Stanley has no reason to fight Blanche since he has already won their confrontation so he behaves amiably towards Blanche “grinning amiably” but Blanche is afraid when she learns her and Stanley are going to spend the night alone so she puts us on our guard to what might happen, “Does that mean we are going to be alone in here?”
Stanley not only humours her but he patronises her, when she says she has received an invitation Stanley replies “What to? A fireman’s ball?”
Blanche is lying about this telegram and Stanley knows it.
Blanche is worried about Stanley “removing his shirt” as she has “her hands knotted together” and her nervousness is evident.
At this point Stanley has no intention to abuse Blanche in any way because at his point he isn’t bothered about Blanche, he is disrespectful to her but humouring her so that she wont break down further and his happiness is very evident hear, “Stanley laughs happily,” and he says he wants to “bury the hatchet and make it a loving-cup?”, Stanley is in a celebrative mood because his wife is just about to have a baby , he has won and Blanche will be leaving soon.
Blanche’s actions and responses create tension because when Stanley removes something from the bureau she draws back and says “What are you doing in there?” like she is frightened. Stanley’s silk pyjamas are a threat to Blanche because he wore it on his wedding night when he broke the light bulbs in his animalistic ways.
Blanche claims that though she is poor financially, but she is rich in spirit and beautiful in the mind. She asserts that she has been foolishly lavishing what she has to offer on those who do not deserve it, “casting her pearls before swine.”
She means that the “swine” are especially Mitch, but also Stanley and all the men that slept with her when she was a prostitute.
At the word “swine,” Stanley’s amicable mood evaporates. He gets annoyed by being degraded; this is a warning sign for later events. Blanche continues, recounting how Mitch arrived earlier that night to accuse her of the things that Stanley told him. Blanche claims that after she sent Mitch away, he came back in vain, with roses and apologies, she has once again slipped into her fantasy world as this is a lie.
She tells Stanley that “deliberate cruelty is unforgivable”, part of her problem stems from the fact that she feels she was cruel to her late husband and has never forgiven herself. Instead, she has repeatedly punished herself through cheap affairs and immoral behaviour, her statement comes at an ironic point, which is, just before Stanley is about to rape her-an act of extreme cruelty.
In spite of her actions, she is aware of the good qualities she is endowed with, and she thinks it is a pity that she has squandered them on unrefined people like Stanley and Mitch (by flirting with Stanley and by pursuing Mitch). She knows that she is a cultivated and cultured woman who can enrich a man's life. It is a sad thing to her that nobody appreciates her invaluable qualities; beauty of mind, richness of spirit, and softness of heart. These are qualities that she believes increase as the years go by. It is even more pitiful that rich as she is in such qualities, she is still destitute; men have no use for her finer qualities. This is abundantly proven when Stanley assaults her.
Stanley disrupts Blanche’s story to ask if Mitch came by before or after her telegram from Shep Huntleigh. Blanche is caught off guard and forgets what she has said about Shep’s telegram, and Stanley jumps on her mistake. He launches an attack, tearing down her make-believe world piece by piece, “There isn’t a goddam thing but imagination!” “And lies and conceit and tricks!” It turns out that Stanley saw Mitch after his encounter with Blanche, so Stanley knows that Mitch is still disgusted with her. All Blanche can say in reply is “Oh!” Stanley finishes his accusation of Blanche with a disdainful laugh and walks through the bedroom into the bathroom.
Frightening, sinister shadows and reflections begin to appear on the walls, mimicking Blanche’s nervous movements. This is further representation of Blanche’s state of mind. The pace starts to build and Blanche starts to panic when the operator is about to put the phone down, “No! No!, wait!..One moment!” she is desperate to get help.
Williams uses expressionist technique to make it seem as if Blanche is going mad, Williams presents a jungle world that Blanche cannot survive, “the night is filled with inhuman voices like cries in a jungle.” We then see a prostitute, drunkard and a thieving Negro woman, these all represent Blanche’s personality- the prostitute is Blanche except there will be no policeman to save her, she is drunk and gets drunk often, and she is also the thieving Negro woman because she stole liquor.
The pace quickens even more, and Blanche is desperate and anxious, “she waits anxiously” “in desperate, desperate circumstances!” and “caught in a trap”. The audience feel as if something is going to happen because of Blanche’s edginess, she presses “her fists to her ears” when “the roar of an approaching locomotive” passes by.
When the noise ends, she asks Stanley to let her pass by because she is scared, and he takes one step to the side. She asks him to move further away, but he stays put and laughs at Blanche for thinking that he will try to prevent her from leaving. For the first time, he sees Blanche as someone whom it “wouldn’t be bad to—interfere with.” This idea plants the idea of seduction in his mind. He also feels that Blanche has been “swilling down my liquor” all summer and that he deserves a little pay.
The jungle voices swell as Stanley slowly advances toward Blanche, ignoring her cries that he should stay away. She shows her fear by smashing “a bottle top” and threatening to “twist the broken end” in his face. He jumps at her, grabs her arm when she swings at him, and forces her to drop the bottle. Blanche is no match for Stanley. Williams indicates the impending rape through Stanley’s physical, animalistic, imposing body language. Like a snake, Stanley flicks his tongue at Blanche through his teeth. He corners her in the bedroom, refusing to move out of her way, then “springs” at her, calling her a “tiger” as he captures her. Blanche’s silent resignation as Stanley carries her to the bed indicates the utter defeat of her will. Stanley is bringing down Blanche from the “big white pillars” like he did with Stella but there is not much lust or love between he and Blanche but it is all about his power and him claiming the ultimate victory.
Stanley’s rape of Blanche just before his child is born, when he is at his most triumphant and she at her most psychologically vulnerable, is the ultimate act of cruelty. The conflict lays in the very actions of Stanley and everything he stands for which Blanche is completely against.
