Set Design

Set design

I chose to have one set design for the flat because I want to enhance the feeling of being confined and uncomfortable. The entrance to the Kowalski flat is framed by two decaying pillars I tried to place the pillars between blanches bed and the poker table and on the border between the living room and the bedroom. I don’t really have walls for their flat, in stead tried to draw splintery bits of wood jutting our from the trim to suggest walls and their decay, the jagged pieces are reflective of Stanley’s personality and foreshadows violence. I situated the collapsible bed and Stella and Stanley’s bed against the same bit of wall, this will help show the divide between rooms but also show the conflict between Blanche and Stanley and sexual tension between them. I show the door to the bathroom on the right side of the house just to the left of the staircase, I don’t actually show the interior of the bathroom only the door because that’s kind of a ghost room. Eunice’s flat upstairs is a bit more covered up as most of the conflict occurs down stairs. It still has the decayed bits of wood to imply walls but there is less exposure. There is a window whose curtains can be drawn and a door, which can be shut; this slightly increased privacy will make it easier to emphasize the Kowalski residence. But also the visually more solid looking flat sitting on top of the more exposed looking flat will create the feeling of claustrophobia and vulnerability in the flat below. The staircase struggled to get right. Stairs are used through out the play so I had to put it very much facing the front but I also couldn’t block the view of the Kowalski’s house so I used a curved staircase which didn’t have any harsh angles to obstruct the view of the house. The curved staircase also had a tenderer feminine feel which contrast with the jagged wood splinters. In Stella and Stanley’s making up scene, conveying this kind of tenderness in contrast with the violence of the previous scene is essential, the stairs would help convey this. Lastly on the top of Eunice’s apartment I went heavy on the fancy gables, which can be symbolize how blanches presence there weighed down on everyone and, her romantic past is constantly weighing down on her. At about the same height as the gables I have silhouettes of modern buildings contrasting with the old fashioned romantic looking gables.

Stage directions

Blanche is portrayed as antsy in the stage directions. “Blanche sits very stiffly with her shoulders slightly and her legs pressed slightly together” (10) she is very controlled and innocent, the harshness of and roughness of the setting seems to be compress her. She suddenly “springs up and crosses to it and pulls out a whiskey bottle.” (10) She does this to avoid sitting still with her thoughts, this reminds of the Repression of a War Experience poem. The notion of the common and the tragic conflicting and trying to distract one self with the mundane action is presented but blanche takes it further. If she wanted to just distract herself she could have unpacked her suitcase or just taken one shot of whiskey instead of half the tumbler, in this case she is trying to numb her self with the alcohol and the way she springs up is impulsive and desperate, showing she is struggling to maintain control of herself and her image but also distract herself from her past.

Stanley’s portrayal also foreshadows his character he is carrying a “red stained package from the butchers.”(4) He seems almost like a hunter bringing back a fresh kill the way the package is stained, this masculine imagery enhances his brutish image, and implies carnivorous predatory image. Comparing the package to a kill it foreshadows how Stanley attacks blanche physically and attacks her facade.

Stella is portrayed as “gentle young women about twenty five with a background quite different from her husbands”(4) this reminds me of the feminist article on language, when we receive our first impression of Stella we just see her as some man’s wife.  she is simply different to his background Williams doesn’t just say her background, I think this shows that she bases herself around Stanley and is a bit of a submissive character but a mystery is also implied about her. From exceprt I can understand why people don’t talk about Stella very much. Even in scene three when he is begging for her she still doesn’t seem powerful. “Her eyes go blind with tenderness”(67) She is the rock in the play and constantly takes a supporting role but I don’t see a power exuding fr

Light as a Metaphor

Chinese Lantern (Scene 11, pg. 116):

Stanley: “You want the lantern?”

[He crosses to dressing table and seizes the paper lantern, tearing it off the light bulb, and extends it toward her. She cries out as if the lantern was herself.]

·      The lantern keeps Blanche from seeing herself aging. It creates an illusion of something beautiful, which she values highly.

·      It highlights one of the themes in A Streetcar Named Desire:  the denial of reality

·      When Stanley rips off the Chinese Lantern, it increases the tension of the scene and the conflict between romanticism and realism. The lantern represents romanticism because it slightly conceals the reality of Blanche’s situation, and dims the indoor of Stanley & Stella’s house. The light represents the reality of the current situation, hence Stanley likes it because he is a straight-shooter. Stanley is realistic as he accepts himself for being common.

Blanche’s insanity (Scene 10, pg. 159)

[The shadows and lurid reflections move sinuously as flames along the wall spaces]

·      The diction and imagery of light become darker and menacing when Blanche speaks of her past, such as when she is trying to contact Shep Huntleigh

·      Light now has a destructive nature, and may have something to do with desire

·      The flame of the candle represents Blanche’s desire to charm. In this scene, Blanche’s desire to charm turns destructive because her lies are revealed, and hence the light develops a backlash.

·      Her desire to charm has gone to far and she becomes engulfed in lies.

Mitch’s desire to see Blanche in the light (Scene 9, pg. 144-145)

Mitch- “What it means is I’ve never had a real good look at you, Blanche. Let’s turn the light on here.”

Blanche-“Light? Which light? What for? [Fearfully]

Mitch- “This one with the paper thing on it”[He tears the paper lantern off the light bulb. She utters a frightened gasp.]

Blanche: “I don’t want realism. I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell truth, I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! —Don’t turn the light on!

·      Mitch feels that he doesn’t know the “real” Blanche because he has never seen her in a lighted room. In fact, Mitch complains that they never meet during the day, and only go to dimly lit places on dates. Blanche is self conscious about her aging. She feels she deserved to have romance that lasted in her youth. She may be appearing to correct the world with magic but she is also trying to correct her own mistakes and cope with the guilt of pushing her husband to suicide.

Lighting candles (Scene 6, pg. 104)

Blanche-“We have both been anxious and solemn and now for these last few remaining moments of our lives together---I want to create---joie de vivre! I’m lighting a candle.”

·      The act of lighting a candle is desire-driven, and an example of Blanche’s passion. She has a romantic vision of life, and enjoys creating a sensual mood when with men, specifically Mitch.

·      She wants to exemplify her charm, and lighting candles and speaking in French highlights this.

·      She is aging and life is short; Blanche wants to use her charm to win over Mitch while she is still able to.

Cigarette (Scene 5, pg. 97):

Blanche-“Can you give me a light?”

Young Man- “Sure. This doesn’t always work.”

Blanche: “It’s temperamental? Ahh-thank you!”

·      Williams is using the lighting of a cigarette to show how her own perception of beauty, and how she cannot accept the fact that her looks are temperamental, just as light is.

·      Uses the act of lighting cigarettes to interact/talk with men, an “ice-breaker”. The light is her own charm, but its dim.

Sonnet and Street Car

I read on Adrienne’s blog on this poem and I disagree and agree with her. “So this poem is, from A Streetcar Named Desire point of view, living in the past. Nowadays, love is something practical, that follows a system- somewhere in the play it is said that Stella is following the usual pattern- find a guy, marry, have a baby. Blanche isn't, though.” Initially I agree with the idea that this poem shows “living in past” as it is adored by Blanche and Mitch because of their past.  But I think some parts of the poem ring true to Stella and Stanley as well especially the parts on passion. I question the notion of modern love being “practical.” I think that Blanches relationship with a guy who was a “prince charming type” wasn’t functional because there wasn’t mutual sexual attraction, so in that sense it wasn’t practical. But Stella and Stanley, having a relationship driven by passion and sexuality, that is very functional, isn’t always practical. Both types of relationships have destructive elements and they are both driven by desire, though for different things.

The poem Sonnets from the Portuguese displays a perspective on love that can connect to the romantic and the realistic shows how the existence of love and passion transcend the state of society. The first thing to notice is that last lines of the poem are the ones engraved in Mitch's silver case. “ I shall love the greater after death.” Blanches appreciation for this line is a clear display of the Gothic, romanticism is found in decay and loss, it brings Mitch and blanche together. But this romanticism is severely undermined by Stanley’s rejection of Blanche due to her past, which is ironic because their romance happened mostly because they had similar pasts. Romance is considered here to be an illusion of the past and realism becomes more relevant. But despite the gothic elements of the poem, love and romance are still relevant to those characters that we would consider modern. “I love thee with the passion put to use, In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.” Doesn’t this apply to Stella and Stanley? In the famous “STELLAAAA!” scene, Stanley’s temper and negative emotions are used to express his love for Stella. And Stella returns this passion by taking him back which required her to be naively trusting of him to an extent. In the characters that represent realism, love and passion, exist just as the do in the gothic. No matter what sort of person the characters want or what vulnerabilities they have, both experience love’s intensity and backlashes. Love will continue after death and after societal change because it is a timeless universal force.

Language and Gender

Initially Blanche is compared to a Moth, in the stage directions, a very fragile, delicate beauty. Despite this beauty Moths are also considered an unwanted thing as the eat clothes and such, sort of how Blanche is not wanted in the house. Like a moth she isn’t a typical destructive force like Stanley but she usurps and invades in a more feminine way. The way Moths fly into lights could allude to the way she finds her self seduced, as a moth flying to a light or candle but in this process she is destroyed.

Blanche is often called a canary bird by Stanley, which has the same kind of delicate nature as moth but is specifically a domestic animal that only sings a cage. When Stanley advances on Blanche he calls her Tiger, but in a sarcastic manner to mock any feeling of strength in her and reassert his dominance as a man.

Stanley is also compared to an animal in his description. He is called a richly feathered Bird among hens. Which would make sense, as he is the dominant male in the Play, however “richly feathered” sounds a bit glamorous and ornate. Which seems like more of a description of Blanche and not at all like a description of Stanley. Whilst Stanley is very masculine he tends to get very annoyed when Blanche points out his lack of class or calls him a Pollack, he deflects this with violence or outbursts declaring his pride, he might be masking his more feminine insecurity with masculinity.

In the scene where Blanche first meets Stanley, Stanley asks to make himself Comfortable, when Blanche complains about not looking Fresh. The connotations of comfortable is something that pleases the individual it has nothing to do with appearance, it’s functional rather than aesthetic. Fresh has different connotations while it can please the individual to feel fresh; it has to do more with appearance. Fresh is often used to describe food or flowers, “those tomatoes were freshly picked” or “fresh cut flowers.” When those type of things are fresh they serve their function, (to be eaten or admired) but aesthetics to are equally as important as function in this case. When Fruit is start in to lose its beauty and become bruised it won’t serve its function, it will be tossed out. It becomes understandable why Blanche seems so is so obsessed by beauty and aging it determines her use and purpose as a female.