Dramatic Conventions

Question 1

Poker connotations

Answer 1

Deceptive- bluffing
Daring, high stakes game
Intensity boils over into violence

Question 2

Scene 3 billiard parlour

Answer 2

Emphasis on limit of light
‘Nocturnal brilliance’
Vibrant colours
Characters isolated

Question 3

‘I’m collecting for the Evening Star’

‘I didn’t know stars took up collections’

Answer 3

Blanche personifies ‘stars’: providing innocuous reference with poetic connotations; romanticism and embellishment and realism
Astrology: ‘evening star’, brightest yet no natural satellite- she’s alone ‘widowed’- ‘temporary magic just in order to pay for one nights shelter’
Venus: Latin orthodoxy goddess of sex, beauty and enticement ‘I want to kiss you’
Lone planet- no stability, embodies goddess- reliant on feminine charm to entice and get protection/ shelter

Question 4

Poetic stage directions of settings to foreshadow

Answer 4

‘Elysian Fields’; Greek religious philosophy is where souls go to rest
‘Belle reve’ previous splendour was a ‘beautiful dream’, illusion of post civil war wealth, role of fantasist

Question 5

Symbolism of scene 5 as a method of foreshadowing

Answer 5

Attracting danger of Blanche, ‘Arabian Nights’: ability to survive through female charm against male oppressor- power struggle of B&S
‘Flamingo’ Spanish word for flame, Blanche fiery passion and aptitude to go down in flames
‘Evening Star’ Venus, goddess, planet