Stage direction quotes Flashcards
(15 cards)
Her appearance is incongruous to this setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit…
This stage direction sets up Blanche as a fish out of water, immediately signalling her conflict with her environment.
“Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher’s.”
This description of Stanley not only introduces him as a character, but also metaphorically characterises him as a predator.
‘Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light.’
Blanche’s beauty is best viewed in a light which does not expose its aged quality
‘The kitchen now suggests that sort of lurid nocturnal brilliance’ ‘The poker players … wear coloured shirts … and they are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours’
Williams uses vivid, brash colour to convey the lack of refinement and power of men, contrasted with Blanche’s dainty clothing and floral prints
BLANCHE moves back into the streak of light. She raises her arms and stretches, as she moves indolently back to the chair. Rhumba music comes over the radio. MITCH rises at the table.’
Blanche knows how to use her sexuality to gain Mitch’s attention
‘The Negro entertainers in the bar around the corner play ‘Paper Doll’ slow and blue’
Reflects the fragility of the women, but also Stanley’s attitude, as it is about buying a paper doll so that the singer can ‘own’ the girl.
‘STELLA has embraced him with both arms, fiercely … Over her head he grins through the curtains at BLANCHE. As the light fades away, with a lingering brightness on their embrace’
Stage directions where Stella goes against her sister’s advice and fully accepts Stanley back into her life. Stanley - who heard Blanche’s tirade - indulges in this
‘He kisses her forehead and her eyes and finally her lips. The polka tune fades out … BLANCHE: sometimes - there’s God - so quickly!’
Tenderness between Blanche and Mitch - she believes she has found divine retribution
‘The view through the big windows is fading gradually into a still-golden dusk’
the lighting at the birthday party mirrors that Blanche’s hope is slowly ebbing away
‘What do you two think you are? A pair of queens? … I am the King around here’ ‘[He hurls a plate to the floor]’ ‘[He seizes her arm]’
Stanley uses physical violence to deal with the criticisms of Stella and Blanche - ‘pig - polack - disgusting - vulgar - greasy’
‘The rapid, feverish polka tune, the ‘Varsouviana’, is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it’
Blanche’s escapism through drink
‘That - music again … [A distant revolver shot is heard, Blanche seems relieved.] There now, the shot! It always stops after that’
Blanche’s mental deterioration; her lucidity is slowly declining, unable to detach imagination from reality
‘Lurid reflections appear on the walls around Blanche. The shadows are a grotesque and menacing form.’ ‘The “blue piano” goes softly … The inhuman jungle voices rise up’
Menacing sound and lighting prior to the rape create a tense atmosphere of threat and impending violence
‘[holding tight to his arm] Whoever you are - I have always depended on the kindness of strangers’
Blanche’s ongoing dependence on men
‘This game is seven-card stud’
Cyclical nature: apes shall inherit the earth. Game of deception and bluffing, akin to what has gone on throughout their time here.
