Scene 7 Flashcards
> Stanley presenting case >element of melodrama
intentional antagonistic behaviour
Stanley + Blanche oscillate as villains
use of tragedy - play escalates as truth is unravelled
Stanley and Stella duologue
> exclamations - genuine excitement in revealing the truth
“But now the cat’s out of the bag!
> grandstanding
extreme dedication to scheme
“Lie number one:”
> mocks her façade of purity and femininity
degrading
“Sister Blanche”
“Lily”
> exaggerated caricatures, >mockery
European aristocracy
elegancy laced with ridicule
“Dame”
> juxtaposition of atmosphere
B completely unaware of her life being dismantled beyond the door
“peals pf laughter” “as if a child were frolicking in the tub”
“but Sister Blanche is no lily!”
> epitomises B’s emotional journey and desire for others to accept her deceptions
ironic - B’s good spirits vs S’s revelations
lyrics emphasise B’s dependency on external affirmation - survival hinges on it
juxtaposes onstage drama
dramatic tension
W’s craft - speech and song contrapuntally to create situational irony
Saccharine Ballad Blanche sings
> S’s victory over B’s alleged superior status
“practickly a town ordinance passed against her!”
“that girl calls me common!”
> euphemism for gay - outlook of 1940s America on homosexuality >society shares B’s trait of avoiding reality of surroundings
“boy who wrote poetry”
“degenerate”
> Stella shares B’s aversion to hard realities >foreshadows refusal to believe the rape
“what - contemptible - lies!”
> unbreakable fraternal bond
“If I knew all that stuff and let my best friend get caught!”
“Williams’ outcast characters suffer at the hands of individuals who represent conventional morality because they are a threat to social orthodoxy” - Haley D.E 1999 ‘Certain Moral Values’
Critics
