Scene 1 Quotes Flashcards
(12 cards)
Plastic Theatre - Music
“lyricism and gracefully attentuates the atmosphere of decay.”
“music of Negro entertainers… with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers.”
“one white and one coloured”
Stage Directions
-Expressionistic technique.
-Plastic theatre - the idea of music heightens the atmosphere and introduced us into the world of New Orleans.
-Music detracts from the casual racism.
Racism was normal at the time, following the Slave Trade and American Civil War of 1860s.
-Creates uncomfortable atmosphere with today’s audience, but contemporary audience would’ve used this language.
Context
“New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town”
Stage Directions
-New Orleans is a melting pot of rich cultural diverstiy due to its port and trasnportation systems.
-“old part of town” = French Quarter, assimilates to Blanche and Stella’s french heritage at ‘Belle Reve’
Plastic Theatre - Costuming
“roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes… a red-stained package”
“He heaves the package at her.”
Stage Directions
-Stanley’s costuming suggests his working vclass background as a Polish immigrant.
-Pre-modifier “roughly” suggests Stanley is a man with a lack of care for his appearance, constrastingly to Blanche’s obsession with her vanity - Stanley is presented as the harsh reality.
-“red-stained package” and “heaves” demonstrate Stanley’s animalistic qualitieis, as if he is the hunter, providing for Stella.
-Throwing the package at Stella hints at their abusive relationship.
Plastic Theatre - Costuming
“Her appearance is incongruous to this setting… daintily dressed… delicate beauty must avoid a strong light… her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes… suggests a moth.”
Stage Directions
-Blanche does not fit in with the surrounding run-down, “poor” area of the French Quarter - suggests Stella’s ‘downfall’ of class.
-Semantic field of her costuming suggests the innocence which Blanch is trying to project, but the implicit suggestion of a moth (zoomorphism) creates an ominous atmosphere as if she is going to be lured in - possibly by sexual desire - which sets the tone for the rest of the play.
Symbol - Streetcar
“take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!”
Blanche
-Theme of sexual desire, demonstrating how sexual desire inevitably leads to death - alluding to Blanche’s possible hamartia.
-“Elysian Fields” = Greek mythology = the resting place for dead heroes.
-The streetcar is a symbol for the rise of the New South with technological advancements - Blanche riding the streetcar to Elysian Fields suggests the downfall of the Old South.
Symbols - Light and Alcohol
“turn that over-light off!”
“while I look around for some liquor!”
Blanche
-Symbol/Dramatic motif of light = Blanche is vulnerable in the light as it reveals her true self, as if it symbollically reveals her past, therefore she only shows herself in dim lighting.
-Symbol/Dramatic motif of alcohol/alcoholism = Blanche tries to hide throughout the play. Dramatic Irony, at this point, Blanche has already found the alcohol before Stella had arrived.
Context
Stella - “Stanley is Polish”
Blanche - “Oh, yes. They’re something like Irish… Heterogenous - types?”
Stella and Blanche
-New Orleans is a melting pot of cultural heritage and diversity.
-Americans looked down on European immigrants - especially Irish.
-Blanche has a high-brow attitude to immigrants due to her high social status, calling Stanley and his freidns “heterogenous” as if they are all the same, stereotyping their cultural heritage.
Plastic Theatre - Music
Stella - “Belle Reve? Lost, is it?”
SD - “music of the ‘blue piano’ grows louder.”
Stanley - “you were married once, weren’t you?”
SD - “The music of the polka rises up”
Stella, Stanley, and Stage Directions
-The symbol of the “blue piano” and “polka” is a form of plastic theatre which Williams uses to heighten the audience’s sense, making these ideas/symbols more important - as they return later and are an important part of Blanche’s hamartia.
-The music plays when one of Blanche’s past memories or ordeals like Belle Reve and her husband are discussed.
Monologue and Metaphor
“I, I, I took the blows in my face and my body!… The long parade to the grave yard!… And funerals are pretty compared to deaths!”
“Why the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep!”
Blanche
-Reality vs appearance - Blanche’s monologue and long turns in scene 1 show her dramatic personality and how she accepts the reality.
-Blanche had to deal with the reality of death while Stella was enjoying her fantasy with Stanley, only returning for the “pretty” funerals.
Animalistic qualities of Stanley
“Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women,”
“power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens.”
“gaudy seed-bearer”
Stage directions
-Masculinity and physicality - Stanley is described as an animalistic character.
-“gaudy seed-bearer” as if he is a predator and brings new life to the world, like his and Stella’s baby.
-Stanley’s character is sex-driven, and his and Stella’s relationship represents the rise of a new social order with the mixing of races and classes.
Symbol of Alcohol
“One’s my limit”
“No, I rarely touch it.”
Blanche
-Blanche tries to cover her alcoholism.
-Alcohol is used to dramatise Blanche’s delusions.
-Her alcoholism results from her desparate need to escape the present.
Uncertain world
“She looks at a slip of paper, then at the building, then again at the slip and again at the building.”
Blanche
-Blanche is unsure on where she is, and confused as to why her sister is now living in the “poor” area of New Orleans when she has her upper-class background - suggesting the downfall of the Old South and the rise of a new social order with the combination of Old and New South - with Stella and Stanley’s new baby.
