scene 2 Flashcards
stage directions:
‘blanche is bathing’
recurring motif throughout the play
washing away sins
escapes to her fantasy world
stanley:
‘how about my supper, huh?’
gender roles
expects everything to be done for him
doesn’t want to go because it is an upper class restaurant and he is proud of his working class origin
old south
stella:
‘you’d better give me some money’
men in control of money
women have no way to escape from men
williams was a feminist
old south
stella:
‘stan, we’ve - lost belle reve!’
lost the old way of living
physical representation of the loss blanche has suffered, transforming the plantation into a symbol of death and decay as she vividly recollects her loss
stella:
‘don’t mention the baby. i haven’t said anything yet, i’m waiting until she gets in a quieter condition’
symbol of new beginnings - the new south
shows how unstable blanche is
stanley:
‘now let’s skip back a little bit to where you said he country place was disposed of’
materialistic
insensitive - typical, stereotypical man
stanley:
‘in the state of louisiana, we have the napoleonic code’
justify his feelings of entitlement toward stella’s inheritance.
in doing so, he shows that he is ignorant of legal technicalities, because belle reve, located in laurel, mississippi, wouldn’t fall under new orleans jurisdiction.
stanley’s repeated references to the napoleonic code highlight the fact that his conflict with blanche is also a gender showdown.
stanley’s greed reveals his misogyny, or woman-hating tendencies. as a man, stanley feels that what stella has belongs to him.
hates blanche as a woman and as a person with a more prestigious family name, and therefore suspects that blanche’s business dealings have been dishonest.
stella:
‘you don’t know how ridiculous you are being when you suggest that my sister or I or anyone of our family could have perpetrated a swindle on anyone else’
family honour and loyalty
important
subversion of stereotypes - usually men’s job
stanley:
‘genuine fox fur-pieces, a half a mile long! where are your fox-pieces, stella? bushy snow-white ones, no less! where are your white fox-pieces?’
enraged by the fact that blanche, a woman, is living better off then himself.
repetition of the same question incites his anger not just towards blanche but to stella - tries to make her feel bad about herself not having “white fox-pieces”
narrative enigma to audience of stanley’s true intentions, is he with her for her inheritance or love?
stage directions:
‘fist full of costume jewellery’
putting on an act
trying to make her fantasy seem a reality
not real jewellery
superficial and fake personality
stanley:
‘what’s rhinestone?’
the interrogative sentence displays stanley’s ignorance when trying to blame blanche (not worth as much as it seems).
stanley’s resentment grows as stella mocks him for his ignorance ‘next door to glass’.
also highlights the class difference between them as he is unable to differentiate between these materials.
symbolise pleasure and short duration
stanley:
‘since when do you give me orders?’
wants control
conforming to stereotypes
clash between men and women
blanche:
‘life is too full of evasions and ambiguities, i think. i like an artist who paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours. i don’t like pinks and creams and wishy washy people’
describing how important it is to her that people be bold, she is actually attempting to flatter stanley, as she knows that this is the kind of person he is.
in reality, the colours here represent blanche’s manipulative nature and her control over men.
reference of an “artist” could allude to her husband, enveloping her grief
the semantic field of the verbs ‘strong’ and ‘bold’ are contradictory to the fact that she must avoid a ‘strong light,’ - the reader is able to break through her illusion and lies, further revealing the extent of her fragility. the repetition of “colours” makes her seem mentally unstable, almost as if her thoughts are cyclical as she is lost in her fantasy.
blanche:
‘honey, do me a favour. run to the drug store and get me a lemon coke with plenty of chipped ice in it! - will you do that for me, sweetie?
infantilising stella
patronising
telling her to go away
controlling nature
lemon symbolises a bitterness, but also love and fertility - blanche is bitter towards love, sexuality and fertility - she wishes her life had turned out differently
blanche:
‘she doesn’t understand you as well as i do’
blanche knows men like stanley - knows what they’re really about
stella doesn’t - in love with him so can’t see his flaws
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