SCND symbolism

Blanche

• blanche = white = pure, innocent

  → its ironic because even though thats how she wants to present herself like “i have old fashion ideals“ its the opposite of her true nature

Du Bois

• means made of wood, which is quite opposite to her fragile nature and nervous condition

• her old life was more like a jungle or forest due to her promiscuity that she would try to conceal and so it was hard to see through and detect the real Blanche

• Du suggests aristocracy/nobility

stella

• latin for star - suggesting hope and stability she is the stabilising element of the play containing character traits from both Stanley + Blanche

belle reve

• name = beautiful dream → emphasises blanches tendency to cling to illusions like she tries to do with belle reve

• grammatical mistake for belle is feminine but reve is masculine → it underlies that belle reve is imperfect and crumbling away = blanche

light

blanche- tries to avoid any light as light makes the picture clearer blanche wants to avoid this so she doesn’t have to confront reality and that her beauty is fading

→the lantern how she wants to hide behind and not be exposed to the truth + the pattern distracts the eye just like blanche tries to do with her lies and cultural assertion

blue piano

• b talking about loss of her family and belle reve

• when she kisses the young boy

  → stands for depression and loneliness + longing for love

• stanleys victory over blanche as it was heard when she is being taken away to the mental institution

varsouviana polka

• when blanche is confronted with her past/truth

  → represents death and immanent disaster

• when she’s lost in her illusions with shep huntleigh the varsouviana is heard in distortion = her mental state

blanche as a moth

• moth mainly lives during the night = blanche wants to live in fantasy away from reality and truth

stanley as an ape

“ape like about him”