Streetcar - Suffering quotations

‘they told me’ ‘transfer to[…] Cemeteries’ ‘get off at Elysian Fields’ - Blanche

• motif of death suggests the inevitability of her destruction from the very beginning as her role of tragic protagonist in the play

• there is a tone of irony and prolepsis in ‘they told me’ to ‘I have always relied on the kindness of strangers’ - from the start to the end of the play her plight has not changed as she still has to rely the help of strangers and in the end receives no comfort from her family

• the diction choice of ‘Elysian Fields’ draws attention to the name of Stanley and Stella’s neighbourhood, increasing irony as Blanche as the name alludes to the Greek underworld where heroes were honoured by the Gods after death, thus implying that Blanche is incongruous to this setting and that she will be forgotten, not honoured after death like Stanley and Stella would be and establishing a sombre mood, also repetition of ‘Elysian’ quickly drawing attention to the motif of death in the exposition

‘I,I,I took the blows in my face and my body!’ - Blanche

• the anaphora of the pronoun ‘I’ draws attention to the intensity of Blanche’s individual suffering she has had to endure alone due to the deaths of family members and facing the loss of Belle Reve

• her monologue further draws attention to the amount of suffering she has had to undergo as well as a semantic field of death, increasing pity and fear that the audience feels for her

• the corporeal imagery of ‘face’ and ‘body’ connotes that these losses were so unrelenting and painful that they were comparable to physical torture for Blanche

‘The boy - the boy died'.’ ‘I’m afraid I’m going to be sick!’ - Blanche [Her head falls on her arms.] (stage directions)

• Blanche’s non-fluency features draw attention to her emotional sensitivity, as if she cannot bear the reality of her dead husband despite the years that have past - her memories inexorably haunt her

• her kinesics are helpless, she has an uncontrollable physical reaction to her disturbing memories, also conveying defeat as if she is losing Stanley’s game of torment right from the exposition

,,,

,,,