Notesale: Turn your study into money

Document Preview

Extracts from the notes are below, to see the PDF you'll receive please use the links above

---

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Blanche DuBois
Stella Kowalski
Stanley Kowalski
Harold Mitchell (Mitch)
Eunice Hubbel
Steve Hubbel
Pablo Gonzales
Negro Woman
Doctor
Nurse
Young Man
A Mexican Woman
Scene One
-

“Elysian Fields” → location of heroes in the underworld, irony
“white”, “tender blue”, “turquoise” → importance of colour, ghostly charm,
juxtaposition of decaying city and vivacity of inhabitants
“‘blue piano’” → melancholic feel, influenced by memory of slavery,
depression
“one white and one coloured”, “relatively warm and easy intermingling of
races” → cultural diversity after WWII
Stanley = embodiment of noisy atmosphere, clothing denotes class
“red-stained package from a butcher’s
...
surrounding areas
dim out” → melancholic, representative of Blanche’s current feelings, Stella’s
house is location of majority of action
“stiffly”, “hunched”, “clutching” → portrayal of unease
“washes out the tumbler at the sink” → first indication of alcoholism,
concealment of troubles
“I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” → light = exposure, reluctant to
reveal herself even to her sister
describes Stella’s home as “these conditions” → unfair, contemptuous
“one’s my limit” → hiding her true self
“You haven’t said a word about my appearance” → accusatory, preoccupation
with appearance, patronising about Stella’s yet expects compliments

-

“Daylight never exposed so total a ruin!” → catastrophic, reveals an emotional
flamboyance
“I said stand up!” → mimics strict maternal relationship
“Dad died and you left us” → accusatory undercurrents, disagrees with
Stella’s decision to leave
“You see I still have that awful vanity” → only thing she has left, cannot
control anything else
“dutifully” → complies with those around her, submissive physically to
Stanley and intellectually to Blanche
“got to be with somebody, I can’t be alone!” → utter dependence on others,
emotional instability
“a different species” → animalistic attitudes of men in this area
“I guess that is what I meant by being in love” → love is a memory for
Blanche, has been alone for a long time
“all the burden descended on my own shoulders” → refusal to accept
responsibility
“music of the ‘blue piano’ grows louder” → reflects distress
“You’re a fine one to sit there accusing me of it!” → disconnected to reality,
presumptuous, blaming herself to others do not have to
emotional outburst → contrast to superficiality of previous exchanges,
revelation of Blanche’s true vulnerability
“funerals are pretty compared to deaths” → evidence that Blanche has
experienced death, coexistence of beauty and death
“Where were you
...
” “That’s right, they
certainly do
...
“dancing bear” → Blanche’s idealisation, trying to
change him
“My sister is going to have a baby!” → maternal instinct
“Poker shouldn’t be played in a house with women” → attributes Stanley’s
actions to gender differences
“ ‘Paper Doll’ ” → fragility and beauty, represents Blanche
“low, animal moans” → impulsive, symbolises primitive relationship

-

“I need kindness now” → sensitivity and relative delicacy of Mitch and
Blanche’s relationship compared to bestial attraction of Stella and Stanley

Scene Four
-

“confusion of street cries” → conflicting emotions of previous night,
highlights lack of understanding between characters
Stella’s peaceful appearance vs
...
don’t even admit your existence unless they are making love to you”
→ justification of actions, innate human need for love magnified by Blanche’s
tragic past
“I’m fading now!” → reliance on beauty/image
“turns on the light under the paper lantern” → translucent, truth can break
down image

-

“I want to deceive him enough to make him – want me” → believes she needs
to deceive in order to be accepted
“‘blue piano’” → fading looks accompanied by music
“You make my mouth water” → too flirtatious, inappropriate
“laughs uncomfortably” → audience feels his embarrassment
“She curtsies low” → fairytale connotations, highlights Blanche’s fluctuating
levels of confidence

Scene Six
-

-

“two a
...
”, “utter exhaustion” → time passing, Blanche is fading, in the
twilight of her years
“Is that streetcar named Desire still grinding along the tracks at this hour?” →
verbal choice deliberately foreshadows Blanche’s imminent difficulties, yet
currently nothing has changed
“a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she’ll
be lost!” → extreme dichotomy between true self and persona Blanche
presents to Mitch, irony, hypocrisy regarding her promiscuity
“Let’s leave the lights off” → needs to hide her age
“lights a candle stub” → creates an atmosphere of intimacy while concealing
her perceived flaws
speaks French → tease, knows Mitch is fixated upon her sophistication
“I am ashamed of the way I perspire” → reveals physical flaws
“old-fashioned ideals” → irony, pretence of innocence and naivety
“He is insufferably rude” → hopes to turn Mitch against Stanley, craves male
protection
revelation → as Blanche finally reveals her troubled past, audience gains an
understanding of her attitudes and emotions
“headlight of the locomotive glares into the room” → exposure of her past,
difficult to confront
“Polka music sounds, in a minor key” → Blanche is reliving painful past
experiences
“long, grateful sobs” → sense of relief, wants to feel the love she felt for her
first husband again, attraction to Mitch borne from his care for his mother

Scene Seven
-

“mid-September” → connotations of decay, decline, transition to autumn
“birthday supper, with cake and flowers” → celebratory surroundings contrast
to imminent action
“[mimicking]: Soaking in a hot tub?” → increasing tension
“Blanche is singing in the bathroom” → reminds audience of Blanche’s
oblivion, unaware that her past is being revealed
“it’s only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea” → fragility
“Just as phony as it can be”, “make-believe” → living a false life, imaginary
future that audience knows will never come to pass
“Dame Blanche” → mocking tone
“Which brings us to Lie Number Two” → glee, relishing opportunity to relay
Blanche’s scandalous past, revealing his cruelty and her hypocrisy
simultaneously

-

“Give me another bath-towel” → highlights lack of awareness of situation,
audience knows relationship has changed but Blanche does not, builds
complexity through revelations
“Automatically she starts sticking little pink candles in the birthday cake” →
attempt to disguise shocking revelations with celebration, denial, symbols of
innocence, Stella feels conflicted between husband and sister
“Mitch is a buddy of mine” → justification of actions, presented as loyalty as
opposed to spite
“Her future is mapped out for her” → idea of fate, tragedy, inevitable downfall
“almost a look of panic” → Blanche’s subconscious fear, constant haunting
worry of being exposed, absence from scene increases dramatic irony
“distant piano goes into a hectic breakdown” → revelation, exposure

Scene Eight
-

“Three quarters of an hour later”, “dusk” → Blanche’s facade is fading
opening stage directions describe fragmented light e
...
“pierced by pin-points
of lighted windows” → fracture, breakage, exposure
“fourth place at the table which is left vacant” → emphasises Mitch’s absence
“Stanley, tell us a joke” → inappropriateness of hilarity, joke followed by
violent outburst
“he eats with his fingers” → neanderthal
“them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much
around here!” → threatened by Blanche’s intellectual superiority
“Negro entertainers around the corner are heard” → contrasts with misery of
situation
“shakes her head helplessly”, “miserably” → no control, loves both Stanley
and Blanche in different ways
“it’s gonna be all right after she goes” → blames Blanche for deterioration of
relationship
“we can make noise in the night” → focus on physicality of relationship
instead of emotional aspect
“get the coloured lights going” → harsh, vivid, contrast to Blanche’s delicacy
“don’t burn them, Stella” → candles symbolise future, Blanche’s attempt to
prevent the inevitable, past manifests itself in fear of losing beautiful things
“candles aren’t safe
...
electric light-bulbs go on and
you see too plainly” → suggestion that life destroys innocence, love makes
someone vulnerable
“Goddamn, it’s hot in here with the steam from the bathroom” → tension
rising, inadvertently blaming Blanche
“I’m the team-captain, ain’t I?” → directed at Blanche, needs to prove
superiority
“drinking quietly from her tumbler of water” → first non-alcoholic drink,
maintaining appearance of strength
“‘Varsouviana’ music steals in softly” → unwanted, flashbacks
“nobody, was tender and trusting as she was
...
Brag
...
bull” → stilted, disjointed, emotionally unhinged
Blanche bathing → trying to wash away violation and shame
vivid description of clothing → obsession with appearance, articulate and
detailed, contrast to previously nonsensical dialogue
“red satin robe” → stained, no longer white
“‘Varsouviana’ rises audibly” → inescapable feelings of guilt, bedroom where
rape occurred
“his gaze is dissolved into space” → guilt, connection between Mitch and
Blanche
“a look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience shows on her
face” → evident emotional trauma, can no longer conceal it
“trip”, “vacation” → infantile vocabulary
“You’re both mistaken

---