The theme of death emerges again, and is associated in the minds of both Mitch and Blanche with romance. This is seen in the inscription on Mitch’s cigarette case, and his story about the dead girl he appears to have loved. Blanche’s sympathetic response again brings attention to the hints that have occurred in both preceding scenes, about her tragic marriage.
There is a important symbolic moment when Blanche asks Mitch to put the colored paper lantern over the light bulb. Blanche is frequently anxious to avoid light, because of how it might reveal her age, and the covering of the light with the lantern suggests how she takes refuge in illusions. The light of life itself is too much for her, so she tries to soften it with a pretty disguise. But even so, Blanche cannot stop revealing herself, at least to the audience, who will notice another of her little white lies when she tells Mitch that Stella is her older sister.
Two elements of this scene are striking. Firstly, we recognize more and more that Blanche is more comfortable with make believe than reality. And secondly, that the animal nature of Stanley and his bond with Stella becomes clear.
Blanche has suffered terribly; we only see hints of it in the beginning of the play, but later we will learn more about the depths of her loneliness. Loneliness and desire are vital to Blanche's being. She chose the unsympathetic road of staying at Belle Reve to care for the dying, and she has suffered because of it. For many years, she was a delicate young woman who lived alone in a house full of the terminally ill. There is both honesty and fantasy in her comments about the genuineness of the suffering. On one hand, Blanche is very insincere. She has dealt with her suffering by making-believe, by taking refuge in fanciful dreams about herself and her surroundings. She lies about her age. She also insists that Mitch cover the naked bulb. She does not want to be seen in the harshness of bright light. In darkness, she is free to construct and re-imagine whatever cannot be seen. She lies, but never with the intent to hurt. She wants to become what she thinks will make others happy.
Stanley is at his most basic and animalistic in this scene. He insists on living up to the ideas of absolute male dominance; he acts like the apartment is his and his alone. He seeks to dominate not only the women, but the other men as well. He beats his pregnant wife.
And yet Stella comes back. Something about Stanley excites her, even, or perhaps especially, when he is at his most beast-like. Significantly, what we see of their making-up is completely wordless. There is not an eloquent plea for forgiveness, no promise of better behavior: Stanley and Stella make up by coupling like animals. Words come second, if at all. The bond between Stanley and Stella is not intellectual, but physical.
