B3- Blanche: Symbolisms

Question 1

Name

Blanche Dubois: Significance of name

Answer 1

Blanche = White
DuBois = From the Woods
- “White”: ironic, as Blanche is anything BUT pure
- “Wood”: ironic, as Blanche is characterised as fragile & unstable.

Can also be read as white and made of wood, making is simpler for the audience to detect that while she appears chaste and innocent, she is unyielding regarding her persona.

• Blanche’s character is unravelled in the same way her name is read: First, she appears to be harmless and innocent, but her past indiscretions are uncovered.
• The FRENCH aspect of the name connects to the old, European aristocratic nature of her background.

Question 2

Rose Isabel Williams

Blanche and Rose?

AO5 WOOOOOOO

Answer 2

• Blanche characterised as delusional and sinking into madness at a young age could have been inspired by Williams’ sister Rose Isabel Williams who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at a young age.
• She has also been understood as the muse for the fragile character Laura Wingfield in ‘the glass menagerie’, also by Williams

Question 3

The Trunk

Significance of Blanche’s trunk?

Answer 3

Trunk contains objects from her past & entire life.
- A symbol of the good & bad moments of her life, and her pretence & reality (eg fake jewellery and Belle Reve papers).
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STANLEY treats the trunk with the same violence he treats Blanche herself. He also goes through it, foreshadowing the brutal revelation of her past.
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At the end, Blanche is ostracised from society. STANLEY promises that whatever is left behind will be sent on in his trunk, something that is probably untrue.

Question 4

The Trunk

Blanche’s Trunk: AO5

Muy Importante

Answer 4

A feminist reading would see the trunk as a representation of how trapped Blanche was by her past.
In the 1951 version of the film, the trunk follows Blanche while she doesn’t carry it herself. This can be read as her inescapable past following her.

Question 5

Belle Reve

How was BR lost?

Answer 5

Foreclosed Mortgage- Connotes Blanche’s tragic economic situation.
Causes great mental strain for her- remember “I’m just about to drop”?

Question 6

Belle Reve

Belle Reve AO5

Answer 6

Williams uses the idea of BR to highlight the difference in class between the sisters. BR represents the old Southern way of life & is the opposite of the culturally diverse NO with immigrants & “Bananas & coffee”