Scene 6

Question 1

Blanche’s risks and contradictions: “Voulez-vouz couchez avec moi ce soir?”, ‘[She rolls her eyes, knowing he cannot see her face’

Answer 1

Blanche risks being found out by Mitch, echoing her wreckless kiss with the young man right before her date with Mitch. These risks make it appear that, in her heart, Blanche wishes to avoid the dull safety of marriage. This avoidance isn’t consistent, though, as her humble gratitude towards Mitch is sincere - ‘long, grateful sobs’.

This puzzles audiences, yet engages their sympathy; Blanche is a complex, contradictory character, and this makes her a successful focus for the drama.

Question 2

the absence of the blue piano

Answer 2

underlines the low-key mood of this scene (scene 6).
the polka tune is far more significant in this scene, and this is the scene in which audiences realise its full meaning. this music is extremely dramatically effective, as only Blanche and the audience members can hear it: it is diegetic only for Blanche.

Question 3

“Sometimes - there’s God - so quickly!”

Answer 3

the final words spoken by Blanche in scene 6. the reference to God is not characteristic of Blanche: she takes comfort in men, not religion. The word “Sometimes” suggests that most of the time, God does not really exist for her, but at a time like this, her prayers have been answered.

Question 4

Mitch’s ‘plaster statuette of Mae West’

Answer 4

• held upside down: something amiss, unsettling ??
• won at ‘carnival games of chance’: the idea of chance/luck for male characters, perhaps not available to women of the time.
• Mae West commonly remembered as a sex symbol during this era
• a woman literally objectified