Streetcar Named Desire Flashcards
How does Stella greet her sister?
“Stella, oh, Stella, Stella! Stella for Star!”
How does Blanche explain what she want to Mitch?
“I don’t want realism. I want magic!”
What does Blanche warn Stella?
“Don’t- don’t hang back with the brutes!”
Examples of Dramatic Irony
The audience knows something the tragic heroine does not.
Scene 7: “Blanche is singing… contrapuntally with Stanley’s speech”
Williams enhances the audience’s empathy for Blanche by audibly juxtaposing her ignorant bliss with Stanley’s savage attacks. While Blanche enjoys her fantasy world obliviously, Stanley destroys it.
What is Aristotle’s catharsis and what are some examples of it?
The feeling of intense fear/pity which purifies the emotions felt by the audience.
Scene 10: combination of plastic/expressionist theatre in “Blue piano” and Stanley’s predatory movements “He takes a step towards her” emphasise to the audience how Blanche cannot escape the harshness of life. She is attacked by both her own past life, and those around her in her present life.
What is speaker’s accommodation and what are some examples of it?
Diverging or converging to make other speaker feel comfortable.
Scene 8: following being stood up by Mitch, the audience’s sympathy for Blanche is built by Stella’s obvious attempt to accommodate her, using honorific mode of address “Mr. Kowalski” to adopt Blanche’s sociolect. Given that Stanley then erupts and destroys any tranquillity that Blanche may have gained from this action, the audience see how Blanche is completely unable to gain any solace in society.
What is upwards convergence and what are some examples of it?
To raise the lexical proficiency of one’s language.
Scene 2: Stanley advances his lexicon, “merchant”, “acquaintance”, “appraisal” to assert his dominance over his wife when referring to legal matters.
This accentuates territorial character
What is upwards divergence and what are some examples of it?
To move away from lexical proficiency of other characters.
Scene 10: Blanche’s escape to the imaginary world is evidenced by her upwards divergence from Stanley, when saying “a cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man’s life - immeasurably!”. By raising her lexical proficiency, her languages mirrors her spiritual escape from this basic New Orleans society.
What is downward divergence and what are some examples of it?
To move away from lexical proficiency of other characters.
Scene 10: Stanley asserts his power by deferring from lexis that would be understandable for a cultured woman such as Blanche, by exclaiming “Oh! So you want some rough-house!”. He makes Blanche incongruous with her surroundings.
What is a dramatic heroine and who is it in the play?
A character who undergoes dramatic fall from grace.
Blanche.
What is hegemonic masculinity and what are some examples of it?
It’s the prevalent view of what it is to be a man.
Scene 2: Stanley shows hegemonic masculinity by demanding that “what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband”, showing his territorial, possessive nature.
What is hegemonic femininity and what are some examples of it?
It’s the prevalent view of what it is to be a woman.
“baby”, “catch!”, “why don’t you women go up and sit with Eunice?” accusative pronoun. In this society, the woman is the subservient role. They are weak and depend on men.
What is a diminutive mode of address and what are some examples of it?
The informal, disrespectful form of a name: “baby” Stanley says to Stella throughout the play. This emphasises how he sees her as weak, nothing more than an infant. Also, it suggests he only considers her to be worthy of the respect an infant would receive.
Where does Blanche and Stanley’s power shift?
Scene Two and Scene Ten
How does Williams make speech sound natural?
Short or fragmented utterances, ellipsis, elision, dialect and expletives to replicate ‘natural’ speech and create believable characters.
