Streetcar 1 Flashcards
what is the street called?
‘Elysian Fields’ - SD
- resting place of heroes in greek mythology
how does the first stage directions describe the location?
- poor but described romantically
- gentle and loving atmosphere
- ‘raffish charm’
- ‘weathered grey, with rickety outside stairs’
- ‘first dark of an evening early in May’
- ‘atmosphere of decay’
- ‘warm breath of the brown river’
- ‘practically always just around the corner […] from a tinny piano being played’
‘raffish…’
‘raffish charm’ - first SD
‘weathered…’
‘weathered grey, with rickety outside stairs’ - first SD
‘first dark of…’
‘first dark of an evening early in May’ - first SD
‘atmosphere…’
‘atmosphere of decay’ - first SD
‘…of the brown…’
‘warm breath of the brown river’ - first SD
‘practically always…’
‘practically always just around the corner […] from a tinny piano being played’ - first SD
race in the initial SD
‘music of Negro entertainers’
‘from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers’
‘this ‘blue piano’ expresses the spirit of life’
‘one white and one coloured’
‘relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town’
general atmosphere of the first SD
- gentle and loving
- romanticised
- trying to convey his feelings to the place
- skips over the deprivation and inequality
- language isn’t very objective, warm tone
opening lines
- a lot of different people interacting
- informal/colloquialisms: ‘clip joint’
the black woman in the opening lines
- not named (suggests inferiority)
- giving advice to others though so clearly comfortable:
‘don’t waste your money in that clip joint’
‘don’t let them sell you a Blue Moon cocktail’
‘They are about… roughly dressed…’
‘[Stanley and Mitch] are about twenty-eight or thirty years old, roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes’ - SD
‘a red…’
‘a red-stained package from a butcher’s’ - SD
- tainted, stained (vs Blanche’s white cleanliness)
- feels very raw and fresh
- can provide
- he’s completely okay with this - physical and primitive
Stanley’s dialogue in the first lines
- monosyllabic, one-word sentences
- shows class (education)
- self-confidence
Mitch in the first lines
- doesn’t respond to Stella’s ‘Hi Mitch’
- clearly normal as she doesn’t question it
Stanley and Stella’s relationship in the first lines
- easy relationship/dynamic
- he treats her like Mitch (which she would not be used to)
- both very comfortable and playful
- ‘then she laughs breathlessly’ (thrilling, breaking social norms for her)
- ‘calling after him’
‘then she laughs…’
‘then she laughs breathlessly’ - SD
- thrilling, breaking social norms for her
race in the first part of the play
- the black woman is comfortable enough to give advice to others, to laugh and continue to on her own
- there is some difference between the black woman and eunice: Stella directly addresses Eunice to ask how she is and Eunice is named whilst the black woman is not
- ‘they all laugh’ - community
‘Tell Steve to get…’
‘Tell Steve to get him a poor boy’s sandwich ‘cause nothing’s left here’ - Eunice
- assertive, not going out to get food but instead telling Steve to get his own
- doesn’t say “can you” just tells
‘You hush…’
‘You hush, now!’ - Eunice to Black woman
- ‘she continues to laugh’ - feels able to continue laughing, comfortable
- friendly joking
- does Eunice know her name?
‘Her expression is one of…’
‘[Blanche’s] expression is one of disbelief’ - SD (at the place her sister is living)
- expects Stella to live somewhere nicer
‘[Blanche’s] appearance is…’
‘[Blanche’s] appearance is incongruous to this setting’ - SD
- she is out of place
how is Blanche dressed when we first meet her?
- ‘white suit with a fluffy bodice’ - SD
- ‘necklace and ear-rings of pearl, white gloves and hat’ - SD
- ‘about five years older than Stella’ - SD
- white suggests purity and cleanliness, not yet stained by Stanley/the location
moth-Blanche description
- ‘delicate beauty must avoid a strong light’ - SD
- ‘something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth’ - SD
- moth metaphor for Blanche
‘white suit…’
‘white suit with a fluffy bodice’ - SD (Blanche)
‘necklace and…’
‘necklace and ear-rings of pearl, white gloves and hat’ - SD (Blanche)
‘delicate beauty…’
‘delicate beauty must avoid a strong light’ - SD (Blanche-moth)
‘something about her uncertain…’
‘something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth’ - SD
Blanche-moth metaphor
- “the moth” was going to be the title
- drawn to light - finer things in life, avoids being under the light, drawn to things that will harm her
- fleeting, fragile, not as beautiful as a butterfly (Stella)
- not using colour to draw attention to herself (white clothes)
‘I’ll go tell…’
‘I’ll go tell her you come.’ ‘Thanks’ - Black woman and then Blanche
- takes it for granted that those who are socially inferior to her will help
‘What I meant was…’
‘I didn’t mean…’
‘What I meant was I’d like to be left alone’ - Blanche to Eunice
- rudeness
- in Eunice’s house, she didn’t need let B in
‘I didn’t mean to be rude, but-‘ - Blanche
- half-hearted, used to getting what she wants
Blanche taking the alcohol while home alone
- whisky
‘She springs up’ - desperation, takes what she wants
‘tosses it down’ - seasoned alcoholic
‘carefully replaces the bottle’ - hides it, secrecy, duplicity
Blanche in Stella’s home before Stella arrives
- ‘sits in a chair very stiffly with her shoulders slightly hunched’
- ‘hands clutching her purse as if she were quite cold’
- ‘removes a whisky bottle’
‘Stella comes quickly…’ (reaction to Blanche’s arrival)
‘Stella comes quickly round the corner of the building and runs to the door of the downstairs flat’ - SD
‘calling out joyfully’ - SD
‘calling out…’
‘calling out joyfully’ - SD (Stella’s reaction to Blanche’s arrival)
‘Then Blanche springs…’
‘Then Blanche springs up and runs to her with a wild cry’ - SD (longing for human contact)
‘She begins to speak with…’
‘[Blanche] begins to speak with a feverish vivacity as if she feared for either of them to stop and think’ - SD
‘Don’t you look…’
‘Don’t you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later […] And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!’ - Blanche
how does Blanche address Stella?
‘my baby’ ‘precious lamb’ ‘honey’ ‘stand up’ ‘messy child’ ‘little hands’ ‘blessed child’
- patronising, motherly
‘I thought you would never…’
‘I thought you would never come back to this horrible place!’ - Blanche
‘I meant to be…’
‘I meant to be nice about it and say - Oh, what a convenient location and such - Ha-a-ha!’ - Blanche (is rude and isn’t sorry)
‘I know you must have some…’
‘I know you must have some liquor on the place! Where could it be, I wonder? Oh, I spy, I spy!’ - Blanche
- pretends not to have already drunk some
‘she is shaking all…’
‘she is shaking all over and panting for breath as she tries to laugh’ - SD about Blanche (desperately needs to drink)
‘Now don’t get worried…’
‘Now don’t get worried, your sister hasn’t turned into a drunkard, she’s just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty!’ - Blanche to S
‘You sit down…’
‘You sit down, now, and explain this place to me! What are you doing in a place like this?’ - Blanche
‘Oh, I’m not going to be…’
‘Oh, I’m not going to be hypocritical, I’m going to be honestly critical about it! Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture’ - Blanche
‘Only Poe! Only…’
‘Only Poe! Only Mr Edgar Allen Poe! - could do it justice!’ - Blanche
- poetic vs Stella’s realistic ‘No, honey, those are the L&N tracks’
‘why didn’t you let…’
‘why didn’t you let me know?’ - Blanche (thinks S holds the same views on the place as her)
‘Why, that you had to…’
‘Why, that you had to live in these conditions!’ - Blanche
- isn’t seeing that this is Stella’s home
‘You never did give me a…’
‘You never did give me a chance to say much, Blanche. So I just got in the habit of being quiet around you.’ - Stella
‘Oh, this buzzes…’
‘Oh, this buzzes right through me and feels so /good/!’ - Blanche
- wants to stay feeling good, this is why she’s skirting around topics
‘you’ve put on some…’
‘you’ve put on some weight, yes, you’re just as plump as a little partridge!’ - Blanche
- criticising S, wants someone to notice her
‘Stand up…’
‘Stand up.’ - B
‘Not now.’ - S
‘You hear me? I said stand up!’ - B
- treating her like a child, mothering her
‘You messy…’
‘You messy child, you, you’ve spilt something on that pretty white lace collar!’ - B to S
- mothering her
- S is stained, she’s spilt something on her white whereas Blanche remains pristine
‘Stella, you have a…’
‘What…’
‘Stella, you have a maid, don’t you?’ - B
‘What? /Two/ rooms, did you say?’ - B
- thinks S is still living how they were, holding onto that dream a bit
‘How quiet you…’
‘How quiet you are, you’re so peaceful. Look how you sit there with your little hands folded like a cherub in choir!’ - B to S
- childish, talking like you might to a baby (‘so peaceful’ ‘little hands’ ‘cherub’)
‘I am going…’
‘I am going to take just one little tiny nip more’ - B to S
- not asking, saying
‘I want you to look…’
‘I want you to look at /my/ figure! [She turns around.] You know I haven’t put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the simmer you left Belle Reve.’ - Blanche
- comparison to S who has ‘put on some weight’ and is ‘as plump as a little partridge’
- almost brings up Belle Reve without meaning to, so on her mind (can’t help but bring up the past)
- showing off, wants people to see her
‘I weigh what I…’
‘I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us…’ - B
- can’t help but bring up the past
- is on her mind
‘Blessed…’
‘Blessed child!’ - B
- infantilising
‘I want to be…’
‘I want to be /near/ you, got to be /with/ somebody. I /can’t/ be /alone/!’ ‘I’m /not/ very well’ - B
- lots of emphasis (italics)
- desperation
- wants S to sympathise, to offer comfort
‘if you’ll just try not to…’
‘if you’ll just try not to - well - compare him with men that we went out with at home.’ - S
- shared past
‘[in an uneasy…’
‘[in an uneasy rush]’ - SD about Blanche
- anxious, wants to get it out and over with
‘so I’ll expect you…’
‘so I’ll expect you to be understanding about what I have to tell you’ - B
- already bracing for S’s reaction
- scared
- ‘expect’
‘you’re going to reproach…’
‘you’re going to reproach me, I know that you’re bound to reproach me’ - B to S
- putting off telling S
- childlike
- trying to guilt S into not reacting in such away
- already thinks she knows how S will react
‘take into consideration…’
‘take into consideration - you left! I stayed and struggled! You came to New Orleans and looked out for yourself!’ - B
- blames S, trying to shift the guilt by turning on her
- resentment has been building for a long time
‘I’m not meaning…’
‘I’m not meaning this in any reproachful way, but /all/ the burden descended on /my/ shoulders.’ - B
‘But you are the one that…’
‘But you are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I!’ - B
- abandoned Blanche not Belle Reve
- resents S for being able to walk away when she can’t
‘I stayed and…’
‘I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!’ - B
- the loss of BR was more impactful than the deaths
- BR is the thing that binds her to Stella
- physical embodiment of her life
‘What do you mean fought…’
‘What do you mean fought and bled?’ - s
- trying to cut through the emotion to the facts
‘Stop this hysterical…’
‘Stop this hysterical outburst and tell me what’s happened?’ - S
- unsympathetic, dismissive even
‘I knew you would take…’
‘I knew you would take this attitude about it!’ - B
- previous conflicts?
‘Stella looks slowly…’
‘Stella looks slowly down at her hands folded on the table.’ - SD
- slow, controlled movements
- more mature and composed than Blanche
‘Blanche touches her…’
‘Blanche touches her handkerchief to her forehead.’ - SD
- more theatrical
- Blanche has fallen back on her Southern Belle identity because she has lost everything else
‘You’re a fine one…’
‘You’re a fine one to sit there /accusing me/ of it!’ - B
- defensive
- S didn’t actually accuse B of anything (is presuming based on how she would act)
Blanche’s monologue
- crucial as we see her at her most fragile
- can understand her better
- hyperbole vs her normal literary vocab
‘I, I…’
‘I, I, /I/, took the blows in my face and my body!’ - B (mon.)
- physical impact, metaphor
‘So big…’
‘So big with it’ - B (mon.)
- swollen from disease (Margaret)
‘You just came home in…’
‘You just came home in time for the funerals, Stella. and funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths - not always.’ - B (mon.)
- resents Stella for only having to do the “nice” bit
Blanche referring to Stella in her monologue
‘Stella’ ‘Miss Stella’ ‘Stella ‘Honey’ ‘Stella’
‘Sometimes their breathing…’
‘Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, ‘Don’t let me go!’ - B (mon.)
- reliving it, emotive language
- trauma
‘Even the old…’
‘Even the old, sometimes, say, ‘Don’t let me go.’ As if you were able to stop them!’ - Blanche (mon.)
- the impact on her (‘as if you’)
- not loads of empathy for the people who died (has become emotionally unattached
‘But funerals are quiet, with…’
‘But funerals are quiet, with pretty flowers. And, oh, what gorgeous boxes they pack them away in!’ - Blanche (mon.)
- accusatory towards Stella for not understanding what B had to go through
‘Unless you were…’
‘Unless you were there at the bed when they cried out, ‘Hold me!’ you’d never suspect there was the struggle for breath and bleeding.’ - B (mon.)
- again, not loads of empathy for the people
- ‘unless you’ - she is targeting this towards Stella for letting her go through it alone
-‘breath and bleeding’ - B has clearly gone through trauma
‘You didn’t…’
‘You didn’t dream, but I saw! /Saw! Saw!’ - Blanche (mon.)
- forced to face reality
- repetition of ‘saw’ shows the impact on her mental state
‘And now you sit there…’
‘And now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go!’ - B (mon.)
- wants a reason to be cross with Stella
‘How in hell do…’
‘How in hell do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for? Death is expensive, Miss Stella!’ - B (mon.)
‘Why, the Grim…’
‘Why, the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep!.. Stella. Belle Reve was hid headquarters!’ - B (mon.)
- no longer connected to the emotion of the deaths
‘that’s how it…’
‘that’s how it slipped through my fingers! Which of them left us a fortune?’ - B (mon.)
- she couldn’t afford to pay for all the funerals and bills
‘my pitiful…’
‘my pitiful salary at the school’ - B (mon.)
- wanting sympathy or some type of recognition
‘Yes, accuse…’
‘Yes, accuse me! Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go!’ - B (mon.)
‘Where were…’
‘Where were /you/. In bed with your - Polak.’ - B (mon.)
- ‘where were you’ - feels resentful that S made her do it alone
- this is the point where S cuts her off (the comment about her husband)
- ‘Polak’ is derogatory
dynamic between the sisters at the end of B’s monologue
- a lot more distance than originally portrayed
- B clearly didn’t reach out to S for help, she had no idea
‘Oh, Stella, Stella…’
‘Oh, Stella, Stella, you’re crying!’ - B to S
- surprised, doesn’t realise the effect of her words
- lack of empathy
Stanley’s entrance SD (meeting B)
‘Stanley throws the screen door of the kitchen open’ - SD
- predatory, commanding (captures attention)
- this is his environment
animalistic presentation of Stanley in the SD of him meeting Blanche
‘Animal joy in his being’ ‘power and pride of richly feathered male bird among hens’ ‘sizes women up’
‘Since earliest manhood…’
‘Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it’ - SD about Stanley
- could be predatory
- sexual, impulsive
‘this complete…’
‘this complete and satisfying centre’ - SD about Stanley
- self assured
Stanley as materialistic in the SD before he meets B
‘his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem’ - SD
‘He sizes…’
‘He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.’ - SD about Stanley
- sexual, impulsive
- judging (‘sizes women up at a glance’)
Blanche’s speech after meeting Stanley
- broken syntax (dashes) - unsure: ‘I-uh-‘ ‘I-rarely’
> make herself seem vulnerable - shorter sentences
‘My clothes’re…’
‘My clothes’re stickin’ to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable? [He starts to remove his shirt.]’ - Stanley
- doesn’t wait for her response
- reasserting his dominance after being surprised by her presence
- making it clear this is his home
‘I haven’t washed…’
‘I haven’t washed or even powdered my face and - here you are!’ - B
- surprised, this was not how she planned their meeting
‘I never was a very…’
‘I never was a very good English student.’ - Stanley
- honest, not trying to one-up her
- attempting to make her comfortable by asking questions
‘I’m afraid I’ll…’
‘I’m afraid I’ll strike you as being the unrefined type’ - Stanley to B
- says this but doesn’t actually seem to care
‘The boy -…’
‘The boy - the boy died. [She sinks back down.] I’m afraid I’m - going to be sick!’ - Blanche
- emotionally fragile
LEXIS
choice of words
