A Streetcar Named Desire - Blanche + Illusion vs Reality

Blanche - P1 - Critical Comment

Katrina Duerre - 'Blanche attempts to maintain her past luxurious life by holding onto and creating new desires rather than adjusting to her reality'

Blanche - P1 - #1

'incongruous', 'delicate beauty', 'white' 'raffish charm'

Extended stage direction, repetition costume.

Blanche - P1 - #2

'summer tea or cocktail party'

Blanche - P1 - Context

Southern Belle - young debutante, staple image of the Old South

Blanche - P1 - Summary

Blanche is trying to cling onto her past at Belle Reve/Southern Belle

Blanche's outdated Upper class aristocratic femininity is now out of place in a cosmopolitan working class neighbourhood.

Blanche - P2 - Critical Comment

Kazan - 'Blanche continually adopts a succession of shifting social roles...the demure lady... to the more determined seductress.'

Blanche - P2 - #1

'in her pink silk brassiere ... in the light'

Staging

Blanche - P2 - #2.a

'I brought my victims' + 'Hotel Tarantula'

'Hunting for some protection'

'Rely on the kindness of strangers'

Blanche - P2 - #2.b

'want what I missed all summer'

'marry me, Mitch'

Blanche - P2 - Context

Societal expectations of women.

Most women were expected to carry out domestic work

Strong negative outlook on sex before marriage

Women were expected to be modest - purity

Blanche - P2 - Summary

Flirtatious, impure women which contrasts her previous refined, conservative femininity.

Unravelling, see another side to her, from the composed woman.

Blanche - P3

J.M.McGlinn - 'Stanley thinks merely she's 'thinks merely that she (Blanche) feels superior to him and he wishes to destroy her composure'

Blanche - P3 - #1

'hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces'

'Lurid reflections'

'inhuman cries'

Plastic theatre

Blanche - P3 - Context

New America - individualism and masculinity vs Old South - femininity and art

Blanche - P3 - Summary

Complete breakdown of Blanche

Psychological breakdown from Stanley overpowering and taking advantage of Blanche's unravelling state after Mitch.

Illusion vs Reality - Blanche - Critical Comment

Kazan - 'Blanche continually adopts a succession of shifting social roles...the demure lady...the carefree flirt...the more determined seductress.'

Illusion vs Reality - Blanche - #1

'incongruous', 'delicate beauty', 'white' 'raffish charm'

Extended stage direction, repetition costume.

Illusion vs Reality - Blanche - #2

'in her pink silk brassiere ... in the light'

'dark red satin wrap'

''I brought my victims' + 'Hotel Tarantula'

'Hunting for some protection'

'Rely on the kindness of strangers'

Illusion vs Reality - Blanche - Context

Southern Belle - young debutante, staple image of the Old South

Safety of marriage - reflects the expectations Post War America

Illusion vs Reality - Blanche - Summary

She changes her aesthetics and her charm to the situation.

She manipulates her surroundings (illusion) to entice Mitch, but also out of protection from societal expectations.

Illusion vs Reality - Mitch/Young Boy - Critical Comment

P. Allan - 'She craves ''magic'' because the truth about Post-war America is too harsh to bear'

Illusion vs Reality - Mitch - #1

'I don't want realism' - 'magic'

'My Rosenkavalier'

'Bow to me first'

'she curtsies'

Illusion vs Reality - Mitch - #3

'marry me Mitch'

'I want what I've been missing all summer'

'You're not clean enough'

'stalks'

'pushes past her'

Illusion vs Reality - Mitch - Context

Illusion - court love, romance, chivalrous Old Southern man

women had to be seen as pure

Illusion v Reality - Mitch/Allan Grey - Summary

Romance turns out to be violent like Stanley

Illusion v Reality - Stanley - Critical Comment

J.M.McGlinn - 'Stanley thinks merely she (Blanche) feels superior to him and he wishes to destroy her composure'

Illusion v Reality - Stanley - #1

'hot trumpets and the drums from the Four Dueces'

'we had this date with each other from the beginning'

'lurid reflections'

'inhuman cries'

Illusion v Reality - Stanley - #2

'shep huntley' 'hysteria'

Illusion v Reality - Stanley - Context

New America - individualism and masculinity vs Old South - femininity and art

Illusion v Reality - Stanley - Summary

Reality - breaks all of Blanche's illusions, perceived her as a threat

Complete break down of illusions