My Favourite Movie

My favourite movie, of all time, hands down and hand on my heart is Gone with the Wind. That aside, I want you to really understand the whole 'Belle Reve' and the idea that Stella and Blanche are better than immigrants. It's weird because Vivian Leigh, who plays the main character, Scarlet, in Gone with the Wind, also plays Blanche.

This is Tara before the Civil War. Look at how lovely and big and picturesque it is. This is kind of what Belle Reve would have looked like - you can see why Stanley would want it so badly, and why in losing it, Blanche has lost her identity - like Scarlet, here, in Gone with the Wind.

This is Tara after the Civil War - not so nice any more, is it?

Check out this video too - it shows how magnificent the South was - this 'old South' that Blanche desperately wants to cling on to

This is also a really good book to read. It's called Reinventing the South and has a chapter on Streetcar from page 161. It's a google book so some of it has been cut out but try and read it. It makes some really good points and expands your knowledge :)

http://books.google.lk/books?id=dQYzohelTwEC&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&dq=tara+and+belle+reve&source=bl&ots=jwU-DQbeVN&sig=LeZm31NjSCDbRMyKAEvTouUSCec&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lKpWUejUMIjJswbW3oD4Aw&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=tara%20and%20belle%20reve&f=false

Skype class - scenes 6 and 7

So, we had a lovely little Skype class yesterday afternoon. Shenali (p) Jemiah, Shenuka and (sometimes) Yoga! It wasn't as bad as you thought it would be, right?

For those of you who could not make it, here were some highlights:

Scene 6 we walk in on Blanche and Mitch exchanging double entendrés and then the conversation gets a little serious when we realise that Mitch has his own insecurities, like sweating and his weight. This was interesting, because who's normally Queen of Insecurity? It seems, by this point, that they seem to be the perfect match - they both have insecurities and that seems to work quite well for them.

Blanche's speech about her husband and her 'deluded' thoughts about the marriage also brought up some interesting points.

Firstly, she's done this before with Stella about Belle Reve. It's important to note that she does this whenever she feels that people have the wrong impression of her. She does it with Stella when she feels Stella isn't listening to her etc and now she's doing it to Mitch because she thinks Stanley has told him 'all about her'.

Secondly, like her Belle Reve speech, she is not taking responsibility. With Belle Reve it was 'Stella's fault' and here it was her husband's fault, when she uses words like "But I was unlucky. Deluded" deluded, ie mislead by her husband...she "didn't know". She's the innocent party and she does this to make people feel sorry for her.

Thirdly, she uses direct speech in both - direct speech being "things-said-by-people-when-recalling-events" which is interesting. This brings up reality and illusion - she feels like she's there and getting lost between now and the past...Poor Blanche!

Ok - so have a look at this. Think of them as poems and annotate the hell out of them! Look for emotive language (ie language that's emotional) similies, metaphors, imagery etc


Scene 6

He was a boy, just a boy, when I was a very young girl. When I was sixteen, I made the
discovery – love. All at once and much, much too completely. 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. There was something different about the boy, a
nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn’t like a man’s, although he wasn’t the least
bit effeminate looking – still – that thing was there…. He came to me for help. I didn’t know
that. I didn’t find out anything till after our marriage when we’d run away and come back and
all I knew was I’d failed him in some mysterious way and wasn’t able to give the help he
needed but couldn’t speak of! He was in the quicksand’s and clutching at me – but I wasn’t
holding him out, I was slipping in with him! I didn’t know that. I didn’t know anything except
I loved him unendurably but without being able to help him or help myself. Then I found out.
In the worst of all possible ways. By coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty –
which wasn’t empty, but had two people in it… the boy I had married and an older man who
had been his friend for years….. Afterwards we pretended that nothing had been discovered.
Yes, the three of us drove out to Moon Lake Casino, very drunk and laughing all the way…..
We danced the Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke
away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later – a shot!.... I ran out – all did! –
all ran and gathered about the terrible thing at the edge of the lake! I couldn’t get near for the
crowding. Then somebody caught my arm. “don’t go any closer! Come back! You don’t want to
see!” See? See what! Then I heard voices say – Allan! Allan! The Grey boy! He’d stuck the
revolver into his mouth, and fired – so that the back of his head had been – blown away!... It
was because – on the dance-floor – unable to stop myself – I’d suddenly said – “I saw! I know!
You disgust me…” And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned
off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this –
kitchen – candle…

Scene 1

I, I, I took the blows in my face and my body! All of those deaths! The long parade to the
graveyard! Father, mother! Margaret, that dreadful way! So big with it, it couldn’t be put in a
coffin! But had to be burned like rubbish! You just came home in time for the funerals, Stella.
And funerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths – not always.
Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry
out to you, “Don’t let me go!” Even the old, sometimes, say, “Don’t let me go.” As if you were
able to stop them! But funerals are quiet, with pretty flowers. And, oh, what gorgeous boxes
they pack them away in! Unless you were there at the bed when they cried out, “Hold me!”
you’d never suspect there was the struggle for breath and bleeding. You didn’t dream, but I
saw! Saw! Saw! And now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go! How in
hell do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for? Death is expensive, Miss Stella! And
old Cousin Jessies’ right after Margaret’s, hers! Why, the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on
our doorstep!... Stella. Belle Reve was his headquarters! Honey – that’s how it slipped through
my fingers! Which of them left us a fortune? Which of them left a cent of insurance even? Only
poor Jessie – one hundred to pay for her coffin. That was all, Stella! And I with my pitiful
salary at the school. Yes, accuse me! Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go! I let
the place go? Where were you! In bed with your – Polack!

Another interesting thing it brought up was the idea of 'power'. Obviously, Stanley is the most powerful character because he is physically described as such, and he over powers everyone, even though he is less intelligent. BUT! Although Blanche likes to portray herself as the weakest, she's the most manipulative and wields her power through such speeches as we can see above. She overpowers her older sister and here she's overpowering Mitch. And as noted yesterday, she ultimately falls from her status of power as she's shipped off to the looney-bin!

In scene 7 - five months later - we see Blanche taking a bath (not literally...she's off stage somewhere singing a deluded song) and Stanley and Stella discussing her. It's quite interesting to read, because as we hear Stanley telling Stella the "truth" about her sister, Blanche intermittently comes in singing a song about the moon: “It’s only a paper moon, Just as phony as it can be – but it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me!” - reality check, Blanche! The moon is not made out of paper! "It wouldn't be make believe if you believed in me" is very important, children. Nobody believes in Blanche, everyone thinks she's a liar (mainly because of Stanley) so it's not make-believe. It's strange, in any case, that the audience has been taken out of the last 5 months - normally we know more than the characters! We're just as confused as everyone else.

It's important to know that none of the characters on stage are trust-worthy. Do you trust any of them? They're all deluded! Stella, Stanley, Blanche, Mitch...they all have their own imaginary life and the reality that they actually live.

Ok - so important things I want you to think about - these are excellent revision questions

"To what extent is Blanche the weakest character"
"How central is dramatic irony in the revelation of the play"

(when in doubt, google words you dont know...!!)

Typical exam questions - Streetcar

This is you in 7 weeks time!

Here are some tough and not-so-tough questions on Streetcar.

I strongly urge you to practise these within an one hour time limit - if at first you don't succeed, try try again...practice makes perfect, time waits for no man, procrastination is the thief of time etc etc

You should at least attempt to write a plan for each of these. That way, you've covered everything and nothing will scare you in the exam!

1. Describe the use of light in the play. What does its presence or absence indicate?
2. How does Williams use sound as a dramatic device?
3. How does Blanche’s fascination with teenage boys relate to her decline and fall?
4. Compare and contrast Mitch to the other men in the play.
5. Compare and contrast Blanche and Stella.
6. What does Williams’s depiction of Blanche and Stanley’s lives say about desire?
7. The plot of A Streetcar Named Desire is driven by the dueling personalities of Blanche and Stanley. What are the sources of their animosity toward one another?
8. A Streetcar Named Desire can be described as an elegy, or poetic expression of mourning, for an Old South that died in the first part of the twentieth century. Expand on this description.
9. Streetcar is divided into eleven scenes rather than the traditional act and scene divisions. What is the effect of this structure?
10. How does Williams tend to end scenes? On a consistently dramatic note? A tragic one? With suspense?
11. Are there any moral or ethical lessons to be found in A Streetcar Named Desire?
12. We’ve spent a lot of time contrasting Blanche and Stanley as opposite characters and symbols of conflicting ideals. But in what ways are these two similar? And how do these commonalities complicate the interpretation of the play?
13. What sort of acting choices do you see the characters having to play, particularly Blanche, Stanley, and Stella? Are the characters pretty clearly mapped out in the script, or is there much room for interpretation?
14. How important is the final scene (Eleven) of Streetcar? What does it add to the play? Why not just end with the rape in Scene Ten?
15. In what ways does Blanche represent the faded American Dream?
16. What effect does the combination of fantasy and reality have in A Streetcar Named Desire?
17. Does Williams' presentation of all the characters in this play evoke sympathy and compassion from the audience?
18. Discuss the presentation of Stella/Stanley/Blanche/Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire.