Scene Two Flashcards
Blanche is bathing
Reoccurring motif- metaphorically purifying herself.
Clumsy social attitudes towards mental health. Hydrotherapy- primitive care system.
Stanley- ‘What’s all this monkey doings’
Mocked female appearance, femininity.
AO4 with Duchess as the old woman is mocked by Bosola.
Stanley- ‘How about my supper, huh?’
Contrast to Steve and Eunice’s marriage, Stanley exhibits control over Stella.
Reinforces heteronormative stereotypes, accusatory.
Blanche’s song.
‘From the land of the sky blue water
They brought me a captive maid.’
Colonialist, imperialist language, euphemism for slave. Characterises Blanche as attached to the legacy of the Old South.
Stanley- ‘ Now let’s have a gander at the bill of sale’
Uninterested in Blanche’s emotional fragility.
The American Self made man vs female reparation.
Stella- ‘My head is swimming.’
Tactic of avoidance, social darwinism.
Stanley- ‘I don’t like to be swindled’
Quadruplet of repetition, commanding language, heteronormative.
Verbs surrounding Stanley, ‘stalks’, ‘jerks’
Predatory, violent, aggressive verbs. Semantic field of hostility.
Stanley ‘Where are your white fox-pieces.’
Establishes the hierarchy of the household, Stanley as the hunter and Blanche as prey. Connotations to ‘fox’ as a prey animal.
Stanley- ‘The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions.’
The infiltration of the ‘Old South’ on the ‘New World’ reflects the changing social climate in the USA. Blanche and Stanley as the incarnation of the conflicting ideologies.
AO5 Blanche
‘needs a man for completion’
Blanche- ‘I’m sure you belong in the second category.’
Classification, reinstates patriarchy.
Blanche- ‘that little boy’s mind of yours’
Degrading, infantilises Stanley. Fragile masculinity and Blanche asserts herself as the dominant personality.
Blanche- ‘I’m not young and vulnerable anymore’
Ironic, she is perhaps more vulnerable.
Blanche’s 2nd monologue
‘fathers and father and uncles and brothers’
‘your big, capable hands’
History, the women hide behind the history, how the males ruined the lineage, disrespect women. Act of relief.
