SCND Flashcards
Characterisation of Stanley,
- how he sees/treats women
- gender roles
- sexuality
- animalistic
- “He (Stanley) sizes women up at a glance; with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind, and determining the way he smiles at them”
- “he’s like an animal. He has animal habits”
Blanche Du Bois
- turns to strangers for comfort
- lives in fantasy world
“I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers”
Stella
- self-deluded and strives off survival instinct to trust Stanley
- mediating point between Stanley and Blanche
“I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley”
Mitch
- lacks southern class Blanche pretends to uphold
- Mitch and Blanche are drawn together through mutual need of companionship
“You need somebody. And I need somebody. Could it be - you and me, Blanche?”
Relationship between sex and death
- indulging one’s desire in the form of unrestrained promiscuity leads to forced departures and unwanted ends
- “They told me to take the streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields”
- “death, the opposite of desire”
Dependence on man/masculinity
Maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost belle reve
Themes of drugs and alcohol
- ) means of escape for Blanche (embarrassed by ‘addiction’)
- ) casual and leisure for males
- ) linked to aggression and violence
- ) now don’t worry your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard
- ) nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey
- ) drunk drunk animal thing you
Appearances
- high importance to Blanche
I still have that awful vanity about my looks
The Varsouviana
- inside the mind of Blanche
- when she feels remorse or emotionally threatened
- can’t forgive herself for Allen’s death
- theme: guilt and madness - symbolises decent into madness
“Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable. It is the one unforgivable thing in my opinion.”
Fantasy vs reality
- Blanche represents fantasy
- lies to others and self in order to create own reality
- shield from harsh circumstances/reality
- Stanley is firmly grounded in the physical real world
- unravel Blanche’s fantasy
- reality triumphs over fantasy in SCND
“I don’t want realism… I’ll tell you what I want,magic!”
Symbolism: naked light bulb and paper lantern
- reality/ revealing
- doesn’t want to see truth
- age but also circumstances
- paper lantern is shielding Blanche’s harsh reality of which she doesn’t want to see or experience
- “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more that I can a rude remark or a vulgar expression.”
- “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in the light. That’s a fact!”
Theme: Love
- symbolism of light
- bright: innocence, dim: sexual maturity
- Blanche and Allen had perfect love until she caught him with another man , confronted him cruelly and he committed suicide. Resulting in Blanche’s guilt and ultimate decent into madness
- Falling in love: “you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that has always been half in shadow”
- death of love: “the searchlight which had been turned on the world had suddenly been turned off”
- maturity: “never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this - kitchen candle…”
Blue piano
- used for dramatic intensity and themes (lust and passion)
- invoked by scenes with great passion (intimate moments with Kowalski’s)
“Expresses the spirit of life that goes on here”
- stage directions
What does the locomotive represent and why is it important?
- used for dramatic intensity (sound effect)
- represents:
- relentless fate
- Stanley: masculine, powerful, modern, brutal
What themes do the human silhouettes and cries convey/symbolise?
- symbols of human cruelty
- “deliberate cruelty is unforgivable”
- shows inside Blanche’s head
- terror and madness
- used for dramatic intensity
What is the importance of Blanche’s long baths?
- represent efforts to “cleanse” herself
- unspoken desire to be cleansed of guilt and promiscuous past
- can’t erase the past hence bathing is never done
- themes: sex/desire vs. death
What is the importance of the poker night with regards to:
- Colours/ artwork
- Stanley’s character
- Introduction of Mitch (quote)
- Mitch and. Blanche
- Van Gogh’s “The Night Cafe”
- primary/raw colours to represents primal nature of Kowalski’s union and masculine stereotype
- cements Stanley’s role as the “villain”
- Contrasts Mitch with the other males
- “that one seems superior to the other… I thought he had sort of a sensitive look”
- Initial attraction between Mitch and Blanche is in contrast to the ‘bestial’ relationship of the Kowalskis
What is the importance if the Mexican vendor and why is she used?
- used for dramatic intensity
- “Flores para los muertos” (flowers for the dead)
- sign of respect to deceased
- foreshadows Blanche’s figurative death (mentally and physically)
- mentally: loss of reality
- physically: no longer young or chances of marital happiness
What is the significance of Blanche’s wardrobe and what is it used for??
- Used for characterisation of Blanche
- protection from horrifying reality
- hold on to past: create illusion that she is still young, innocent and admired by many
- “oh, in my youth I excited some admiration”
Significance of Blanche’s name
- used to oppose Blanche’s true character
- “it means woods and Blanche means white, so the two together mean white wood, like an orchard in the Spring!”
- white: innocence she has lost
- spring: youth, new life
Significance of the title if the play
“Take a streetcar named Desire”
- theme: sexual desire vs. death
- play is centred around incidents of desire
- brought to New Orleans by promiscuous past (desire)
- not just a streetcar
- “it brought me here where I’m not wanted and ashamed to be”
- runs all the time
- turn to sex for happiness
Example of dramatic irony
Stanley over hears Stella and Blanche talk about him rudely
Example of importance of clothing as a symbol
Blanche uses her “fancy” clothes to hold onto youth
Example of uses of lighting/colour as a symbol
Stanley’s red pjs = desire
Example do significant music or sound
- Varsouviana: shows madness
- blue piano: desire or passion
- locomotive: fate (foreshadowing)
