Blanche Dubois Flashcards
1
Q
loquacious
A
Tending to talk a great deal
2
Q
Fragile
A
- Her dependence on alcohol
- nervousness
- mental instability
- ‘incongruous’, Part of the old world
3
Q
Unstable
A
- Sexually promiscuous, situation with the young collector in scene 5 and scene 7 with the school boy. Indulges in a string of affairs
4
Q
Misfortune
A
-Part of the Old world which is fading and dying
-ability to charm the new world is futile
-Lost Belle Reve, Not welcomed back to Laurel
5
Q
Imagination
A
- Shep huntleigh
- “Magic!…I tell what out to be the truth”
- Illusion and deception, inability to be truthful ruins her relationship with Mitch
6
Q
More words associated with Blanche
A
Anti-hero, Tragic heroine, narcissistic, personality disorder
7
Q
Southern Belle and Aristocracy
A
- Old south with an aristocratic heritage
- Flaunts her educated and knowledgeable self
- W.J Cash details the perception of the Old South’s ideal woman who was ‘morally pure and innocent’- Something Blanche struggled with and felt she needed to portray to be accepted
8
Q
Manipulative and a pathological liar
A
- Bends the truth further to fit her stories
- Deceives Mitch into desiring her
- Lies to help her confidence
9
Q
Insecure and Sensitive
A
- Insecure about her ageing
- Fixing her appearance and fishing for compliments and attention from men
10
Q
Lonely
A
- Stella is all she has in this world
- Cries out frightened to Stella that she cannot be on her own in the first scene
- Even her relationship with mitch is built on mutual loneliness as Mitch points out whilst comforting her
11
Q
Flirtatious and seductive
A
- Red satin robe suggests female sexual promiscuity
- Flirts with Stanley
- Her need to feel young again
12
Q
Delusional
A
- Constantly hers the Polka and gunshots
- She doesn’t want realism, she wants magic
- Speaks to herself
- She can switch into her fantasy world with such ease
- Her illusions mirror her desires and help her to escape the past
13
Q
Blanche’s snobbish
A
Shows how the Old South is flawed
14
Q
How is Blanche left to the Mercy of Stanley?
A
The loss of Mitch and the removal of Stella
15
Q
How is Blanche and Stanley depicted as similar yet different
A
- They both drink, act physically and sexually
- But for Stanley these actions are seen as powerful and in Blanche they are seen as signs of weakness and degradedness
