Blanche Quotes

Family

“Maybe he’s what we need to mix our blood with now that we’ve lost Belle Reve” (Blanche to Stella about Stanley S2)

kindness

“thank you for being so kind! I need kindness now” (S3 Blanche to Mitch)

“I have always depended on the kindness of strangers” (S11 Blanche to the Doctor)

Madness

“[as if to herself] crumble and fade and - regrets - recriminations… ‘if you’d done this, it wouldn’t’ve cost me that’” (Blanche S9)

“the music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it” (s9)

costume

“daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and ear-rings of pearl, white gloves and hat” (S1)

Hope

“Sometimes - there’s God - So quickly” (Blanche s6 with Mitch)

Alienation/Isolation

“Blanche sits in a chair very stiffly with […] her hands clutching her purse” (Blanche s1, out of place, vulnerable)

“it brought me here. - where I’m not wanted and ashamed to be…” (Blanche to Stella S4)

“Her appearance is incongruous to this setting”;“Something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth” (S1 Blanche intro stage directions)

death

“Funerals are pretty compared to deaths” (Blanche to Stella s1)

“The opposite [of death] is desire” (Blanche S9)

“The grim reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep” (Blanche to Stella about Belle Reve S1)

“The boy - the boy died [she sinks back down] […] [Her head falls on her arms]” (Blanche to Stanley S1)

Gender

“I never was hard or self-sufficient enough” (Blanche to Stella s5)

“Della Robia Blue. The blue of the robe in old Madonna pictures” (Blanche to Eunice and Stella in s11)

“That’s your job - not mine” (to Stella in scene 4 about sex and marriage with Stanley)

“The two words [Blanche DuBois] together mean white woods. Like an orchard in Spring” (to Mitch in S3)

power/danger/family

“apparently Mr Kowalski was not amused” (Blanche s8 - to Stella and Stanley - allusion to Queen Victoria “we are not amused”)

Suffering

“look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience shone through her face” (S11 Blanche)

“her expression is one of shocked disbelief”

“she cries out as if the lantern was herself” (Stanley tears down the paper lantern s11)

Sexuality/love/desire

“ I like an artist who paints in strong bold primary colours […] I never cared for wish-washy people” (Blanche s2 to Stanley)

“a little bit of eternity”; “you make my mouth water”; Young man! young, young, young - man!” (Blanche to boy s5)

“A streetcar named desire and then transfer to one called cemeteries […] and get off at Elysian Fields” (Blanche S1 telling Eunice about how she arrived here)

“That we have got to make grow! and cling to, and hold as our flag!”

“Yes, a big spider! that’s where I brought my victims” (Blanche s9 to mitch)

entrapment

“this place is a trap” (s11, blanche)

“The Blind are - leading the blind!” (Blanche to Stella s2)"

Deception/illusions

“Open your pretty mouth and talk while I look around for some liquor! I know you must have some liquor on the place! Where could it be, I wonder?” (S1 Blanche to Stella)

“I don’t want realism […] I’ll tell you what I want. Magic!” (Blanche to Mitch s9)

““Have got to be seductive - put on soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings and glow - make a little - temporary magic just in order to pay for one night’s shelter” (Blanche to Stella s5)

“I want to deceive him enough to make him want me” (To Stella S5)

“You see that I have this awful vanity about my looks even now that my looks are slipping” (Blanche to Stella S1)