Streetcar 3 Flashcards
‘There is a picture of…’
‘There is a picture of Van Gogh’s of a billiard-parlour at night.’ - SD
- discordant colours, off-putting, sickly
- vivid, primary colours - artificial
- lively surroundings but minimal movement
- lack of shadows apart from pool table is unsettling
‘The Poker Night’ SD
- another potential title of the play was ‘The Poker Night’
- Van Gogh’s of a billiard-parlour at night
- ‘I like an artist who paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours’ - Blanche
- ‘lurid nocturnal brilliance’ ‘raw colours of childhood’s spectrum’ ‘yellow’ ‘vivid green’ ‘coloured shirts’ ‘solid blues’ ‘red-and-white checks’ ‘they are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours’
- williams isn’t part of the scene
- clashing colours are sickly
‘The kitchen now suggests that…’
‘The kitchen now suggests that sort of lurid nocturnal brilliance, the raw colours of childhood’s spectrum.’ - SD
‘The poker players -…’
‘The poker players - Stanley, Steve, Mitch, and Pablo - wear coloured shirts, solid blues, a purple, a red-and-white check, a light green’ - SD
‘they are men at the…’
‘they are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours.’ - SD
- ‘I like an artist who paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours’ - Blanche
‘To express his universal truths Williams…’
‘To express his universal truths Williams created what he termed plastic theatre, a distinctive and new style of drama. He insisted that setting, properties, music, sound, and visual effects - all the elements of staging - must combine to reflect and enhance the action, theme, characters, and language.’ - Alice Griffin
‘[For a moment there is…’
‘[For a moment there is absorbed silence as a hand is dealt.]’ - SD
- tension is already building
‘When I’m losing you…’
‘When I’m losing you want to eat! Ante up! Openers? Openers! Get off the table, Mitch. Nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips, and whisky.’ - Stanley
- simmering resentment
- conflict between Stanley and Mitch
‘Kind of on…’
‘Kind of on your high horse, ain’t you?’ - Mitch
- stands up to Stanley, doesn’t allow him to dominate
sociolinguistics of Stanley and Mitch
Stanley speaks in monosyllables where Mitch speaks in longer, more formal sentences
Mitch’s character presentation
- there is more to his character than Stanley’s
- ‘I gotta sick mother.’ ‘I keep wondering how she is.’ ‘But I’ll be alone when she goes.’
‘She says to go out…’
‘She says to go out, so I go, but I don’t enjoy it. All the while I keep wondering how she is.’ - SD
- unlike Stanley, rejection of the rough masculinity
‘You are all…’
‘You are all married. But I’ll be alone when she goes.’ - Mitch
‘How much longer is this…’
‘Till we…’
‘How much longer is this game going to continue?’ - Stella
‘Till we get ready to quit.’ - Stanley
- asserting himself
Stanley hits Stella
‘Couldn’t you call it quits after one more hand?’ - Stella
‘[A chair scrapes, Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh.]’ - SD
- making a point to his friends
- demeaning, intrusive, control, humiliate, possession
‘It makes me so mad…’
‘It makes me so mad when he does that in front of people.’ - Stella
- Stanley hits her at least semi-frequently
- Blanche’s reply ignores what Stella has just told her: ‘I think I will bathe.’ - B (wants to regain the attention)
‘About the same…’
‘[his mother is doing] About the same, thanks. She appreciated you sending over that custard. - Excuse me, please.’ - Mitch
- polite and refined unlike Stanley
Blanche trying to gain the attention in Scene 3
‘[She is unbuttoning her blouse.]’
‘[She takes off the blouse and stands in her pink silk brassiere […] in the light]’
‘[moves back into the streak of light. She raises her arms and stretches, as she moves indolently’
- ‘in the light’ links her to this moth/attention idea
- moves away from light when it is pointed out by Stella but we know this was a conscious choice as she returns to the light once S has left
‘[crosses leisurely to a small white radio and turns it on]’ - B draws attention, wants to be noticed
‘[He stops short…’
‘[He stops short at sight of Blanche in the chair. She returns his look without flinching.]’
- taken aback by how provocative she is
- him finding her like that was planned
Blanche is ‘an artist who…’
Blanche is ‘an artist who dramatizes herself as if she were a stage character’ - Felicia Hardison Londre
‘The bedroom is…’
‘The bedroom is relatively dim.’ - SD
- female world in the house, periphery
‘You could not…’
‘You could not. Why don’t you women go up and sit with Eunice?’ - Stanley
- the women are on the outskirts, different worlds
