Scene 4

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  • Scene 4
    • relationships
      • Stella and Stanley
        • 'only one tube was smashed' - how easy it will be to fix their relationship as easy as fixing the radio
      • Stanley and Blanche
        • Blanche describes Stanley as 'common', 'bestial' and 'no part of a gentlemen in her nature'
          • this not only represents what she doesn't like about Stanley but men in the North in general
        • she is racist in her tone calling him 'sub-human' linking how she calls him a 'polak'
        • everything Blanche says about his nature is mirrored in the stage directions 'eats like one, moves like one, talks like one'
          • eats - eat with mouth and open and with hands
            • moves - he 'throws' and 'stalks' and 'charges'
              • talks - he says 'shack up' and 'dandy' - slang words
        • Blanche shows distain for the north in general 'art, poetry... we have got to make grow and cling to and hold as our flag'
          • 'flag' - links to civil war
        • she views Stanley as 'cavemen' with 'bearing home the raw meat' - but this is what Stella loves about him - animal attraction
          • proves this when Stanley enters in an animalistic way, 'licking lips' 'stalking' carrying packages, proving Stella doesn't care and she hugs him fiercely
            • it is their animal attraction that makes them strong and Blanche doesn't understand this
      • Stella and Blanche
        • Stella 'stirs lazily' and Blanche gives a 'moaning cry' - shows Stella adapting the new world and Blanche's hesitation
    • themes
      • interior and exterior appearance
        • we get a sense that 'Shep Huntleigh' isn't real through the way Blanche acts when talking about him
          • 'tampering nervously with a cigarette' - worried she will be exposed
        • 'then don't take on that superior attitude
          • Blanche takes on a façade of superiority when she has done many things driven by desire
            • Blanche holds on to her superiority as if she doesn't she will have to accept reality
      • fantasy and dellusion
        • 'he was as good as lamb when I came back and he was really very, very ashamed of himself'
          • delusional believes this is enough to forgive him
        • Stanley is Stella's drug, she is 'thrilled' by him smashing all the light bulbs
        • both sisters are delusional: 'your fix is worse than mine'
          • Blanche is deluded I trying to reclaim her past and Stella by her desire for Stanley's brutality
        • Blanche romanticises the situation with Shep
          • she sets their meeting as 'dusk' - very romantic, she uses exaggeration 'a block long' and 'Texas is literally spouting gold in his pockets'
        • there is lots more evidence that Blanche has invented Shep
          • 'I can't dial' - doesn't know his number
          • incomplete sentences - 'he could set us up in a - - shop'
        • Blanche's description of how she lost her money is very ambiguous - 'it just goes places'
        • Blanche wants to get them 'both out'
          • shows how they are both stuck in repetitive cycles they can't get out of as are both deluded
      • sexuality
        • 'you let him?' - Blanche is used to controlling men through sex so hearing Stella does not do so is even more confusing for her
        • 'what you are talking about is brutal desire - the name of that rattletrap streetcar'
          • both Blanche and Stella are driven and deluded by their desire
            • 'don't tell be you haven't ridden that streetcar' - refers to her past - 'it brought me here'
      • masculinity
      • feminity
        • 'rests her on her belly, rounding slightly with new maternity' - shows her traditional role as a mother
          • asserts Stanley in a dominant role
        • Stella picks up a broom and 'twirls it with her hands' - shows how she embraces traditional role
        • Blanche's solution to get out of one situation with a man is to go off with another man
          • shows how women could only use men as a way to escape as had so little power
    • characters
      • Stella
        • Stella is 'serene' after last night - Stanley is like a drug to her that makes her forget her other worries
          • 'narcotized tranquility'
        • 'the table is sloppy with the remains of the previous night' - reminds of the chaos of the Poker night - Stella's tranquillity juxtaposes this heightening her dellusion
        • 'Stanley's always smashed things'
          • shows how ordinary Stanley's behaviour is to Stella
        • Stella goes about it as though it is her morning routine 'he promised he'd stop having such a poker parties but you know how long such promises last' - shows she has been through it before
        • 'I wish you would just let things go'
          • Blanche's key flaw is her failure to more on
            • her failure to move on from Stanley's actions last night can be extended to her failure to move on from the South
              • Stella can adapt unlike Blanche
        • choosing her side as her hugs Stan in 'full view' of Blanche
      • Stanley
        • Stanley's 'gaudy pyjamas' and 'comics' remind us even though he isn't there it is still his house
          • 'gaudy pyjamas' - 'gaudy seedbearer'
        • when Stanley arrives 'a train approaches' represents him - sharp and blunt
          • he carries packages - shows he is dominant male
        • Stanley 'grins' at Blanche - he knows Blanche has just pushed Stella further away by giving her monologue
      • Blanche
        • Blanche has had a 'sleepless night' her paranoia compared to Stella's tranquillity heightens Stella's dellusion
        • use of many question marks represents her confusion and Stella's tranquility
        • Blanche is almost jealous of Stella's youth - 'you're still young, you can get out' - she wishes to act as a cautionary tale to Stella
        • Blanche describes Stella and Stanley's relationship as a 'Chinese philosophy' - anything she doesn't understand adds something foreign - shows traditional values
        • Blanche's solution to the problem is to use money to get out of it
          • reflects her upbring
        • Blanche becomes more hysterical as the scene progresses
          • she uses an eyebrow pencil to write, the stage directions depict her a 'springing'
            • mirrors her frantic need to hold onto the past
          • this climaxes when she 'smashes' the pencil on the table
            • we never see the more violent side of Blanche, façade of delicate and beautiful
              • suggests this who Blanche really is distraught, broken and lost
        • 'I understand... you saw him in uniform, an officer'
          • the only way Blanche can understand Stella's attraction is through appearance - she is all about appearance.
        • 'the only way to live with such a man is to go to bed with him'
          • foreshadows her fate
        • Blue piano plays at the end with trumpet - trumpet Stan and is heard more loudly showing Stan won

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