Summary

Question 1

​Scene 1

Answer 1

Introduction to setting and main characters; Blanche arrives and is reunited with Stella; Blanche reveals the loss of Belle Reve; Blanche and Stanley meet.

Question 2

Scene 2

Answer 2

The following evening. Stella and Stanley discuss the loss of Belle Reve. Stanley suspicious- incident with the trunk. Creates tension - Stella leaves. Blanche flirts with Stanley. Confrontation between the two of them. Stanley reveals pregnancy.

Question 3

Scene 3

Answer 3

The Poker Night. Stanley’s relationship with other men. Further hostility between Blanche and Stanley. Blanche’s initial flirtation with Mitch - the lightbulb. Blanche’s appearance at the flat provoked an aggressive confrontation between Stella and Stanley. Stella escapes to Eunice’s flat and subsequently returns.

Question 4

Scene 4

Answer 4

Morning after. Stella serene at the beginning. Blanche and Stella disagree about Stanley. Blanche tells Stella about Shep Huntleigh. Blanche delvers ‘brutes’ speech, which Stanley overhears.

Question 5

Scene 5

Answer 5

Eunice and Steve argue upstairs. Discussion of star signs. Stanley reveals he knows about Blanche’s past. Steve and Eunice reunite after argument. Stanley goes for a drunk. Blanche and Stella have conversation about Mitch and what his impressions are of her- Blanche speech about ‘butterfly wings’. Blanche’s drink spills on white skirt. Stella leaves to meet Stanley. The incident with the Young Man.

Question 6

Scene 6

Answer 6

2 am same night. Blanche and Mitch return from date. Blanche’s flirtation. Discuss Stanley, Mitch’s ill mother, the death of Blanche’s husband. Optimistic tone at the end for them?

Question 7

Scene 7

Answer 7

lapse of time (mid- Sept), Blanche’s birthday. Stanley tells Stella about Blanche’s lies- the Flamingo, her job and relationship with the ‘seventeen-year-old boy’. Blanche sings ‘paper moon’ in the bath. Stella makes excuses for Blanche’s behaviour. Stanley reveals Mitch knows the truth. Blanche notices difference in Stella at the end.

Question 8

Scene 8

Answer 8

three quarters of an hour later- Blanche’s birthday party. Animosity between the three. Blanche calls Mitch and leaves a message. Stanley reminds Stella of their ‘nights together’ and ‘the coloured lights’. Stanley and Blanche argue and he presents her with her ticket home. Stella goes into labour. Blanche sings ‘El pan de mais…’

Question 9

Scene 9

Answer 9

later that evening. Mitch visits the apartment. Clear change in their relationship. Mitch ‘tears the paper lantern off the light bulb’ and reveals he knows the truth about her. The Mexican woman appears with ‘Flores para los muertos’.

Question 10

Scene 10

Answer 10

a few hours later. Blanche is dressed in ‘soiled and crumpled’ finery when Stanley returns to the apartment. Blanche increasingly nervous; Stanley triumphant and dominant. Stanley wins the battle between them

Question 11

Scene 11

Answer 11

some weeks later (October). Another poker night. Blanche bathes, whilst Stella and Eunice pack her belongings and discuss her. The Doctor and the Matron appear to take Blanche away- The Matron attempts this first. Blanche hears echoes- increasingly troubled. Violence between Stanley and Mitch. Blanche places trust in the Doctor and is taken away. Stella with baby and Stanley at the end. Final line from Steve ‘This game is seven-card stud.’