Bianca D’Aguanno 12/24/17 A Streetcar Named Desire Scene 1: Street: Elysian FIelds, New Orleans “Raffish charm” Blanche= white in french symbolises truth and purity Stanley Kowalski loud-colored bowling jacket and work clothes symbolises his spunk carrying "a red-stained package." sexual symbol Blanche later describes him to Stella-"survivor of the stone age! Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle; and you — you here — waiting for him." Blanche is extremely nervous full of anxiety she is portrayed as almost moth-like and a stained white skirt B took a “streetcar named Desire, and then . . . one called Cemeteries," Scene shows Stanley as a crude and sexual (bowling ball/pins/raw meat) Sets tone of commonplace …show more content…
Is Blanche the cause for all of this stress in the house now? Scene 4: Blanche feels as though she is an outsider and tries to change Stella’s mind but only draws Stella away from Blanche B begins to feel her desperate situation.contacts her old acquaintance Shep Huntleigh Seems stuck in her past Constant battle between stanley and blanche even though no interaction between the two concepts of life represented by Stanley and Blanche Stella throws herself at Stanley, victory for Stanley this time B called him a savage and a brute, occured on his grounds resentment of B and desire to be rid of her is quite justifiable Scene 5: Start of the breaking of B born under the sign of the virgo means virgin Stanley chooses this moment to ask her about the man named Shaw. Blanche becomes visibly agitated during the cross-examination. At the end, when Stanley leaves, she is trembling and in need of a drink. Foreshadows the past coming to haunt her. Her lies are coming to a close Admits lying about her age to attract Mitch but shaking because she is nervous and can’t keep up with herself anymore Why does she kiss the young …show more content…
I didn't lie in my heart." pathological liar in a sense Blanche is at her lowest ebb of existence now that Stanley has given her a bus ticket back to Laurel and Mitch has deserted her. Scene 10: Stellas a drunk at the moment when she in beginning she said she doesn’t
In contrast, Blanche, besides conducting her conversation subtly and indirectly, also enjoys refinement such as “art, poetry, and music” (83). She shields the lamp with paper lanterns and sprays the house with perfume, both refinements intolerable to Stanley, who tears them down at the last
In A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Stella Kowalski’s sister Blanche came to visit her in Elysian Fields and she found a man in who caught her attention. The central idea of the passage was Blanche’s overwhelming love and feelings towards Mitch, the man whom she just met in New Orleans. The author’s use of dialogue between Stella and Blanche in Scene Five of the play emphasized the love that Blanche had for Mitch and the moral support in which she received from Stella. Blanche had significant feelings for Mitch and she was discussing them with Stella when they were trapped inside of her head. In the dialogue the author includes between the two characters, Blanche says “I don't know why I screamed!
The play “A Streetcar Named Desire” is about an emotionally unstable lady named Blanche. She moves in with her youngest sister and her husband because the landlord took the land away from Blanche because they could not pay for it anymore. After being their for a while Blanche starts remembering her horrible past which is something she was trying to do in the first place. The husband of Stella, Stanley Kowalski was also someone that made Blanche’s life miserable for complicating everything and harassing her in every possible way. Death is one of the most symbolic terms in this play.
In Scene 10, she deviously claims that she has just received a telegram from the millionaire, Steph Huntleigh, to explain why she is dressed up. At first, Stanley plays along, but once Blanche musters up the audacity to say that Mitch returned to their apartment seeking repentance, Stanley draws the line. He calls her out for her fictitious tales of her past, and states, “We’ve had this date from the start,” just before he maliciously rapes Blanche. Their natures root in primal, animalistic instincts, Stanley like a dirty hog, open and free concerning his sexuality, Blanche like a fox, sly and deceitful. Despite her incessant attempts to destroy her past, Blanche is unable to stop their sexual connection as she has had so many other men.
Williams uses the expressionist technique “The ‘Varsouviana’ is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle” to parallel Blanche’s inner mind and depicts Blanche’s deranged mental state after Stella’s betrayal. The imagery ‘Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes’ highlights her mental turbulence and the stage directions ‘mysterious voices behind walls, as if reverberated through a canyon of rock…the echo sounds in threatening whispers’ heightens tension, positioning the audience to witness the overwhelming fear and exaggeration of her senses, further emphasising the detrimental impact Stella’s decision made. The Streetcar Named Desire also examines the influence that a person’s social standing can have. Stanley’s statement in scene 2 ‘The Kowalskis and Dubois have different notions’ indicates their social upbringing has influenced the way they think, hence disrupting their connection and loyalty towards one another. The use of their family name is metonymic for their ancestry and social standing, addressing the barriers derived from a social hierarchy which have affected their relationship.
In other words, Stella is very aware that her sexual relationship with Stanley can help her sort out any problems between them. Also, shortly before Stanley rapes Blanche, Williams says in the stage directions that there were “inhuman voices like cries in the jungle” (399; sc. 10). Blanche, which means white wood, is out of her element in this jungle of Stanley’s and it is she, who once called Stanley “bestial” (322; sc. 4) and “sub-human” (323; sc. 4), who has now found herself being stalked and charged like prey being hunted by an animal. With his sister-in-law present, Stanley has been unable to fulfill his sexual desires and so he releases them out on Blanche.
Blanche is an old southern Belle who expects the man to be a gentleman and in her level of class, scene 10 “A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man’s life” (Williams, 1947) this is how Blanche intertwines the past and present as past women were only there to be seen, look after the house and provide children and present Blanche could be seen to be past her prime. Blanche is representing the past as she is still dress in grand dress white moth Ironically Blanche appears in the first scene dressed in white, “the symbol of
Stanley thought money was going to fix the issue. Blanche still continued to get into Stellas head about him but she wasn’t trying to hear it. Blanches independency was what created space between her and Stella because of their opposite views on situations. And due to that fact, Stella saw Blanche as a judgemental
She refused to leave him when Blanche insisted and didn’t believe Blanche when it came to her being raped. Blanche, Stella, and Stanley all have the same want to be desired. The ways they act and treat each other back that up. Blanche feels the need to be desired by everyone around her, Stanley by Stella and others, and Stella by Stanley. Their lives revolve around desire.
In Blanche and Stanley’s initial interactions, there was an air of sexual tension. This tension dissipates completely as the play progresses, and their relationship turns into a resentful and hateful one. Throughout the play, Stanley has several violent outbursts towards Stella that worry Blanche. This allows Stanley to assert dominance over both women. At the end of the play, Stanley releases his pent up anger and frustration toward Blanche through a sexual attack.
The themes of violence and power in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ hold an important role in the criticism of 1940s American society. Conflicts perpetuated by violence and power, such as abusive relationships and violent oppression are projected through the characters within the play. Williams uses these conflicts to highlight his criticisms of faltering values and social norms, from the perspective of an individual constrained by the expectations of a strict, Southern society. To begin with, there is an indefinite violence between men and women within ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. Stanley Kowalski, a focal character, is the epitome of male dominance and primitive aggression.
“A Streetcar Named Desire” contains a strong lighting motif that repeats throughout the play. This usually involves Blanche, a character who shies away from any light that is drawn upon her, and is especially sensitive to light when her suitor Mitch is around. To Blanche, she is still young and beautiful in her mind, but when light shines on her she becomes afraid that Mitch will notice her aging skin, her beauty falling. This motif heavily implies how Blanche sees herself and the significance to her sexual innocence. To begin, throughout the play the audience begins to understand how Blanche sees herself.
Another very common theme represented throughout both texts, is the constant allusion to light. Within “A Streetcar Named Desire”, the use of light reveals Blanche’s role and appearance as a character. One of Blanche’s biggest flaws is that she prefers to be only seen in the dark. She does not like to reveal herself in the light as she is afraid of people seeing that she is in fact aging.
Darkness can be a comfortable place for anyone. Without having to look at yourself or have people see you, one may not feel as judged or insecure. Light is revealing. In a bright room, you can’t hide tears, blemishes, or emotions. Blanche, from A Streetcar Named Desire, knows the pain of light all to well.
2. When Stella had called the matron and the doctor to come and get Blanche, do you think it was because she was concerned about the well being of her sister or because she could not live with her in the house any longer? 3. If Stanley kept complaining about Blanche throughout the course of the whole novel, why do you think he had intercourse with her? Was it because he had a spark of desire or was it because he was always interested in her?