FATE Vs. FREE-WILL quotes - Streetcar and Malfi

‘We are merely the stars’ between tennis balls, struck and banded’

Bosola- Powerlessness of humanity to the force of Fate.

Imagery of celestial ‘stars’ intensifies the otherworldly ruling of fate over meer humanity.

‘I am going into a wilderness’

Duchess

Imagery of discovery and danger characterises the Duchess as determined and independent.

‘I - I’m fading now!’

Blanche

Desperate tone of voice connotes weakness, highlighting her inevitably succumbing the her fate.

‘I’m going to do something. Get a hold of myself and make a new life!’

Blanche

Prosodic features characterise her as frustrated with the constraints of society, and the fate of women in mid-20th century America.

‘Fly your fate’

Duchess

Imperative creates a determined tone of voice, protraying the Duchess’s determination to challenge her fate.

However, her ultimate death highlights the impossibility of escaping fate, intensifying the entrapment felt by many Renaissance women in their fate.

AO3: Men’s control over women and belief in their lower place on the Chain of Being.

‘They told me to take the streetcar named Desire […] and then […] Cemeteries […] [to] Elysian Fields’

Blanche

Image of the ‘streetcar named desire’ to ‘Elysian Fields heightens a sense of inevitability and how her fate is inescapable.

‘Cemteries’ evokes imagery of death and endings, amplfying the tragic outcome and inevitability of fate.

‘Inert figure’

Blanche S.D.

Kinestics emphasises utter defeat at the hands of cruel fate - which is symbolised by the antagonist (stanley).

‘Pull, and pull strongly’

Duchess

Command characterises her retained autonomy she fiercly clutchs as she shapes the manner of her own death in the face of the end of her life.

‘I am Duchess of Malfi, still’

Duchess

Defiant tone and end-focus conveys her continued influence and power, even in death.

AO5: Gemma Arteton - Perhaps this sheds light onto a glimpse of weakness and resignation to her death, being defeated by a society that keeps her locked away as a ‘holy relic’