Summary
A Streetcar Named Desire: Summary
- Module
- Unit 1 - Drama (9ET001)
- Institution
- PEARSON (PEARSON)
A Streetcar Named Desire: Summary
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What happens in each scene?Scene 1: Blanche shows up and drinks, tells Stella Belle Reve is lost and makes Stella cry in
the bathroom. Stanley shows up and makes small talk, asks ‘you were married once, weren’t
you’ and Blanche falls to her knees in a tableau vivant.
Scene 2: Stella is taking Blanche out to avoid Poker night, she tells Stanley about Belle Reve
and not to mention the baby, Stanley is interested in Belle Reve and goes through Blanche’s
stuff so Stella leaves to the porch. Blanche sends Stella out to get soda and gives him the
papers, and love letters fall to the floor (her scattering mental state- plastic theatre). Stella and
Blanche leave
Scene 3: Poker night. Stella asks them to stop playing and Stanley refusing, spanking her on
the arse. Stella is offended and goes in to see Blanche. Whilst Stella’s in the bathroom,
Blanche turns up the radio and Stanley turns it off. Blanche talks to Mitch and turns the radio
on again. Stella is abused by Stanley off stage, and her and Blanche go up to Eunice’s. After
Stanley calls her, Stella comes down and they make animal moans together. Mitch and
Blanche talk.
Scene 4: Stella is ‘serene’ in bed, and Blanche isn’t having any of it. Blanche has a diatribe
about Stanley, and there’s a bifurcated stage picture because Stanley hears it all. The scene
ends with Stella and Stanley hugging, and Stanley and Blanche looking at each other.
Scene 5: Blanche writes to Shep Huntleigh pretending to be living her Old South lifestyle
with Stella. Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of Steve and Eunice fighting
upstairs. Eunice is abused and claims she’s going to the police, but really goes to the bar.
Stanley tells Blanche he’s met Shaw, who told him Blanche was often the client of a
disreputable hotel. Blanche fiercely denies and then Eunice and Steve returns. Stanley leaves,
Stella spills the coke on Blanche and gives her advice about Mitch. Then the couples go out
together and Blanche kisses the boy from the Evening Star and Mitch shows up.
Scene 6: Blanche is really tired, and their date is kind of awkward. He asks to kiss her
goodnight because their last sexual encounter is implied to have not gotten a positive
response. Blanche explains that though Mitch’s attraction flatters her, a single girl becomes
“lost” if she doesn’t keep her urges under control, then invites him in for a drink. She asks
Mitch if he speaks French. After he tells her he doesn’t, she teases him in the language he
can’t understand, asking, “Do you want to sleep together this evening? You don’t
understand? What a shame!” Mitch is sweaty and then they talk about his weight. He picks
her up, she talks about how Stanley wants to ruin her. Mitch asks how old she is because he
wants to get married before his mum dies. She explains her previous marriage and he tells
her, “You need somebody. And I need somebody, too.” They kiss, even as she sobs. Blanche
says, “Sometimes—there’s God—so quickly!”
Scene 7: Blanche’s birthday. She’s signing in the bath “It’s Only a Paper Moon.”
Contrapuntal sounds as Stanley explains to Stella what he’s learnt about Blanche’s past: she
was a sex-worker ostracized by her town and fired for sleeping with a 17 year old student.
Stanley has told Mitch this. Stanley tells Stella that he has bought Blanche a birthday present:
, a one-way bus ticket back to Laurel and then goes into the bathroom as Blanche comes out.
Stella lies and says everything is fine.
Scene 8: Still Blanche’s birthday, 45 minutes later. Mitch never showed up. Blanche tells the
story about the parrot and Stella scolds Stanley for eating with his fingers. He orders both
sisters never to forget that he is the king of his house. He smashes his cup and saucer, yells
that he has cleared his place, and storms out onto the porch. Stella begins to cry. Blanche
again asks Stella what happened while she was taking a bath, but Stella says that nothing
happened.
Blanche goes to call Mitch and Stanley tells Stella that things will be okay once Blanche
leaves. Stanley corrects Blanche for calling Polish people Polacks, not Poles, and that he is
“one hundred percent American.” The phone rings and Blanche is circumvented by Stanley,
and it’s one of his bowling buddies.
Blanche is given the bus ticked, the Varsouviana music as she runs to the bathroom gagging.
Stella reveals Blanche’s naïve trust and kindness have been abused over the years, and that
the current Blanche is the product of suffering. He explains that Stella thought he was
common when they first met, but he took her off her pedestal, and things were wonderful
until Blanche arrived and made fun of him.
As he speaks, a sudden change comes over Stella, and she slowly shuffles from the bedroom
to the kitchen. After a minute, Stanley notices that something is wrong and cuts his diatribe
short. Stella quietly asks to be taken to the hospital. Stanley is with her in an instant, speaking
softly as he leads her out the door.
Scene 9: Blanche is alone and the Varsouviana music can be heard. She’s drinking to escape
it. Mitch arrives drunk, and is annoyed that Blanche is talking about how the gunshot stops
the music, as he doesn’t know what she’s talking about.
Mitch tears the paper lantern off the lightbulb and switches the light on. Blanche lets out a cry
and covers her face. He turns the light off. She tries to lie about her past, but then admits that
she panicked after Allan’s death and looked to strangers for human companionship to fill her
loneliness.
A blind woman comes around the corner selling bunches of tacky tin flowers to use at
funerals. In Spanish, she says, “Flowers. Flowers for the dead.” The Varsouviana polka tune
resumes. Blanche talks about her past, death, and camp of soldiers that used to be near Belle
Reve. The polka music fades.
Mitch approaches Blanche and tries to embrace her. He says that he wants what he waited for
all summer. Blanche says he must marry her first, but Mitch replies ‘you’re not clean enough
to bring in the house with my mother.’ When he does not move, she threatens to scream
“Fire!” He still does not leave, so she screams out the window. Mitch hurries out, and
Blanche falls to her knees, devastated. Piano music can be heard in the distance. The second
tableau vivant.
Scene 10: Blanche sits before the mirror, places a tiara on her head, and speaks out loud,
flirting with imaginary suitors, then smashes the mirror. Stanley arrives and Blanche tells him
Shep Huntleigh, a former admirer, has sent her a telegram inviting her to join him on his
yacht in the Caribbean.
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