scene 1 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:
‘he heaves the package at her. she cries out in protest but manages to catch it: then she laughs breathlessly’
stanley is the breadwinner of the family
reflects his animalistic nature which stella has adapted to - his masculinity excites her
display gender roles expected of them at the time
stanley does not care much about the needs of stella; he cares only for himself and his image with his friends and so he treats stella as if she is an asset that he has gained in order to make his friends idolize him or be impressed.
stage directions:
‘shocked disbelief’
class difference
classes were heavily segregated - never seen a working class environment before
stage directions:
‘white suit with a fluffy bodice and earrings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as it she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party’
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
blanche:
‘they told me to take a streetcar named desire, and then transfer to one called cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - elysian fields’
sexual promiscuity was considered evil and morally wrong.
symbolises death and sex - death of morals
intense desire leads to death and decay
500,000 cases of std’s every year
williams critical of the heteropatriarchy
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
stella:
you haven’t given me a chance to, honey!’
over dominant - symbol of class system
self obsessed
stella is feeling embarrassed about the place she’s living in and maybe she wants to make blanche feel more welcome in the house.
blanche:
‘you must have some liquor on the place! where could it be, i wonder? oh, i spy, i spy!`
alcoholic
ironic
williams suffered from the negative externalities of alcohol abuse from his father as a child, and so this is a sensitive topic for him, beginning of play, we see how blanche pursues her urges and uses it as an escape which is one of her factors in leading to her downfall.
alcoholism undermines the purity she tries to put across. the fact that her first lie is about drinking is incredibly important, as it establishes the idea that blanche is ashamed of her mental distress.
this internal demonisation of her own coping mechanisms, reflect her adherence to a strict idea of what a woman should be, which has been ingrained in her by a bourgeoisie upbringing.
blanche:
‘never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture - only poe! only mr edgar allan poe! - could do it justice! out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of weir!
reference to poe’s poem ulalume in which the protagonist visits their dead lovers grave - suggests that blanche is describing stella’s home as a tomb - humanity prone to sin and self destruction
blanche thinks her place is horrible, especially because she is used to living in a colonial home in belle reve.
gothic literature
subconscious allusion to her past, as the audience goes on to learn of her own lost love
stella:
‘aren’t you being a little intense about it? it’s not that bad at all!’
scared to offend blanche
stella has adapted and moved on
new south
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
blanche:
‘god love you for a liar! daylight never exposed so total a ruin! but you–you’ve put on some weight, yes, you’re just as plump as a little partridge!’
being hypocritical - always hiding things
motif of light - blanche’s view of the power/ role of light to ‘expose’ ‘ruin’, justifying her avoidance of it throughout the play
foreshadowing
women expected to be pretty
blanche:
‘you messy child, you, you’ve spilt something on that pretty white lace collar’
infantilising stella
projecting her insecurities onto her younger sister because she can’t bring herself to face them on her own self.
purity is stained
