Scene one prepares h audience for the rape scene by the language Williams between Blanche and Stanley “Stanley: my clothes’re sticken’ to me. Do you mind if I take them off…” “Blanche: please, please do”, how he portrays Blanche’s innocence with her white clothes, her reaction towards Stanley taking his shirt off and how she reacts to Stanley asking her about her past i.e., her husband.
When the audience first see Blanche she is compared to a moth and she seems shy and innocent “…this an this be her home?” “. How could I do that?”But as the scene unfolds she seems a lot more snobby and inconsiderate as she says to her sister "what are you doing in a place like this?”
Williams has given the impression that one side of Blanche is self-conscious and fragile, but she can also be quite rude and critical. He has achieved this by using the way Blanche moves and speaks “she laughs nervously” and “…but you-you’ve put on weight, yes, you’re as plump as a little partridge…”
He also uses light to reflect her likeness to a moth and how her husbands’ death had a great psychological affect on her because she doesn’t want anyone not even her sister to see in the light and she is always grooming herself to make sure she looks pretty. This is because she thinks that because her husband killed himself (which she blamed herself for) no man must think she’s pretty and that she needs to make herself look younger than she is so that she can find a man to love like she loved her husband Allan.
She is also like a moth because of the way she moves, floating around in a white dress given us the impression that she innocent and pure but she is just like with a moth floating around looking peaceful but then sees a light, goes to it, hurts itself but just keeps on going back towards it. Blanche is like the moth because she targets men and keeps on going back and trying to get them to notice her.
As you get near the end of the first scene Stanley is asking Blanche about her past and why she has came it stay with them, but Blanche doesn’t want to tell Stanley anything, maybe she’s embarrassed to tell anyone like Stanley about her past and why she acts so flirtatious towards men.
When Stanley first meets Blanche it s obvious they are going to fall out because of how Stanley treats Blanche. He treats her as though he wasn’t married to Stella, as though al women are sex symbols. It is obvious that Blanche does not mind his male attitude towards her because she flaunts herself at him just as much as he does with her, as though she was trying to get a reaction from him, which I think is another way of saying look at me I look young, pay attention to me, his also shows that she has been working as a prostitute in the Flamingo, this is also another reason to tell Stella to change her mind about Stanley so she can leave him to flirt with other women who won’t stand up for themselves when he hits them.
I thought that the first scene was very effective for the audience, as to what happened in Blanche’s past and to what is going to happen next because there is evidence that Her husbands death took a lot of self- confidence out if her and it makes us wonder if she is going to tell Stella about the prostitution and being kicked out of town. It also makes us wonder what will happen between Blanche and Stanley.
I think that some parts of the play are still relevant today, the rape scene, because there is still women out there in the world who are trying to come to terms with their past, some who have had nervous breakdown’s because of their past and some who have been raped by their brother-in-law’s. All of these things are still happening around the world but are unknown to the women’s family an friends because like Blanche they keep them a secret because maybe they are to embarrassed and they blame themselves for what has happened and what is happening to them.
