DOM + SCND Critical Views

Question 1

Ferdinand’s madness - Whigham (D)

Answer 1

‘manifestation of his inability to control his obsessive need for dominance over his sister’

Question 2

Cathartic bathing - Elliot (S)

Answer 2

‘the bathing symbolises Blanche’s need to wash herself clean of the past’

Question 3

Safety in delusion - Chapman (S)

Answer 3

‘takes gallant and desperate refuge in a magical life she has invented for herself’

Question 4

Power - Gunby (D)

Answer 4

‘commentary on the abuse of power’

Question 5

Female identity - Jankowski (D)

Answer 5

‘examines the consequences of a women who attempts to create her own social and sexual identity’

Question 6

Social Mobility - Marcus (D)

Answer 6

‘expresses both fear and fascination with social mobility

Question 7

Blanche symbolism - Churman

Answer 7

‘Blanche symbolises the old South, romantic, self-deluded, decayed’

Question 8

Stanley symbolism - Churman

Answer 8

‘represents the new, brutish, materialistic world that is taking over’

Question 9

Conflict of culture - Gossner (S)

Answer 9

‘illustrates a violent struggle between primitive forces and the fragile remnants of culture’

Question 10

Masculinity - Bray (S)

Answer 10

‘he embodies a powerful form of masculinity that appealed to the post war era’

Question 11

Tragedy of desire - Miller (S)

Answer 11

‘dichotomy between sexual desire and self destruction

Question 12

Female leadership - Jankowski (D)

Answer 12

‘no language exists for women as rulers, yet is did on women within marriage’

Question 13

Aural devices - Williams (S)

Answer 13

‘This ‘blue piano’ expresses the spirit of life which goes on there’

Question 14

Not a victim - Mann (D)

Answer 14

‘The Duchess creates her own tragedy by her actions, preferring to live her sexual life to the full’

Question 15

Sexual conflict - Tapp (S)

Answer 15

‘dramatises the battle between sexes’