essay: identity

intro:

  • presented in streetcar as aspirational

  • presented in TLQ as sculpt-able

  • presented in Beautiful as imposable

p1 - streetcar:

  • AO1: Blanche aspires to retain her Southern Belle-ness

  • AO2:

    • Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light (pg3)

    • “no, one’s my limit” (pg8)

    • “daylight never exposed so total a ruin!” (pg8)

    • “I was flirting with your husband, Stella” (pg25)

    • “I’m not accustomed to having more than one drink” (pg33)

    • “Thank you for being so kind! I need kindness now” (pg39)

  • AO3:

    • southern belles originated in the ‘antebellum’ period of the American South

    • her struggle to keep this fading part of her identity = to retain the positive perception southern belles had, of chastity, purity, and good social etiquette

  • AO4:

    • whilst in TLQ, Eliz as portrayed as being able to shape her identity to an extent, despite the obligations of her royal role, Williams portrays Blanche as being helpless, as her surroundings influence her

  • reiterate AO1

p2 - femgosp:

  • AO1: presented in TLQ as sculpt-able

    • the identity imposed on her is a monarch, a Queen

    • the one she chooses is a figurehead for women

  • AO2:

    • “The Long Queen couldn’t die”

    • “and was queen of more…/when they lived if they did so female”

    • “no girl growing who wasn’t the apple of the Long Queen’s eye”

    • “bright jewels/for the Long Queen’s fingers to weigh as she counter their sorrow”

    • “her ear tuned/to the light music of girls, the drums of women”

  • AO3:

    • Queen Eliz was expected to rule, marry and produce an heir

      • already “bound to the Kingdom of England”

    • despite the apparent need for some sort of masculine figure to be married to her, she took her rule beyond what was supposedly required, she organically became a symbol of feminism

  • AO5:

    • feminism

  • reiterate AO1

p3 - streetcar:

  • AO1: Stanley aspires to make his masculinity the focal point of his identity

  • AO2:

    • He heaves the package at her (pg2)

    • “let me enlighten you on a point or two, baby” (pg18)

    • “since when do you give me orders?” (pg19)

    • Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand on her thigh (pg29)

  • AO3:

    • 1940s = war, post-war america = very masculine

    • esp as a Pole, it is likely that Stanley would’ve maximised opportunities to fit into her surroundings

  • AO5:

    • feminist interpretation:

      • such violent, toxic ideas of masculinity and heading a family undoubtedly convince Stanley that he needs to emulate this

  • reiterate AO1

p4 - femgosp:

  • AO1: presented in Beautiful as imposable

    • such impositions perhaps lead to inner-conflict of the individual = self-destruction

    • “do they know me better than I know myself?”

  • AO2:

    • “each seeing her as a local girl/made good” (Helen of Troy)

    • “and noticed how the black silk of her dress/clung to her form, a stylish shroud” (Helen)

    • “breasts, and every man/that night saw them again and prayed her name” (Cleopatra)

    • “they filmed on, deep, dumped what they couldn’t use” (Marilyn Monroe)

      • if what they see isn’t what they like, and in accordance with how they wished to portray, it’d be cut

  • AO3:

    • historically, prominent women have been sexualised, this being positioned at the forefronts of their identities, often reduced down to only this

  • AO4:

    • compare to how Blanche is portrayed with her sexuality and her flirty behaviour, as she leans into this, explaining to Stella that this is necessary because “men don’t even admit your existence unless they are making love to you”

  • reiterate AO1

conclusion