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English Literature Mock Revision: Comparisons Duchess & Streetcar-

Setting that reflect different social attitudes;
Lighting- Both plays use the differences between the light and dark to reflect the characters
social attitudes and the difference between truth vs virtue, deception vs concealment
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Antonio adds to this by saying that
“she stains the time past and lights the time to come”, conveying the Duchess’s sense of virtue
and nobility, but also her incapability to live in the presence showing her naivety towards the
dangers that are to come (or maybe she uses the image of virtue and nobility to hide the fact
that she is careless and knows the many dangers that comes with the sacrifice of marrying
someone under her rank)
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Whereas, in Streetcar, Blanche is associated more with the darkness, which could be perceived
as her being a corrupt figure
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She uses the darkness at an advantage for her deceptive nature and; her
age, intentions, and guilt
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The dramatic device of the
paper lantern is used to show the characters internal emotions, the ones they choose to hide
away from the other characters
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After the
date in scene 6, Blanche admits to Mitch that “it was like you suddenly turned on a blinding
light on something that had been half in shadow”, implying that after sharing her past on the
suicide of her late husband, Allan Grey, that it showed a different association to light and dark
imagery making it about the reality of love compared to its ideal
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In both plays, women were seen to be dominated by men, which
adds to the characters need to hide their sexual desires from the central male characters
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The women feel like they need to conceal their female desires from the
masculine world
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At the end of Act 1, Cariola states “place thyself

behind the arras”, this is used as a dramatic device of concealment and secrecy
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However, it could also foreshadow the unveiling of
the wax figures later in the play, which implies that concealment ultimately leads to tragedy
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You could argue that “[the portieres]” acts as a metaphorical divide between
the male and female world
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However, “[Mitch…continues through the portieres]”, due to
the fact that Mitch repeatedly continues through these, shows that he has more of a feminine
nature and is more sympathetic to women
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Both of the women are of upper class
(Blanche and Stella), who had descended from former plantation owners
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Tapp argues that the use of the curtains “dramatizes the battle between
the sexes”
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From a Marxist perspective, class divisions can be seen as the source
of tragedy for the upper classes
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“it is fitting for a soldier to arise to be a prince, but not necessary for a prince
descend to a captain”, Castruchio suggests that Antonio should learn his place in society, which
also indicates that he is trying to keep people in their place and the hierarchy should be in a
“fixed order”
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Later in Act 1, when the Duchess confesses her love to Antonio, she says “Raise
yourself, or if you please my hand to help you: so”, when the Duchess marries Antonio, she
can’t have him down there physically or in rank
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In this case, we
can see that Castruchio is protecting the great chain of being by warning Antonio to not step
out of line however, the Duchess asks Antonio to rise to be by her side in marriage and in rank
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After the civil war and the world wars,
there was increasing conflict between the Old American (based on slavery and aristocracy) and
the modern age (based on industrialism and the working class)
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This
implies that she thinks of him to be stupid
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