(Streetcar/Malfi) Old vs. New

?
  • Created by: NHow02
  • Created on: 11-03-19 14:30
View mindmap
  • Old vs. New
    • Malfi
      • French Court
        • 'Like a common fountain whence should flow pure silver drops'
          • Alludes to the 'fountain of youth', suggesting purity prolongs life
            • However, Duchess' destruction suggests corruption drives society
          • 'Like a cedar planted by a spring'
            • In the Old Testament cedar was used to build the palace of Jerusalem
            • Source of flowing/ moving water, pure nutrients
              • Currents represent change & sharing wealth
          • Hints at Duchess' reference to 'diamonds' as she is virtuous
      • Italian Court
        • 'Like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools'
          • 'Standing' suggests contamination + disease
            • 'pools' incites reflection/ judgement
          • Lack of sustenance/ nutrients. Sycophants ('crows') seek further corruption
          • Natural image used to describe an unnatural society, creates a recessive effect
            • Simile references the 'tree of life' in the Garden of Eden and the 'forbidden fruit'
          • 'o'erladen with fruit.'
            • Weight of Upper Classes ('fruit') creates a crooked class system
            • Blble states 'nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit'
              • Lucy Webster: A 'world that is more sinned against than sinning'
    • Streetcar
      • The South
        • 'sunken treasures'/ 'treasure chest of a pirate!'
          • Blanche's past prosperity opposes Stanley's socialist view
            • Blanche is associated with slave plantations, and therefore the ruined South
          • Stanley benefits from the patriarchy just as Blanche benefited from slavery
            • Shawn Alff describes the play as a 'heathens paradise'
          • Stanley is digging up Blanche's past. 'treasures' suggests he delights in her downfall
      • New Orleans
        • 'primary colours'/'raw colours of childhood's spectrum'
          • 'red stained package'
            • Men were typically the breadwinners and provided for the family
            • The jungle reference suggests these attitudes are still backward
              • Eric Bentley sees the play as a clash of "species"
              • Darwinian idea of 'survival of the fittest'
            • Represents Stanley as a predator (dangerous to women/ Blanche)
              • Eric Bentley sees the play as a clash of "species"
          • 'having them coloured lights going'
            • Sexual Euphemism
            • Colloquial speech, suggests Stanley represents a recessive society
              • New Orleans was seen as a 'melting pot' of cultural influences
          • 'primary' excludes other players as collateral damage
            • 'childhood' could suggest that for men, the world is a playground, and women are the victims
          • 'Primary' alludes to the patriarchal society of post-WW2 America (men replaced women in industry)

Comments

No comments have yet been made

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all A Streetcare Named Desire resources »