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A Streetcar Named Desire > Quotes > Flashcards

Quotes Flashcards

(58 cards)

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1
Q

“This ‘blue piano’ expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here”

A

Stage Directions
Scene 1
Plastic theatre
Reflects New Orleans
Blanche

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2
Q

“Catch!” “Meat!”

A

Stanley
Scene 1
Dominance
Animalistic
Lower class

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3
Q

“Her appearance is incongruous to this setting.” “that suggests a moth”

A

Blanche
Scene 1
Stands out
Doesn’t fit new society
Stuck in past
Fragility
Moth - attracted to light but Blanche needs to stay away from light
Destructive desire

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4
Q

“They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride so blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!”

A

Blanche
Scene 1
Ultimate destruction and death brought on by desire

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5
Q

“You never did give me a chance to say much, Blanche”

A

Stella
Scene 1
Her submissive nature
Blanche and Stanley’s dominance

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6
Q

“They’re something like Irish”

A

Blanche on Stanley’s polish descent
Scene 1
Shows both his and her class
Conflict

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7
Q

“A different species”

A

Stella
Scene 1
On Stanley
Otherworldly
Animalistic

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8
Q

“you left! I stayed and struggled”

A

Blanche on Stella leaving
Scene 1
Underlying bitterness
Leading cause of fragility

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9
Q

“I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!”

A

Blanche on Belle Reve
‘Belle Reve’ - French - ‘beautiful dream/sweet dreams’ - illusion
Tragic/futile fight to keep Old South

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10
Q

“Why, the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep!… Stella. Belle Reve was his headquarters!”

A

Blanche monologue
Scene 1
Blanche consumed by death
Metaphor for the death of the Old South

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11
Q

“Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women… with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens”

A

Stage directions on Stanley
Scene 1
Animalistic imagery
Sexuality
Peacocky energy

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12
Q

“The boy - the boy died!”

A

Blanche on Allan Grey
Scene 1
End
Fragile
First mention of him
Youth
Death of youth

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13
Q

“From the land of the sky blue water,/They bought a captive maid!”

A

Blanche in bath
Scene 2
1909 song by Charles Wakefield Cadman
Mermaid trapped by sailors
Mermaid - siren
She is trapped by society, desire, past, kowalskis

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14
Q

“Poems a dead boy wrote” “I’m not young and vulnerable anymore”

A

Blanche to Stanley about letters
Scene 2
Poems - romantic
Dead boy - husband, death of youth, stuck in past
Vulnerable - lie - she is and Stanley proves it

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15
Q

“it’s wonderfully fitting that Belle Reve should finally be this bunch of old papers in your big, capable hands!”

A

Blanche to Stanley
Scene 2
Passing South from old to new
Condescending

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16
Q

“The blind are - leading the blind!”

A

Blanche to Stella
Scene 2
End
Bible
Lost

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17
Q

“men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours”

A

Stage directions
Scene 3
Peacock energy
New South
Gaudy

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18
Q

“I can’t stand a naked light-bulb”

A

Blanche to Mitch
Scene 3
Deception

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19
Q

“animal thing, you”, “Stanley charges after Stella”

A

Stella and stage directions
Scene 3
Animalistic imagery
Primitive
His dominance

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20
Q

“There’s so much - so much confusion in the world… Thank you for being so kind! I need kindness now”

A

Blanche to Mitch
End of Scene 3
She’s lost
Vulnerable
Dependent

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21
Q

“They come together with low, animal moans”

A

Stage directions
Scene 3
Stanley and Stella’s relationship
Physical
Passionate

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22
Q

“I was - sort of - thrilled by it”

A

Stella
Scene 4
Stanley’s aggressive nature
Passion of relationship

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23
Q

“What you are talking about is brutal desire - just - Desire!” “It brought me here”

A

Blanche
Scene 4
Plastic theatre
Destructive nature of desire

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24
Q

“he’s common”, “ordinary”, “bestial”, “He acts like an animal”, “sub-human”, “ape-like”, “survivor of the Stone Age”

Study These Flashcards
A

Blanche
Scene 4
Stanley character
Animalistic
Primitive

25
“Virgo is the Virgin”
Blanche Scene 5 Irony
26
“I was never hard or self sufficient enough”, “I’ve run for protection”, “I’m fading now”
Blanche Scene 5 Honesty Comments on patriarchy Highlights her fragility
27
“Because of the hard knocks my vanity’s been given”
Blanche Scene 5 Loss of beauty equals loss of power
28
“I want to rest… I want Mitch”
Blanche Scene 5 He equals her security
29
“Hey! Sugar!”, “ma’am”, “I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off children”
Blanche and Negro Woman Scene 5 Turns tables- 2 woman sexualise boy He is nameless- sexual object Predatory
30
“you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow”
Blanche Scene 6 Light imagery Discovery of love
31
“He was in the quicksands and clutching at me … I was slipping in with him”
Blanche Scene 6 Allan Grey Cause of her downfall
32
“two people in it”
Blanche Scene 6 Accompanied by approaching locomotive Desire Destructive
33
“Dame Blanche”
Stanley Scene 7 Class division
34
“tight, artificial smile”
Blanche Scene 8 Her facade
35
“hurls a plate”, “seizes her arm”, “Pig - Polack - disgusting - vulgar - greasy”, “‘Every Man is a King!’ And I am the king around here”
Stanley Scene 8 Power Masculinity Patriarchy Insecurities
36
“But what I am is a one hundred per cent American, born and raised in the greatest country on earth”
Stanley Scene 8 Populist appeal Scene gives him a voice after being a background character for the previous few scenes Reminder of his control
37
“But people like you abused her, and forced her to change”
Stella Scene 8 Rift between Stanley and Stella Caused by Blanche
38
“Varsouviana’, is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it”
Stage directions Scene 9 Escapism Haunted by his death
39
“I don’t want realism”, “I’ll tell you what I want. Magic”, “don’t turn the light on”
Blanche Scene 9 Fear Illusions Fragility Deception
40
“The Tarantula Arms”, “That’s where I brought my victims”, “intimacies with strangers…to fill my empty heart”, “hunting for some protection”
Blanche Scene 9 Animal imagery Honesty Villainised female sexuality
41
“gaudy tin flowers that lower-class Mexicans display at funerals and other festive occasions”, “Flores para los muertos”
Stage directions and Mexican woman Scene 9 Repeated throughout Blanche and Mitch’s conversation Downward spiral of play Death
42
“You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother”
Mitch Scene 9 Drops her after everything Slut shaming Villainised female sexuality
43
“a mood of hysterical exhilaration” “decked herself in… soiled and crumpled white satin evening gown”, “rhinestone tiara on her head”
Stage directions Scene 10 Her deterioration Ruined innocence and fake superiority Parody of herself Fantasy An attempt to reclaim old self but unable to after everything
44
“Physical beauty is passing”, “beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart…grow”, “How strange that I should be called a destitute woman! When I have all of these treasures locked in my heart”
Blanche Scene 10 Comment on patriarchy Obsession with beauty Resembles Old South
45
“worn-out Mardi Gras outfit”, “What queen do you think you are”
Stanley Scene 10 Blanches deterioration Charming decay Reveals her facade and true lack of power Mardi Gras - parade - show - not real and over dramatised
46
“Operator”, Wait!”, “Hold on, please”, “The night is filled with inhuman voices like cries in a jungle. The shadows and lurid reflections move sinuously as flames along the wall space”
Blanche and stage directions Scene 10 Loss of humanity Accompanied by image of prostitution, theft and a brawl Panic Fear
47
“The barely audible ‘blue piano’ begins to drum up louder. The sound of it turns into the roar of an approaching locomotive”
Stage directions Scene 10 Plastic theatre Stanley Blanche is consumed
48
“The ‘blue piano’ goes softly…The inhuman jungle voices rise up”, “He springs towards her”, “Tiger”, “She moans”, “She sinks to her knees”, “the hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces sound loudly”
Stage directions and Stanley Scene 10 The rape Animalistic imagery Primitive Her loss of power - surrendering to him Here he wins and destroys her
49
“We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning”
Stanley Scene 10 Inevitable Drawn to each other The battle between New and Old South - one must win Old South cannot last forever, her loss of power to Stanley has been inevitable
50
“The atmosphere of the kitchen is now the same raw, lurid one of the disastrous poker night”, “sky of turquoise”, “Stella has been crying as she arranges the flowery dresses in the open trunk”
Stage directions Scene 11 Tone of overwrought emotion Mirrors Mexican flowers for death
51
“I can smell the sea air”, “an ocean as blue as…my first lover’s eyes”
Blanche Scene 11 Romantic Hopeful Fairy tale tone
52
“The ‘Varsouviana’ is playing distantly”, “Lurid reflections appear on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes. The ‘Varsouviana’ is filtered into weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle”
Stage directions Scene 11 Plastic theatre Animalistic Fear Past haunting
53
“What have I done to my sister”
Stella Scene 11 Betrayal Needs Stanley for protection
54
“I’ll kill you!”, “Mitch collapses at the table, sobbing”
Mitch and stage directions Scene 11 Attempt to protect Mirrors Stella Guilt stricken
55
“Blanche turns wildly and scratches”, “He takes off his hat and now becomes personalised. The inhuman quality goes…her terror subsides a little. The lurid reflections fade from the walls, the inhuman cries and noises die out”
Stage directions Scene 11 Captured animal Taken Stanley’s characterisation Her slow trust
56
“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”
Blanche Scene 11 Dependence Fragility Weakness Links to end of scene 3 What she has been searching for
57
“Stella?”, “She sobs with inhuman abandon”, “The luxurious sobbing, the sensual murmur fade away under the swelling music of the ‘blue piano’ and the muted trumpet”
Stanley and stage directions Scene 11 Uncertainty Guilt Left broken Plastic theatre - play begins and ends with blue piano - cyclical
58
“This game is seven-card stud”
Steve Scene 11 Mirrors scene 3 Life is a game of chance Destructive Dangerous Risky

A Streetcar Named Desire (8 decks)

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