key quotes Flashcards
stage directions:
‘elysian fields’
land of the dead in greek mythology where heroes went to die
ironic - blanche is not a hero
he street name is both a literal street in new orleans and a symbolic resting place - foreshadows blanche’s looming fate.
stage directions:
‘white suit with a fluffy bodice and earrings of pearl’
white - symbolises innocence and purity, ironic
out of place in elysian fields - part of the upper class , she is a stranger to this type of setting as opposed to her sister
there is a lack of colour, as blanche is simply wearing white. conveys the idea that the upper class is declining, as it lacks the vivacity of the working class, which williams believes will replace the upper class as the new driving force in america.
exploring the idea of the “white suit” can be linked up to the mid-nineteenth century play la dame aux camélias (1848), where a fallen woman (the play’s protagonist) wears a “white camelias” when she is available to her lovers - blanche appears to be drawn into prostitution
moral chastity
stage directions:
‘suggests a moth’
attracted to light - kills them
avoids attention yet secretly wants it
her fate lies in self-destruction
death and darkness is closely related to moths
symbol of change
stage directions:
‘she pours half a tumbler of whisky and tosses it down. she carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink’
alcohol addiction
secretive - ruin her image
in private she leisurely drinks however in public, her tendency to drink a lot is scraped from her image
disregards stereotypes
blanche:
‘i’ve got to keep hold of myself’
reminding herself of her status within society - upper class, must be polite and ‘ladylike’, in a way she sticks to the stereotypes that were present around rich women and reflects stanley in the way that she thinks and incorporates the stereotypes of society into her character.
that it is ‘out of character’ for her to act that way as she comes from a very prestige society as opposed to stella.
anxious
blanche:
‘you haven’t said a word about my appearance’
typical southern belle - beauty is part of identity
moth like tendencies
scared of losing her beauty - old south
stella:
‘yes. a different species’
machismo male
extremely degrading from stella especially considering she’s talking about her own husband, the person she loves.
could be foreshadowing how blanche finds stanley animalistic
love blinds stella to the social differences between herself and her husband - doesn’t see the compatibility issues that blanche does.
stage directions:
‘blanche is bathing’
recurring motif throughout the play
washing away sins
escapes to her fantasy world
stanley:
‘how about my supper, huh?’
gender roles
expects everything to be done for him
doesn’t want to go because it is an upper class restaurant and he is proud of his working class origin
old south
stella:
‘you’d better give me some money’
men in control of money
women have no way to escape from men
williams was a feminist
old south
stanley:
‘in the state of louisiana, we have the napoleonic code’
justify his feelings of entitlement toward stella’s inheritance.
in doing so, he shows that he is ignorant of legal technicalities, because belle reve, located in laurel, mississippi, wouldn’t fall under new orleans jurisdiction.
stanley’s repeated references to the napoleonic code highlight the fact that his conflict with blanche is also a gender showdown.
stanley’s greed reveals his misogyny, or woman-hating tendencies. as a man, stanley feels that what stella has belongs to him.
hates blanche as a woman and as a person with a more prestigious family name, and therefore suspects that blanche’s business dealings have been dishonest.
stage directions:
‘fist full of costume jewellery’
putting on an act
trying to make her fantasy seem a reality
not real jewellery
superficial and fake personality
stanley:
‘since when do you give me orders?’
wants control
conforming to stereotypes
clash between men and women
blanche:
‘love letters, yellowing with antiquity’
old - past
yellow is a symbol of mental illness
youthful colour- stuck in the past
progressively corrupting idea of what love is
shows the downfall of the upper class, as all that is left of blanche’s love is these letters, which are disappearing like a vapor and a mist.
blanche:
‘the touch of your hands insult them!’
ruins purity - not clean enough, working class
doesn’t want her romantic depiction of the past to be tainted by corruption of the present
stanley:
‘i want no if, ands or buts!’
controlling
wants to know
machismo male
blanche:
‘maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost belle reve’
embrace the new south
that her and stella do not belong to the southern elite anymore- trying to convince her sister to leave stanley and live a better and more free life
stage directions:
‘blanche crosses into the bedroom and partially closes the portieres’
wants attention - trying not to show it
hamartia
men and women separated
stage directions:
‘a chair scrapes’
tension
foreshadows the fight which is about to break out
stage directions:
‘stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh’
asserting dominance
machismo male
showing off - possessive and just shows how much power he holds over her to his friends
considered normal - williams trying to show the disgusting reality of the new south
blanche:
‘i haven’t noticed a stamp of genius even on stanley’s forehead’
male dominance will get him ahead rather than academia
uneducated working class
blanche:
‘i hate beer’
conforming to stereotypes
masculine thing to do
trying to cover up addiction
repressing inner self
blanche:
‘white woods’
upper class took pride in their heritage - colonised
true american - sophisticated
romantic france
purity and innocence
wood seems hard to break but is actually flammable
mitch:
‘you might teach arithmetic’
not her - masculine
maths has a clear answer - always avoiding this
english
opinionated and well spoken
fictional worlds
stage directions:
‘there is a sound of a blow. stella cries out’
off stage - more violent
open for interpretation
reflects williams’ dark childhood
mitch:
‘poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women’
blaming the game - toxic masculinity
women shouldn’t be involved in impure things
women should be protected
stage directions:
‘one hand rests on her belly, rounding slightly with new maternity. from the other dangles a book of coloured comics’
made the transition to the new south
comic books are childlike - simplicity of the new south
jejune
dumbed herself down for stanley
stella:
‘i was - sort of - thrilled by it’
enjoys his violence
has sex too
epitomises stella’s blindness in the face of lust- stanley has her in his firm, psychological grasp, so stella doesn’t want to leave
normal at the time
stella:
‘i’m not in anything I want to get out of’
right in living, wrong in loving - women had no choice
major blow to blanche’s world view.
unable to imagine that her sister could be happy with the small flat and brutish husband
this represents the differences between old and new america.
stella:
‘there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark - that sort of make everything else seem - unimportant’
purely sexual relationship - key component in 1950s
paramount to a good life and a good marriage
despite stanley’s violent and abusive nature, the sexual intimacy of the couple, makes the rest of it unimportant and all negative emotions are forgotten.
insufficient financial situations are forgotten during these moments of intimacy too.
blanche:
‘he acts like an animal… something -ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I’ve seen in–anthropological studies!’
people like stanley will rule
apes will inherit the earth
his complete disregard for the social morals that she, as a southern belle, has been taught since birth to cherish.
he represents the very thing she’s come to fear above all else- the kind of raw, untamed, uncivilized desire that inspired her promiscuity in laurel, and that brought her to a place close to hell in new orleans as punishment
going back in evolutionary terms - atavism
blanche:
‘dont hang back with the brutes!’
don’t give in to animalism
stand for what’s right
picture of progression
stanley represents hanging back is ironic due to the context the play is set in as well as the wider ties between stanley and modernity
illustrates blanche’s illusion, as she is still attached to the values she was brought up in, and sees them as modern despite the fall of the old south.
stage directions:
‘ fanning herself with a palm leaf’
upper class
out of touch with the norms of the new south
ironic - symbolise integrity and eternal life
blanche:
‘capricorn - the goat’
inks to the devil
fertility and aggression - oversexualised
earth sign, known for being down to earth i.e. reasonable.
the animal goat is also a symbol of greatness and excellence
blanche:
‘virgo is the virigin’
ironic
reflects her want to be pure
blanche:
‘ i don’t know how much longer I can turn the trick . and i - i’m fading now!’
telling stella - first time she’s not hiding
scared of prostitution
beauty is fading - feels as though she is getting old she is fading with her power, she relies on beauty and validation of men to source her own self worth
blanche:
‘men lose interest quickly’
always thinking about men - it’s a man’s world
stella knows she’s acting
shows the stereotypical gender roles in the 1940’s that a woman would change themselves to date a man. as they were the providers and create stability for their wives.
here blanche is expressing her insecurities on the fact she is not financially stable and needs a husband before its too late, this is why she uses mitch
stage directions:
‘neurasthenic personality’
frayed
blanche’s inability to enjoy the date despite her attempts points to her deteriorating mental health
the real blanche is coming out
blanche:
‘i’m looking for the pleiades, the seven sisters’
in western astrology they represent coping with sorrow
an allusion to a star constellation is it and it is significant for a variety of reasons in this context: , it can be noted that the comment on a specific star constellation demonstrates the notion that blanche is well educated and a cultured woman-as was to be expected of a typical ‘southern belle
stars exist in their own entity even if they are part of a constellation and in this way, it can be commented that blanche is just a small star and a vast universe
her apparent love first or astrology may stem from the idea that blanche is trying to make desperate sense of the vast world around her, linking it to contextual ideas about the ‘old south’ and the ‘new south’- given the constellations to a design to tell a story in this create a dream world to explain normal occurrences
stars symbolise her escape
fate?
blanche:
‘i want you to have a drink! you have been so anxious and solemn all evening, and so have i’
reliance on alcohol
wants to create a show - fantasy world
showing herself - lost in fantasy
stage directions:
‘she rolls her eyes’
sick of acting
the exhaustions of mental health
fed up with the fantasy she creates in her mind soon before she speaks the truth of her husband’s death
stage directions:
‘a locomotive is heard approaching outside. she claps her hands to her ears and crouches over’
doesn’t want to acknowledge the past
the intrusion of the outside world and thus the inability of the characters to create a safe haven where they are protected by the world.
journeying into regions of the psyche that are unexplored
desire for connections spiritually
stage directions:
‘blanche is singing in the bathroom a saccharine popular ballad which is used contrapunctally with stanley’s speech’
mashup of sound
stanley reveals blanche’s fictional world
emphasises unity of space, time and action
sings to romanticise herself - southern belle archetype
stanley and blanche can not co exist harmoniously - old and new south and upper and working class
stanley:
‘blanche is no lily! ha ha! some lily she is!’
innocent and pure
flowers associated with beauty
weak and silly
sees through blanche’s façade
also symbolise death and are typically associated with funerals, symbolising that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death ironic use of the title ‘sister’
blanche:
‘it’s only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea’
flying away
truth coming out simultaneously
easily destroyed and unstable nature of her fantasy
moon is a symbol of the rhythm of time
speaker in the song says that if both lovers believe in their imagined reality, then it’s no longer make-believe
stanely:
‘downright loco - nuts’
euphemism for mental issues
lacked understanding at the time
sister lobotomised
williams suffered too
notoriously for all the wrong reasons
stage directions:
‘the view through the big windows is fading gradually into a still golden dusk’
reflects blanche - ending is pending, descent into madness - illusion/ fantasy is fading
façade is slipping
ecological awareness of williams, the dissatisfaction of industrialisation and the desire of going back to natural world
‘golden’ implies what once was and what has been lost
blanche:
‘i must run through my repertoire!’
going through her acts
delusional
stanley:
‘every man is a king! and I am the king around here, so don’t forget it!’
gender roles
he’s superior - different species
dehumanising them
no coherence between new south and old south
the working class are the future, not the rich
ironic - his actions are awful
huey long became the governor of louisiana in 1928, then went on to become a senator in 1932. championed the rights and living standards of the poor white population; himself coming from an impoverished background, he put into action a wide program of road and bridge construction, widened state university facilities and created a state hospital, affording these measures through heavier inheritance and income taxes. largely maintained his power through intimidation – taking personal control of all civil service positions in louisiana by 1934. stanley seems to echo the exact man long aimed to inspire with his policies, and long’s control over louisiana indeed parallels stanley’s patriarchal, new-money position
stanley:
‘i am not a polack’
effects of ww2 - fought for america - became heroes of the country
williams demonstrates racial and cultural shifts in society
demonstrates the sad reality wherein some believed they had more of a claim of this identity than others and reflects the racial divide between peoples during the 40s. (made ironic through the setting of new orleans, one of the more diverse and integrated communities in america at the time.
irony is further heightened as new orleans is a french colony, emphasising blanche’s inability to adapt to the social changes taking place in america- something stanley interprets as prejudice, but we, the audience, come to learn is a result of deep seating trauma causing her to cling to the safety of her past
stanley:
‘i pulled you down off them columns’
spatial deixis
old south must come down from its height ideals in order to live in the new world
alternatively, stanley ‘pulled” stella ‘down’ to his lower status as an immigrant representative of new america
stage directions:
‘the varsouviana is heard’
played when blanche’s husband died
circus - jarring music, crazy
gets us into blanche’s mind
out of place music
blanche:
‘el pain de mais, el pan de mais,
el pain de mais sin sal.
el pain de mais, el pain de mais,
el paid de mais sin sal…’
possessed - southern gothic tropes
fantasy - french
spanish - losing grip on reality
bread without salt - poor food
nothing to do with what’s going on in the play
delusional
echolalia of street sellers - impact of her surroundings
stage directions:
‘he stalks into the bedroom’
predator like - mirroring stanley
mitch becomes him
williams’ highlights the dangers of male influence
mitch:
‘i don’t think i’ve ever seen you in the light’
metaphorically and literally
never seen the truth or under her façade
ashamed of her behaviour
stage directions:
‘he tears the paper lantern off the lightbulb’
destroying her façade
destroying the old south
no longer believes her lies
the light and mitch himself suggest realism. his action can also be seen as a form of violation foreshadowing the physical rape that will happen in the next scene
blanche fears the light because of the harsh realism she will be forced to face which will cause her happy fantasies (being young and beautiful) to be shattered. denial and stubborn statement that she doesn’t want realism shows how strongly she does not wish mitch to know the truth.
blanche:
‘i don’t tell the truth, i tell what ought to be the truth’
new south is violent, although it is accepting
no morals compared to the old south
shouldn’t be like this - it should be better
stage directions:
‘crumpled white satin evening gown
pure - parallels scene 1
façade ruined like clothes
mentally unstable
stage directions:
‘slams the mirror down with such violence that the glass cracks’
can’t even look at reality
can’t bear the sight of her true self
trying to distort her view of reality?
stanley:
‘well, it’s a red letter night for us both’
danger, love , anger
night of celebration - foreshadows stanley celebrating blanche being sent away in scene 11?
blanche:
‘i have been foolish - casting my pearls before swine’
biblical reference
sad - people don’t care about personality, only beauty
uses this allusion to describe what she sees as her own actions - sees herself as generous, and though she is monetarily poor, she is rich in spirit, her mind beautiful
wasting their time by offering something that is helpful or valuable to someone who does not appreciate or understand it
swine = lower class - has to show people she’s better than them
stage directions:
‘the night is filled with the inhuman voices like cries in a jungle’
foreshadows inhuman, animalistic events
police could’ve helped
mirror the outside world
stage directions:
‘the barely audible blue piano begins to drum up louder’
dynamic between the old south and the new south
hard to stop the new south
drums symbolise it getting more intrusive
stage directions:
‘blanche appears in the amber light of the door, she has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe following sculptural lines of her body.’
contrapuntal sound
power/ tragedy rather than seduction
added that description to show how her end is almost near – parallel to a greek tragic hero at elysian fields
sculptures are usually made after a tragic hero’s ending - greek mythology
blanche:
‘i don’t want to pass in front of those men’
contrasts scene 3 when she would’ve done this eagerly
can’t be part of that world
blanche:
‘i shall die of eating an unwashed grape’
fantasising about her death
it won’t go like this - mental hospital
more trauma
delusions have grown more romantic and literary as she retreats further into madness.
given up on trying to reconcile her visions with reality and surrendered completely to fantasy.
wants to cleanse herself with the ocean
blanche:
‘please don’t get up, i’m only passing through’
old south manners fading
realising they’re gone
contrasts scene 3
stage directions:
‘stella accepts the child, sobbingly’
made the transition to the new south
innocence and purity
accepts the new south now blanche is gone
steve:
‘this game is a seven card stud’
last used at poker night
lack of morality
