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A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene 1 Climax notes
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A Streetcar Named Desire - Scene 1 Climax notes
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A Streetcar Named Desire Scene 1 Climax1. “I thought you would have never come back to this horrible place!” - past
“You haven’t given me a chance to,” - past
“Why didn’t you write me,” - past
“God love you for a liar!” - future
“You’re just as plump as a little partridge!” - future
“You hear me? I said stand up! [Stella complies reluctantly.]” - past
“The summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us…” - past
“They’re something like Irish, aren’t they?” - future & past
“You’ll get along fine together” - future
“There were things to adjust myself to later on.” - future
“Stanley doesn’t know yet.” - future
“You’re going to reproach me” - past
“Looked out for yourself” - past
“Stop this hysterical outburst” - future
“Now you sit there telling me with your eyes” - future
“Some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often.” - future (Stanley & Blanche)
2. Before Blanche brings up that she’s lost Belle Reve, Stella and Blanche were talking
about Stanley and how in love Stella is with him. Stella talks about how she nearly goes
“wild” when Stanley is away as she is so dependent on him. While Stella has a “radiant
smile”, Blanche builds up what she is about to say and already says that Stella will
“reproach” her. Blanche then blames Stella for leaving her at Belle Reve and makes
Stella feel guilty for being in love with Stanley. This is a way of Blanche gaining power
over Stanley before he’s even arrived and controlling Stella.
3. Blanche: Stella doesn’t “reproach” Blanche as she doesn’t know what Blanche is about
to tell her and therefore Blanche wants sympathy and seems like the victim. Previously
in the scene, Stella explains, “I just got in the habit of being quiet around you” as
Blanche is clearly the more dominant and outspoken sister. This clashes with the idea
that Stella would openly “reproach” her sister when, in reality, Blanche is the one that’s
already insulted Stella about where she lives. At the start of the extract, Blanche is
described as speaking “[in an uneasy rush]” which shows that she wants to change the
subject from Stella’s seemingly perfect relationship to herself. This may be because she
is jealous of Stella and wants her to feel sympathy for her. The more Blanche speaks,
the more her speech turns to exclamatives as if she’s desperate to get the words out
and dominate over Stella who remains fairly passive and quiet. Blanche then “[begins to
shake again with intensity]” which could be due to her having not enough alcohol in her
system, however, Stella may perceive this as nerves and would therefore may feel
protective over Blanche. This physical reaction could be a way for Blanche to manipulate
Stella into thinking that she is the victim of what her sister did. Moreover, the movement
could perhaps be a way of Blanche distracting Stella from what she’s about to say as
she doesn’t really want to accept the fact that Belle Reve is not their property. Although
Stella has clearly moved on from her life at Belle Reve, she grew up there and therefore
would have some sort of emotional attachment to the plantation. As a result, Blanche
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