Blanche as a victim Flashcards
Blanche: “Southern Comfort”
Motif of Blanche’s alcoholism and refuge within her past as the archetypal Southern Belle
Ironic as her refusal to conform to the emerging New America is the crux of her decaying psyche
“[The Varsouviana is heard]”
Metadiegetic isolation from other characters
Reminder of her tragic past with Allan Grey, haunted by her homophobic attitude
Victim of her own psychomachia
Tennessee Williams’ ‘The Glass Menagerie’: “in memory, everything seems to happen to music”
Metadiegesis is used as a construct for the tragic protagonist’s decaying psyche and traumatising memories, Blanche is a victim of her own mind
“[crumpled white satin evening gown]”
Peripeteia
Allegory of decaying Old Southern ideals within the emerging New American socioeconomy, victim of circumstance
Juxtaposes exposition
“[white suit and fluffy bodice]”
Exposition
Juxtaposes peripeteia
Victim beneath tarnished Southern Belle identity
“[fluffy]”
Zoomorphic adjective characterises Blanche’s vulnerability in subordination to primal antagonist Stanley
Jacqueline O’Connor: “economically vulnerable to Stanley”
Women in developing economic climate of the New America were vulnerable to men
J.M McGlinn: “Stanley wishes to destroy Blanche’s composure to make her realise that she is the same as he is, a sexual animal”
Blanche as an antithesis of a victim, subversive female figure
Stanley: “Tiger-tiger!”
Bestial imagery portrays Blanche’s under innocent “moth” guise
Subverts predator-prey dichotomy
“[suggests a moth]”
Ironic portrayal of her false innocence
Stanley: “We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!”
Melodramatic anagnorisis
“date” as a euphemism to justify rape; New Orleans as a microcosm of patriarchal dominance
Juxtaposes Blanche’s dysphemistic sexual predation
Blanche: “that’s where I brought my victims”
Juxtaposes Blanche’s typically illusionary, innocent guise
Proves McGlinn’s “sexual animal” thesis
“[dancing bear]”
Metaphor for Mitch’s suppressed patriarchal power as he is bound by the tragic heroine’s innocent guise
‘The Glass Menagerie’: “all girls a trap, a pretty trap”
Warning of Blanche’s brutality beneath passive and chaste Southern Belle guise
Figure of brutality within hierarchy of New America
