scene 9 Flashcards
stage directions:
‘blanche is seated in a tense, hunched position’
similar to scene 1
wants protection, scared
displays how far her mental state has declined, not able to feel secure in her surroundings - maybe how williams felt in terms of his sexuality?
stage directions:
‘whisper the words of a song’
getting worse
varsouviana
feeding her delusions ,delusions are feeding upon her
stage directions:
‘an electric fan’
used a palm leaf in scene 5 - symbol of victory, ironic
artificial - people know she’s acting now
losing her southern belle status - demise of the old south
tries to recreate familiarity through decorating the kowalski’s apartment
mitch:
‘me. mitch’
stage directions:
‘the polka tune stops’
false god
escape from where she is - polka music symbolises her reality
stage directions:
‘she rushes about frantically, hiding the bottle in a close, crouching at the mirror and dabbing her face with cologne and powder’
back to façade
determined to hide her demise
acting like a child and being all giddy all because mitch is at the door - emphasises the extent of her regression to the audience
stage directions:
‘he ignores it and pushes past her into the flat. she looks fearfully after him as he stalks into the bedroom’
predator like - mirroring stanley
mitch becomes him
williams’ highlights the dangers of male influence
mitch:
‘i don’t think i’ve ever seen you in the light’
metaphorically and literally
never seen the truth or under her façade
ashamed of her behaviour
blanche:
‘i don’t know what there is to drink. i - haven’t investigated’
parallels first scene
desperate to drink - doesn’t even try to hide it
stage directions:
‘he tears the paper lantern off the lightbulb’
destroying her façade
destroying the old south
no longer believes her lies
the light and mitch himself suggest realism. his action can also be seen as a form of violation foreshadowing the physical rape that will happen in the next scene
blanche fears the light because of the harsh realism she will be forced to face which will cause her happy fantasies (being young and beautiful) to be shattered. denial and stubborn statement that she doesn’t want realism shows how strongly she does not wish mitch to know the truth.
blanche:
‘i don’t tell the truth, i tell what ought to be the truth’
new south is violent, although it is accepting
no morals compared to the old south
shouldn’t be like this - it should be better
blanche:
‘i had many intimacies with strangers. after the death of allan -intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with…. ‘this woman is morally unfit for her position!’
embracing her downfall - subverting norms of the southern belle
mexican woman:
‘flores para los muertos’
contrapuntal sound
flowers for the dead
foreshadows her metaphorical death
symbol of blanche’s demise
mitch:
‘you’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother’
mean
displays how misunderstood mental health problems were at the time
williams believed deliberate cruelty was unforgivable
stage directions:
‘mitch turns and goes out the outer door, clatters awkwardly down the steps and around the corner of the building, blanche staggers back from the window and falls to her knees. the distant piano is slow and blue.
was mitch pretending to like blanche?
all men are capable of this
physical representation of blanche’s demise
praying?
