streetcar named desire Flashcards
[the blue piano expresses the spirit of life which goes on here]
music of New Orleans to symbolise it as a ‘cosmopolitan city’
[heaves the package at her], [she laughs breathlessly]
sexual tension yet not romantic - reflects their relationship
[her appearance is incongruous to this setting]
blanche seems like a stock character - pure and fragile, she is immediately out of place
[there is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth]
cannot hide behind a facade, she is as powerless as a moth to a flame, foreshadows her danger
‘they told me to take a streetcar named Desire’
blanche is a metaphorical passenger in her destiny
[she pours half a tumbler of whiskey and tosses it down]
her familiarity hints at secrecy and deceit
‘not til i’ve bathed and rested. and turn that overhead light off’
already hiding from the glare (her sister who will know her too well to lie to), fresh start to scrub the past off of her
‘oh my baby! stella for star’
question of loving or belittling, unbalanced relationship, start suggests she is drawn to her like the recurring light motif
‘only poe! only mr edgar allan poe!’
reference to poe gothic imagery - perhaps blanche is aware of her own impending doom or it is foreshadowing how the house will soon be ‘haunted’
‘i stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it’
evidence of how unwell blanche is, builds tension
‘why the grim reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep’
she is plagued and followed by death and danger
[animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes]
description is integral to the initial understanding of him, animalistic nature shows his need for masculinity
[gaudy seed bearer]
immediately set up as a powerful character who is the epitome of masculinity
‘no i - rarely touch it’
blanche lies pose the question of what she is hiding - dramatic irony
[the music of the polka rises up]
only heard by blanche, represents death and fear for her but also confirms her illness, rises up referring to her sickness
‘i’m afraid i’m - going to be sick’
shows the tension between blanche and stanley but also her volatility, her past plagues her
[which he accepts with lordly composure]
stanley is self-important, represents men and women’s role in society
‘she’s soaking in a hot tub to calm her nerves’
attempting to burn the past off of her marked skin, society percieved women who had sex out of marriage as dirty
‘sister blanche cannot be annoyed’
ironic reference to her as a nun, is belittling
[stalks, [pulls], [jerks]
forceful and predatory behavior - has a sense of purpose
[pulls up a fistful of costume jewellery]
aggression at being ‘swindled’ by someone he deems inferior to him, costume jewellery links to the theme of deciet and of blanche’s position in poverty and attempt to keep up appearances - in ‘costume’ as a southern belle
‘oh stanley!’
mothers him, exclamatory statement heightens the tension
[blanche comes out of the bathroom in a red satin robe]
lustful yet dangerous, impossible to soak off her sins
‘you may enter’, ‘fast and thorough job with it’
flirtatious towards stanley, sexual connotations
‘a little bit on the primitive side’
foreshadows him later referring to her as a tiger, comments on his over masculinity to compliment him
‘i was fishing for a compliment stanley’
blanche values herself on how other people see her and needs constant reassurance
‘i hurt him how you would like to hurt me, but you can’t’
naive as he later rapes her, trying to convince herself like she does with her lies
‘the blind are - leading the blind’
shows blanches confusion of reality, links to neither her nor stella fully realising the danger of stanley
[men at the peak of their physical manhood]
sense of power that could evoke fear
[lurid], [spectrum], [vivid green], [coloured]
colourful setting to show their vivid personalities, foreshadows the darkness that is soon to come
‘i’ll be alone when she goes’
mitch is mocked by the others about his sensitivity particularly towards his sick mother
‘how do i look?’
her primary concern is her physical appearance of which she needs constant reassurance about
‘please don’t get up’
over confidence to hide her worries, contrasts to later where she says it out of fear’
[partially closes the portieres]
blanche is constantly hiding herself using appearance vs reality
‘it makes me so mad when he does that infront of people’
often occurrence of abuse, sense of public vs private
[awkward courtesy]
mitch is presented as a southern gentlemen which separates him from stanley
‘i thought he had a sort of sensitive look’
blanche focuses on those who need fixing to ignore the fact she needs help, their first interaction shows blanche’s dangerous power over mitch
[pink silk brasserie and white skirt]
an attempt at innocence and femininity that is somehow lustful
‘you’re standing in the light’
torn between needing to be an exhibitionist and yet protect her flaws from the light, like a moth to a flame
‘he’s half drunk’
stella justifies stanley’s actions, question if he’s still concious of his actions
[reading with feigned difficulty]
playing a game - appearance vs reality
‘i’m not accustomed to having more than one drink’
deception, deceiving mitch because he’s a potential suitor - dramatic irony
‘coloured paper lantern’
recurring motif of hiding the harshness of reality with something fake and ‘pretty’
[stalks], [wildly], [charges]
stanley’s violence reaches its peak and defines his character, returning animalistic senses
[they speak quietly and lovingly to him]
men and women are separate entities and cannot understand each other, shows the danger of men
‘put hm under the shower’
constant connotations of water washing away sins except mitch wants stanley to face reality which is the opposite of what blanche uses it for
[the entertainers in the bar around the corner play paper doll]
signs of fragility - stella’s powerlessness towards stanley and his need for her
[he throws back his head like a baying hound and bellows his wife’s name]
has a weakness and dependancy for stella, animalistic imagery used this time for stella to take pity on him
[her eyes go blind with tenderness]
she’s blind to the abuse, women’s role in society meant she couldn’t leave him anyway
‘thank you for being kind! i need kindness now’
blanche shows her vunerability to mitch - perhaps thinking he is her fix
[her appearance completely contrasts Stella’s]
blanche is always entirely alone and uncomfortable in her surroundings
[Stanley’s gaudy pyjamas lie across the threshold of the bathroom]
gaudy shows how stanley’s sexuality is dominant and powerful - taking over blanche’s space in the bathroom
‘i was - sort of - thrilled by it’
stella finds enjoyment in stanley’s violent tendencies - significance of him smashing lightbulbs suggests the dark could hide the wrongness
‘we’ve got to get a hold of some money that’s the way out!’`
society at the time meant women were trapped as men had control of finances
‘but i’ll think of something, i’ve got to think of something’
blanche’s desperation becomes evident, shep huntleigh is a figure of her escapism
‘but how could i stay here with him after last night with just those curtains between us?’
use of just shows there is little separation between her and stanley but despite her wanting this to be due to her integration into their life it instead signifies danger
‘there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark - that sort of make everything else seem unimportant’
reminiscent of stanley’s rape of blanche if you take [a man] and [a woman in the dark] as stanley and blanche in her mentally debilitated state - stella is too naive to think this won’t happen
‘what you are talking about is brutal desire.. the name of that rattle-trap streetcar’
blanche hypocritically tells stella carnal desire is not a way to run your life yet this highlights how desire is everyone’s motive in the play and is everywhere
‘haven’t you ever ridden on that streetcar?’ ‘it brought me here’
blanche admits to letting desire control her life too - evokes empathy in her situation as the sadness of her situation shows
‘he’s common’
blanche’s superiority over class shows
[he grins at her]
stanley intimidates blanche instead of confronting her as he enjoys the power trip of her being fearful of his every move
‘subhuman’ ‘grunts’ ‘creature’ ‘growls’
williams uses zoomorphism for blanches attack on stanley
‘there’s something downright bestial about him’ ‘animal habits’
extended metaphore of the jungle - matches stanley’s predatory approach to blanche
‘myself, for being such a liar’
blanches mental decline is evident from her laughing at her lies
[brightly] ‘did he kill her’
blanche is far removed from reality as her tonw doesn’t match the situation
‘do you happen to know someone names Shaw’
stanley’s use of rhetorical question unnerves blanche as it is obvious he already he already knows the answer, his questioning of her shows him as an antagonist
[she speaks lightly but her voice has a note of fear]
appearance vs reality, aware stanley is discovering her past
‘afterr Belle Reve had started to slip through my fingers’
metaphor for her life and sanity being uncatchable
‘the colours of butterfly wings’
moth vs butterfly, desperately wants to be wanted
‘i’ve run for protection … from one leaky roof to another’
her desire is partly led by a need for safety and help that she cannot seem to find - leaky suggests instability
‘put a paper lantern over the light’
her desire for illusion is portrayed by her need for a pretty paper lantern to cover the harsh light which symbolises the truth
‘i’m fading now’
sense of fragility, foreshadows her breakdown
‘i don’t listen to you when you’re being morbid’
isolates blanche further as stella ignores her cry for help - reference to stella ignoring the harshness of reality
[she regards him with interest]
now becomes the predator
‘i want to decieve him enough to make him - want me -‘
blanche’s desparation to be wanted inevitably leads to her downfall once her lies are uncovered
[it flares]
blanches obsession with lighters shows her self destruction
‘you didn’t get wet in the shower?’
cyclical to her being ‘caught in storms’, she sees herself in him - she is the storm now
‘young young young young man’
repetition of young shows how she yearns for youth yet also portrays her as forceful and predatory
[dazed look]
has put herself in a dangerous situation - moth to a flame, undermines her background as the young man is uncomfortable
‘my Rosenkavalier’
romanticising illusion, we lose the sympathy created for blanche - it is the epiphany of the scene and foreshadows what we are about to learn about blanche’s past
