Williams uses many technical devices such as the cat screeching which is a noise device that emphasises tension. The cat screeches throughout the conversation which shows there is an increasing tension between them. In the play there are many instances we hear cat screeches, or jungle noises which represents the tension building up. Blanche is shocked at his primitiveness. We see how Stanley constantly is firing questions at her. Again when Stanley asks Blanche if she was married there is more tension which is represented by the polka music.
Scene 2 begins with Blanche having a bath. Again Williams is using a technical device here which is a motif. We soon realise that throughout the play Blanche is constantly bathes her self. Her past experiences have made her a hysterical woman although she says that these baths calm her nerves although we as the audience know there is more to this bathing. In her efforts to forget and shed off her past in the new community of New Orleans, these baths represent her efforts to cleanse herself of her detestable history. Although she can never erase her past as it continues to haunt her. The characters seem to turn to bathing to get rid of sins as Stanley also showers after he beats Stella. He believes the shower will get rid of his violent temper and in some way it does. After leaving the shower he feels remorseful for what he has done.
In scene 2 there is an argument between Stanley and Blanche where he tries to pressurise her into telling him what happen to Belle Reve. The argument evolves into a row. We see a sensitive and fragile side to Blanche in this scene when Stanley starts rummaging through her love letters carelessly. Her letters seem incredibly important to her and feels she is unable to let go of her past. Towards the end of the scene as Stanley tells Blanche that Stella is pregnant, the blue piano gets louder which reflects the brittle atmosphere and the increasing tension between the two. This is a sound device and it reflects the moods of the characters throughout the play.
Scene 3 begins with the poker game. Stanley spends a lot time playing games such as poker or bowling which represent strong sexual symbols of phallic power. The games played are revolved around alcohol and the use of abusive language. Bowling and poker does represent the power that men had and that Stanley intentionally would exclude any women from the games. When Blanche asks to play cards, Stanley rudely tells her no. Even when Stella goes bowling with Stanley she would not ever participate but would just support and watch him play. At the first poker game, Stanley is loosing, as a result he becomes aggressive and violent.
At the poker game, Blanche turns on the radio which initially irritates Stanley as he is at his worst, loosing at the poker game. The radio is a sound device. It represents the increasing tension in the atmosphere. After being told to turn the radio off she does however turn it back on, this ignites Stanley’s violent behaviour. Stanley realises that Blanche is challenging his power as she does not abide his rules. This frustrates Stanley even more as he feels he is loosing his control over the women. It was as if Blanche was deliberately trying to annoy Stanley. Blanche is quite a strange character as in the past scene she makes the effort to flirt with Stanley even though he rejects her. We can see she is constantly seeking for attention.
She even flirts with Mitch and makes a few gestures which are surprising to him as he is clumsy and of her league. She asks him to put up a Chinese paper lantern as she explains how she cannot stand the light. The light is another technical device that Williams uses to represents Blanches fear of reality. Throughout the play, Blanche tends to avoid any bright light especially in front of Mitch. At many occasions he refuses to show herself in the light and reveal her age. It is quite obvious that she does not want to reveal her fading looks. Light in this play symbolizes Blanches past. She is haunted by her past and ghosts, maybe of her dead husband. We learn how he means the world to her and he is why she cannot leave her past behind. Throughout the play we can see she refuses to go out on dates Mitch in the daytime or well-lighted locations. Towards the end, Stanley is feeling remorseful and so goes to get Stella back and two reunite after the argument.
In Scene 4 Blanche confronts Stella about her outrageous husband and his animal like habits. She says “He acts like an animal, has animals habits”. We see how Blanche has picked on all his habits and cannot stand him. She finds his way of living repulsive and unacceptable. In a result of this she wants Stella to leave him.
Scene 5 is quite a major scene as we learn more about Blanches past. The Scene begins when Blanche talks about Star signs. I think there is a significance in the star signs as Stanley does not like to be associated with a goat when she says he is a Capricorn. We learn that Blanche is a “Virgo for virgin” although we the audience know she is no virgin.
Stanley finally confronts her with the information he has learnt about her. Blanche feels threatened by Stanley because she knows that he has found out about Hotel Flamingo and her past in Laurel. Again this shows that Blanche cannot forget or let go of her past, “Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment I would dare to be seen” Blanche finally admits to Stanley’s accusations and explains that she did what she did for protection, and how she needed security. This reveals that Blanche is neither pure nor innocent. I think she went to Hotel Flamingo to prove to herself that she still had looks no matter what age she is. Blanche is constantly longing for some kind of security so now wants to marry Mitch. She relies on the help and kindness of strangers. Blanche explains her attraction to younger men, “I must keep my hands off children” as she flirts with the young man in this scene.
In scene 6, Blanche tells Mitch that being in love with her husband, Allen Grey was like having the world revealed in bright, vivid light. Since Allen’s suicide, Blanche says the bright light has been missing, “never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger”. Through all of Blanche’s inconsequential sexual affairs with other men, she has experienced only dim light. Therefore the bright light represents Blanche’s youthful sexual innocence, while poor light represents her sexual maturity and disillusions. Here the light is used as a technical device and it depicts the changes in her personality and the worlds she lived in.
Throughout Blanche and Mitch’s conversation she constantly hears the Varsouviana polka music and when the tension builds up it comes to an abrupt end. This particular tune was what Blanche and her husband were dancing to before the suicide. This sound device represents the past world that she used to live in and how she cannot leave it. Blanche explains how earlier she had walked in on him in bed with and older male friend, later that day they all went dancing ignoring what had happened earlier. Blanche says how she was “disgusted” with him. She may have finally drove him to shoot him self. The polka music is played when Blanche feels remorse for her dead husband. I get the image that this polka music is constantly playing in her head distracting her. This technical device again shows she cannot leave the world she comes from. The polka music only ends when she hears the gunshot. The suicide of her young husband who Blanche loved was the event that triggered her mental delusions. Throughout the play the Varsouviana is a technical device which plays whenever she feels tension or feels she is loosing grip on reality.
While talking to Mitch, Blanche offers him a drink several times. In play Blanche tends to be drinking a lot. Both Stanley and Blanche drink excessively at various points. Stanley’s drinking is a social activity; he drinks with friends at the bar, during the poker games and soon after to celebrate the birth of the baby. However Blanches drinking is antisocial and she tries to keep it a secret. She drinks in order to escape the harsh reality. Her drunken state enables her to take flight of imagination. For both characters, drinking leads to destructive behaviour; Stanley becomes violent and Blanche becomes delusional.
In Scene 7 we can see that Stanley feels threatened by Blanches stay at the Kowalski’s house. We can see how he makes an effort to exploit her. Stanley cannot stand Blanche as she continues to criticise his habits, “that girl calls common” as Stanley says. Stanley is jealous of Blanche and Stella’s close relationship and feels left out.
I can see how Blanche is singing the ballad “it’s on only a paper moon” while bathing. The songs lyrics describe the way love turns the world into a phoney fantasy. The lyrics sum up Blanches approach to life. She believes her lying is the only way of enjoying a better way of life and believes it is harmless. As Blanche sits in the tub singing, Stanley tells Stella the details of Blanches corrupt past. Williams ironically contrasts the fantastical understanding of her self with Stanley’s description of Blanche’s real nature. In reality Blanche is fake and corrupt although she lives in a fantasy where she can have things her way.
Scene 8 is extremely tension and we as the audience can feel it. The Blue piano is constantly playing and it fades when there is more tension. I think Stanley has reached a point where he no longer can take Blanches habits and finally gets her ticket back to Laurel. Towards the end the Varsouviana plays and distracts Blanche. This time she begins to “whisper the words as the light fades slowly” showing how her state of mind is slowly deterring. Williams uses a sound device in order to depict Blanche’s personality and how it is changing and becoming worse.
Mitch finally confronts Blanche about her dishonesty in Scene 9. Again there is the polka tune playing in Blanches mind. When Mitch asks to come in, the polka music comes to a Holt in her mind. Again in this scene, Blanche offers Mitch a drink, as she is trying to avoid the truth. Mitch finally points her avoidance of light and then rips of the lantern and forces Blanche under the light. He tells her that he doesn’t mind her age but dislikes her deceitfulness, Blanche responds by saying that she doesn’t mean any harm.
She believes that magic, rather than reality represents her life. Blanche explains how she doesn’t “want realism”. She tells Mitch she lives in her fantasy and how she cannot escape her past, “Stanley and Shaw have tied an old tin can to the tail of the kite”. Here Blanche is saying she wants to fly away and get rid of the can which symbolises her past. This is related to the idea of her being a moth. Throughout the conversation between Blanche and Mitch, we see how Blanche becomes increasingly hysterical. She cries “fire! fire! fire!” which is related to her illusions to the real world where the light is like the fire. In this scene we see beginnings of her insanity. She sees a blind lady in black with roses which reminds Blanche of death, maybe that it is getting closer. The blind lady represents Blanche’s blindness to life as she is metaphorically blind to realism. It could also represent Mitch’s blindness to the real Blanche. At the end of the scene Blanche is rejected by Mitch.
Scene 10 begins with a different atmosphere. Stanley is looking to the birth of the baby and Blanche dresses up in extravagant clothing as she is to attend a dance. Dressing up makes Blanche feel like she belongs to the higher class again. Stanley says how he will take his shirt off and wave it like a flag and when Stella has the baby. She shows his manly hood, and it reinforces the fact that he is man of the house again.
As Blanche and Stanley begin to quarrel, various oddly shaped shadows begin to appear on the wall behind her. Incongruous noises and jungle cries also occur as Blanche begins to descend into madness. This noise device intensifies situations and shows her increasing paranoia. All these effects combine to dramatize Blanche’s final departure from reality in the direction of Stanley’s physical threat. Blanche chooses to perceive reality according to how she thinks it should be. William’s uses “transparent walls” in this scene, maybe to show that everything is out in the open and now Blanche is transparent, we can see right through her lies. The transparent walls could also be used to show the world in side the four walls of the house has become as violent and threatening as the outside. The use of technical devices here depicts the changes in the worlds that cannot be escaped. The walls are no longer barriers of protection. I think Williams that society back in the 50’s was brutal, uncivilised and primitive.
Towards the end of the Scene we see the violent side of Stanley to an extreme. Blanches efforts to wind up Stanley succeed and so she triggers off is violent side. She also confronts him of his deliberate attempts to hurt her when she says “deliberate cruelty is not forgivable”. He makes smug comments and then towards the end of the scene he attacks Blanche is at the peak of her vulnerability.
Scene 11 concludes everything. This scene begins with the poker game. I can refer back to the first poker game where Stanley was loosing which triggered off his violent side. However in this poker game Stanley seems to be winning. The difference in the two poker games indicates the threat that Blanche presents to his marriage. Under Blanches influence, Stella tends to argue with Stanley during the first poker game; his authority is questioned as the women don’t abide his rules. Although in this poker game, Stanley is winning and he is in control of the poker and Blanche. Stanley has finally taken revenge, and now he is seeing her sent away forever.
Eventually in the chapter, “the cathedral chimes are heard” which could be indicating that her death is near mentally. They could also remind her of Allen’s death. The doctor is called to take her away as everyone does believe she has driven herself to insanity. When the doctor finally arrives, Blanche is reluctant to leaving and becomes aggressive. Although she is finally convinced that she must leave. She says how she “always depended on the kindness of strangers”.
I have also realised there seems to be a theme of colour that runs through the play. All the men in the play are loud boisterous and vulgar, they all wear dark colours. Stanley’s bowling jacket is indicated to be a bright colour like green or red. In contrast the women, especially Blanche tend to wear pastel shades and natural colours such as white. At one point in the play Blanche spills some coke on her dress. This can be related to her past. The coke on her dress could represent her past. She is trying to wipe it off which is just like her trying to wipe away her past.
I think in this William is trying to say many things. The first being that relationships were based on sex in the 1950’s, and the second would be that in society men had more rights and power than women. He uses various techniques throughout the play to show the different worlds and background.
