Williams suggests this from an early stage within the play; on Blanche’s arrival in New Orleans she is described as ‘daintily dressed’ and that ‘her delicate beauty must avoid strong light’, suggesting that she is fragile and easily broken, perhaps on the verge of falling apart. Her instability is suggested through her erratic actions and mood swings, in particular is her use of French when she speaks to Mitch. This could be Williams’ way of telling us that she either feels or is misunderstood, and to show the difference between her flair and intellect compared with Mitch. She voices her true thoughts, feelings and desires in French as well, she asks Mitch to go to bed with her even though she knows he can’t understand, it is obvious that is what she wants but she doesn’t want to give him the wrong idea about herself.
Blanche has frequent mood swings, as if she can’t bear to feel the same thing for a long time as people might think she’s boring. This melodramatic personality is shown frequently within the stage directions, though it is sometimes harder to find these examples in the dialogue because it could be performed differently depending on the actress. Blanche changes her mind a lot around Mitch, ‘Blanche looks at him gravely; then she bursts into laughter’ and ‘she rolls her eyes, knowing he cannot see her face’ when just recently she had been hanging on his every word.
At the end of scene six she is particularly close to breaking down, this is clear from the dialogue that Williams uses, he breaks up the sentences with punctuation and pauses to show how it’s hard for her to talk about the subject. He is trying to show that it is difficult for her even to remember the subject properly, she only mentions her late husbands name once, the other times she calls him a ‘young boy’ as if she doesn’t want to use his real name unless it brings back memories.
Williams focuses on Mitch’s movements and actions to cause the audience to assume his personality before he even speaks, he creates an awkward but honest personality in Mitch. When he enters, Mitch isn’t portrayed as an elegant creature like Blanche, ‘Mitch is bearing, upside down, a plaster statuette of Mae West’, as he is holding it upside down this makes him seem clumsy. There is also an innocent side in his actions, one which is reminiscent of a small shy child, ‘he clears his throat twice, shuffling nervously’. Williams could be trying to get the audiences sympathy for Mitch and also he shows the contrast between him and Blanche.
Alludes
Streetcar named desire
Dialogue more