Malfi/streetcar contexts and A05 Flashcards
What societies do the plays both exist in?
Patriarchal
Strict gender roles
Marriage contexts
Duchess-men chose who women married, behaviour is transgressive. Had to marry within class
Blanche-much more freedom on who they could marry. Could marry outside class e.g Stella and Stanley
Domestic containment: Blanche
Written post-war in a time where women were relegated back into the home after the return of the men.
Blanche is unusual-highly educated and working
Malfi: John Knox
A women in power or with status is totally against nature, a widely shared view in society
Malfo: King James I court
Favouritsm, dishonesty and sexual perversion were rife
Stanley and Blanche symbolisms
Blanche-‘Old America’. Refined, elitist and rural
Stanley-‘New America’. Rough, multicultural and urban
Malfi: Giovanna D’Aragona
Married her steward Antonio, fell foul of her brother’s fury and was killed
Streetcar: film adaptation
1951
Forced to include a scene at the end suggesting that Stella was going to leave Stanley because of the rape
Hollywood ideals
Sexuality in both plays
Female-taboo
Men-celebrated
Women-being sexually expressive was seen to be dirty and unclean.
Men-seen as a way of gaining social status
Mental illness: Blanche
Not widely understood at the time
Female sexuality linked to madness
Often sent to mental institutions where they would be treated horrendously
Callaghan: Malfi status
‘specifically and directly about the status of women’
Tolman: female desire. Blanche
‘expressing their own sexual desire’
Cecil
‘incurably corrupt’
Guilbert
‘women’s bodies colonised by men’
Kazan
Stanley ‘conquers with his penis’
