Light Flashcards
(17 cards)
her delicate beauty must avoid the light
like a moth, light is her downfall. she is the image of fragility and decay she is driven by desire, that is what kills her.
stella for star
image of guidance? stella is the only one who knows her/ sees through and past her facade. like a star she is her safe harbour and guiding light, an image of a saviour which becomes ironic. the dim light of stella is the only light she can tolerate.
turn that light off! turn it off! i will not be looked at under that merciless glare!
light offers her no sympathy. she maintains her facade by maintaining her appearance - hiding the truth. so stella cant see her for what shes become. merciless = bringing her out under the light will destroy her, like a moth (working title)
(Stanley holds the bottle up to the light to observe its depletion)
stanley immediately sees through her facade. hes a shrewd pragmatist whilst blanche deals in fantasy. he holds her up to the light, foreshadows their relationship by the end
a lurid nocturnal brilliance
stanley hates blanches facade. the setting contrasts to blanches subtlety. light is truth and is what stanley wants
(stands in her pink bra) in the light through the portieres
the only time blanche actively seeks light (other than stella). it mimics her life as a prostitute, she performs for the sexual gratification of men. she is driven by desire and it is the only way she knows how to survive.
i bought this adorable little coloured lantern at a chjinese shop…put it over the light bulb?
it covers the light. light is truth. the lantern is delicate and doesnt fully block out the light. it is a protective layer for later when SK tears it down, showing her for who she is
mitch plays into the facade, putting it up, he is happy living oblivious to her fantasies
chinese: exotic and not actually chinese, playing into the fantasies of blanche
(stanley rushed around with a slipper) smashing the light bulbs with it
the exhilleration of their sex life. they desire the dark to explore their sex. dangerous element. shows the unpredictability and danger of stanley and the role of desire.
(just before the young man appears) there is a glimmer of lightning about the building
self destructive nature of blanches passion
pathetic fallacy: the timing shows that blanche is about to give in to desire and fantasy. mitch is coming to pick her up (rosenkavaleir) yet she still attempts to seduce the young man. desire is her ultimate destruction.
lets just leave the lights off shall we?
blanche is maintaining her fantasy.
the role of women- to perform for men and to become wives and mothers, blanche at this moment is seemingly on that route with mitch. this will all change when he breaks down her facade
Like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow
when she met Allan she saw the world in a whole other way. sense of her being drawn to the destructive - the moth
the headlight of the locomotive glares
impending danger, truth, and harsh reality—things Blanche desperately tries to escape. Whenever the train passes, it often coincides with moments of revelation or tension, illuminating uncomfortable truths she would rather remain hidden.
(to allan: “you disgust me…”) and then the searchlight that had been turned on the world suddenly turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light stronger than this kitchen candle…
the sense of overwhelming guilt- she drove him to his death and she still holds herself responsible for it. there will be no happiness or love for her, she couldn’t save or ‘cure’ him and that knowledge haunts her until her own death/ causes her descent into insanity.
the view through the windows fades gradually into a still-golden dusk. a torch of sunlight blazes
the light is going down on blanche. her relationship with mitch is now nonexistent and time is catching up with her in terms of stanley and his reveal of her secrets that destroyed her chance with mitch. sense of her ‘golden years’ slipping in- making her ‘useless’ as a woman. she will soon be too old to be a mother .
candles arent safe. they burn out in littel boys and girls eyes or wind blows them out…then electric light bulbs go on and you see too plainly…
she mourns the passage of time whilst stanley celebrates it. the candle light is softer and flickering - like blanches temporary presence. stanley is the electric bulb- an image of modern times, innovation and harsh light, he sees the world through the clear and bright electric bulb whilst she holds onto the romanticism of the past.
blanche: “i like it dark. it is comforting to me”
mitch: “i dont think ive ever seen you in the light… never in the afternoon…always a place thats not lighted too much”
mitch thinks its because shes vain, but its actually to hide her age her flaws and her truth. metaphorically its to escape the ugly world shes been left to survive in. shows his lack of sympathy and the attitudes of men towards women (they are wives and mothers or sex symbols/objects, not creatures of value)
“I’ve never had a real good look at you blanche” …
he tears the paper lantern off the light
bulb (she utters a frightened gasp)…
“so i can look at you good and plain”
it feels as though he’s torn her robe off, not the lantern. the men treat her like an object
it foreshadows his attempted rape and Stanley’s rape of blanche, they have no respect for her. she retreats further into her fantasy.
