Sex and Desire
Tone
Setting
Character
Symbols
Things Left Uncertain
bellowing, saying "baby", asserting power through volume pg. 2
scene 3 pg. 34 Mitch stares with a sensitive look compared to Stanley who just slaps hips
Throwing his "package", "th'ew at 'er" pg. 3
scene 3 page 39, Blanche can't stand "a rude remark or a vulgar action"
scene 2 page 44, "They stare at each other. Then they came together with low, animal moans."
Many sexual references symbolized by animals, "bears" for example
scene 2. pg 26 Stanley said "If I didn't know what you was my wife
Scene 4 pg. 48 Stella talked about slipper "I was - sort of - thrilled by it."
Scene 4. Blanche desires men with money
scene 4 pg. 53 Stella says "But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark -- that sort of make everything else seem -- unimportant
Stella insures Blanche that her desire has nothing to do with seeing Stanely in a uniform
Scene 4. pg 53. Blanche says "What you are talking about is brutal desire -- just -- Desire! -- the name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another...
Blanche has a very judgmental tone regarding Stella's reason for liking Stanley, she believes its pure desire and Stella is not seeing the negative side of Stanley
Scene 4. pg. 53. Blanche says "Then I tremble for you! I just -- tremble for you..."
Blanche does not understand why Stella loves Stanley, very judgemental
Scene 4 pg. 54 Blanche says " any part of a gentleman's in his nature! Not one particle, no! Oh, if he was just -- ordinary! Just plain -- but good and wholesome, but --no. There's something downright -- bestial -- about him!
Blanche sees a "bestial" nature of Stanley, but Stella does not see it
Scene 5 pg. 57 "I wouldn't mind if you'd stay down at the Four Deuces, but you always going up." "Who ever seen me up?"
Scene 5 pg. 57 Steve hits Eunice
Scene 5 pg. 57, Stella does not think Eunice should call the police after Steve hits her, rather agrees that getting a drink is more "practical"
Scene 5 pg. 60 "People don't see you -- men don't -- don't even admit your existence unless they are making love to you."
Scene 5 pg. 62 "I want his respect. And men don't want anything they get too easy."
Scene 5 pg. 66, alcohol makes people show their desire
Why does Stella protect Stanley? Why does she overlook the abusive actions of Stanley?
Scene 6 Blanche tells Mitch "No, honey, that's the key to my trunk which I must soon be packing."
Scene 6 Blanche says "No, honey, that's the key to my trunk which I must soon be packing." She desires Mitch as he is different from the rest of the men
Scene 6 Blanche asks Mitch "Why do you always ask me if you may?"
Blanche is not used to men like Mitch who are polite and respectful
Scene 6 Blanche says
I liked the kiss very much. It was the other little--
familiarity--that I--felt obliged to--discourage.... I didn't resent it! Not a bit in the world! In fact, I
was somewhat flattered that you--desired me! But, honey, you know as well as I do that a single
girl, a girl alone in the world, has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she'll be lost!
As a single lady, Blanche does not let herself easily show emotions, not even to Mitch who is polite and respectful
Doesn't like to be "lost"
Scene 6, Blanche really likes Mitch, however does not let herself easily get "lost" in love
Having a night cap before sleeping, alcohol showing the desire between Mitch and Blanche
Scene 6, Blanche and Mitch have a very flirtatious tone with talking about Mitch's big physique and him going to the gym and working out, very masculine
"Oh, my goodness, me! It's awe-inspiring"
Scene 6, unlike most men, Mitch is a "natural gentleman"
He tells Blanche to "Just give me a slap whenever I step out of bounds." Mitch however can control his desires
Scene 6, Mitch is very genuine and honest, even reveals to Blanche that he talked about her to his mother
Scene 6, Blanche talks about how her first love experience, she was blinded
It was like you suddenly turned a
blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that's how it struck the world
for me. But I was unlucky. Deluded
Scene six the Polka music is a symbol for their desires. As the music intensifies, so those the desire of the characters and their desire to be with one another as exemplified by Blanche and Mitch
"You need somebody. And I need somebody too. Could it be--you and me, Blanche?"
In Scene 6, what was Blanche's ex like? Was he a gentleman like Mitch or was he more like Stanley?
Kowalski apartment
Despite the social class differences, Stella and Stanely have no problems getting along
Scene 7, Stanley has a very judgmental tone when describing Blanche's past. To him, she is a undesirable girl and he had to warn Mitch
Scene 8, begins very awkward as Blanche's undesirable past is being brought up
Three-quarters of an hour later. The view through the big windows is fading gradually into a
still-golden dusk. A torch of sunlight blazes on the side of a big water-tank or oil-drum across the
empty lot toward the business district which is now pierced by pinpoints of lighted windows or
windows reflecting the sunset
Scene 8, Stanley wants Blanche gone
God, honey, it's gonna be sweet when we can make noise in the night the way
that we used to and get the colored lights going with nobody's sister behind the curtains to hear
us!
Scene 8, Stanley wants Blanche gone and believes she is driving a wedge between him and Stella and is negatively impacting their love for one another
" And wasn't
we happy together, wasn't it all okay till she showed here?"
Why is Stella okay with Stanley insulting her sister? Does she love him more than her own sister?
Her reaction to the physical abuse is similar to her reaction to Stanley, she accepts it and moves on
click to edit
together--I want to create--joie de vtvre! I'm lighting a candle.
have both been anxious and solemn and now for these few last remaining moments of our lives
I want you to have a drink! You have been so anxious and solemn all evening, and so have I; we
Blanche desires Mitch because he is a gentleman, but why does Stella desire Stanley?
Scene 7 and 8, is Mitch lying? Or is his source not reliable?
The way Blanche has been characterized in scenes 1 to 8 do not align with the type of person Stanley describes her as
Scene 10 as the music intensifies, Stanley decides to corner Blanche in the bathroom. The blue piano is correlated with sexual desire and as the blue piano gets louder, Stanley can not control his desire
[The "blue piano" goes softly. She turns confusedly and makes a faint gesture. The inhuman
jungle voices rise up. He takes a step toward her, biting his tongue which protrudes between his
lips.]
Scene 10 Stanley says "Oh! So you want some rough-house! All right, let's have some rough-house!", while cornering her in the bathroom. Despite Blanche threatening to hit him, he takes it as a joke
Blanche says in Scene 9
Yes, I had many intimacies with strangers. After the death of Allan--intimacies with strangers
was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with.... I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me
from one to another, hunting for some protection--here and there, in the most--unlikely places--
even, at last, in a seventeen-year-old boy but--somebody wrote the superintendent about it--"This
woman is morally unfit for her position!"
Scene 9 Mitch says "I don't think I want to marry you any more." Mitch no longer wants to marry Blanche, rather only wants to have sex with her
Scene 11 Blanche says "I don't want to pass in front of those men". Unlike in the beginning of the scene, she no longer wants to be seen in front of men
"I'll kill you!" (pg.122 Scene 11) Mitch is either angry hearing about Stanley hurting Stella or is angry about sending her away. Either way, Mitch is angry about her treatment and thus cares about her.