘I’ve got to keep a hold on myself’
Blanche when she sees Stella
‘Springs up and runs to her with a wild cry’
Blanche not wanting light on when she sees Stella for the first time
‘Turn that over-light off’
‘Turn that off’
‘I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare’
Quite that indicates to audience Blanche has high expectations
To Stella at the start
‘What are you doing in a place like this’
How does Blanche act with Stella at the start when they first see each other?
‘Stella for Star’
‘Precious lamb’
‘Oh, my baby’
Reinforces idea that Stella is the younger sister , Blanche subtly dominating the situation
How does Blanche describe herself to Stella at the start?
‘She’s just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty’
Polysyndeton
Disassociating herself because she wants to remain a southern belle and this description is incongruous to the prim and proper appearance she wants to retain
Blanche emotionally manipulative
‘You’re all I’ve got in the world’ to Stella
Straight after complaining about Stella’s home saying ‘you have had to live in these conditions’
Blanche spiteful towards Stella
‘Plump as a little partridge’ simile
‘’Watch around the hips a little’
Blanche dominating over Stella (little sister big sister)
‘You messy child’
Blanche obsessed with appearance
‘You haven’t…’
‘I haven’t put…’
‘Glances at her…’
‘You haven’t said a word about my appearance’
‘I haven’t put on an ounce on ten years’
After Stella compliments her she ‘glances at her for reassurance’
Blanche fragile bc caring about Stanley’s opinion of her
‘Will Stanley like me?’
Blanche when she finds out Stanley doesn’t know she is coming
‘Frightened’ (stage direction)
Blanche portrayed as frail and delicate when telling Stanley about Allan
‘I’m going to be sick’
‘Her head falls into her arms’
Who is Blanche based on
His aunt Belle who ‘talked like Blanche - hysterically, with great eloquence’
What does Blanche represent
Similarly to Amanda Wingfield in Williams’ other play ‘The Glass Menagerie’, Blanche represents a faded Southern Belle.
‘Got to be with somebody…
Got to be with somebody. I can’t be alone!
X
‘Her look is frightened’
‘Nervous’
‘Overwrought’
Hamartia quote
‘Tell her she looks wonderful. That’s important with Blanche. Her little weakness.’
Suggestive and sexual quote when Stanley is buttoning her up
‘You men with your big clumsy fingers’
Context - asking hé sisters husbands to help her dress - role of southern belle
Flirtatious and manipulative with Stanley
“I could never imagine any witch of a woman casting a spell over you.”
“Cards on the table”
“I like an artist who paints in strong bold colours, primary colours’
- Using Stanleys language of poker. Tactical.
- audience alarmed
“She doesn’t understand you as well as I do…’’
‘Playfully sprays him with it (perfume)’’
Blanche on what she will do bc S touched Allan’s poems
“Now that you have touched them, I’ll burn them”
Obsessed with appearance
Entering poker game
‘How do I look’
‘Lovely Blanche’
Blanche manipulative Mitch
“Blanche looks after him with a certain interest”
X
‘There’s so much confusion in the world’
Obsessed with wealth
‘I know it helps your morale just having a little pocket money on you’
Blanche quote about living with Stanley after he beat Stella
‘I can’t live with him’
Blanche about how she feels in New Orleans
‘Where I am not wanted and where I am ashamed to be’
Blanche cathartic monologue when she asks if people have been gossiping about her
She was ‘caught in the centre’ of a ‘storm’
She’s ‘run for protection’ from ‘one leaky roof to another leaky roof’
‘I’m fading now’
Blanche’s dress staining
‘Piercing cry’
‘Right on my pretty white skirt’
‘Slowly recovering’ - stage direction
Stella says ‘why did you scream like that?’
Symbol of Blanche ‘s purity being stained, mimetic of herself which is why she acted so hyperbolically
Blanche not in a relationship contrasting to Eunice and Stella being in a relationship
Staging
Blanche talking about desiring Mitch then straight after -
Eunice and Steve ‘shriek with laughter’
Stella and Stanley ‘twine arms’
Blanche manipulative paper boy
‘Regards him with interest’
Flirting with paper boy
‘You look like a prince out of Arabian nights’
‘Laughs uncomfortably’ and ‘stands like a bashful kid’
‘Speaks softly to him’
Blanche talking to Mitch like he’s a child
‘Good boy’
‘The other little familiarity’
Sexualised
Experienced kissing/sex before
Alluding to promiscuous life style in Laurel
Blanche digging and excavating information when talking to Mitch
‘Has he talked to you about me?’
‘What has he said?’
Lots of questions
Machiavellian - calculating for own gain, survival tactics, trying to see if Mitch knows she was a prostitute
Is Blanche manipulating Mitch when she tells him about Allan?
Or does she actually like Mitch as a form of salvation and IS actually hurting in this scene?
‘Drawing her slowly into his arms’
‘Soft cry huddles into his embrace’
‘He kisses her forehead and her lips’
Mitch is a form of salvation
Blanche streak of sadism
‘You disgust me’ - to Allan
Blanche’s hyperbolic monologue about Allan
‘A blinding light turned on’ (when she met Allan)
‘He was in quicksands and clutching me’
‘I was slipping in with him’
(When Allan died the light turned off and now she hasn’t seen another brighter light since)
‘the Searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again’
‘Never for one moment since has there been any light that stronger than this – kitchen – candle”
Note about dialogue of Blanche comptes to other characters
Only one with hyperbolic monologues - indicative of her perpetual state of heightened emotion
Use of a date to symbolise something about Blanche
Stage directions it is ‘mid September’
Symbolises her declining mental health
Denouement
Blanche description by Stanley after he finds out about her lies
‘Sister Blanche is no lily’
Blanche’s promiscuity
‘ a 17 year old’ she had ‘gotten mixed up with’
‘Keep my hands off children’
Blanche réaction to realising something has happened (Stanley telling Stella about her lies although she doesn’t know that)
‘Slowly stops brushing’ (moment of realisation)
‘Stares fearfully’
How does Blanche deal with the stressful situation of nobody being cheerful at her birthday party?
Clutches to humour; tells parrot story
‘Throws back her head and laughs’
Comical but incongruous
Description of Blanche when she is alone and Stanley and Stella have gone to the hospital
Position
Robe
“Tense hunched position” - cyclical like how she she was when she arrived at the apartment
‘’Scarlett satin robe’’
Quotes as Mitch confronts Blanche about lying that make us feel sympathy for her
Protection
Convulsive
Drinks
‘Hunting for protection’
‘Convulsive sobbing laughter’
‘Gasps and drinks’ - dependent on alcohol
‘I was played out’ - She’s a toy; has been used
What is the interaction between Stanley and Blanche like before he takes her and she’s talking about her fantasy
Blanche hyperbolic monologue - ‘choked sob’
Stanley monosyllabic - ‘huh’ ‘swine?’ ‘You did?’
Stanley lets her talk and then dismantles her
Want to ruin her emotionally before physically – sadistic
Blanche smashing bottle in defence against Stanley quotes
‘Smashes a bottle’
‘Clutching a broken top’
‘Twist the broken ending to your face!’
‘Strikes at him’
What is Blanche wearing in the last scene?
Red satin robe
Satin – not silk – man-made/artificial
Vivacity quite comparison first and last scene when Blanche and Stella are talking
Blanche is described as speaking to Stella with “faintly hysterical vivacity “ similarly to the first scene where they greet with ‘feverish vivacity’
Cyclical
Grapes symbolise and quote
‘Are these grapes washed?’
Symbolic of wealth and abundance alluding to Blanche as a southern belle living in luxury contrasted to the harsh mental institution she is destined for
Blanche’s monologue about the sea and grapes
Type of monologue Imagery (two) Foreshadowing Status White quote
Hyperbolic monologue
‘I shall die of eating an unwashed grape’
Water imagery
‘Nice looking ships doctor’ - foreshadowing doctor about to arrive
‘Poor lady they’ll say’ - lady retaining southern belle status
‘Sewn up in a clean white sack’
Olfactory imagery ‘sea air’
Blanche réaction to it not being
Shep
Gasps
Retreating
‘Gasps and starts back up the steps’
‘Retreating in panic’
Blanche violent reaction to matron when she ‘catches hold of her’
‘Wildly’
‘Scratches’ (matron)
‘Slips to her knees’ - same reaction before Stanley raped her - ‘sinks to her knees’
What does Blanche say to the doctor?
‘I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers’
Blanche dominating over Stella (little sister big sister)
+ stage direction when B tells S to stand up
‘You messy child’
Blanche tells her to stand up and Stella ‘complies reluctantly’
‘My precious little sister’
Blanche mocking Stella’s home and Stella’s reaction
‘two rooms’
Two is in italics
Stella - ‘she is embarrassed’
Blanche comparing her weight and Stella’s and then Stella reacting
Stella has to ‘watch the hips a little’ whilst Blanche says ‘I haven’t put on an ounce in ten years’
Stella describes Blanche as ‘incredible’ but she does it ‘wearily’
Blanche accusing Stella of abandoning Belle Rêve
‘You left…’
‘Abandoned’
‘I fought..’
‘You left! I stayed and struggled.’
You ‘abandoned’ it, ‘Not I’
‘Fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it’ - rule of three, hyperbolic
Quote about Blanche realising Stella has had baby
‘Dreamily’
Blanche briefly comparing Stella’s ‘perfect’ family vs her own life
Blanche making Stella feel insecure
“I was flirting with your husband Stella”
Blanche description the morning after Stella returned to Stanley after he beat her
‘Sleepless night’
‘Appearance entirely contrasts to Stella’s’
‘Presses her knuckles nervously to her lips’
When she sees Stella
‘’Utters a moaning cry’
‘Hysterical tenderness’
Blanche caring about Stella
When she sees Stella
‘’Utters a moaning cry’
‘Hysterical tenderness’
Stella and Blanche Interaction when Stanley takes the phone call that Blanche thought might be from Mitch
‘Frightened look’
‘Stella leans over and touches her shoulder’
‘Keep your hands off me Stella’ - why do you give me that ‘pitying look’
