A Streetcar Named Desire – Characters Profiles -Insecure + sensitive about her aging and
consistently seeks compliments about her
SYNONYMS
appearance
Evoke: elicit, induce, prompt, provoke - Desperately lonely and seeking attention
Portray: demonstrate, highlight, convey, communicate, illustrate - Flirtatious/seductive/provocative/indulgent/
coquettish/girlish/lustful
Blanche DuBois – Gillian Anderson - Delusional + deranged (continually hears the
Polka music which underscores her moments
Given Circumstances:
of mental instability and hears gunshots)
- An English teacher from Mississippi - Very fanciful, optimistic, imaginative
- She has been dismissed from teaching after - Demure, supercilious, conceited
she had an affair with a minor - Inebriated
- Blanche is known for her promiscuity in Laurel
Emotions:
where she is from (she has practically been
banished from the town) - Jovial/excitable/gaiety/vexation/
- Previous owner of plantation called Belle Reve exasperated/depressive/seductive/
- Blanche’s ex husband who she loved dearly flirtatious/promiscuous/playful/longing/
committed suicide after she found him in bed desperation/fury/vehemently
with another man angry/hysterical/bemused/overwhelmed/irrit
ated/shock/aghast/overwrought/guilt/dull/
Context:
dismal/melancholy/sorrowful/agony/
- Blanche represents the declining aristocracy distraught/feeble/weak/bitter
of the South which never fully recovered from
Relationships:
American Civil War
- Blanche’s family made their wealth from slave - STANLEY: intense, violent, tense, antagonistic,
labour on their plantation (Belle Reve) brutal, destructive
- She is representative of OLD AMERICA which - STELLA: loving, caring, compassionate, tense,
is why she is in direct conflict with Stanley strained, sisterly
who represents NEW AMERICA
Audience Response:
- William’s sister suffered from a mental health
illness and was committed to a psychiatric -Sympathy/shock/pity/shame/sorrow/aghast/
hospital where she underwent a pre-frontal comedic
lobotomy – Williams felt intense guilt about
this – represents Stella’s guilt – Blanche shows Scenes + Key Quotations:
how this can be a reality SCENE 1
Function/TDE: SCENE 2
-Tragic downfall over the course of the play SCENE 3
- Central to plays success
- Her storyline is incredibly intriguing and SCENE 4
compelling SCENE 6
- She is representative of declining aristocracy
- Representative of how her life was a reality SCENE 8
for some at the time
Overarching Characteristics:
- Narcissistic personality disorder and drinks to
overcome the guilt of her past
- She is manipulative and a pathological liar
- She is controlled by her desire
- Incredibly self-interested + prideful
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