Structure And Stagecraft Flashcards
What is a modern tragedy?
•Modern tragedy focuses on ordinary people in tragic situations
•Focuses on the tragic heroine of Blanche, the antagonist Stanley, the catalyst Stella
What are the features of Blanche as a tragic heroine?
(Tragic flaw, downfall)
•It can be argued that Blanche’s tragic flaw is her inability to adapt to a changing world
•Her tragic fall in this way becomes the living death of a mental institution
How does Williams subvert the regular tragic form?
•He disregards the unity of time which is traditional to tragedy
•The okay stretched over a period of 5 months however unity of place is maintained
What does the musical motif of the blue piano mean?
•Usually it represents the irrepressibly, pleasure-loving spirit of the quarter and the callous vitality of New Orleans
•Tennessee uses the sound of the blue piano to not only contrast blanche’s background and expose her incongruity but also in scenes to show the decay of her mind and therefore the decay of the old south
what does the musical motif of the varsouviana polka mean?
•Recalls a tragic flashback
•Accompanies Blanche’s guilt memories of her young husband
•Also follows by the sound of a revolver which always silences it
•It only plays in Blanche’s mind
what does the musical motif of the roar of the locomotive mean?
•Can be heard in scenes 4,6,10
•scene 4- background noise when Stanley overhears Blanche’s condemnation of him
•scene 6- When Blanche describes her husbands suicide
•Scene 10- just before the rape scene
•the noise marks the moments that either catalyze Her inevitable downfall
•The train is also a symbol of the unstoppable fate which underpins the tragic element of the play
what does the musical motif of jungle like cries mean
•heard in scene 10 and 11 to represent the internal terror experienced in Blanche’s mind
What can T.Williams stage directions be described as?
•poetic and lyrical
