Streetcar - fantasy + delusion + madness Flashcards
‘I ought to…
go there on a rocket that never comes down’
Scene 2, Blanche to Stella
What does Blanche say when she is alone waiting for Stella in her flat?
‘I have got to keep a hold of myself’
How does Williams share many similarities to Blanche?
He wants said “I discovered writing as an escape from a world of reality in which I felt acutely uncomfortable.”
Writing was his ‘place of refuge’
Williams’ sister
Estranged from his sister Rose who suffered from a mental illness and had a lobotomy in 1943
Williams’ mother
Was prone to hysterical attacks
One of the original titles of Streetcar ?
‘Blanche’s chair in the moon’
Williams was a hypochondriac…
Fate/insanity
Williams was a hypochondriac, obsessed with sickness and death and was constantly worried he would turn insane. This was as a result of being traumatised by his sisters lobotomy which then led to her schizophrenia.
Witch quote
‘I could never imagine a witch of a woman casting a spell on you’
Rocket quote
“I want to go up there on a rocket that never comes down’m
Blanche not delusional in terms of Stella’s marriage
‘And you let him?’ (Smash light bulbs)
‘Didn’t run, didn’t scream?’
‘Pull yourself together and face the facts. You are married to a madman’
‘I don’t understand you Stella’
Blanche in her own world
‘As if she were actually talking to Shep’
Does Blanche actually see reality??
XX
‘Men don’t see your existence, don’t admit your existence unless you are making love to them’
‘Soft people have got to shimmer and glow - put a lantern over the light’
‘You’ve got to be soft and attractive’
Neurasthenic quote
Blanche’s voice full of ‘exhaustion’ that only a ‘neurasthenic’ personality can know
Blanche in a land of fantasy when she gets back from her date with Mitch
‘Pretend’ we are in a ‘little artist’s cafe’ on ‘Left Bank in Paris’
Specificity - she has her fantasy all maple sour in her head
Paper moon quote
“Say it’s only a paper Moon. Sailing over a cardboard say – but it wouldn’t be make-believe if you believed in me’’
Internal conflict within Blanche suggested by contrasting stage directions and her own dialogue
‘Cool and rested’ vs aggressive verb ‘snatching up hairbrush’
‘Refreshed’ vs ‘brushing hair vigorously’
‘Singing serenely as a bell’ - JUSST a position serene means peaceful, bells are loud
Candles going out quite
‘Candles burn out in little girls’ eyes’ and ‘the wind blows them out’ and ‘electric light bulbs go out and you see too plainly’
Deteriorating mental state
Light going out
Lights go out and you see plainly ?
Could be a metaphor for hope
Stanley giving Blanche ticket to Laurel quotes
Envelope
Throat
Gagging
‘Holding an envelope towards her’
‘Clutches her throat’
‘Coughing, gagging sounds are heard’
Blanche muttering as Stella goes into labor
‘El pan du mais, el pan du mais sin sal’
‘Begins to whisper the words as the light fades slowly’ - in a trance - stuck in time - lost - world passing by without her
Polka tube at start of scene 9 when Blanche is alone and Stanley and Stella have gone to hospital
‘Rapid feverish polka tune’
Description of Blanche when she is alone and Stanley and Stella have gone to the hospital
‘’The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster is closing in on her”
Symbol of Blanche is spiralling and hectic mind
Fan
‘’An electric fan is turning back and forth across her’’
Blanche split personality when Mitch comes to see her at end of play
Sweet and romantic
‘Hello beautiful!’
‘Honey’
‘Offers him her lips’
VS
Spiteful and irritated
‘She follows him while she talks’
‘You dumb angel-puss’
‘No!’ (When M asks to turn off fan)
Blanche turning insane form polka tune
Forehead
Shot
Boxed
“Touches her forehead vaguely”
“there now, the shot! It always stops after that”
“Are you boxed out of your mind?” (Mitch says to Blanche)
Blanche realism and magic quote
“I don’t want realism.”
‘I’ll tell you what I want. Magic’
Sense of delusion when Blanche is being confronted by Mitch about her lies
‘Rub-a-dub-dub three men in a tub’ - not replying seriously
‘Tarantula’
‘’Pours herself another drink’
‘Throws her head back’
‘Convulsive sobbing laughter’ oxymoronic - split personality ?
Blanche description as she screams and gets all worked up in the part where Mitch wants sex
‘Throat tightening with hysteria’
Very climactic scene - full of hysteria and chaos
Blanche dressed up as evening goes on after Mitch has left when she screamed fire
Crumpled white satin evening gown
Scoffed silver slippers
Rhinestone tiara
Dressing up, part fo her fantasy, strengthening alternative reality she is living in
Blanche’s mood is described as …. after a Mitch left when she yelled fire
Mood of hysterical exhilaration
Stage directions of how Blanche is acting in her own fantasy world after fire Mitch
Mummering excitedly as if to a group of spectral admirers
Blanche about Shep Huntleigh delusion
A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht!
Blanche réaction to seeing reflection in mirror
Lifes the hand mirror for closer inspection
Slams the mirror face down
Violence
Glass cracks
Moans
Stanley destroying Blanche’s fantasy at the end of the play
Mardis gras
Millionaire
Conceit
And worn out to Mardi Gras outfit
There is no millionaire
Lies and conceits and tricks - polysyndeton
Blanche keeping up her appearance even in the very last scene
Seahorse pin
Artificial violets
Blanche réaction at end of play when she thinks Shep is there
Why is she so nervous if she thinks it’s Shep? Does she know she’s being tricked ????
‘Looks fearfully’
‘Moves fearfully’
‘Voice dies out nervously’
Scenery and stage directions reflecting Blanche’s chaotic mental state at the end
Lurid
Distortions
Jungle
Mysterious
‘Lurid reflections’
‘Varsouviana in weird distortions’
‘Cries and noises of the jungle’ - EXPRESSIONISTIC DRAMA metaphor
Matrons greetings is ‘echoed and re-echoed by mysterious voices’ - alluding to schizophrenia ?
Blanche not delusional in that she sees a modern perspective; Stella shouldn’t have returned to Stanley after he beat her?
‘what were you thinking’
‘yelling’
