scene 6 Flashcards
stage directions:
‘neurasthenic personality’
frayed
blanche’s inability to enjoy the date despite her attempts points to her deteriorating mental health
the real blanche is coming out
blanche:
‘is that streetcar named desire grinding along the tracks at this hour?’
double entendre
is there any connection there?
does she lust mitch?
blanche:
‘i’ve outstayed my welcome’
knows she must move on
blanche:
‘i guess you are used to girls that like to be lost. the kind that get lost immediately, on the first date!’
faking her chastity
euphemism for sex
assumes that mitch would prefer her if she was ‘putting out’ but she is unsure of what would be most acceptable.
doesn’t understand this new world ideal of women.
blanche:
‘i’m looking for the pleiades, the seven sisters, but these girls are not out tonight. oh, yes they are, there they are! god bless them!’
in western astrology they represent coping with sorrow
an allusion to a star constellation is it and it is significant for a variety of reasons in this context: , it can be noted that the comment on a specific star constellation demonstrates the notion that blanche is well educated and a cultured woman-as was to be expected of a typical ‘southern belle
stars exist in their own entity even if they are part of a constellation and in this way, it can be commented that blanche is just a small star and a vast universe
her apparent love first or astrology may stem from the idea that blanche is trying to make desperate sense of the vast world around her, linking it to contextual ideas about the ‘old south’ and the ‘new south’- given the constellations to a design to tell a story in this create a dream world to explain normal occurrences
stars symbolise her escape
fate?
blanche:
‘single girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she’ll be lost’
suggests that she’s experienced loneliness as a result of a damaged relationship before, and wants to prove a point by protecting herself, which she wasn’t capable of before
ideally pictures herself as the innocent, naïve girl that she presents to mitch. even though this is a pose for her, she feels that it is the pose that she, as the southern belle, must take. feels it is her duty to entertain men and to make them feel welcomed. truly blanche is the depraved woman whose past, stanley uncovers and reveals.
blanche:
‘i want you to have a drink! you have been so anxious and solemn all evening, and so have I; we have both been anxious and solemn and now for these few last remaining moments of our lives together - i want to create–joie de vivre! I’m lighting a candle’
reliance on alcohol
wants to create a show - fantasy world
showing herself - lost in fantasy
blanche:
‘voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir? vous ne comprenez pas? ah, quelle dommage!’
showing off her education - makes mitch feel inferior
subverting stereotypes
trying to present herself as romantic - french is a romantic language
her inability to understand other people, isolated as she is in the world of her imagination.
do you want to have sex with me?
stage directions:
‘she rolls her eyes’
sick of acting
the exhaustions of mental health
fed up with the fantasy she creates in her mind soon before she speaks the truth of her husband’s death
stage directions:
‘a locomotive is heard approaching outside. she claps her hands to her ears and crouches over’
doesn’t want to acknowledge the past
the intrusion of the outside world and thus the inability of the characters to create a safe haven where they are protected by the world.
journeying into regions of the psyche that are unexplored
desire for connections spiritually
