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SCENE 5 - Coggle Diagram

- - - - • Stanley confronts Blanche—implies he knows about her past in Laurel.
      - • Blanche denies it, but is clearly terrified.
      - • Blanche confides in Stella—reveals her desperation for Mitch and her fear of growing old.
      - • A young man arrives—Blanche flirts and kisses him.
      - • Symbolic of her impulsiveness and need for affection.
      - • Scene ends just as Mitch arrives for their date.
- - - - • Opens with a violent row—mirrors Blanche’s inner turmoil.
      - • Stanley’s quiet threat about Laurel = psychological warfare.
      - • Establishes his growing power over Blanche.
    - - • She admits her fear of age, loneliness, and fading beauty.
      - • Dresses in soft pastels—“like a moth”—fragile, ethereal, fading.
      - • Constant need for male validation = coping mechanism.
    - - • Reference to “I can’t stand a naked lightbulb” = fear of reality.
      - • Lantern = illusion, self-protection
      - • Anticipates Mitch (Scene 9) and Stanley (Scene 11) tearing it down.
    - - • Blanche confesses her past liaisons, indirectly—searching for safety.
      - • Shows that sexual desire was her only way to assert herself after trauma.
      - • Williams paints her as both sympathetic and self-destructive.
    - - • Kiss with the young man = dangerous pattern
      - • Links to her downfall and Stanley’s later accusations.
      - • Scene builds toward the collapse of Blanche’s illusions.
- - - - • Stain on white blouse
      - • Lost innocence?
      - • Reminder of her husband’s death?
      - • Visual cue for moral/spiritual “staining”
    - - • Blanche’s pattern of behaviour:
      - • Sex as escape
      - • Rejection of “dull” safety
      - • Craves protection—but sabotages it
    - - • “You make my mouth water”
      - • Innuendo—dangerous impulse
      - • “I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off children”
      - • Strong hint at past scandal
      - • Ties into her firing from school in Laurel
    - - • Blue piano music = desire, nostalgia, decay
      - • Thunder = passion + oncoming storm (conflict/fall)
- - - - • Wants Mitch—emotional security
      - • Yet risks everything with one impulsive kiss
    - - • Addicted to desire—physical urges overpower logic
      - • Romantic delusion—still clings to fantasy, even dangerously
      - • Fear of permanence—like a moth, always flitting, never settling
      - • Self-sabotage—knows she doesn’t deserve peace, subconsciously ruins chances