Quotes

Question 1

“I think I’m going to have to smash you, Brindsley” - Harold

Answer 1

BC - after the Buddha breaks.

Question 2

“The lower classes think they can behave exactly as they want” - Carol

Answer 2

BC - After Schuppanzigh

Question 3

“We’ve had this date from the beginning” - Stanley

Answer 3

SC - Before he rapes her

Question 4

Black Comedy

Answer 4

By Peter Shaffer (a farce)

Question 5

A Streetcar Named Desire

Answer 5

By Tennessee Williams

Question 6

“Well - if you forgive me - he’s common!” Blanche to Stella

Answer 6

SC in regards to Stanley

Question 7

“There’s something downright - bestial - about him!” Blanche to Stella

Answer 7

SC

Question 8

Stage directions: “men as the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours.”

Answer 8

SC - Poker Night III

Question 9

“I don’t want realism. I want magic!” - Blanche to Mitch

Answer 9

SC

Question 10

“He acts like an animal, has animal’s habits!” - Blanche

Answer 10

SC

Question 11

“I can’t stand the naked light bulb….” Blanche

Answer 11

SC

Question 12

Stage directions: “Her appearance is incongruous to this setting. She is faintly dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district. She is about five years older than Stella. Her delicate beauty must avoid the strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth.”

Answer 12

SC
“She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice”
“She is about five years older than Stella”
“Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light”
“As well as her white clothes, that’s suggests a moth”

Question 13

“I’ve never met a millionaire. I’ve always wondered if they felt different from us. I mean their actual skins” - Miss Furnival

Answer 13

BC

Question 14

Brindsley: Not so rare. [He kisses CLEA again] Not so rare at all. [He leads her softly past the irritated CAROL, towards the stairs]

Answer 14

BC - He is hiding his other life like Stella is

Question 15

Carol: When was the last time you saw her?

Brindsley [Evasively]: I told you… Two years ago.

Answer 15

BC

Question 16

Carol: Daddy’s absolutely right! Ever since the Beatles, the lower classes think they can behave exactly as they want.

Answer 16

BC

Question 17

Colonel: Hold your tongue, sir, I’m talking. Do you know what would have happened to a young man in my day who dared to teat a girl the way you have treated my Dumpling?

Answer 17

BC - Contrasts to Stella + Stanley

Question 18

“…it would look much better to him if he found me exactly as I really am: a poor artist.” - Brindsley

Answer 18

BC

Question 19

Model Thesis Statement

Answer 19

In both Tennessee Williams’ ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ and Shaffer’s ‘Black Comedy’, the playwrights are preoccupied with aspects of human nature, as revealed through their responses to events, whether comic or tragic. This is particularly evident in the characters of Blanche in the former play and Brindsley in the latter, who are presented a victims of events beyond their control. In the two works, the playwrights use the characters’ responses to these events to present aspects of their characters. However, while ‘Black Comedy’ does expose Brindsley’s weakness, through Shaffer’s use of the farce style, the tragic events of ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’, do not reveal strength in Blanche, but rather a weakness, which leads to her ultimate collapse and downfall.