key quotes Flashcards
(44 cards)
“her appearance is incongruous to this setting”
she cant fit into new orleans, reflecting modern, moving, post war society. blanche is not willing to move on but that doesnt stop the world from moving on
“elysian fields”
elysian means paradise (reflects williams love for new orleans) but also how new orleans is a place where seeking desires is safe to an extent, this doesnt include blanche
“the kuwalskis and the dubois have different notions”
hypocritical because he follows the traditional patriarchal family system of sovereignty yet, yet judges blanche for her traditional views
is only a modern man when it benefits him
“the blind are - leading the blind!”
quote from the bible, but broken up by the hyphen, reflecting the impossibility to follow the bible accurately due to the cruelty/randomness of life
reflects how no one is above another, there is no superiority that holds any true meaning
reflects the doomed fate of the baby, born to a prejudiced and ignorant world
“the kowalsis and the dubois have different notions”
blanche is the only dubois left, whereas stella is now a kowalski and pregnant, reflecting the opposing views and how new america is gaining power
alternative views can no longer co exist due to violence and judgement of nuance
people only stick to the “notions” that benefit themselves
“the men laugh. stella goes into the bedroom”
patriachy- men have all the power in the situation
therefore when violence is dismissed, it is stella who has to leave
reflects that men will protect each other over a woman due to female othering and the male identity
and individualism
irony in the lack of action occuring at violence, jarring to watch
allegory for the more subtle violence occuring in everday life, that the audience is ignoring
“you hens cut out that conversation in there!”
implies he a cock
hens main function is to provide eggs, reflecting the objectification of the female body to provide the patriarchal nuclear family
“the poker night”
it serves as a microcosm of the play’s themes of masculinity, power dynamics, and the clash between old and new worlds
poker as a metaphor for the clash of values, with the game representing Stanley’s raw, aggressive masculinity, and Blanche’s disdain for it symbolizing her struggle to maintain a veneer of refinement and civility amidst the chaos
“oh! [reading with feigned difficulty]”
blanche is just as ignorant as the others, she is just vulnreble - making her the victim
perception is threatening and intimidating, williams using irony and humour to point out the futility of that
“a dancing bear”
animalistic, even tho he is playing along with blanches pretences, he is just as much a threat to her as everyone else
“there he throws his head back like a baying hound and bellows his wifes name:
stella! stella, sweetheart! stellla!”
A fitting animal simile compares him to a “baying hound.” In contrast to his previous aggressive and dominant behavior, Stanley is presented here as a vulnerable and pathetic male
reflects stanley is a result of circmustances and human just as blanche and stella are, he is violent due to society?
“with low, animal groans”
desires becoming a primitive animalistic thing, does not fit in with refined society yet being human
passion versus violence, ideas of desire not always alligning with morality, then what is right in that case?
“people have got to tolerate each others habits, i guess”
williams reiterating that everyone has their own fatal flaw
some that the audience finds unforgivable, yet others are excusable - why? they are all harmful (reflected by tragic genre)
also questions how we can judge the characters when we all have vices of our own
pushes back on the idea of superiority within humanity, no one is better than anyone else
“curtains”
illusion of division and difference
but ultimately futile
also reflects the lack of any real privacy, secrets or personal identity
everything is infringed on by others, yet we pretend it isnt
“something downright - bestial - about him!”
lack of refinement and frivolous blanche views as inhumane
questions humanism // what it means to be human
the animal versus the culture
both sides are harmful and harmed themselves
“when people are soft - soft people have got to court the favour of hard ones, stella. have got to be seductive”
divided speech reflecting the divides within society she is criticising
“soft people” reflecting the victims of individualism, and the lack of empathy emerging
“and glow - make a little - temporary magic just in order to pay for - one nights shelter”
admission to prostitution through allusion, reflecting the disconnect blanche has from reality being protective
desire versus necessity, why is one judged more than the other
“temporary” magic reflecting the tragedy of time and age
“[mitch is bearing, upside down, a plaster statuette of mae west, the sort of prize…]”
mae west = hollywood starlet, sex symbol of the decade
“upside down” reflects mitchs dismissal / disregard / disrepect for women like mae west, and ultimately blanche as well
foreshadowing mitchs rejection of female sexuality
blanche never leaving the stage
similar effect of desdemonas dead body staying on
forces the audience to empathise with blanche, forces them to remember that women like her exist and live whole lives completely ignored, makes audience face the reality
“i’d suddenly said - ‘i know! i know! you disgust me…’”
her judgement of allan reflecting the judgement against herself
reflecting the lack of strict morality or superiority within society, we are all hypocrites and judgemental - disgusted and disgusting
“lately you have been doing all you can think of to rub her the wrong way, stanley, and blanche is sensitive”
the verb of “rub” reflecting the slow, burning, build up of pain
reflecting how people like stanley, who believe themselves superior, break down people they believe below them
the point of the play isnt the outright violence, but the slow, burning, “rubbing”, violence all the characters and soviety itself faces
“He hangs up and returns to the table. Blanche fiercely controls herself, drinking quickly from her tumbler of water”
imagery of water reflecting themes of transformation / movement (tides) and being controlled by something beyond yourself - society/fate/stanley, reflecting blanches indulgence in her helplessness (drinking)
Sister Blanche
“sister blanche” motif of morality throughout the whole play, and ironic use of judgement to criticise hypocrisy in society.
none of the characters are moral, yet all criticize each other’s actions with the justification of morality, reflecting real life and the right we have to judge others versus the lack of judgement we give ourselves
“sister blanche” also reflects blanches ties to the old south, which was far more religious than the modern new orleans- williams viewed religion as being dominated by fear and control, used to give meaning to life- could be reflecting blanches blind and slightly naive commitment to the ideology of the old south
by stanley calling her a nun (a complete refusal of desires) reflecting Williams’s criticism of the old south’s purity culture, but lack of actual purity- the secrecy of fulfilled desires with the pretences of purity- calling her a nun is exposing blanches act
“Ticket! Back to Laurel!”
laurel symbolic of the old south and the southern gothic, the decay of everything the south stood for (traditionality, religious morality, superiority, etc.) - the ghosts of laurel are not just of blanche’s family, but of blanches whole understanding of the world- and she is unable to move forward due to other peoples intervention, foreshadowing her fate.
laurel economically recovered from the war with timber, destruction of natural resources and the defining feature of their lands to catch up with the modern north of america
