FEMALE ENTRAPMENT Flashcards
“Easy Intermingling of races”, “Blue piano”
SCENE 1: IRONY
Cultural melting pot, however hides the racism and sexism lurking underneath. New Orleans is a ripoff!!
“My head is swimming!”
SCENE 2: EXCLAMATORY, IDIOM
Stella is uneducated about the Napoleonic Code - which authorizes women’s property as their husbands
‘White suit’ ‘Earrings of pearls’
SCENE 1: PROLEPTIC IRONY, COSTUME
Outcast of setting, “incongruous” = she is tainted by the society. ARISTOTELIAN TRAGEDY.
Meaning of Blanche = bleach white - NOT FULLY WHITE
“I don’t know how much longer I can turn the trick. It isn’t enough to be soft. You’ve got to be soft and attractive. And I-I’m fading now!”
SCENE 5: FRAGMENTATION, EXCLAMATIVE
Fading is an allusion to beauty expectations
“Had this date with each other since the beginning”
SCENE 10: CLIMAX
Correlates to fate/destiny, Blanche could never escape it.
“Perhaps Blanche could of never been saved, but I certainly think it should look that way for the moment with Mitch.”
ARISTOTELIAN TRAGEDY; ELIZA KAZAN
“Turn that over-light off! […] I won’t be looked at with this merciless gaze!”
Blanche’s dependency on her vanity.
“Fading” correlates to her age
[To the young man]; “It would be nice to keep you”
SCENE 5: PAST TENSE
Infers her past affairs with young men, flirting is a masculine trait. She’s trying to regain her power through a FTA
“Inert figure”
SCENE 10: STAGE DIRECTION
Blanche’s resignation and conformity to gender expectations. Blanche is punished for her non-conformity
“Gentle Young Woman[…] a background obviously quite different from her husband’s.”
SCENE 1: CHARACTERIZATION, STAGE DIRECTION
Use of PREMODIFIERS ie quite heightens their different social backgrounds - ironic for a ‘cultural melting-pot’
“This is my house and I will talk as much as I want to!”
“Drunk - drunk - animal thing”
SCENE 3: FRAGMENTATION, EXCLAMATIVE
Stella doesn’t know how to handle the power, henceforth why her speech is fragmented - however she tries to reverse the power dynamic
“STELLAAAHH!”
SCENE 3: ONOMATEOPOEIC
Animalistic imagery, mating call
“Remember what Huey Long had said - every man is a king! And I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!”
SCENE 8: FTA, EXCLAMATIVE
Stanley shifts the power dynamic by using his gender
“Fingers find the buttons of her blouse”
SCENE 11: STAGE DIRECTION
Stanley rules over Stella by his sexuality
“Yes,” “Did you?” “Sit down,” “Please, Blanche,”
SCENE 11: MONOSYLLABIC DIALOGUE
Stanley has convinced her and won, Stella conforms
