Streetcar - Desire

Question 1

Both necessary and destructive

Answer 1

Stanley’s passionate desire is counteracted by his intense anger
- “it’s going to be sweet when we can make noise in the night the way that we used to and get the coloured lights going”
- “Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh”
- “There is the sound of a blow” / “strikes”
- “There’s nothing to be scared of. They’re crazy about each other.”
- “I pulled you down off them columns and how you loved it, having them coloured lights going!”
- “(He kneels beside her and his fingers find the opening of her blouse) Now, now, love.”

Question 2

Underpins Blanche’s demise

Answer 2

Represses her desire due to her desperation to fit the Southern Belle stereotype
- “incongruous to the setting”/ “white suit with a fluffy bodice” / “necklace and ear-rings of pearl”
- “innocent” / “delicate”
- “Red hots!” / “red stained package”
- “He smashed all the light bulbs with the heel of my slipper! And you-you let him? Didn’t run, didn’t scream?”
- “bathing” / “soak in a hot tub”
This repression is deceptive however, she attempts to restrict her own desire and maintain a false identity
- “Without waiting for him to accept, she crosses quickly to him and presses her lips to his.” / “Look who’s coming! My Rosenkavalier!”
- “Bow to me first! Now present them.”
- “You should know the line she’s been feeding to Mitch. He thought she had never been more than kissed by a fellow”
- “Well, so much for her being such a refined and particular type of girl.”
- “I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!–Don’t turn the light on!”
- “But I was a fool enough to believe you was straight.” / “You lied to me Blanche.”
However this deceptive repression is ultimately what leads to her downfall, it means that the potential for Mitch to save her is destroyed and positions her directly against Stanley, who views her as a threat to his New American ideologies
- “But I was a fool enough to believe you was straight.” / “You lied to me Blanche.”
- “he places his hands on her waist and tries to turn her around” / “been missing all summer”
- “fumbling to embrace her”
- “What such a man has to offer is animal force and he gave a wonderful exhibition of that! But the only way to live with such a man is to-go to bed with him! And that’s your job- not mine!”
- “The first time I laid eyes on him I thought to myself, that man is my executioner! That man will destroy me”
- “The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions”
- “I’ve been on to you from the start! Not once did you pull any wool over this boy’s eyes!”
- “Come to think of it- maybe you wouldn’t be bad to- interfere with…”
- “All right, let’s have some rough-house!” / “We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!”