A Streetcar Named Desire Notes PDF

A Streetcar Named Desire - by Tennessee Williams Sociopolitical Context: - Set in the aftermath of the American Civil War (therefore in the diverse setting of a poor section of New Orleans with a ‘warm and easy intermingling of races’). - The A...

A Streetcar Named Desire - by Tennessee Williams Sociopolitical Context: - Set in the aftermath of the American Civil War (therefore in the diverse setting of a poor section of New Orleans with a ‘warm and easy intermingling of races’). - The American Civil War was fought between the Northern and Southern states: mainly on the issue of the abolishment of slavery. - While slavery was no longer legal after the war ended, great importance continued to be placed on ancestry and heritage: this meant that racism remained prevalent (hence the Negro woman who doesn’t get an identity/ name, despite being there intermittently throughout the play. In the opening of Scene 1, when Stella is leaving her apartment to watch Stanley bowling, she says hello to Eunice, but doesn’t acknowledge the coloured woman). - New Orleans remained diverse with a large influx of immigrants. As seen in the play: European immigrants (Stanley - Polish), Cuban immigrants (Pablo Gonzales), the Tamale Vendor, African American immigrants (the unnamed Negro Woman & the use of blues music; representative of their culture) and the Mexican woman in Scene 10 (outside, when Mitch shows up drunk to talk to Blanche). Setting: The play is set in the ‘Deep South’. - Through Blanche we learn about Mississippi and the old ways of intolerance towards differences and “Others” (Blanche’s insular upper-class background is highlighted through her ignorance about  different cultures/ races; as well as her discomfort around the people of Elysian Fields). - Blanche’s social class becomes one of the elements leading to conflict between Blanche and Stanley. The Old South and the New South: - Stella and Blanche belong to a world, which is rapidly dying. - The two sisters are the last living members of their family. Belle Reve, their family's ancestral plantation, was lost symbolically of their old world of cavaliers and cotton fields. - Blanche and Stanley become representative of the Old South and the New South, respectively. This is another reason for conflict between Blanche and Stanley. Elysian Fields: - In Greek mythology, Elysian Fields was an afterlife, similar to the modern Abrahamic concept of Heaven. - The irony of the setting: a heaven like afterlife or paradise full of hedonism, normalised domestic violence; where Blanche comes to be rescued from her past, only to enter a world that facilitates her descent into madness. - In mythology, before entering Elysian Fields (also known as Elysium), would drink from river Lethe: making them forget their mortal life (a parallel to Blanche wanting to forget/ leave behind her past, perhaps). [Note: There are Elysian Fields in New Orleans, Mississippi and Texas – all three states referred to in the play]. Williams is highly detailed in identifying his setting—not just New Orleans but a specific address in that city: 632 Elysian Fields Avenue, “running between the L & N [railroad] tracks and the [Mississippi] River,” adjacent to the French Quarter. An actual street in New Orleans, Elysian Fields was named after the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris, but unlike that elegant French boulevard of shops and restaurants, it was always a mixed commercial and residential area for the working classes. Developed in the second half of the 19th century, this section of Elysian Fields had become a particularly low-rent neighbourhood by the time of the play. So, the street where Stella lives, like Stella herself, possesses a grander, old-world heritage that has fallen in status. Historical Context: France and Poland in WW2: - Blanche is French, Stanley is Polish. - France and Poland were allies in WW2. - However, when Germany attacked Poland, France’s military did not live up to its promises. Poland and Austria in WW2: - The Austro-Polish War, or Polish-Austrian War was a part of the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809 (A coalition of the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom, against Napoleon’s French Empire and allied states) Williams alludes to these historic reasons for conflict between Stanley and Blanche in the play: Stanley’s reference to the Napoleonic Code in Scene 2, also historically references the Polish-France ally (gone sour), a Civil Code established in 1804. In Scene 3, when Blanche turns on the radio (the time before Stanley “snatches” it from her and “tosses” it out of the window), the radio is playing an Austrian song “Wien, Wien, nur du allein”. Race: 1940s America was not free of discrimination or prejudice; however, New Orleans presented the possibility of a harmonious existence amongst races. Thus, Blanche is a stranger to New Orleans. She arrives, bringing with her traditional notions of superiority. The “Negro woman” and “Mexican woman” use language, slang and dialect relevant to their cultures. The blue piano (blues music) is associated with African American culture. Williams does not focus on racism associated with African-Americans at the time; rather, he focuses on racism directed towards European immigrants through the Kowalski-DuBois conflict. Socioeconomic Context: Class Differences: Characters in the play are attached with their social class and they believe as their social class. On being a ‘refined’ Southern belle who  appreciates the finer things in life, such as art and poetry Blanche bases her identity. But Blanche's upper-class sensibilities contrast with the Kowalskis' working-class life in Elysian Fields. Blanche's insistence of being superior to Stanley as he is low-class motivates him to destroy her (“little boy’s mind of yours”, “I guess he’s not the type that goes for jasmine perfume”, “Well – if you’ll forgive me – he’s common”). Characters Blanche DuBois From the start, Blanche appears “incongruous to this setting”. This incongruity emphasizes the clash of the rural Old South with the industrial New South, the past’s inexorable yielding to the present and the decline of illusion and magic in the face of reality. The anti-hero of the play. A Southern Belle with aristocratic heritage. Stella’s older sister, about thirty years old, was a high school English teacher in Laurel, Mississippi until recently forced to leave her position. Blanche is nervous and appears constantly on edge, as though any slight disturbance could shatter her sanity. When she is first introduced, she conducts herself with an “uncertain manner” representative of her anxious disposition from the very beginning of the play. By her own admission, Blanche leaves Laurel because she was “on the verge of lunacy” and “can’t be alone!”. As a young woman, she married a man Allan Grey) she later discovered to be homosexual, and who committed suicide after that discovery. Blanche holds herself responsible for the death of Allan, and due to this and the nature of his death, she is still haunted by memories of the night he died. When Blanche arrives at the Kowalskis’ apartment she has spiralled into a pattern of notorious promiscuity and alcoholism, and wants to break this cycle (whilst keeping that part of her past hidden/ leaving it behind).  She has lost Belle Reve, the family plantation, due to a string of mortgages: “How in the hell do you think all that sickness was paid for? Death is expensive, Miss Stella”. Experiences a multitude of insecurities in addition to her trauma, now that she’s lost her home and her job (and her marriage and first love - which she blames herself for). She clings on to her depleting beauty, as her only source of self-worth. She constantly needs this to be reaffirmed and validated externally; especially by men [It is therefore noteworthy that Stanley does not give Blanche the validation that she needs with regards to her beauty and feminine charm and likability]. Post the death of Allan, followed by Stella leaving Belle Reve, the summer after Blanche and Stella’s father died, Blanche becomes incredibly lonely/ feels isolated and abandoned. Leading to her being inappropriately flirtatious and seductive, a learnt behaviour as “intimacies with strangers if all [she] seemed able to fill [her] empty heart with”. Blanche suffers from from post traumatic stress: her anxious predisposition, sensitivity to sound (she jolts at the screeching cat and tamale vendor in Scenes 1 and 2, respectively), fear response to the locomotive (Scene 6 onwards: ‘Blanche crouches, pressing her fists to her ears’) and the Varsouviana polka that plays in her mind: a reminder of the night Allan died. Blanche holds onto the delusional belief of Shep Huntleigh as her omnipotent saviour; although there is no actual evidence that he exists, and if she does, he is married (as Blanche herself relates).  Blanche is in an internal struggle between her authentic self and the need to adhere to a society that expects women to exhibit certain behaviours; consequentially frowning upon women that mirrored behaviours that were predominantly associated with men (for e.g. Blanche’s alcohol dependence is heavily scrutinised – we understand this from her constant need to hide how much she drinks/ that she enjoys alcohol. However, the hedonistic behaviour of the men in the play (Scene 3) is normalised. As a consequence of the society she is a part of, Blanche begins to believe that “a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion” and that it is the “law of nature” that “the lady must entertain the gentleman – or no dice!”. The name Blanche is derived from the French word “white”, which is a colour usually symbolic of purity. This nomenclature is ironic as it would be a very inaccurate representation of Blanche’s character (at least for the time and society she lived in). However, it may also be indicative of her being the embodiment of the closest thing to purity in New Orleans. “DuBois” means “of wood”. Wood Is a strong and relatively durable material. Once again, this ironically contradicts Blanche’s emotional fragility and crippling sense of self. However, in the end, it is true that Blanche (despite her dissociative state) is able to hold her ground and remain in her truth: “Whoever you are – I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”. Relationship with Stanley: - Stanley’s animalistic and primitive nature is the opposite of what Blanche appreciates in a man and expects a man to behave like. - To Blanche, Stanley is an uncivilised, brutish man, who’s growing aggression horrifies Blanche. - It is notable that Blanche takes every chance she can to belittle Stanley: often using the phrase ‘little boy’ in reference to him & making comments suggesting the difference in her upper-class upbringing and Stanley’s working-class lifestyle (after Stanley overhears her calling him “common” and an “animal” – there is increased conflict between the two). - “He hates me. Or why would he insult me? The first time I laid eyes on him, I thought to myself, that man is an executioner! That man will destroy me […]” – Blanche tells Mitch, foreshadowing the tragic climax of the play. Stanley makes it his mission to expose aspects and episodes of Blanche’s past and Blanche chooses to keep hidden. He does so in an extremely exaggerated manner in Scene 7, claiming it would remain on his conscience if he knew this information, and did not save his “best friend”, Mitch from her snares. Stanley’s reasons for wanting to do this to Blanche: “That girl calls me common!”. Stanley also feels Blanche is encouraging Stella to look down on him: “Pig – Polack – disgusting – vulgar – greasy – them kinds of words have been on your tongue and your sister’s too much around here”. Additionally, Stanley and Blanche’s ideologies clash in that she prefers to be “fifty percent” illusion and doesn’t want realism and wants “magic”. Stanley, on the other hand, is representative of the brutal realities of the world: In Scene 1 Stanley holds the bottle of alcohol ‘to the light’ to observe its depletion. Furthemore, in Scene 2 while talking to Stella about the Napoleonic code, Stanley says: “let me enlighten you”. These phrases that indicate Stanley’s need to bring this to ‘light’ directly contrast Blanche’s need to ‘avoid a strong light’. Relationship with Stella: - Stella is all that Blanche has left. We see that Blanche sees Stella as her last hope when they first interact in the play and Blanche says, “Stella for Star” – Blanche sees Stella as her final beacon of light and hope (stars are something we wish upon). - Due to her generally compliant nature, Blanche often commands interaction between the two sisters. - Despite Stella’s sensitivity towards Blanche’s condition and Blanche’s needs, her desire for Stanley supersedes her relationship with Blanche. - Furthermore, being pregnant, Stella is now entirely financially dependent on Stanley for her child’s upbringing and future. - Due to her desire for Stanley, their primitive love, and her dependency on him, Stella repeatedly dismisses Blanche’s concerns about Stanley’s behaviour and aggression. In these moments, Stella is essentially ‘choosing’ Stanley over Blanche (which becomes an additional environmental trigger leading to the further deterioration of Blanche’s mental health). - Ultimately, Stella chooses not to believe Blanche after Stanley rapes Blanche (Scene 11). Her reasoning being that she would not be able to  continue to live with Stanley if she believed Blanche. She sends Blanche away to a mental asylum. Relationship with Mitch: - Blanche and Mitch are both attracted to each other the first time they see each other. - Blanche immediately notices Mitch’s sensitive nature and good manners: “That one seems – superior to the others”. - Although the class difference between Blanche and Mitch is apparent through the awkward moments in their interactions (they are never at the same wavelength: Either Blanche is speaking and Mitch cannot contribute to the conversation very much, or Mitch commands the conversation and Blanche remains confused throughout that particular interaction). - Due to the fact that Blanche and Mitch have the shared experience of losing a person they loved, Mitch is able to sympathise with Blanche’s past (w/ regards to Allan) and show compassion towards her (though, it seems that Mitch’s compassion may actually stem from his own fear of being lonely, and need for someone). - Mitch proves to be a source of validation and security for Blanche (initially), however their relationship takes an unpleasant turn when Stanley intervenes, telling Mitch about Blanche’s behaviour post the death of her ex-husband Allan. - Blanche sees Mitch as a way to redeem herself and absolve her of her past mistakes – this leads to her leading Mitch on despite the fact that they are mismatched in many ways. Mitch, too, ignores the differences between Blanche and him, as his fear of being alone  suppresses his understanding of the impact of the differences between them. - When Mitch learns about Blanche’s promiscuity and alcoholism; he no longer sees her in the same light. The Young Man – A collector of subscriptions for the newspaper (The Evening Star - motif of stars) whom Blanche kisses (without waiting for his consent). Stanley Kowalski - Stella’s husband is full of raw strength, ferocity, violent masculinity, and animal magnetism. - He wears lurid colours and parades his physicality, stripping off sweaty shirts and smashing objects throughout the play (notice the aggressive verbs and adverbs associated with Stanley, via stage directions, throughout the play: “hurls”, “jerks, “shoves”, “throws”, “snatches”, “rips”, “seizes”, “spears”, “slams”). - Fought in WW2, working class man of immigrant descent: already many reasons to not get along with Blanche, before even interacting with her. - Hypermasculine, animalistic, deprecatory/ misogynistic: believes in male superiority (his quintessential disrespect and misogyny can be seen as he shouts at Stella and Blanche during the poker game in Scene 3 and then goes on to beat Stella. Furthermore, his tonality when speaking to Stella about the Napoleonic code is demeaning and has an air of superiority). He also quotes Huey Long saying “Every man is King!” - highlighting his patriarchal belief system.  - Symbolic of: the rising working class, the American dream, patriarchy and hegemonic masculinity. Relationship with Stella - Stella is the soft, feminine foil to his violent ways. Their connection is indeed, as Blanche says derisively, “subhuman”: their physical relationship creates a deep physical bond between them. However, Stella obscures this for “love”. As for Stanley, it is unclear whether he is able to actually feel the human construct of ‘love’; their relationship is highly based on their physical attraction for each other. - Stanley dominates Stella: she is drawn into the magnetic pull of his powerful physical presence. He often speaks to her in a derogatory tone and makes her feel like she is less than him; and most definitely believes that she is: “Where's the little woman?”. - Stanley’s repeating reference to Stella as his “doll”, dehumanises her. His reference to her as his “baby” is also reflective of the understanding he has of her dependency on him (which she herself highlights to Blanche when they talk about Stanley and how when he returns from travelling she cries on his lap like a baby). - By modern-day standards, Stella is the victim of domestic violence, but in the play, her decision to return to Stanley even after he hits her is not judged as definitively right or wrong – in New Orleans, violence is normalised; and most of Stanley’s behaviours are justified or ignored by those surrounding him. Relationship with Blanche - Stanley harbours a hatred towards Blanche: he feels threatened by her presence (as it threatens his authority), and immediately develops a sense of distrust towards her. - Blanche represents a class and society that Stanley cannot fully understand and does not belong to (and vice-versa). - Even though Stanley knows that even Stella comes from the same background as Blanche, Stella is extremely submissive in their relationship; unlike Blanche. - In the play’s climax, Stanley rapes Blanche while Stella is in the hospital having the baby. This is Stanley’s brutal way of finally overpowering Blanche. Stella Kowalski - Stella is Blanche DuBois’s younger sister and Stanley Kowalski’s wife. - She is the emotional centre of the play. She is gentle and a passive homemaker – but her compliant nature stems from a place of denial and extreme compartmentalisation; to the point where she doesn’t listen to Blanche when she’s “being morbid”, defies Stanley’s recital of Blanche’s past, almost instantly without thought: “What – contemptible – lies”. Eventually, this is the same behaviour that leads to Stella being able to ignore the fact that Stanley has raped his sister: “I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley”. - Stella is the calm foil to Blanche’s frenetic hysteria: most likely because of the aforementioned compartmentalisation, as well as the literal grooming of her by Stanley to suppress her emotions (unless they translate to sex). She is a mediator that counteracts Stanley’s  violence. However, her desire for and dependence on Stanley transcends her logic. - Stella’s pregnancy underscores her commitment to her Kowalski future, not her DuBois past. - Stella is symbolic of the subjugated and dependent woman of the 1940’s. - Stella chooses Stanley over Blanche, in an attempt to be more pragmatic. It seems like Stanley’s cruelty only begins to dawn on Stella in Scene 7 and 8 – unfortunately, towards the end of Scene 8, Stella goes into labour. She is now completely dependent on Stanley, and the realisation of the level of brutality he can display in order to emerge victorious (even at the expense of those closest to him) dawns on Stella a little too late. Harold Mitchell (Mitch) - The “gentleman” of Stanley’s poker-playing friends. Even though Mitch might be the most refined male character of Stanley’s group of friends, it is clear that his ‘Stanley-like’ behaviours are just suppressed. He does normalise violence as well, telling Blanche not to worry about the fact that Stanley beat Stella up, because they are crazy about each other (and so therefore, the violence is irrelevant). - It starts to become apparent that Mitch’s attraction towards Blanche is not only for the wrong reasons (i.e. he doesn’t want to be lonely/ his dying mother wants to see him settle down before she passes/ he needs someone and she needs someone, therefore, why not?), but also Mitch is in fact also motivated by his sexual desire for Blanche. In Scene 6, when Mitch asks Blanche if he can kiss her because on their  previous date he wasn’t sure whether that was something she wanted, Blanche reveals that it was not the kiss she resented, but the “other familiarity”. This statement by Blanche is indicative of the fact that Mitch wanted to initiate further intimacy than just the kiss – the irony of that being that the minute he finds out about her promiscuity, she is no longer “clean enough to bring in the house with [his] mother”. Mitch himself cannot adhere to the more Christian thing to do, i.e. marry her before they indulge in any further physical intimacy. Other indications of Mitch’s double standards, sexually motivated behaviours: - in Scene 6 he is bearing “a plaster statuette of Mae West”. Mae West was considered a sex symbol. Mitch holding this statuette may be indicative that he is not as innocent as he seems, or, could also be indicative of the way that he views Blanche. - Additionally, in Scene 6, when Blanche asks Mitch to let go of her waist (twice), instead of just doing so, he comments: “Just slap me whenever I step out of bounds”. It is almost as though Mitch hopes and believes that he can make Blanche give into her physical desires, if he is given the chance to. - In Scene 9 when Mitch shows up at Stanley and Stella’s apartment drunk after finding out about Blanche’s past, he tells her that he doesn’t intend to marry her but has come over for “What [he has] been missing all summer”. Blanche eventually has to go to the window of the apartment and start screaming “fire” as it becomes clearer to her that Mitch’s poses a threat. - Mitch brags about his body to Blanche and insists on his precise measurements (six foot one, two hundred seven pounds – Scene 6).  Even though Mitch isn’t as violently male as Stanley, he is just as imposing a physical specimen. Blanche sees Mitch as male enough to radiate a carnal attractiveness, but not physically or psychologically dangerous in the way that Stanley is. Eunice - Steve’s wife and the Kowalskis’ upstairs neighbour. - Eunice is vivacious, earthy, and practical. She and Steve constantly fight and make up. Eunice is also in a physically abusive relationship with her husband. However, Eunice beats her husband back. This reiterates the notion of normalised violence in New Orleans, whilst simultaneously presenting Steve and Eunice as foil to Stanley and Stella. Their relationship suggests that even if there is an agreeability and normalised violence, the disparity between their values as the man and the woman in the relationship is not like Stanley and Stella’s (where there is clearly one dominant and one submissive individual). - A close friend of Stella, who offers her refuge when Stanley beats her up. Steve - Eunice’s husband and the Kowalskis’ upstairs neighbour. - Steve is one of Stanley’s poker-playing and bowling friends. - He is brash, hot-tempered, and somewhat comic, and he and Eunice constantly fight and make up. Pablo – Another one of Stanley’s poker-playing friends. Negro Woman – A neighbour who is chatting with Eunice when Blanche arrives at Elysian Fields for the first time. Remains unnamed throughout the play [the prevalence of racism/ insignificance of her identity i.e. the presence of diversity does not mean the exclusion of racism]. Mexican Woman - A street vendor who comes to the apartment to sell “Flores para los muertos” (which translates to ‘flowers for the dead’), frightening Blanche. - She acts as one of the triggers for Blanche’s mental breakdown, reminding her of her past and foreshadowing her future. - Her presence in Scene 9 may be indicative of the death of Blanche and Mitch’s relationship (contrasting Scene 5 where Mitch comes to Blanche with roses; “My Rosenkavalier”; now there are ‘flowers for the dead’) Allan Gray - Unseen yet omnipresent due to his significance in Blanche’s past. - Blanche’s ex-husband who committed suicide ( as a consequence being a gay man in the 1940s). His death was brutal: he stuck a gun in his mouth and shot himself, so that the back of his head had blown off. - Allan shot himself after Blanche told him that she saw him having sex with an older man, and that she is disgusted: “I know [..] you disgust me”. Blanche relays that she was unable to stop herself when she said this, recognising her impulsivity in that moment and therefore, feels responsible for Allan’s death, leading to the beginning of her downward spiral. In actuality, Blanche’s response could be a normal emotional reaction to the betrayal and loss of love that she experienced when she found her husband in bed with another person (irrespective of sexuality/ sexual preference). Allan’s response to Blanche’s comment, shooting himself, becomes a consequence of the society and laws of the time. Blanche’s attraction to younger boys stems from her need to seek out Allan in her partners. Feeling responsible for Allan’s death, Blanche does not ever get closure from this. Since Allan killed himself at a young age, Blanche’s only memory of Allan is that of a young man. She therefore has a tendency to find younger men attractive, leading to her getting fired from her job at the school (for becoming involved with a seventeen year old boy). Shep Huntleigh - A past suitor of Blanche, who she ran into in Miami, a year before the play begins. Blanche views Shep as her omnipotent rescuer (though he isn’t actually present at any time during the course of the play). - Shep becomes another indicator of Blanche’s need to escape the world she is in – he is representative of a better life. While Shep represents Blanche’s hope for a better life, he also becomes symbolic of her growing dissociative state and the loss of her grasp over reality at the end of the play. - Blanche brings up Shep in conversation with Stella (after Stanley beats Stella up). Blanche refers to Shep as a person who can give herself and Stella monetary assistance, in order to get away from Stanley and leave Elysian Fields. Symbols & Motifs: The Streetcar Williams called the streetcar the “ideal metaphor for the human condition.” The play’s title refers not only to a real streetcar line in New Orleans but also symbolically to the power of desire as the driving force behind the characters’ actions. Blanche’s journey on Desire through Cemeteries to Elysian Fields is both literal and allegorical. Desire is a controlling force: when it takes over, characters must submit to its power, and they are carried along to the end of the line. Varsouviana Polka (plastic theatre) - Blanche’s inability to escape her past. - Blanche associates the polka with her young husband’s suicide. - Blanche and her husband were dancing the polka when she lashed out at him for his homosexual behaviour, and he left the dance floor and shot himself. - The music plays when Blanche is reminded of her husband in specific or when she is particularly disturbed by the past in general. The polka continues until some event in the real world distracts her or until a gunshot goes off in her memory. - Although the polka plays in Blanche’s mind, and she is the only character onstage who hears the tune, the audience also hears the polka when she hears it: it becomes indicative of her mental state (revealing that to the audience). - The polka is effectively a post-trauma reliving of the memory. Bathing - Blanche takes frequent baths throughout the play to “soothe her nerves.”  - Bathing is an escape from the sweaty apartment: rather than confront her physical body in the light of day, Blanche retreats to the water to attempt to cleanse herself and forget reality. - Blanche also seeks rejuvenation, as though the bathwater were a Fountain of Youth (hiding the fact that her beauty is depleting as she grows older). - Although bathing may provide a temporary respite, she can never escape the past. In contrast with Blanche’s use of bathing to escape reality, the men dunk Stanley in the shower to sober him up so that he faces the real world. Paper Lantern and Paper Moon - The paper lantern over the light bulb represents Blanche’s attempt to mask both her sordid past and her present appearance. The lantern diffuses the stark light, but it’s only a temporary solution that can be ripped off at any moment. - Mitch hangs up the lantern, and Blanche is able to maintain her pose of the naïve Southern belle with him, but it is only a façade. - After Stanley has told Mitch about Blanche’s past, Mitch angrily tears the lantern off so he can see Blanche’s face, and she cries, “I don’t want realism––I want magic!” - At the end of the play, Stanley takes off the paper lantern and presents it to Blanche. - While Stanley tells Stella about Blanche’s sordid history (Scene 7), Blanche sings this saccharine popular song, Paper Moon, about a paper (fictional/ illusion-based) world that becomes a reality through  love: ‘popular ballad which is used contrapuntally with Stanley’s speech’ Alcoholism - Both Stanley and Blanche drink frequently throughout the play. - When Stanley gets drunk, his masculinity becomes exaggerated: he grows increasingly physical, violent, and brutal. - Stanley makes a show of drinking, swaggering and openly pouring himself shots. - Blanche hides her alcoholism (she lies to Stella about having had a drink before Stella comes home in Scene 1), constantly claiming that she rarely drinks while secretly sneaking frequent shots. - She uses drinking as a coping mechanism/ escapism. - The way in which alcohol is used by Stanley and Blanche, but the different responses that their consumption would mean in society at the time highlights the gender constructs of the time through its double standards. Shadows - Shadows represent the dream-world and the escape from the light of day. - Initially, Blanche seeks the refuge of shadows and half-light to hide from the harsh facts of the real world. When Blanche first sees Stella, she insists that Stella turn the overhead light off: “I don’t want to be looked at in this merciless glare!” - However, at the end of the play, shadows become menacing to Blanche; such as in Scene 10: ‘The shadows are of a grotesque and menacing form’; ‘the shadows and lurid reflections move sinuously’.  - When Stanley approaches Blanche to rape her, his shadows overtake hers on the wall before he physically overpowers her. - In the play’s final scene, when the Doctor and Matron come to escort Blanche to the asylum, shadows contribute to the jungle-like, mad atmosphere. Rather than representing a longed-for escape from reality, shadows become a threatening element. Light - Throughout the play, Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light, especially in front of her suitor, Mitch. She also refuses to reveal her age, and it is clear that she avoids light in order to prevent him from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. - In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanche’s past. She is haunted by the ghosts of what she has lost—her first love, her purpose in life, her dignity, and the genteel society (real or imagined) of her ancestors. - Blanche covers the exposed lightbulb in the Kowalski apartment with a Chinese paper lantern, and she refuses to go on dates with Mitch during the daytime or to well-lit locations. - Mitch points out Blanche’s avoidance of light in Scene 9 – “I’ve never seen you in the afternoon” – when he confronts her with the stories Stanley has told him of her past. Mitch then forces Blanche to stand under the direct light. When he tells her that he doesn’t mind her age, just her deceitfulness, Blanche responds by saying that she doesn’t mean any harm. She believes that magic, rather than reality, represents life as it ought to be. Blanche’s inability to tolerate light means that her grasp on reality is also nearing its end.  - In Scene 6, Blanche tells Mitch that being in love with her husband, Allan Grey, was like having the world revealed in bright, vivid light: “it was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on”. This shows Blanche’s once positive association with light (being representative of love). Since Allan’s suicide, Blanche says, the bright light has been missing. Through all of Blanche’s inconsequential sexual affairs with other men, she has experienced only dim light. Bright light, therefore, represents Blanche’s youthful sexual innocence, while dim light represents her sexual maturity and disillusionment. Truth/ Fantasy/Illusion & Delusion - Blanche treats illusion as her primary means of self-defence. No trace of malice is carried by her deceits. They emerge from her weakness and inability to confront the truth head-on. - She is a quixotic figure that sees the world as it is but as it ought to be. She has a fantasy of liberating magic which protects her from the tragedies which she had to tolerate. - Throughout the entire play, we can find Blanche's dependence on illusion which is totally contrasted with Stanley's steadfast realism. At the final scene of the play Stanley and his worldview wins. - The tension between fantasy and reality centres on Blanche’s relationship with both other characters and the world around her. Blanche doesn’t want realism––she wants magic––but magic must yield to the light of day. This is reflected in the parrot story that Blanche tells in Scene 8.  - Although Blanch tries to wrap herself in the trappings of her former Southern belle self, she must eventually face facts, and the real-world eclipses and shatters Blanche’s fantasies. - Throughout the play, Blanche only appears in semi-darkness and shadows, deliberately keeping herself out of the harsh glare of reality. - She clings to the false, illusory world of paper lanterns and satin robes: if she can keep up the appearance of being an innocent ingénue, she can continue to see herself in this fashion rather than face her checkered past and destitute present. By maintaining an illusory exterior appearance, Blanche hopes to hide her troubled interior from both herself and the world at large. - When Stanley tells Stella the sordid details of Blanche’s past, Blanche is offstage bathing and singing “Paper Moon,” a song about a make-believe world that becomes reality through love. But Blanche’s make-believe world does not overtake reality: her fantasy version of herself crumbles. - At the end of the play, Blanche is taken to a mental asylum, permanently removed from reality to her own mind. Loneliness This is the main companion theme to desire which Blanche lost between these two extremes. In the arms of strangers, she seeks companionship and protection desperately. On the other hand, she has never overcome her tragic and consuming love for her first husband. Blanche needs a defender but she could not find the predatory and merciless Stanley. Desire - Though Blanche tries to deny it, we come to know later in the play that desire as one of her driving motivations; her desires compelled her to be driven out of town. - The heart of Stella and Stanley's relationship is Physical desire, and not intellectual or spiritual intimacy, but Williams clarifies that this does not impact their bond to be any weaker. - There is another problem of Blanche i.e. her inability to find a healthy way to deal with her natural urges. She always tries to suppress her natural urges as well as pursue them with abandon. - Many critics believe that Williams invented the idea of desire for the 20th century. The power of sexual desire is prominent in the play. Every character is madly driven by “that rattle-trap street-car” in different ways. Throughout the play, sexual desire leads to destruction. - Sexual desire and violence are yoked even in supposedly loving relationships: Stanley hits Stella, and Steve beats Eunice. A chain reaction culminating in the loss of the family estate was created by the “epic fornications” of the DuBois. - Blanche’s pursuit of sexual desire resulted in the loss of Belle Reve, her expulsion from Laurel, and her eventual expulsion from society. - Stanley’s voracious carnal desire leads him to rape Blanche. - The reason behind the suicide of Blanche’s husband is his unacceptable desire homosexual. - Much of Blanche’s conception of how she operates in the world relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire. Her interactions with men always begin with flirtation. - Blanche tells Stella that she and Stanley smoothed things over when she began to flirt with him. - When Blanche meets Stanley’s poker-playing friends, she lights upon Mitch as a possible suitor and adopts the guise of a chaste lover for him to pursue. - Blanche nearly attacks the Young Man with her aggressive sexuality, flirting heavily with him and kissing him. - Blanche dresses provocatively in red satin, silks, costume jewelry, etc: she calls attention to her body and her femininity through her carefully cultivated appearance. Blanche clings to her sexuality more and more desperately as the play progresses. To Blanche, perhaps motivated by her discovery that her first husband was in fact homosexual, losing her desirability is akin to losing her identity and her reason to live. - Stella’s desire for Stanley pulls her away from Belle Reve and her past. Stella is drawn to Stanley’s brute, animal sexuality, and he is drawn to her traditional, domestic, feminine sexuality. Stella is pregnant: her sexuality is deeply tied to both womanliness and motherhood. Even though Stanley is violent to Stella, their sexual dynamic keeps them together. When Blanche is horrified that Stanley beats Stella, Stella explains that the things that a man and a woman do together in the dark maintain their relationship.  - Stanley’s sexuality and his masculinity are extremely interconnected: he radiates a raw, violent, brute animal magnetism. Stanley’s sexuality asserts itself violently over both Stella and Blanche. Although he hits Stella, she continues to stay with him and to submit to his force. While Stella is at the hospital giving birth to his child, Stanley rapes Blanche: the culmination of his sexual act with Stella coincides with the tragic culmination of his destined date with Blanche. - Throughout the play, sexual desire is linked to destruction. Masculinity and Physicality Masculinity, particularly in Stanley, is linked to the idea of a brute, aggressive, animal force as well as carnal lust. His brute strength is emphasized frequently throughout, and he asserts dominance aggressively through loud actions and violence. Even his clothing is forceful: he dresses in bright, lurid colours. Stanley’s masculinity is deeply connected to the sub-human. Williams describes him as a “richly feathered bird among hens” and a “gaudy seed bearer”. Stanley asserts his masculinity physically as well as psychologically. Physically, he bellows in a sort of animal mating call at Stella. He also forces himself upon Blanche. Psychologically, he investigates Blanche’s sordid past and brings it into the limelight, airing Blanche’s dirty laundry (both literally and metaphorically) to affirm his position as not only the alpha male but also the head of the household. Yet although Stanley is aggressively animal in his male nature, his masculinity also asserts itself in his response to the feminine. Stanley is a prime specimen of manhood, but he is not a gentleman. Stanley represents the powerfully attractive but powerfully frightening threat of masculinity. Cruelty - According to Blanche the only unforgivable crime is deliberate cruelty. Stanley specialized in this sin. A merciless attack against an already-beaten foe was his final assault against Blanche. - On the contrary Blanche though, dishonest she never lies out of malice. Her seeming cruelty and insensitivity is often without any malicious intention; but a consequence of a dysregulated self – deeply affected by her anxious predisposition due to her traumatic past. - In a vain or misguided effort to please – to appear to be more desirable – she lies. From Blanche's well-intentioned deceits to Stella to deceive self-treachery to Stanley's deliberate and unchecked malice we come across the full range of cruelty in the whole play. There are various ways to hurt someone in Williams' plays and it may be noticed that some are worse than others. Femininity and Dependence Blanche and Stella demonstrate two different types of femininity in the play, yet both find themselves dependent on men. Both Blanche and Stella define themselves in terms of the men in their lives, and they see relationships with men as the only avenue for happiness and fulfillment. Blanche is a fading Southern belle who clings to coquettish trappings, preferring ‘magic’ and the night to reality and the light of day. She performs a delicate, innocent version of femininity because she believes that this makes her most attractive to men. Blanche insists that Stella should attempt to get away from the physically abusive Stanley, but her solution also involves dependence on men, as she proposes that they contact the Dallas millionaire Shep Huntleigh for financial assistance. Blanche’s tragic marriage in her youth has led her to seek emotional fulfilment through relationships with men, and men have taken advantage of her nervous, fragile state. Even though Blanche’s first marriage ended disastrously, she sees marriage as her only path. Blanche views Mitch as a refuge and a way to rejuvenate her shattered life. Although Blanche’s sexual exploits make the other characters perceive her as a shameful, fallen woman, these same characteristics are seen as conferring strength and power in Stanley. Stella chooses her physical love for and dependence on Stanley over Blanche. Even though Stanley hits her, her relationship with Stanley is “not in something she wants to get out of”, as she explains to Blanche in Scene 4. Eunice demonstrates a similar, practical reliance on men, and she convinces Stella that she has made the right decision by staying with Stanley rather than believing Blanche’s story about the rape. Two different types of femininity in the play, yet both find themselves dependent on men are demonstrated by Blanche and Stella. A Timeline – Key Events Scene 1: - An early evening in May, Blanche arrives at Elysian Fields in New Orleans. - She is disconcerted to discover that her sister Stella (who she has come to stay with) lives with Stanley Kowalski the son of Polish immigrants & has a small two-bedroom apartment. - The description of Elysian Fields contrasts beauty with decay: it is ‘weathered’ but has a ‘raffish charm’; the staircase outside is ‘rickety’ but there are ‘quaintly ornamented gables’. [Note: in the opening stage directions notice: beauty vs. decay, sensory imagery, and imagery related to diversity – creating an environment and setting that is very different to what Blanche is used to]. - It immediately becomes obvious that Blanche is extremely preoccupied with her beauty: she cannot be seen in strong light (for the depletion of her beauty may become visible); she takes pride in telling Stella that she hasn’t gained an ounce in ten years. She also unnecessarily comments on Stella’s body, saying that she has become as plump as a partridge – but that it is so becoming of her (Stella is pregnant but Blanche doesn’t know this yet). Blanche projects her insecurities related to her own beauty onto Stella. - Blanche defensively confesses that she has lost Belle Reve. [Note: Blanche has an outburst in which she confesses that she feels abandoned by Stella. Many people – family members – died at Belle Reve, and while Stella came for the funerals, she was not there for the deaths. While funerals are silent; deaths are not – Blanche says].  - By this point Blanche is already a bit sus as she’s lied about her little whiskey stint; so the audience might question whether she’s telling the truth about Belle Reve as she’s not exactly the most reliable character (she is telling the truth, but we don’t know this for sure till Stanley rummages through all her things, pushes her to the brink of ourburst #2 by manhandling her letters from her ex-husband; which happens in Scene 2). - Stanley accepts Blanche’s presence with good humour (not for long) but little ceremony. She is ruffled by his lack of refinement. - She reveals that she was married when very young and that her husband died. Quotes: Stella: Can I come watch? [Her appearance is incongruous to this setting [...] Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light [...] She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice […] earrings of Pearl, white glove and hat [...] her uncertain manner and white clothes [...] suggests a moth] Blanche: They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemetries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields. ‘She showed me a picture of your home-place, the plantation’ ‘A great big place with white columns’ (Eunice to Blanche about Belle Reve). ‘Stella for Star’ Blanche repeatedly utters the phrase ‘Stella for Star’. The name Stella originates from the Latin word for star. Stars are symbolic of light and hope. Blanche views Stella as her last hope at life and stability. Blanche: What are you Blanche’s inability to doing in a place like understand why Stella this? would choose a life like she has in New Orleans. Blanche’s insular upper class upbringing has prevented her from ever being exposed to a social circle like Stella’s in Elysian field/ or having lived in something of the likes of a two bedroom apartment. Blanche alludes to Edgar Allan Poe, saying that a place so horrific  (as where Stella is staying) would only appear in the works of Poe [for reference, Poe was a writer of gothic Literature]. Blanche: You messy child, you, you’ve spilt something on the pretty white lace collar. Stella: And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby. Stella: Oh you can’t describe someone you’re in love with! Here’s a picture of him! From Blanche’s - dramatic monologue: monologue I, I, I - repetitions long parade to - juxtaposition(par the graveyard ade v. graveyard) funerals are pretty compared - diction: ‘pretty’, to deaths ‘flowers’, funerals are ‘gorgeous boxes’ quiet, with pretty flowers - Allusion: the what gorgeous Grim Reaper boxes they pack - Metaphor them away in! Death is expensive. the Grim Reaper had put up his tent at our doorstep.  Belle Reve was his headquarters Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Where's the little woman? [He holds the bottle to the light to observe its depletion] Scene 2: - Blanche is bathing while Stella and Stanley are in conversation. Stella tells Stanley that they have lost Belle Reve. - She is unconcerned, but Stanley is concerned that Blanche has ‘swindled’ (as he repeatedly says – it might be the one clever word he knows) them. - He brings up the Napoleonic code – which Stella is unaware of – so he continues by mansplaining in a derogatory tone what this is: according to the Napoleonic code, when a man and a woman are married, what is the man’s is the woman’s; but more importantly, in this case, what is the woman’s, is the man’s. - Stanley is correct but he has his knowledge law messed up: while the Napoleonic code is valid in the state of Louisiana and therefore in New Orleans, Belle Reve is in Laurel, Mississippi – so when and if he went to the lawyer friend he claims to have, he would only find out that he’s not very smart, and should cut back on the mansplaining.  - Not knowing his error of understanding of the Napoleonic code, Stanley makes it a point to be clear that Blanche is not scamming him and Stella. - She aggressively questions Blanche, empties out her trunk without her permission, rummaging through and scattering her things in order to find papers of what he assumes was the sale of Belle Reve (even though Stella repeatedly tells him that it was lost not sold). - Needless to say, Blanche becomes extremely distressed. She initially tries to flirt with Stanley – when this does not work, she hands him a tin with legal papers and tells him to keep his hands off the letters from and poems written by her ex-husband. - Stanley justifies his behaviour by saying that he is concerned about his future with the baby on the way (he was not supposed to tell Blanche that Stella was pregnant: but Stanley really can’t do an awful lot right apart from be aggressive, walk around with an air of superiority, and be extremely crude about the way he thinks of and treats women). - Blanche seems to have mixed emotions about Stella’s baby, but congratulates her profusely. - Blanche and Stella go out for the evening, leaving Stanley to play poker with his friends. Quotes: [She jumps up and kisses him which he accepts with lordly composure] Stella; [...] and you’d better give me some money Stanley: Where are your fox pieces Stella? Stanley: [...] And diamonds! A Crown for an empress! Stella: A rhinestone tiara [...]. Stanley: What’s Rhinestone? Stanley: The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions. Blanche: After all a woman’s charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important, I tell the truth Stanley: Then it was lost on a mortgage?’ Blanche: That must’ve been what happened. Blanche: [...] he’s just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume Scene 3: - Stanley, Mitch, Steve and Pablo are playing poker. - It is clear that Stanley is the most primitive, animalistic, brutish or them all – an alpha male. - Mitch is portrayed as sensitive. He has a sick mother that he looks after.  - Blanche and Stella return at 2.30 in the morning, and the men are still playing poker. Stella asks Stanley to wrap up their game – Stanley, who is drunk, slaps her on the thigh in front of his friends. - Blanche and Mitch interact for the first time, briefly. Blanche is struck by Mitch’s polite nature (probably more so because this man is somehow a friend of Stanley’s). - Stanley’s aggression escalates: he hurls a radio out of the window and then hits Stella who is immediately shepherded to Eunice’s house by Blanche. - Sobered up by a cold shower, Stanley does his famous, STELLLLAHHHHHH! Scream in anguish – because nothing says ‘I’m sorry’ like disrupting the neighbourhood peace. - Stella slowly goes out to Stanley; they embrace – some strange animalistic type union: Stanley carries Stella to their flat. - Blanche is appalled by Stella’s reconciliation with Stanley, but is soothed by Mitch. Quotes: Steve’s joke: - foreshadowing - ‘loud cackle’ - auditory imagery - ‘lickety split’ - kinaesthetic - ‘rooster right imagery behind her’ - ‘gaining on her fast’ Mitch: How do you do, Miss DuBois? Blanche: Please don’t get up. Stanley: Nobody’s going to get up, so don’t be worried. Stanley: You hens cut - link back to out that conversation Steve’s joke in there! - zoomorphism - speaking to them like they are less than human - ownership? (also, how he keeps referring to Stella as his ‘doll’). [He stops short at the sight of Blanche [...] she returns his look without flinching] Blanche: I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or vulgar action. Blanche ‘waltzes’ vs. Mitch moving in ‘awkward imitation’ of a ‘dancing bear’ with heaven-splitting violence [compare to ‘humbly’ two lines above] Mitch: Poker should not be played in a house with women. All quiet in the - Allusion Potomac now?  Mitch is alluding to a poem about the Civil War (in the 1880s) called “All quiet in the Potomac tonight” Scene 4: - Next morning: Stella looks abnormally peaceful in bed. The glow on her face is representative of her pregnancy; which should make Stanley’s aggression unacceptable. However, the baby also ties Stella to Stanley, as she would be entirely dependent on him to help her support her child. - Stella tries to explain to Blanche that this is just the way that Stella and Stanley’s relationship is (while Blanche starts to develop a growing dislike for Stanley). - Stella accepts Stanley’s sporadic violence as inseparable from the passion that they share. - Blanche hopes to persuade Stella to leave Stanley, planning a future for herself and her sister to be financed by an old admirer who is now apparently a millionaire – Shep Huntleigh. - Stanley overhears part of this conversation (increasing his dislike for Blanche); but when he appears, Stella’s fierce embrace demonstrates that her loyalties remain with him. Quotes: Stella: I’m not in anything I want to get out of Blanche: What you are talking about is brutal desire-just-Desire!- the name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bangs through the quarter, up one old narrow street and down another Blanche: He acts like an animal, has animal’s habits [...] something ape-like about him, like one of those pictures I’ve seen in – anthropological studies [...] survivor of the stone age [...] Maybe he’ll strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you [...] Night falls and the other apes gather! [...] grunting like him and swilling and gnawing and hulking! [...] this party of apes. Scene 5: - Upstairs, Steve and Eunice are brawling. - On his return from bowling, Staney frightens Blanche by asking her about a man called Shaw and a disreputable hotel called the Flamingo in Laurel, the town where Blanche was an English teacher. - When he leaves, Blanche anxiously seeks reassurance from Stella that nothing unpleasant is known about her (Blanche wants to escape her past/ the trauma associated with it – Stanley makes this difficult for her).  - Blanche is expecting to go on a date with Mitch and does not want Mitch to know of her past – which she is certain Stanley will tell Mitch, because Blanche keeps making Stanley feel inferior to herself and Stella (by calling him a little boy, by commenting on his uncultured behaviour, by calling him an animal etc.). - Having barely known Mitch for a moment, Blanche is desperate that Mitch will be the one to provide her with a secure future (they JUST met). - Between Stella’s departure and Mitch’s arrival, Blanche flirts with and kisses a young man who calls to collect subscriptions for a newspaper. The whole scene is quite awkward. This boy clearly does not want to be kissed by Blanche – Blanche doesn’t entirely grasp the concept of consent: it would be safe to assume that her presumed desirability to all men absolves her of this error in her mind. Quotes: Blanche: Myself, myself, for being such a liar. Eunice: You hit me! I’m - Steve and Eunice gonna call the police! as foil couple to Stanley and Later… Stella [Steve comes down nursing a bruise on his forehead…] Blanche: I never was hard or self-sufficient enough [...] soft people have got to shimmer and glow [...] put on [...] the colours of butterfly wings [...] I’m fading now. Blanche: I want to kiss you – just once – softly and sweetly – on your mouth [...] Run along now! […] I’ve got to […] keep my hands off children! Scene 6: - Blanche and Mitch return from an unsuccessful evening out: evident from her ‘neurasthenic personality’ and his ‘stolid but depressed’ aura. - Blanche and Mitch are very clearly from different social backgrounds: it is uncertain what Blanche expected (knowing that Mitch is from a working-class background), but the dissimilarities between them are obvious. - She complains about Stanley’s hostility, Mitch’s response to Blanche’s allegations that Stanley’s hostility towards her, Mitch is “surprised to hear” that Stanley is hostile towards Blanche. - Mitch talks about his mother. He relates that she does not have long to live, and that she wants to see him settled down before she passes. Mitch makes this his motivation for being with Blanche (ignoring their differences). - Blanche then speaks about her short-lived marriage to her ex-husband, who she found in bed with another man. She admits to having later voiced her disgust, which led to her husband shooting himself.  - Mitch puts his arms around her and kisses her. This scene has a hopeful ending for Blanche and Mitch’s relationship (and even the possibility of marriage). However, between the end of Scene 6 and the beginning of Scene 7, Stanley has told Mitch all about Blanche’s past. Quotes: [Mitch laughs uneasily] … [Mitch laughs uneasily again] … Blanche: [laughing grimly] Blanche: I was just obeying the law of nature. Mitch: Which law is that? Blanche: The one that says the lady must entertain the gentleman – or no dice! Blanche: I’m looking for the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters Blanche: Le Suis la Dame aux Camélias! Vous êtes – Armand! Mitch: I talked to my mother about you Scene 7: - It is September 15th, Blanche’s birthday, and Blanche is singing in the bath while Stella is decorating a cake. - Stanley enters, armed with the destructive truth about Blanche’s recent past: she has been promiscuous, slipping out at night to answer the calls of soldiers who were returning, drunk, to barracks near Belle Reve. - Stanley reaches the peak of his brutality in this scene: his tone is one of mimicry and mockery, he uses persuasive speech to draw Stella’s attention to Blanche’s wrongdoings. - He takes pleasure in outlining Blanche’s mistakes: after leaving Belle Reve, she lived in a disreputable hotel – Stanley implies that The Flamingo asked Blanche to leave on account of her promiscuity (implying prostitution? Due to the Flamingo being a hotel that stayed out of the private lives of the individuals that resided there – and was used for all kinds of goings-on). [Note: there is absolutely NO indication that Blanche was a prostitute. She was in a hotel where prostitutes brought their clients, possibly, amongst other disreputable things (implied by Stanley)]. - Stanley reveals that since she was teaching in a local school and it was found out that she got romantically involved with one of her students (a 17 year old boy), she obviously lost her job: this, along with the loss of Belle Reve, left her no reason to remain at Laurel: though Stanley exaggerates that she was asked practically asked to leave town by the Mayor. - Stella tries to defend her sister, talking about the unhappiness of Blanche’s early life, her short-lived marriage and the loss that she had  to suffer ( Unfortunately, after the incident in Scene 10, Stella does the opposite – she decides to ignore what Stanley has done to Blanche in order to be ‘practical’ about her future). - Stanley has told Mitch everything he has found out about Blanche. Blanche emerges from the bathroom in a good mood but is immediately able to sense that something threatening/ unpleasant has gone down between Stanley and Stella. Quotes: Stanley: You know she’s been feeding us a pack of lies here? Stanley: Sister Blanche is no lily! Stanley: Our supply man [...] has been going to Laurel for years [...] This supply man stops at a hotel called the Flamingo. Stanley: I can see how you would be upset by this. She pulled the wool over your eyes as much as Mitch’s! Stanley: Honey [...] Dame Blanche [...] couldn’t put on her act any more in Laurel [...] same old line, same old act, same old hooey! Stella: This is making me – sick! Blanche: You have such a strange expression on your face. Stella: This beautiful and talented young man was a degenerate. Stanley: I wouldn’t be expecting Mitch over tonight. Stanley: I’d have that on my conscience for the rest of my life if I knew all that stuff and let my best friend get caught! Stanley: I don’t think he’s necessarily through with her – just wised up! Stanley: She’s not staying here after Tuesday [...] Just to make sure I bought her a ticket myself. A bus ticket! [... The distant piano goes into a hectic breakdown] Scene 8: - As Blanche’s birth meal ends, the atmosphere is tense post Stella and Stanley’s conversation (to which Blanche is still oblivious, but can sense that something is wrong). Mitch does not show up for the meal. - Blanche tries to break the tense environment by asking Stanley to tell a joke - eventually tells a joke of her own. The parrot joke (that deals with the themes of illusion and reality). Blanche’s joke reflects the idea of reality always emerging. Subconsciously or unconsciously, she foreshadows her own fate. - Stanley erupts into a fury (as he does best) when Stella criticises his manners (constant need to remind her who is boss). - Stanley presents Blanche with a bus ticket back to Laurel. She rushes out feeling sick. - Stella turns angrily towards Stanley, but suddenly realises that she might be going into labour, asking Stanley to take her to the hospital and leaving Blanche alone. Quotes: Stanley: Remember what Huey Long said, “Every Man is King!” And I am the king around here so don’t forget it. Stella: You didn’t know Blanche as a girl. Nobody, nobody was tender and trusting as she was. Stanley: Stell, it’s going to be alright after she goes and you have the baby [...] You remember [...] them nights we had together? [...] with nobody’s sister behind the curtains to hear us? Blanche: You healthy Polack, without a nerve in your body. Stanley: I am not a Polack. People from Poland are Poles not Polacks. What I am is one hundred percent American. Stanley: [bawling] QUIET IN THERE! Stanley: I had a little trouble with Riley last week Stanley: Ticket! Back to Laurel! On the Greyhound! Tuesday! Scene 9: - Mitch arrives, unshaven and a little drunk. He is hurt and angry at having been deceived by Blanche. - Blanche no longer denies but tries to excuse her disreputable past as being a refuge from her grief and guilt at the death of her husband. - She asks for Mitch’s protection, but he clumsily tries to rape her. - He is startled and retreats in confusion when she calls out ‘Fire!’. Quotes: [Blanche is seated in a tense hunched position [...] She has on her scarlet satin robe [...] a bottle of liquor and a glass. The rapid, feverish polka tune [...] is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her] Mitch [pushes past her into the flat. She looks fearfully after him as he stalks into the bedroom] Mitch: You ought to lay off his liquor. He says you’ve been lapping it up all summer like a wildcat! [He tears the paper lantern off the lightbulb. She utters a frightened gasp] Blanche: I don’t want realism. I want magic! Mitch: That pitch about your ideals being so old-fashioned and all that malarkey that you’ve dished out all summer. Blanche: I stayed at a hotel called the Tarantula arms! [...] That’s where I brought my victims. Flores para los muertos. Scene 10: - Stanley returns from the hospital to find Blanche dressed up in a crumpled evening dress and wearing a cheap tiara (she is basically losing the plot by this point). - She claims to have received a cable from the oil millionaire inviting her on a Caribbean cruise. - Stanley becomes aggressive when Blanche starts to lie about Mitch’s attitude to her, - She tries to ward of Stanley’s sexual advances with a broken bottle – but he disarms her and rapes her. Quotes: [she has decked herself out in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown] Stanley: We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning [the bottle cap pops off and a geyser of foam shoots up. Stanley laughs happily] [the shadows are of a grotesque and menacing form] Stanley: There isn’t a goddamn thing but imagination. ‘Tiger! Tiger!’ Stanley mocks and confirms Blanche’s allegations that he is an animal by screaming this before assaulting her. Scene 11: - It is some weeks later and Stanley and his friends are playing poker again. - Stella is packing Blanche’s trunk while Blanche is in the bathroom. - Unbeknown to Blanche, they are awaiting the arrival of a doctor and a nurse from a State-run institution for the mentally sick, to which Stella has reluctantly agreed to have her sister committed. - Stella has decided that she cannot believe Blanche’s account of Stanley’s assault upon her; for her own sake and that of her new baby. - For one final time, she rejects her sister and aligns herself with her husband. - Blanche imagines that she is going on holiday with Shep: so is clearly confused and frightened when the bell rings and she sees a doctor and nurse instead.  - When the doctor addresses her courteously, Blanche goes willingly with him, leaving Stella in distress, holding her baby. - Stanley tries to comfort her and ends up making love with her. Quotes: [lurid reflections …odd - Surreal sinuous shapes] theatricality - Expressionist Stella: I couldn’t believe her story and go on living with Stanley. [Blanche has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe] Blanche: Whoever you - irony are, I have always - hamartia (?) depended on the kindness of strangers Stella: What have I done to my sister? Stanley: Luck is believing you’re lucky. Blanche: It’s Delia Robbia blue. The blue of the robe in the old Madonna pictures. Blanche: Whoever you are – I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. Literary Criticism: plastic theatre used to communicate Blanche’s subjective state at each stage of action Blanches memories, inner life, emotions are a real factor explaining her present behaviour, based on her past The setting, lighting, props, costumes, sound effects and music [attire and lighting help highlight the dichotomy between Blanche and Stanley] The symbols: bathing, light, paper lantern Elysian Fields “raffish charm” eludes Blanche, who says of it: “Only Poe! […] could do it justice!” Light: Blanche in dim light/ Stanley is garish light (?) Elia Kazan comments about the blue piano: The Blues is an expression of the loneliness and rejection, the exclusion and isolation of the Negro and their longing for love and connection. Blanche too is looking for a home, abandoned and friendless […] Thus the blue piano catches the soul of Blanche, the miserable unusual human side of a girl which is beneath her frenetic duplicity, her trickery, lies, etc. Only Blanche and the audience hear the Varsouviana polka, which was played when Allan shot himself. The music, through its association in her memory with impending death, becomes a symbol of imminent disaster. Blanche hears it when Stanley hands her a Greyhound bus ticket for a trip back to Laurel (scene 8). The music weaves in and out of the scene where Mitch confronts Blanche with his knowledge of her past. In the same scene the polka music fades in as the Mexican vendor chants “Flores para los muertos”  She hears the polka music in scene 11 when Stanley and the matron corner her Blanche’s obsessive bathing is a nominal gesture of guilt and wished-for redemption. Like her drinking, her bathing is an escape mechanism. The ritual cleansing which takes place in the tub restores Blanche to a state of former purity. The bath is particularly functional as a symbol in scene 7. It is used to reveal the dual world of Blanche’s existence and the tension between Blanche and Stanley. Along with the Paper Moon song. When Blanche emerges from her bath in scene 7, she immediately perceives the threat that Stanley’s world of facts poses to her world of illusions. Blanche says to Mitch: “I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action” (scene 3). The naked light must be toned down by an artificial lantern, so every sordid reality must be cloaked in illusion. Stanley: look for lighting and words such as “enlighten” (representing the truth). The telephone is an avenue of a better world for Blanche. Calling Shep is another way of “escaping”, into a better world. Sensitivity to sound: cat screeching, winces when Stanley slams things, the tamale vendor makes her jolt. “Caught in a trap” she says to western union over the phone. Her trap is reality. Blanche’s eternal struggle involves being able to separate her real self from her cultured/ refined self (as per society’s expectations).  Benjamin Nelson writes: sex “has been Blanche’s Achilles heel. It has always been Stanley’s sword and shield. Therefore, fitting that this is what Stanley used to destroy Blanche. The conflict between Blanche and Stanley isn’t just representative of the Old South versus new order. It is also an externalised conflict that goes on within Blanche between illusion and reality. Stanley strips away Blanche’s illusions and forces her to face animal reality. In doing so he demonstrates that reality is as brutal as she feared. She has no choice but to retreat into illusion (dissociative state at the end of the play). In this way the external events occurring in the play serve as a metaphor for Blanche’s internal conflict. Both Blanche and Stanley represent complex and morally ambiguous positions. Initially Williams depicts both positive and negative personality traits to both characters. However the character arc over the play changes. The more Williams delves into Blanche’s inner life and presents it on stage, the more sympathetic she becomes. Stanley’s true nature also becomes apparent in its negative effect upon Blanche’s, Stella’s and Mitch’s psyche. In the end, Blanche is the undisputed moral victor Stanley: the gruff masculine pragmatist who commands the adulation of women even as he scorns them for his male companions. Williams forces the audience to face “harsh reality” for they learn that what they instinctively admire and view as healthy is really a base egotistical force, destructive of what it cannot comprehend (think of this in terms of gender constructs and a 1940s/early 50s audience  The further Blanche retreats from reality, the more Williams distorts the surface realism of the play (lurid reflections, distorted shadows, jungle noises). Stanley’s strength, brutality and virility are balanced by his sensitivity to Blanche’s attacks. Blanche’s gradual emotional collapse is presented stage by stage. Blanche: PTSD, dissociation, self-destructive behaviour, guilt, shame, denial, shattering of the self The play highlights the early stages of recovery: establishment of safety, remembrance and mourning and reconnection to ordinary life. What the audience witness os Blanche’s attempts to mourn the losses of her past and consequently integrate that into her fragile conception of self Scene 1: Blanche is accusing Stella of abandoning her to the horrors of familial death and dying while she was still healing from the death of Allan. The loss of her family members and her home is accompanied by the loss of her own idealised view of herself. Hence the significance of nomenclature in the play, such as Belle Reve. The loss of the beautiful dream Blanche had for herself and her world. Ironically, although the southern Belle would have been fundamentally superior, Blanche is fragile, vulnerable, and in need of attention and care, dependent on others. Her final ironic line: “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (verbal irony, scene 11, as the doctor takes her away) In myth, the dead who entered Elysian Fields were made to drink the water of river Lethe to forget all traces of their mortal past. Blanche  turns to alcohol to escape her reality, but unlike the mythical waters of Lethe, its calming effects are temporary. After Blanche’s monologue in Scene 1, Stella is not simply fleeing from the slander of her husband and her relationship with him; she is fleeing from the litany of horrors to which Blanche is attempting to bear witness. Blanche’s account of the past and the deaths she has witnessed/ endured is anything but hysterical or sensational, as she is able to confront death and dying in a way that other people avoid or would fear. Trauma often leads to the recognition of realities that others have not begun to face. The toxicity of Blanche’s knowledge of death and how closely she has observed it isolates her from people white simultaneously being the reason she feels the need to reach out to people. The death of Allan Grey was the formative traumatic event of her life which continues to haunt her in a post-traumatic form. After Stanley and Blanche introduce themselves to each other (scene 1), Stanley asks Blanche what happened to her husband. The stage directions indicate that the music of the polka rises up, faint in the distance. Blanche’s body reacts to the thought of Allan as well, as she says: “I’m afraid I’m —going to be sick!”; and Her head falls on her arms. Williams uses the music from Blanche’s traumatic past surfacing in the presence, reinforced by Blanche’s incapacitating physiological response. From the very beginning of the play, Blanche’s behaviour is consistent with the main symptom of post-traumatic stress, called “intrusion” – the involuntary and sudden reliving of traumatic experience in part or in whole.  In Stella, Blanche attempts to seek an empathetic listener with which to mourn and work through the traumatic past, but Stella consistently rejects that role, responding to her sister’s attempts to confide in her with impatience: “Stop this hysterical outburst and tell me what's happened!”, “I don’t listen to you when you’re being morbid!” Mitch’s allegiance to this culture of denial is most evident in scene 9. Although in Scene 3 he is also seen normalising Stanley’s violent behaviour (against Stella, who is pregnant with Stanley’s child at the time). The opening stage directions to Scene 9 describes Blanche as ‘tense’, yet ‘hunched’ – displaying her worry, exhaustion and fading sense of hope. On the table beside her is a bottle of liquor and a glass, showing her behavioural regression. The ‘feverish’ polka music is ‘in her mind’ – that it is now feverish suggests that her traumatic past threatens to overwhelm the present. When Mitch shows up (unknown to Blanche that this is for him to reject her, rather than to apologise or explain himself), the polka music stops at the temporary thought and sense of comfort that comes along with Mitch’s arrival. Mitch’s aggressive behaviour and way of talking to Blanche makes the polka music return to Blanche – as she recognises that she is in the process of losing another lover. Mitch saying, “are you boxed out of your mind?” shows his ignorance and shortsightedness; especially as he knows about Blanche’s  experience with Allan. Normal human responses to extreme circumstances manifest in traumatic syndromes. Blanche refuses to apologise for her behaviour or to be ashamed of it – a refusal to judge herself by the puritanical standards of the community. In scene 9, Blanche sarcastically refers to the Flamingo as the Tarantula arms — “where [she] brought [her] victims” and where she “many intimacies with strangers”. However, the most important thing in this scene is that Blanche recognises and articulates why she engaged in this behaviour: “After the death of Allan – intimacies with strangers was all I seemed to be able to fill my empty heart with”. The same candour is present when speaking about her beauty: “My youth was suddenly gone up the water-spout, and – I met you”. Mitch is her last hope of working through the past and entering the present with a realistic assessment of who she is now – a woman alone in the world and in need of empathy. “Yes mother, but couldn’t we get the coloured girl to do it?” – what seems to be disjointed comments and dissociation here is actually a process of self realisation and integration. Blanche is accepting her mother’s insensitivity to her fears associated with death. By tackling this, Blanche is attempting to step out of the past and clarify something that she had not previously understood. The powerlessness she had in these situations (i.e. cleaning the bloody linen) is a key component of what shaped her trauma. Blanche and Allan: Blanche’s sexual identity is shattered by his betrayal – not just because she finds out he is homosexual, but also in the worst possible way – walking in on Allan and an older man.  Blanche is haunted by the violence of Allan’s death, holding herself accountable to this. In scene 10, the rape is preceded by Stanley’s verbal assault of Blanche’s fantasy/ illusions: “There isn’t no millionaire!” […] “There isn’t a goddamn thing but imagination!” […] “Look at yourself!” This verbal assault is followed by Blanche’s retreat into the bedroom where she tries desperately to call Shep Huntleigh, her omnipotent “rescuer”. The prostitute, drunkard and the policeman also belong to the present, NOT the past (Ie. NOT Blanche’s past). Their actions sketched in pantomim reinforce the play's view of New Orleans and of post-war, urban, industrial America as a rapacious dog-eat-dog world or “rat race” as Stanley puts it. The “inhuman jungle voices” in scene 10 rise at this climactic moment and agnostic scene which recalls Blanche’s description of Stanley to Stella earlier in the play: “He acts like an animal, has an animal’s habit […] something not quite to the stage of humanity yet”. The “hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces” subdue Blanche’s “moan” and overcome her resistance to the brutal force of Stanley. The trumpets and drums, instruments associated with victory (think, parade?) are symbolic of Stanley’s victory over Blanche. Her soiled garment is reflective of her destruction by this tainted environment. She acknowledges the cathedral bells as the “only clean thing in the Quarter”. Despite her dissociative state, she sees the church chimes/ bells as her escape — a place of safety. In scene 11 Blanche refers to the colour of the dress she is wearing as “Della Robbia Blue. The blue of the robe in the old Madonna  pictures”. In other words, we are encouraged to see her as a symbol of human suffering, traumatised by her experiences but not overwhelmed by them. When Blanche sees the doctor in scene 11, she is able to recognise him as “not the gentleman [she] was expecting”. Following this she is cornered by the matron, doctor and Stanley (who blocks her way from re-entering the apartment). Stanley tears the paper lantern off a light bulb as Blanche watches: symbolic of harsh reality being exposed/ illusion being shattered. At this point Blanche has two choices: the retreat into a delusional reality, entirely, or to live in a world she cannot mentally or emotionally accept. At the end of the play, Blanche is traumatised, enters periods of dissociative states, however, her comment to the doctor starkly echoes her reality: “Whoever you are — I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”. By saying this, Blanche evades denial of her behaviours. The same cannot be said for Stanley or Stella. In scene 11 while playing poker, Stanley articulates his world view: “To hold front position on this rat-race, you’ve got to believe you are lucky”. This is a more nonsensical world view. It reveals Stanley’s central organising fantasy: the notion that he can believe his luck for it to happen is somewhat deluded in its own sense and backed up by his sense of grandiosity. It is almost like the alienated “madwoman” is more attuned to the most disturbing parts of reality (her previously seen attunement to threat and ability to perceive, backs this up).  Trauma dehumanises its victim. Usually it takes the people around a trauma victim to restore a sense of humanity (concluding chapter of Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery). However, the group of people she comes to in New Orleans only further perpetuates trauma. The play thus suggests the inextricable relation between the individual and the social dialects of trauma.