Madness SND Flashcards
Critic
Nietzschean interpretation of Stanley and Blanche
A Nietzschean interpretation of Stanley and blanche would look at how the APOLLONIAN BLANCHE (Imagination, reason, purity and order) and DIONYSIAN STANLEY (pleasure and chaos) DISINTEGRATE when they operate as extremes.
Blanche who thrives on proprietary gets lost in that illusion while Stanley is driven solely on instincts and is destructive as a result of this.
Use of the paper lantern
Stanley “seizes and tears it off” - scene11
B “cries out as if the lantern was herself”
Plastic theatre
Directly reflects B’s attempts to cover reality
Made evident that B’s representational ‘death’ as a tragic character has taken place by final reference to paper lantern
- central plastic theatre device prompting the audience to understand B’s frantic evasion of the truth that causes her ensuing irrationality.
Climax of the play - scene 10
“Lurid shadows”
“Varsoubiana”
Moving walls
“Jungle noises”
Engross audience - physically isolates B, representing the pinnacle of her mental struggle
Varsouviana
[the rapid, feverish polka tune, the “Varouviana,” is heard. The music is in her mind]
“A distance revolver shot is heard. Blanche seems relieved”
Scene 9
European Polka tune to which B and Allan danced to when she last saw him alive
Represents the guilt she harbours for his death, ending her innocence and sparking the descent of her mental/emotional stability
Plays more often as the play progresses to show the GROWING INSTABILITY in her mind.
The gun shot when telling the story to Mitch - eases her, suggests she is imprisoned with the memory of A’s death despite trying to escape in it anyways.
“The boy - the boy died. I’m afraid I’m - going to be sick!
Refers to Allan as a boy, not a man
Obsession with youth
B lies once again, trying to get off topic and living in the illusion that she can avoid reality
Blanche as a “moth” that “must avoid a strong light.”
Lighting = integral part of contstruction of B’s character
- constantly fleeing into own fantasy
Light = harsh realities following her
Darkness allows her to indulge in dreams and escape from ongoing passage of time
Initial description foreshadows her failure and destruction at end of play
Her need to “avoid a strong light” suggests her delicate character is unable to withstand the rough reality of her ageing and her comparison to a “moth” implies her fate lies in self-destruction akin to moth’s which are attracted to the light, leading to their own death.
“I don’t know if i did the right thing”
“I couldnt believe her story and go on living with Stanley”
Stella’s words show us she BELIEVES B’s rape could be true but picks marriage and life with Stanley and their baby over her
Ironic - we see Stella like b creates a delusion to live under
Scene 11
Patriarchy
Stanley Dominates stella to an extent where he uses DOMESTIC VIOLENCE to assert his role and SUBJUGATE Stella
When B arrives, he feels threat she poses to his masculinity due to her class
From a MARXIST lens, we can look at the previously BOURGEOIS Stella accepting the rise of working class - she’s also passive towards abuse
I need kindness now
Flores. Flores. Flores para los muertos
Dressed in a “dark shawl”
Scene 9
Pivotal moment in play
Foreshadows b’s figurative death
Foreign language could represent how her and Mitch can’t communicate meaningfully anymore once Mitch learns the lurid truth.
Adler on blanche
in the eyes of society, Blanche’s Otherness resides in her maladjusted sexuality and her madness (or Unreason), which make her a threat to the moral order of things’ – ‘society must protect itself by excluding or confining her.’
Studies on hysteria - 1895 by Freud
- cause of hysteria was not psychological
- it was related to some sexual incident in the patient’s life
The doctor and the nurse
Ghostly figures
Unnamed, little distinct personality
Lead b to tragic fate - harbinger’s of death??
Doctor duchess vs doctor streetcar
“Now he begins to fear me! - Can you fetch a frisk, sir?” - act 5 scene 2
DD - more dominating speech, has character, less sinister/ghostly
Exclamation mark - enthusiasm, emotive
Point about medicine and madness - the medical industry is bad, not effective in Good endings
