Alternatively, in a more literal sense Blanche understands that love can never be as strong as her first love and places herself into darkness to hide the fact that she may never find love: “never for one moment since”. Women from the Old South were expected to marry young and have children, Blanche has therefore failed because she has had affairs with many men and in order to stop herself believing she has let down her heritage and traditions, she creates illusions which portray herself as an innocent woman, wanting to marry “Marry me Mitch!” In addition she believes that she is aging and is no longer desirable, which cannot be seen clearly in dim light so she tends to hide herself from strong exposure, portrayed in “put a–paper lantern over
A Streetcar Named Desire Name Vivian Dong Scenes 9 & 10 Discussion Questions Milstead Directions: Answer in complete sentences and use evidence from the text to support your responses. Your answers must include a blended direct quote to support your answer. Work must be typed and submitted to turnitin.com by 7:20 a.m. on the due date!!! Scene 9 How does Blanche try to laugh off the way Mitch comes to visit? Mitch comes to visit Blanche still dressed in his work clothes and unshaved.
But don’t look at me..” and “Open your pretty mouth and talk while I look around for some liquor”. 6) Identify two examples of Blanche’s deception in this scene. What does this reveal about her character? One example is that Blanche try to seem alright
He regretted it and was crying for her to go back to him and love him. Also, love in this story is filled with insecurities and secrets. Blanche and Mitch would have been official, but Mitch believed what he was being told about Blanche and did not want her for hearing she was not “pure”. Stanley and Stella are in
Blanche feels the need to be appreciated by men at all time and seeks attention when she does not receive it, especially from Mitch. “She dupes him regarding her age and declares herself younger to Stella, tries to fool him regarding her drinking habits, avoid going out with him until after dark and manages to avoid being seen in direct bulb-light!”(Kararia 24). Blanche is portrayed as a liar and attention seeker who wants to be showered with compliments from Mitch. She tries to fool and flirt with Mitch so she can secure her future with him. “She sees in Mitch an opportunity to prove her allure and score an easy sexual conquest.
From here on, it shows that Blanche’s appearance and how she perceives herself as a person ties closely to the lighting in the room. For instance, when Mitch and Blanche introduce themselves for the first time, she makes the statement, “I bought this adorable little colored paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon. Put it on the light bulb! Will you, please?” (54).
She sees herself as pure and innocent which is a far step away from what she truly is. Blanche is always hiding in the dark and avoiding leaving the comfort of the indoors during the day this is all in an attempt to hide the fact with age her beauty is fading. She is fixated on her youth and the need to be seen as beautiful. The reality is that Blanche had once been pure and innocent in her youth, back when everything in her life was perfect and figured out. With time, she has changed in purity and innocence, ever since the death of her young husband Allan, she has been in a desperate attempt to recreate what she had with him.
Blanche’s personality makes her live in the past acting as a “southern belle” and believing millionaire Shep Huntleigh will marry her unfortunately for Blanche living in the past meant she ended up in a state institution. Stella is a good example of past and present intertwined as he past was living in Belle Reive a plantation as a “southern belle” and now her present is in New Orleans and married to a husband who abusive. The character of Mitch a hard worker whom looks after his ill mother seems to the reader as a decent person with past and present intertwined personality he is respectful at the start to win Blanche
She frequently relies on her perception of herself as an object of male sexual desire. She always starts with flirting when she comes in contact with men. Blanche tells Stella that she and Stanley smoothed things over when she began to flirt with him, “I called him a little boy and laughed and flirted. Yes, I flirted with your husband.” (44) When Blanche meets Stanley’s poker-playing friends, she takes interest to Mitch and sees him as a possible choice for her to find companionship.
In Scene 10, she deviously claims that she has just received a telegram from the millionaire, Steph Huntleigh, to explain why she is dressed up. At first, Stanley plays along, but once Blanche musters up the audacity to say that Mitch returned to their apartment seeking repentance, Stanley draws the line. He calls her out for her fictitious tales of her past, and states, “We’ve had this date from the start,” just before he maliciously rapes Blanche. Their natures root in primal, animalistic instincts, Stanley like a dirty hog, open and free concerning his sexuality, Blanche like a fox, sly and deceitful. Despite her incessant attempts to destroy her past, Blanche is unable to stop their sexual connection as she has had so many other men.
Stella accepts her willingly, however, Stanley begins to hear rumors. Blanche starts to date one of Stanley’s friends, Mitch, but when Stanley informs him about her past, Mitch basically tells her
Blanche’s knowledge that she must attract men with her physical body is shown when she tries to get Mitch 's attention by undressing in the light so that he can see the outline of her body “Blanche moves back into the streak of light. She raises her arms and stretches, as she moves indolently back to the chair” (88). However, her sexual encounters quickly gained her a reputation that prevented many
She believes that Mitch could be her future spouse and pursues a romantic relationship with him. While Blanche truthfully begins to fall for Mitch, she approaches him with multiple lies to win his heart. but through the way she chooses to pursue him, she compromises her true shot at happiness with Mitch after the truth was revealed. When Blanche asks what he wants, Mitch replies with, “What I’ve been missing all summer” (120), indicating that Blanche could have had a chance, had she not lied. As a result of her façade, she destroyed the possibility of happiness with
And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it!” Blanches magic is seen through her illusions and delusions. In Blanches world Mitch doesn’t fit however she has reached a point of intimacy by being honest about her first husband and the guilt she endures as she begins to share the painful moment of her life with him. Stanley’s intrusion ruins her plans of marriage with Mitch and yet again she had to retreat in the world of her delusions. Stanley who represents realism in this novel and play pops Blanche’s illusion bubble through seeing the realism in scene ten
To Blanche, Stanley originally comes off as appealing however once he rapes her, he becomes monstrous in her eyes. On the contrary, Blanche is not exactly humane as well. Blanche is the extreme version of how a female was represented in the mid-1900s, but takes crazy too far. As opposed to helping Blanche deal with the world, her fantasizing is more destructive then helpful. Stanley’s violent rape of Blanche is a wake up call from her fantasy life, the final straw in her mental decline, leading to her
