ASCND - key quotes all scenes

Question 1

‘delicate beauty must avoid a strong light’

Answer 1

‘delicate’ - fragility of this façade Blanche has created, fragility of her mental state and the instability of her illusionary ‘paper’ world
‘strong light’ - truth, revelation, suggests an uncovering if falsehoods - perhaps a metaphor for male surveillance & policing of the female body.
This is a metaphor for Blanche’s fate/hamartia as she, like a moth, is drawn to the light (attention) which will prove fatal as her transgressions will be revealed.

Question 2

‘incongruous appearance’

Answer 2

immediately established as an outsider & outlier in the racially progressive New Orleans.

Question 3

‘white clothes,…suggests a moth’
& ‘white columns’ of Belle Reve

Answer 3

• purity of white imagery = desire for racial purity, tying her to her ‘Southern Belle’ identity.
  Becomes the phys. embodiment of BR ‘white columns’ - like a pillar she wishes to uphold racist notions.
• cocoon symbolism reflects Blanche’s attempts to reinvent herself .
• moth lives in the dark meaning Blanche’s fate is to live in ignorance which is consolidated by her eventual membership in a mental institution.
• moth = attracted to light as Blanche is attracted to attention, ultimately Blanche’s fatal flaw is her pursuit of desire.
• fragility of the insect of a moth = reflection of the fragility of Blanche’s mental state, she will soon be easily crushed by social expectations of pure & virginal females & also the growth of desegregation/cultural exchanges/multiculturalism.

Question 4

‘Elysian fields’

Answer 4

Greek myth = paradise version of the afterlife intended specifically for heroes. ASCND has no heroes so this could be a critique of human nature

Question 5

‘take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries’

Answer 5

Warning from Williams of the danger of uncontrolled Desire which can ultimately be fatal.
Blanche’s nymphomania and constant want for attention kills her twice over, destroying her reputation in…and later restricting her from a life of freedom by confining her to the mental institute
Stanley’s uncontrolled Desire also leads to ‘Death’ esp. concerning Stella and Blanche’s relationship

Question 6

Paper lantern symbolism:
‘can’t stand a naked bulb’

Answer 6

• fragility of the lantern represents the fragility of Blanche’s southern belle façade & her vulnerability
• provides a pretty veneer/ rose coloured tint much like Blanche’s trunk of clothes & jewellery which function to mask the stark reality underneath, reinforcing her utter fear of death and ageing

Question 7

‘subhuman…something not quite to the stage of humanity..’
& ‘ape-like’

& ‘heterogenous types’

Answer 7

• barrage of disparaging xenophobic remarks display of Blanche’s hatred of Stanley.
• Xenophobic zoomorphism = misshapen, caught halfway between trans. from animal to human = utter lack of deference , views his status beneath her as biological fact.
• dominating animalistic behaviour = untamed, requires ‘reeducation’ or civilisation.

Blanche like Stanley classifies ppl, though her classifications are rooted in classism & xenophiobia rather than sexism.

Question 8

‘richly feathered male bird among hens’

Answer 8

Stanley ‘peacocks’ utilsing his masculinity to attract the opposite sex, granting him utter control over Stella.

Question 9

‘Gaudy Seedbearer’

Answer 9

bawdy chauvinism established.
- garish quality of phallic imagery = perverted pride in masc. status which he uses to visually dom. spaces reestab. ‘rightful’ control over women as a 1940s male.

Question 10

‘he sizes women up at a glance…sexual classifications…crude images…determining..’

Answer 10

AO1/2 cold, clinical semantic field of bodily analysis: ‘sizes…classifications…determining’ reveals Stanley’s sinister and vicious dehumanisation of the feminine, unveiling how the objectification of the female body is an inherent and integral part of his masculinity.

Women in a patriarchal society seen as no more than sexual playthings
AO5: Burke - dangerous mixture of desire & revulsion inherent in patriarchal society’s understanding of the female body

Question 11

Poker night:
‘coarse…direct…powerful…primary colours’

Answer 11

• gaudy - pride in masculinity which overtakes the whole setting
• crass, crude colours = glaringly ugly toxic masculinity encroaching into the domestic

Question 12

‘primary colours…of a childlike spectrum’

Answer 12

AO1/2: Colours stripped back to most basic form. Lack of variety of hues = metaphor for 1940s male inability to comprehend world beyond their own myopic world view.
- infantile connotations = lack of mental growth., perhpas this is an infantilisation of masc. figures which allows them to deny culpability for their abusive actions.

2/3: confined to childlike view of world were everything is strictly classified - men & women’s roles classified by gender w/ trad. ‘blue’ and ‘pink’ esp. in post-ww2 era as women forced back to dom. sphere.

Question 13

[awkward imitation…like a dancing bear] - Mitch

Answer 13

AO1/2: juxtaposing imagery of the jovial dancing with ‘bear’ which is often considered to be a very violent animal arguably foreshadows Mitch’s later violence as this is his true underlying nature.
- ‘awkward imitation’; uncomfortable, unnatural = metaphorically represents the true incompatibility of the union between Blanche & Mitch

Question 14

‘rhinestone tiara….next to glass’

Answer 14

ao1/2: The prop of the rhinestone tiara functions as a way for Blanche to embody this character of ‘Dame Blanche’ who epitomises/is the physical manifestation of Blanche’s ‘Southern Belle’ sensibilities and dwelling in a fantasy land of romance and chivalry. The deliberate use of the falsity and cheap quality of ‘rhinestone’ serves as a reminder that the ‘Dame Blanche’ persona is merely a persona, Blanche is not this paragon of virginal femininity but rather a downtrodden woman desperately clinging to any opportunity that would allow her to veil over her sexual transgressions, consistently choosing to escape from reality through reimagining herself.

‘rhinestone’ & ‘next to glass’ reveal the social perception of Blanche as sexually, and thus morally, cheap. Also reflects her vanity & obsession with appearance as her beauty is arg. only skin-deep given that there lies within a deeply flawed woman who touts classist, xenophobic and homophobic notions.

Question 15

Stanley further animalised:
‘stalks fiercely…charges after stella’
‘baying hound’

Answer 15

AO1/2: predatory verbs consolidate Stanley’s vicious desire for sex which animalises him, causing him to act in a threatening manner as he practically loses all sense of his humanity. - potentially the fact that he reaches the peak of his animalism before and during his physical and sexual assaults of Stella & Blanche = peak of his immorality. –> his zoomorphism by blanche and the stage directions prior to these events demonstrate his innate capacity to inflict suffering onto others = metaphor for underlying potential of the patriarchy to enable female suffering.

Question 16

[the sound of a blow] - stage directions

Answer 16

interesting that the actual physical act of violence is never seen on stage, only given the highly auditory ‘sound of a blow’ = representing Stella & society’s unwillingness to face the realities of DV
AO3: DV highly highly normalised in the 40s, seen as an issue between the couple & not to be intervened with.

Question 17

‘they come together with low animal moans’ & ‘Her eyes go blind with tenderness’

Answer 17

AO1/2: ‘animal moans’ - deep primal sexual connection between Stella & Stan. Illustrates the unhealthy relationship between the two as sex is used as a reparative.
‘go blind with tenderness’ - Stella’s own desire for Stanley leads to her downfall as she grows unable to see his flaws & ultimately has his child, a physical embodiment/manifestation of her new indestructible link to Stanley as she will be forced to raise this child, essentially contributing to her own cycle of abuse.
AO4- Can link to the DOM as she too bears Antonio children, despite recognising that thios transgression of class boundaries will lead to her destruction = female sexuality as hamartia.

Question 18

‘He was as good as a lamb when i came back…stanley’s always smashed things’

Answer 18

• ‘good as a lamb’ - simile, further animalisation of Stanley but a contrast to prior imagery.
• ‘lamb’ suggests meek, caring, tender highly ironic bc Stanley has never displayed this behaviour & also lamb is not fully developed, demonstrating that Stanley hasn’t truly reached his ultimate violent potential. –> this is a manifestation of Stella’s naivety as she truly is ‘blind with tenderness’.
  Stanley as the ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ as his true vicious nature is concealed esp. w/ Stella

Question 19

‘Hotel Flamingo…the odour of cheap perfume is penetrating’.

Answer 19

• never-visited-on-stage ‘Hotel Flamingo’ to evoke social attitudes concerning the sexual conquests of the unmarried female.
• ‘penetrating’ = polysemic as sexual connotations reveal the conbsisten theme that mren excercise power over women through sexuality. Also suggests an inescapable scent or marker of one’s status, suggesting that despite Blanche’s berst efforts, she can never truly escape social perceptions of her as a whore.
• sense of exoticness is established through ‘Flamingo’ = this establishment plays host to ‘foreign’ activities which subvert social norms.
  AO1/2/3:The highly olfactory image evokes an inescapable scent which pervades the air, a metaphor for the irreversible damage of prostitution to the female reputation as in the 1940s and 50s sex was an activity exclusively reserved for marital relationships and if a woman was to engage in these activities outside of matrimony, she would be deemed a ‘whore’. - poor attempt of masking a scent, creating an olfactory illusion, a motif of illusion to disguise the truth of Blanche’s sexual conquests.

Question 20

‘how much longer [she] can turn the trick’ & ‘put on soft colours’

Answer 20

• The artificiality and deception of ‘turn[ing] the trick’ is emphasised by metatheatrical ‘put on soft colours’ = Blanche’s adaptation to a lower class role of a ‘prostitute’ to secure her survival & she has had to mask this to avoid damage to her rep.
• The deceit-fuelled language reflects social perceptions of Blanche’s covering up of her ‘whore’ persona as immoral as she has ‘deceived’ men like Mitch into believing that she is pure, potentially bringing ruin to their reputation as she is sexually impure.

Question 21

‘What have you heard about me?…about me?…about me?’.

Answer 21

AO1/2: repeated, desperate line of questioning.
- terror of being labelled a ‘prostitute’ as she recognises the criticism she will face if the truth is uncovered.
- Blanche’s despair is evident, she quizzes Stella to ensure that her dignity and social reputation remains intact as she recognises that there are social punishments for women who partake in sexual acts outside of marriage, namely their exclusion from society. So, though Blanche ‘want[s] Mitch…very badly’ it can be argued that this is not for a sexually gratifying purpose or desire-fuelled but merely because she recognises the disadvantage of an unmarried woman in Post-war America, believing that if she were to marry Mitch she could ‘leave here and not be anyone’s problem’. The

Question 22

‘I want Mitch…very badly’

Answer 22

• ‘want’ =not for a sexually gratifying purpose, or desire-fuelled, but merely because she recognises the disadvantage of an unmarried woman in Post-war America
• intensified ‘very badly’ serves to further highlight Blanche’s utter desperation as the ageing, single woman to obtain a husband as her lack of marriage marks her an outlier in the heavily gendered society of 1940-50s America in which a single woman would become an outcast from society with age. - So, her desperate ‘want’ of Mitch is a plea to regain societal respect by entering a monogamous relationship, as opposed to her promiscuous past.

Question 23

‘Say its only a paper moon sailing over a cardboard sea, but it wouldn’t be make believe if you believed in me’

Answer 23

• Motif/semantic field of façade/fragile & fantastical lang.
  ‘paper moon,’ ‘cardboard sea’. = representative of Blanche’s falsified, magic reality, she has constructed a fragile world which is impermanent & prone to destruction as Mitch ‘tears the paper lantern’.

insubstantial quality of this imagined reality reveals how easily ‘lies’ can be unravelled & teh utter joy that the masc. brotherhood will derive from uncovering this.
- Blanche’s mental state as the paper moon - moon = feminine & hysteria, fragility of paper = psychological destruction of Blanche by the gritty environment of New Orleans.

Question 24

‘Bow to me first! Now present them to me’
& ‘good boy!’

Answer 24

Imperatives - instructive, aiding her construction of this ‘paper moon’ & falsified reality.
‘good boy’ - blanche’s infantilization of Mitch = naivety as like stella she fails to recognise the masculine proclivity for violence, underestimating Mitch’s capabilities as he then later ‘tears the paper lantern off the light bulb’

Question 25

Theme of acting: 'Dame Blanche...couldn't put on her act anymore...same old lines, same old act...became a town character'

Answer 25

- extended metaphor of performance - Blanche has had to put on an act merely to survive bc if people truly found out abt her sexual transgressions she would be condemned to fate as an isolated female. - 'character' = blanche as too fragile & delicate to survive in the new America - very venomous/spiteful tone = feels like this is a violation against himself, female sexuality as an injustice/tarnishing of male reputation

Question 26

'you've torn it' 'I pulled you off them columns'

Answer 26

Reveals Stanley's sinister proclivity for violence as his exertion of physical strength through violence allows him to maintain c0ontrol over his'property'. 'pulled you off' - suggestive of a potential resistance, stanley's coercive nature? The venomous tone here perhaps creates some sympathy for Stanley as perhaps this represents his view of how Stella views her marriage top a man of a lower class = is his shame in is working class status revealed here? Potentially his violent outburst are a way for him to recover from shame & what he percieves to be emasculating challenges to his authority.

Question 27

'work clothes: blue denim shirt...he is unshaven'

Answer 27

Increasingly unkempt, masculinised portrayal of the once arguably meek Mitch. = suggestive of a grave switch in his persona, he has taken on the masculine qualities of Stanley, echoing his introduction as a man 'carrying a red-stained package'. This masculinisation of Mitch is a clear visual indicator that he has accepted the masculine brotherhood, no longer an ally to Blanche as he seeks to violate her reputation by aiding the spreading of gossip. 'unshaven' - pride in his masculinity. Yet the shabby appearance ultimately reveals that Mitch is NOT a perfect match for Blanche & he would have never been able to fulfil her romantic fantasy of a 'Rosenkavalier' . Not only firmly links mitch to the masculinity sphere of industrial production in postwar America but sees him don traditionally masculine associated colour of 'blue' reinforcing his adherence to gender normativity

Question 28

'Kiefaber, Stanley & Shaw have tied an old tin can to the tail of the kite.'

Answer 28

AO1/2: Further imagery of the masculine brotherhood/conspiracy to diminish the female's reputation. This metaphorical kite imagery depicts the patriarchal forces of these men as restrictive, weighing Blanche down & preventing her escape from social criticism by joining through gossip to confine her to her fate in the mental hospital. 'kite' = deliberately points to Blanche's propensity for escapism, she depicts herself as a kite due to its whimsical, child-like associations. 'old tin can' = almost a subversion of the tradition of tying tin cans to the honeymoon car of a newly wed couple => a grotesque mockery of Blanche as the masculine brotherhood's cruel uncovering of her past promiscuity prevents her from obtaining a marriage w/ Mitch as wiothin 194-0s society, the 'virginal' status of an women still held high value with many such as Blanche demonsied as 'unclean' for engaging in sexual encounters.

Question 29

'You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.' vs [fumbling to embrace her] what I been missing all summer

Answer 29

AO1/2: 'not clean enough' = suggests that sexual 'impurity' of the female is a form of disease or terminal illness. Metaphorically this reveals how social perceptions & gossip are 'infectious' and ultimately act as incurable diseases as Blanche can never recover from her depiction as a prostitute or 'whore'. Reveals utter hypocrisy of patriarchal society, AO5: dangerous mixture of desire & revulsion inherent in a patriarchal society's understanding of the female body' as despite fact that Mitch is sickened by Blanche's sexual looseness, he tries to manipulate this to his advantage by asserting his perceived entitlement to Blanche's body & sexuality as a male.

Question 30

'Flores para los muertos'

Answer 30

- incidental appearance of the mexican woman acts as a death toll for multiple factors: - the death of Mitch & Blanche's relationship and ultimately the extinguishing of the dwindling hope for Blanche's escape through marriage as the masculine brotherhood has utilised gossip to destriy her marriage prospects. - Psychological death of Blanche = realisation that there is no escape from teh impending doom of reality & the growing social ostracisation she will face. - Reaffirms how Death is inextricably linked to Blanche & her desire which is ultimately her hamartia.

Question 31

'Soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers.'

Answer 31

AO1/2: Corruption and decline of rich, pure & valuable items - suggestive of the corruptive power desire as Blanche's revered status as a Southern Belle is now as tarnished as her clothes with her being labelled as a whore - the degeneracy and instability of the female's social position under the pressure of sexuality. 'crumpled, soiled & scuffed' - verbs suggest violence & mishandling, foreshadowing the later sexual violence that Blanche will suffer. 'satin' & 'rhinestones' - cheaper alternatives, façade of wealth = symbolic cheapening of female sexuality - this dress functions as a wedding dress - its dire state reflecting how Blanche's hope for escape from social criticism is now unachievable = reflects Mitch's view that B. isn't clean enough to bring into the house with his mother.

Question 32

'physical beauty is passing. a transitory possession...Beauty of the mind...richness of the spirit & tenderness of the heart...all of these treasures.'

Answer 32

AO1/2: Blanche's meditation on the worth of physical, visual beauty as fleeting is perhaps her reflection upon the wasted efforts she has undertaken in order to preserve physical beauty => this is a self-comforting speech in which Blanche attempts to reassure herself that she does not need to achieve 1940s society's expectations of pristine physical beauty in light of her rejection by Mitch. - Highly feminist 'speech' as the motif of profit 'richness' & 'treasures' imply that a woman's spiritual and mental qualities i.e her intelligence are far more valuable & to be prized above all else. Blanche's tragic scramble for self-worth perhaps vocalises Williams' own belief in placing greater value in 'longerlasting' qualities i.e. one's personality over visual beauty. = Blanche depicted as mentally spiralling? therefore this dramatic monologue (?) reveals the sheer pressure and mental toll that societal emphasis on beauty can have. - Situation for Blanche seems quite bleak as her mind and heart & spirit do not appear 'rich', 'tender' or 'beaut[iful]' considering her xenophobic tirade against Stanley. AO3: - the rise in makeup guides which pointed to red lipstick as a growing trend and brands like Revlon.

Question 33

'The silk pyjamas I wore on my wedding night...I'll wave them like a flag'

Answer 33

This appears to be foreshadowing the rape as wedding nights typically end with intimacy and the woman giving her virginity to the man. - In Stanley's warped perception he parallels himself as the husband to Blanche's wife in her white gown. simile 'like a flag' - conquering, male victory & domination of the female body as Stanley is celebrating his success in guaranteeing the passage of his lineage.

Question 34

'deliberate cruelty is not forgivable...one thing I have not been guilty of'

Answer 34

AO1/2: hugely ironic & hypocritical statement as arguably Blanche is deliberately cruel bto Stanley as a result of her xenophobic old south sensibilities, labelling him as 'sub-human' and a 'heterogenous type', essentially othering him through her consisten verbal abuse. + Clearly her practice of deliberate cruelty sealed the fate of Allan Grey, her husband, as she venomously tells him that 'I saw! I know! You disgust me!'. - Blanche's admonishments of both Mitch & Stanley's actions as 'deliberate cruelty' suggests that these men delight in malice and causing bioth physical and mental wounds/distress for the female because it allows them to excercise greater control over the female.

Question 35

'worn out Mardi Gras outfit'

Answer 35

AO1/2: 'worn out' perhaps a crude sexual pun which pokes fun at Blanche's sexual 'looseness', underscoring Stanley's utter disrespect for Blanche as he mocks her even in her deteriorated state. - 'outift' - again metatheatrical lang. playing into the idea of Blanche's life as a performance

Question 36

'lurid reflections appear...around Blanche...of a grotesque and menacing form' + 'cries in a jungle'

Answer 36

AO1/2: Set has become frightening and unnatural (expressionist), which reflects the ugly, destructive ("flames") reality that to Blanche is so alien. - Phantasmagorical qualities = represents Blanche's disconnect from the physical, material world as a form of escapism from the brutal reality of life. - plastic theatre, emphasises Blanche's utter mental instability and utter PTSD and fear - perhaps these shapes are not merely shapes but flashbacks to instances in which she suffered sexual violence at the Hotel Flamingo? - Clustering image of the shadows around Blanche = emphasises the inescapability of her psychological state - potentially a metaphor for the cycle of & systematic abuse women face at the hands of men, they become trapped by their ptsd as a result of their exploitation by a corrupt patriarchal system. AO3: Primal qualities of the simile 'cries in a jungle' perhaps depicts how this impending sexual assault and physical domination of the female were inherent in post-war media i.e. King Kong

Question 37

[He stares at her for a count of 10]

Answer 37

AO1/2: protracted, prolonged action - gives Stanley the time to think through his actions. This ultimately suggests that Stanley has already calculated this plot to attack Blanche. = underscores the true extent of his cruelty as he deliberately wants to harm B. - adds to this predator vs prey dynamic that is building to a climax here.

Question 38

[He springs towards her , overturning the table]

Answer 38

Like Ferdinand Stanley finds great gratification in the destruction of a space created by a subversive female. - this domination of a physical location/setting is an exertion of his masculine entitlement

Question 39

'Tiger - Tiger! Drop the bottle-top! Drop it!'

Answer 39

AO1/2: Stanley's animalisation of Blanche is his view that Blanche too is an inherently sexual creature whom only he can tame, fetishises her terror and sexualises Blanche's desperate defence with the broken bottle - phallic image. The imperative 'Drop the bottle-top!' conveys Stanley's control over Blanche esp. when coupled with the zoomorphism of 'Tiger' as this strips Blanche of any of her human dignity as she is reduced to an animal that acts upon instinct. -> zoomorphism allows Stanley to exert further authority over Blanche as he attempts to use sex to 'tame' or 'domesticate' the wild sexual beast that is Blanche. Stanley weaponsises Blanche's own utilisation of zoomorphism as a means to degrade her as punishment for her earlier verbal assault on his fragile ego. AO3: The rape can symbolise the total annihilation of the Southern way of life by the modern, industrial North - Blanche threatens his territory so he must destroy it AO3/5:1947 - in early runs of this play, the audience gave Stanley as slow clap as a commendation for his control of the frenzied female. AO5: McGlinn ' rape of Blanche is his attempt to get her to admit that she is a sexual animal like him'. Williams: 'two sides of the same character.'

Question 40

'he seizes the paper lantern, tearing it...she cries out as if the lantern was herself'

Answer 40

AO1/2: repeated violent, callous actions of the male to depict the mishandling of the female figure & their entitlement to physical domination. Blanche sees the paper lantern as an extension of her physical form - she to is highly fragile and casts a 'new light' on what true reality is.

Question 41

'its Della Robbia blue'

Answer 41

AO1/2: 'Della Robbia' biblical/religious allusion to the 'Madonna' figure, evoking a virginal image of pure femininity, echoing the 'white suit' that Blanche wore earlier as part of her costume of sexual purity. This is Blanche's final attempt to reclaim control of the narrative concerning her sexual history, she chooses the colour of della robbia to align herself with the Madonna aspect of the 'Madonna-Whore' dichotomy to avoid any further social ostracisation.

Question 42

Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

Answer 42

AO1/2: Blanche as a character that requires charity to survive, reveals her true desperation & vulnerability as she leads a life of subsistence despite her glamourous airs and facade of wealth i.e. the 'crazy crown' she wears which is made of rhinestone: 'next to glass'. Her complete inability to recognise who this is reflects her utterly tragic detachment from reality, perhaps as an extension of her coping mechanism of creating a false reality = Blanche has been driven to near insanity by the toxicity of post-war america.