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