A Streetcar Named Desire Dramatic Monologue

Scene 12- Epilogue.

Blanche is in the bath of the mental institute, her skin is beginning to wrinkle. The door is locked; the bathroom has become her fantasy. The light is dimly seeping through the sterile windows. Her fragile manner suggests she is made of porcelain. In the background, the blue piano is playing in a hectic breakdown.

Nurse: Blanche! Blanche! Is everything OK?

In the bathroom the water pours on in a continuous circle; the sound of the water and Blanche’s low moans chime with the environment like cathedral bells. Outside, the nurse is gently knocking on the door to Blanche’s sanctuary. To Blanche the nurse’s words have turned into the chants of the Mexican woman.

Nurse: Flores. Flores para dos muertos. Flores.

Blanche:

The use of music takes a prominent role as the play progresses. The scene I wrote starts and ends with music to evoke Blanche’s emotions and surroundings. In the beginning, ‘the blue piano is played in a hectic breakdown’, this conveys Blanches deteriorating mental state. Similarly in the end, ‘ the distant piano plays in a soft mourn’, this provokes a sense of great loss and sadness for the readers. In my scene, Blanche’s unfortunate life seemed to end in an even greater unfortunate manner. My scene is much more pessimistic about Blanche's future due to the unrealistically hopeful ending from the 1951, Streetcar Named Desire movie which displayed a brighter future for Stella and Blanche. Williams’ writing is strongly grounded in realism; due to the conditions for women at the time, the ending just didn’t seem realistic. Even though in the play Williams actually portrays a sense of hope for Blanche in the ending. The state of mental institutes in the 1940s would possibly push Blanche into mental oblivion and inevitable suicide emphasising a realistic ending for the