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’
White
The Duchess ‘achieves heroism through death’
Tolman: Blanche’s exit scene
‘graceful exit scene’
