Scene 8 Flashcards
> serene
authorial crafting - prominent image before subsequent destruction
W nuance - colour to build surreal atmosphere
sunset symbolise passing of time - M’s window to arrive over
B’s time to hold on to hope has run out
builds tension
“still-golden dusk”
“a torch of sunlight blazes”
> bitterness towards her socioeconomic superiority status
enjoys subtly mocking her for truth she is unaware he knows yet
“I don’t know any refined enough for your taste”
> B’s presence momentarily make S see him through lens of refinement and class distinctions
B physical reminder of Stella’s buried ideologies brought to the forefront
genuine moment of disgust and frustration?
“making a pig of himself “
“disgustingly greasy”
“go and wash up and help me clear the table”
> physical reaction and verbal outburst
S+B oscillating antagonists
fragility of toxic masculinity
echoes past abuse
“he hurls a plate to the floor”
“he seizes her arm”
> lens of sympathy to Stanley’s working class struggle and social insecurity
Stella aligning
with B’s aristocratic attitude alienates him
outburst is culmination of pent-up resentment >belittled in his own home
“‘Pig - Polack - disgusting - vulgar - greasy!’ - them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here!”
> feminist reading - anger reflects insecurity in the face of female criticism
wife is meant to be subservient
resorts to physical intimidation to balance power
reaction catalysed by Stella’s siding with B
S expects unconditional loyalty - a waver causes him to respond with rage to supress it
“Remember what Huey Long said? ‘Every man is King’ and I am the king around here”
> domestic sphere as a site of male power
smashing the plate symbolically asserts his dominance over the household
space belongs to him and operates on his terms
significance of set (the home, dinner table) and props (the plate)
> stage directions echo Scene 3
rage renders him out of control
attempt at affection
“takes her clumsily into his arms”
> jealousy perhaps his primary motive
cements basis of relationship - lust
relationship falls apart/ becomes strained without sex
reassert his control through sexual dominance - historically kept her loyal
B threat to his domestic status - tried to intellectualize and moralize Stella out of loving him
“Its gonna be alright again between me and you the way that is was”
“when we can make noise in the night the way we used to”
“get the coloured lights going with nobody’s sister behind the curtains to hear us!”
> stagecraft - physical reminder of passion S wants back
Steve and Eunice = foil characters
functionality/ equality of the neighbours’ relationship used dramatically to illuminate Stanley and Stella incompatibility
“their upstairs neighbours are heard in bellowing laughter”
> poetic rhetoric - mental state is deteriorating
everything tinged by her past - experiencing PTSD
romanticized innocence >attached to idea of innocence and purity - inevitably lost in every childhood
thematic symbol of light = fear of reality in a world where hers is so bleak
“I hope his eyes are going to be like candles”
“candles burn out in little boys’ and girls’ eyes”
“electric light-bulbs go on and you see too plainly”
> characters increasingly short-tempered
B’s outburst reflects ability to mask growing frustration is wavering
scene full of anticipation and immersive tension >audience know everything is about to come to a head
“I’ve said I was sorry 3 times”
> as she grows angrier grammar becomes more formal
his grammar grows sloppier and speaks in sentence fragments
Language indicates their retreats towards social roles away from each other
“You needn’t have been so cruel to someone alone as she is”
“Delicate piece she is”
> hyper-masculine world view
relies on manual labour >thrives in industrial post-war climate
AO3 - American nationalism
desperate to assert identity to gain control over B
social insecurity - immigrant
hypersensitive to insults >rejecting any lingering sense of foreignness or outsider status
“one hundred percent American”
“born and raised in the greatest country on earth”
“don’t ever call me a Polack”
> working class, impersonal transport - cruelty
symbolic eviction from her own life
sending her to where she lost everything
strips Blanche of her dignity
regaining his own power and dignity
“Ticket! Back to Laurel! On the Greyhound! Tuesday!”
> physical corruption >deterioration of B’s health whilst living with the Kowalskis
S’s erosion of her illusions
music motif - B’s emotional turmoil, >indicates the tone for the audience
varsouviana starts to play
coughing gagging sounds are heard
> Stella drawing further away from S
understanding towards B’s psyche
cannot see her potential to follow similar path
“people like you abused her, and forced her to change”
> S relishes in idea he has corrupted/tainted Stella
entitlement and ownership after introducing her to his world
social status insecurity
“I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it”
> goes into labour at the most pivotal moment of independence and resentment towards S >labour reverses progress - directly reliant on Stanley
S ultimate control over her within the marriage
Stella going into labour
