Streetcar+-+Symbolism

Notes: **Noel + Pearl :D** Style: Symbolism //Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.// __Chinese paper lantern__ à ”Little colored paper lantern at a Chinese shop…” à Blanche avoids appearing in direct, bright light à She wants to hide her fading beauty (Southern Belle) à ”I can’t stand a naked lightbulb” à In conventional western drama, light represents the truth. “I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!” Scene 1 à Using a cover for the light is a Metaphor for hiding the truth à Avoids light in order to prevent Mitch from seeing the reality of her fading beauty. In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanche’s past. Moth: à Fragility and the transience of life Ironic since moths are attracted to light and may represent how close they want to be with the truth. It may also symbolize how Blanch is drawn to all things that are pure and white, as she wants the chance to redeem herself. It is similar to how she is attracted to Mitch, who she sees as a person that can provide her with the chance to redeem her purity and respectability. She is guilty for her past deeds; hence she is drawn to the idea of youth as well, which represents the past that she wanted to change. à Moths are attracted to light à Light kills moth. à Truth will cause Blanche’s downfall. Paper: à Song: “It’s only a paper moon, just as phony as it can be-“Scene 7 à Impermanence à Fragility __Train:__ The nature of a train is that it travels directly in a track heading to a set destination. It symbolizes the idea that the future cannot be changed and it holds the idea of determinism. It is associated to Stanley and represents his blunt and unstoppable nature. The train is a modern technology and is significant as it represents industrialization and the advancement of future. à The train epitomizes the practical, direct, mechanic, forceful and aggressive nature that Stanley embodies. “Under cover of the train’s noise Stanley enters from outside.” Scene four (dramatic device) __Street Car:__ “The told me to take a street-car named Desire, and then transfer to one called cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at-Elysian Fields!” à Street-car Desire: Tennessee Williams believes that our lives are determined by our sexual desire. Metaphor of the streetcar à literally driven on one path. Represents Blanche’s old life when she was driven by desire and when she had sexual relations with many men. à Street car Cemetery: Associated to death à Represents the past that had will metaphorically kill her. It also represents her fading beauty and life. Final destination Elysian Fields: à In Greek mythology, the Elysian Fields (also called //Elysium// and the //Elysian Plain//) made up a paradise reserved for worthy mortals after they died. __Flowers:__ __From Desire to death__ __ à __ Mitch offered flowers to Blanche (symbolizes sexual desire) à Later on in scene 9, stage directions à A Mexican women “carrying bunches of those gaudy tin flower that lower class Mexicans display at funerals and other festive occasions.” à ”Flores. Flores. Flores para los muertos…” The polar opposites of desire and death are a recurring theme in the play. __Bathing:__ Recurring motif when she tries to clean herself à metaphorically trying to cleanse herself of the sins she had committed in her past à Guilt __Faded White color:__ à ”Faded white stairs ascend to the entrances of both.” –first page scene 1 describing New Orleans à Connotations to poorness à Contrast to the aristocratic class in the South. Stanley represents the American Dream that all men are born equal and can succeed equally, whilst Blanche represents the old world, where class and race are still important issues. à aging à Blanche à fading age and beauty Contrast to the primary colors associated to Stanley and his friends à “They are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the __primary colors__”- Scene 3 __Blanche's white suit__ is the false purity and innocence with which she masks her carnal desire and cloaks her past. Color: Della Robbia Blue: Scene 11 à represents purity and virginity; “the blue of the robe in the old madonna pictures”; Blanche wears it to redeem herself à stella wears a blue robe in scene three: portrays her as the pure and harmless one “Stella has removed her dress and put on a light blue satin kimono” juxtaposes with Blanche’s “dark red satin wrapper” à red is associated to danger and sexuality. Rhumba music: sexually provocative exotic dance music from the Latin Americas Wien Wien, nur du allein: classical music piece that represents the romantic side of blanche Dancing bear: Mitch is described as a “dancing bear”- lumbering and clumsy, but at the same time dangerous and powerful __Varsouviana polka music:__ The polka music is used as an expressionistic device to externalize Blanche’s internal thoughts. Every time she is stressed, the music plays in her head. Particularly when she remembers her past with Allen Grey, the polka music is played on stage and ends with a gunshot. She is tormented by the guilt for indirectly causing Grey’s death. Blue Piano: associated to the working class in New Orleans. __Belle Reve__ __ à __ __New Orleans:__ à Beautiful Dream: The huge estate in the South à owned by Wealthy aristocratic class. Represents Blanche and Stella’s past. à Dream associates to how Blanche lives her life in lies and illusions à Southern aristocratic Class vs Urban and working class à Play is a study of one way of living life that’s dying (Belle Reve) and the way of life taking over the future (Stanley’s lifestyle in New Orleans) __Star Signs:__ Capricorn-the goat à Stanley à Capricorn symbolizes Sexual desire Virgo à Blanche à associated to purity à ironic __Blanche Dubois:__ Means ‘white woods’ à associates herself to white, pureness of Southern Belle. Ironic. __Mr Graves: Scene one__ “I was on he verge of-lunacy, almost! So Mr Graves-Mr Graves is the high school superintendent-he suggested I take a leave of absence.” __Allen Grey:__ symbolizes a gray area of Blanche's life à Between the bright light that she avoids and the darkness she seeks. à She loved him, but he betrayed her. à The good and the bad of her relationship with him __Shep Huntleigh:__ the typical southern gentlemen à Blanche holds hope in this person who doesn’t ever appear in the play. It is unknown whether he exists or not. He is a device that is used to convey the illusion that Blanche is clinging to as a means to go back to her past and being wealthy again. __Meat:__ symbol of aggression and masculinity, the primal act of bring the meat home- linked to Stanley __Hard and soft:__ the way Blanche differentiates people; she categorizes them into hard and soft, hard being the dominant leaders of the world, and soft being those who sole purpose in life is simply to serve them. She sees herself as not “hard or self sufficient enough”; as “soft”; as needing to “ turn the trick” and put a “paper lantern over the light” and “shimmer and glow” and “put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly wings” __Cigarette case:__ represents the past, the desire to cling on to the past, the sensitivity that allows for this sort of sentiment that is shared by both Blanche and Mitch