Exam (elaborations)
A Streetcar Named Desire : Example Answer
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- A-Level English Language And Literature
An example answer to a practice question for the English Language and Literature A-Level.
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By: milliedavis2006 • 8 months ago
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Refer to Scene 10,beginning
‘Operator, operator! Give me long distance, please…’ and
ending ‘We’ve had this date with each other from the beginning!’.
This interaction occurs near the end of the scene. Blanche is on her own after her party when Stella
goes into labour. Stanley returns from the hospital.
Referring to these lines and other parts of the play, examine how and why Williams presents
characters’ loss of control at different points in the play.
Answer:
Blanche’s loss of control – scene 10, scene 6, scene 11.
Within this scene and the wider play Williams present’s Blanche’s loss of control through an
imbalance in felicity conditions and aspects of plastic theatre.
Within Scene 10 we see Blanche’s loss of control being presented through William’s use of plastic
theatre in the form of sounds and visual features such as ‘The night is filled with inhuman voices like
cries in a jungle’ and ‘The shadows and lurid reflections move sinuously as flames along the wall
spaces’ this use of plastic theatre presents Blanche as losing control of her mental state as the use of
animalistic sounds and the simile used to describe the shadows and reflections create a sense of
hallucination and paranoia as if Blanche is hearing and seeing things that aren’t actually there.
Furthermore, Blanche’s attempt to call Shep Huntley can also be viewed as a presentation of Blanche
losing her mind as it is heavily implied that Shep Huntley’s character does not exist within the play
and therefore, Blanche’s attempt to seek help from him during Scene 10 where Stanley rapes her
reflects her desperation and loss of control. We can see this through Blanche’s use of exclamatives
when she says ‘In desperate, desperate circumstances! Help me!’ the use of exclamatives reflects
the desperation Blanche feels in this scene as well as an overall breakdown in her mental state as
she is brought to her demise by her sexual desire and her lack of a stable mind.
Within the Wider play we also see Blanche’s loss of control being presented through plastic theatre
in scene 6 where she retells the story of her husband’s death to mitch. ‘The headlight of the
locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past.’ Is a metaphor for Blanche’s vulnerability and
loss of control as she is exposing her past to mitch and being honest in presenting herself as a
traumatised woman who has had previous relationships that have had negative consequences on
her life. In doing so Blanche is losing control as her façade of a youthful, wealthy, aristocratical
woman is contrasted by the reality that she experienced a trauma in her youth and is not the ‘prim
and proper’ lady she wants to present herself as. In addition to this the plastic theatre used in this
scene also adds tension and presents the breakdown of tis façade and stable mind. We can see this
in ‘Polka music sounds, in a minor key faint with distance’ and ‘the polka stops abruptly.’ The use of
the post-modifier phrase ‘faint with distance’ depicts Blanche as having a disassociated memory that
she almost can’t believe happened. This presents her as being traumatised and shows that her
mental state has broken down in an attempt to remover herself from the pain and guilt she
experiences. Furthermore, the verb ‘stops’ with the post-modifier ‘abruptly’ creates a sudden shift in
tone showing the impact the death of her husband had on Blanche in the long term.
In addition to the plastic theatre used to portray Blanche’s loss of control within the play, Williams
also uses an imbalance in felicity conditions to show Blanche’s loss of power and control over the
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