A Streetcar Named Desire

1. Post-war America
2. South

1. fallen woman

   Annotations:

   • lost estate, belle reve, gay husband
   1. self-destruction
2. social pariah

   Annotations:

   • indiscrete sexual behaviour
3. double standards

   Annotations:

   • She goes after what is bad for her, sexual desires, while she claims to want security.
4. depends on men
5. afraid of mortality
6. aristocratic background
   1. class difference
      1. male-dominated society NO: class difference does not matter

1. animalistic
2. New America: social leveller
3. bad amusements
4. family man

1. sensitive and decent
2. clumsy, unromantic
   1. not B's ideal man
      1. they share need for companionship
3. snare is sexual

   Annotations:

   • after hearing about Blanche's promiscuous past Mitch feels angry and embarrased. Therefore he believes he deserves to have sex with Blanche during the rape scene, He no longer respects her enough to be his wife. 
4. cares for B

Annotations:

• -Blanche is lying to herself and pretending to be something else.  - Stanley does everything to unravel her secrets. OVERALL: reality is revealed. In the last scene Williams demonstrates that fantasy is important too by letting B retreat in her own imaginary world to shield herself from the harsh blows of reality.

Annotations:

• -Blanche has a fear for mortality (aging). She does not want her  beauty to fade. This is expressed in her fear of light, not wanting to reveal her true age and the sex with younger men. This way she hopes to avoid death and aging and return to her world of teenage bliss.
• -Her lifelong pursuit of SEXual desires have led to her eviction of Belle Reve, her ostracism from Laurel and her expulsion from society. - Her husbands homoSEXuality leading to suicide. - Blanche's downfall is caused by her fear of mortality and her inability to react appropriately to sexual desires.

Annotations:

• Stelle and Blanche both depend on men. Blanche regocnizes that Stella might be happier without Stanley but does not apply this to herself. She does not realize that her dependence on men will lead to her downfall rather than her salvation. She puts her fate in the hands of others.

Annotations:

• Blanche avoids bright lights to cover up her fading beauty and age. To avoid reality.Her intoleration to bright light represents her grasp on reality that is nearing its end.

1. Paper lantern

   Annotations:

   • B uses a paper lantern to cover bright light.
2. bright vs dim light

   Annotations:

   • In scene 6 Blance says that her time with her husband and making love to him was like a bright light. Having sex with others always happened in dim light. Her past with her husband is like a bright light. The rest is dim, less fun. 

Annotations:

• -Bathing calms Blanche's nerves. - It cleanses her of her past but as her past can not be erased, the bathing never ends. - Stanleys shower after beating Stella calms him down and makes him feel remorse. 

Annotations:

• Stanley: social drunk, during poker. He also comes out for it in the public.  Blanche: anti-social. She tries to hide it. She also drinks to withdraw from reality. For both of them it leads to destructive behaviour. Only Stanley knows  how to rebound while it partially leads to Blanche;s downfall. 

Annotations:

• In Scene 10 the shadows and jungle noises add a dramatic effect to Blanche's downfall into madness.

Annotations:

• The polka plays at moments when B is feeling remorse for Allan's death. It represents B's loss of innocence and the event that triggered her mental decline. From the moment Blanche tells Mitch about it, it starts to play more often.

1. Polish
2. Allan

   Annotations:

   • Blanche and Allan were dancing to this polka the last time she saw him alive. During their dance Blanche told him she was disgusted by him and then Allan ran off and shot himself.

Annotations:

• A song that B sings in bath on her birthday. The lyrics are about how love turns into a phony fantasy. This is applicable to B's life.

Annotations:

• Scene 1: Stanley throws a package of meat at Stella. This represents his sexual proprietorshiip he holds over Stella. Stella laughs and catches it. This indicates her sexual infatuation with him.

Annotations:

• Blanche is portrayed as somewhat silly. But this makes the audience cry rather than laugh. We feel bad for her.

1. sympathetic approach

Annotations:

• This comes across best in his stages directions, which he makes very detailed. He doesn't hold back.  he strikes at the heart of characters with his detailed descriptions