'Explore the ways in which Tennessee Williams presents the character of Amanda in scenes 1 and 2.'

'Explore the ways in which Tennessee Williams presents the character of Amanda in scenes 1 and 2.' In order to explore the character of Amanda within these early scenes, we need to explore the methods Williams uses to convey her personality and in specific, his use of her language, including the visual elements of her speech, the other characters and what they say and reflect of her, and also via the stage directions and what they reveal to us of her behaviour and characteristics. By breaking down her actions into their basic forms, we can gain a better insight into what they illustrate, both in terms of their relevance to that particular conversation of scene. Though also through their general development, for example do we see themes or trends within her actions? Do these themes develop or evolve as the storyline progresses, and what does this tell us of Amanda's character? From the very outset of the dialogue, we become aware of Amanda's very commanding nature, the way she tells Tom how he should eat 'chew - chew!' she tells him. Yet she goes further suggesting that 'Animals have sections of their stomachs which enable them to digest food without mastication,' she imposes her views upon her children suggesting to the audience that she feels she knows best. However as the scene progresses we see more of the same style of behaviour, but much more intertwined with a

  • Word count: 1966
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Explain and discuss the themes presented in 'Goblin Market'. Show how Christina Rossetti uses language, imagery and poetic form to reinforce the themes.

Explain and discuss the themes presented in 'Goblin Market'. Show how Christina Rossetti uses language, imagery and poetic form to reinforce the themes. Christina Rossetti's used her poetry to express herself; her work exhibits many autobiographical elements and from it the reader can discern Rossetti's emotions, beliefs and her comments on the society she lived in. As a female poet it would have been improper for Rossetti to deal directly with these issues though and so her ideas are masked through appearing to be children's poetry and having simple meanings. 'Goblin Market' superficially appears to a moral story about two sisters one of whom gives way to the temptation of the goblins forbidden fruits but through her poetic techniques Rossetti manages to embody her fears and desires. One of the desires Rossetti appears to have in this poem is for a relationship similar to that of Lizzie and Laura; the closing lines of the poem express the joys of having a sister "To fetch one if one goes astray", but Rossetti had only brothers. This theme of friendship is crucial to the plot of the poem and maybe Rossetti yearns for someone she can feel close to. Rossetti shows the difference between the love Laura has for the goblins fruits and the love between the sisters through the use of parallelism. While Laura "sucked" the goblins' fruits "until her lips were sore" showing Laura's

  • Word count: 1223
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How and why does Williams dramatise the influence of the past on the present?

How and why does Williams dramatise the influence of the past on the present? Williams, in his play, "A Streetcar Named Desire", uses sound effects, lights and music to create a very involved atmosphere. The intersection of past and present in the lives of the characters, especially the protagonist, Blanche, is the most intriguing point of the drama. The music constantly being played throughout the play is the "Blue Piano", which sets the mood for life in the Quarter. This is naturalistic, and so contributes to the cosmopolitan feel of the Quarter. This music was considered to be low-class, since it was the music of the black slaves, while the Varsouviana, a waltz, was considered higher-class, since it was the music used in ball-rooms, luxuries that a slave couldn't afford. The three different types of music are each different, in that the "Blue Piano" and the "Hot Trumpet" are naturalistic, i.e. they exist and are heard by everybody, while the Varsouviana reflects the inner feelings of Blanche, rather than the realistic representation of appearances. The "Blue Piano" symbolises the very slow, sad pace of the inhabitants of the Quarter, but also promises excitement in the form of the Four Deuces club, from which spews "Hot Trumpet" music, very fast-paced and symbolises sensuality and the promise of excitement. This is used in the scene where Blanche is raped by

  • Word count: 1633
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A streetcar named desire.

Stella Kowalski - Blanche's younger sister, about twenty-five years old and of a mild disposition that visibly sets her apart from her more vulgar neighbors. Stella possesses the same timeworn aristocratic heritage as Blanche, but she jumped the sinking ship in her late teens and left Mississippi for New Orleans. There, Stella married the lower-class Stanley, with whom she shares a robust sexual relationship. Stella's union with Stanley is both animal and spiritual, violent but renewing. After Blanche's arrival, Stella is torn between her sister and her husband. Eventually, she stands by Stanley, perhaps in part because she gives birth to his child near the play's end. While she loves and pities Blanche, she cannot bring herself to believe Blanche's accusations that dislikes her; she eventually dismisses Blanche's claim that Stanley raped her. Stella's denial of reality at the play's end shows that she has more in common with her sister than she thinks. Stanley Kowalski - The husband of Stella. Stanley is the epitome of vital force. He is loyal to his friends, passionate to his wife, and heartlessly cruel to With his Polish ancestry, he represents the new, heterogeneous America. He sees himself as a social leveler and egalitarian, and wishes to destroy Blanche's social pretensions. Around thirty years of age, who fought in World War II, now works as an auto-parts salesman.

  • Word count: 1614
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams wrote a Streetcar Named Desire in the 1940's. Tennessee Williams is one of America's most famous and well-respected authors. The book itself is about a woman called Blanche DuBois who is getting no younger and has many problems. Blanche moves into her sisters house Stella DuBois who has got a husband called Stanley in which Blanche is very jealous of. Blanche tells her sister that the reason she was there was that their old family home in which only Blanche had lived named "Belle Reve" had been lost through tax. Stanley gets suspicious of Blanche and believes that she sold Belle Reve to profit herself. Stella has doubts whether her own sister would do such a thing and gets angry with Stanley. Stanley puts Blanche through lots of hassle and pressure and eventually rapes her, this eventually drives Blanche into madness. Tennessee Williams uses some very weird and interesting sound effects in the film of A Streetcar Named Desire to go with the story line. These sounds go very well with the story as it helps the story progress. The music and sound effects often describes the mood of the atmosphere in the story for example at the very start of the film when Blanche enters New Orleans the music is very jolly and happy where there is some music at the start called the "Blue Piano". Throughout the story when Blanche goes a bit mad the

  • Word count: 1086
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A Streetcar Named Desire

????? A Streetcar Named Desire Essay By Laura Newton A Streetcar Named Desire was written in 1949 by an American author called Tennessee Williams. The play is about a lonely, flirtatious, moth-like woman called Blanche Dubois. When she comes to stay with her pregnant sister Stella Kowalski and her "ignorant, common" husband Stanley Kowalski; after losing her job, house and being kicked out of the town because she harassed a 15 year old pupil at her school and being a distraction to the men at the army, she is raped by the brute of a brother-in-law. This all leads to Blanche being sent to a mental institute by her own sister. Stella has Blanche sent to mental home because she thinks her sister is mentally unstable after she tells her about Stanley raping her and because Stella thinks that because her husband hits her he would never have been capable of such a terrifying crime. When the nurse comes to get Blanche she screams and eventually has a nervous breakdown because she cannot cope with her mind reminding her about the night her husband killed himself and Stanley raping her. 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

  • Word count: 928
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A Streetcar Named Desire

A Streetcar Named Desire Coursework In the play a streetcar named desire there are many conflicts between the characters representing the conflict between the values of the old world and the new, and that this conflict is expressed through the battle between Stanley and Blanche. Blanche thinks she is so high class and looks down on Stanley even though he is paying for her to stay at his house. The writer's life Tennessee Williams has many influences on the play like when he was a kid he used writing as "an escape from a world of reality in which he felt acutely uncomfortable." You can see how this links in with the play when Blanche tries to escape from the world of New Orleans to the high-class society of which she is accustomed. In the play Blanche and Stanley appear very different in appearance and the way they talk. Stanley gets home from the butchers and says to Stella "meat" and proceeds to throw it at her showing his caveman attitude towards her and life. After catching the meat she looks up to see he has already started round the corner not caring at all about her. Blanch however is dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice and a necklace as if she is going to a tea party. In reality she is in down town New Orleans where class does not mean anything (she represents the old Order of status and class), what you work for is what you get (Stanley represents the New

  • Word count: 757
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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A Streetcar Named 'Desire'

[.1]Monday 4th November 02 " "A Streetcar Named 'Desire'" is one of the most recognised plays in theatrical cinema, lately. I saw it very recently, when the production was held in the prestigious "National Theatre," Central London. There is also the 'classic hit' movie which is based upon the play. It was first written and produced in 1951 and has the same title. During that period, people were not allowed to mention anything involving sexual or racist discrimination, and as this was one of the major laws, some scenes in the movie were adapted, deliberately. The first item on the stage, which abruptly caught my attention, was that it revolved. I was getting excited as I had never seen one of these before, but when the show commenced, it came to my realisation that the four to five different stage settings had a similar atmosphere to each other. It was the kind of surrounding you would find in a loud, disruptive, filthy and rough town. It seemed as if the neighbourhood wasn't quiet and peaceful, because people were sitting on benches, talking freely on the spiral staircase and their lifestyles appeared happy enough in Elysian Fields, a small (possibly fictional) town in the state of New Orleans, U.S.A. Coming to think of it, it reminds me that the fake American accent was exaggerated and easy to recognise - it was imitated very poorly! The first scene began with a famous

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Discuss and analyse the way Tennessee Williams presents Blanche and Stanley in A street car named desire with close reference to scene 10.

This essay will explore, discuss and analyse the way Tennessee Williams presents Blanche and Stanley in ‘A street car named desire’ with close reference to scene 10. In this essay I will analyse what we learn about the characters through stage directions, actions and dialogue. At the opening of the play Blanche DuBois has come to New Orleans to visit her sister Stella, who is married to man named Stanley Kowalski. Blanche is suffering from the loss of her family's house as well as the pain her husband had caused her years earlier by killing himself. Blanche's emotional neediness exhausts her sister and annoys Stanley and most of his friends. But one of the men, Stanley's poker buddy Mitch, finds Blanche very attractive and considers her a real lady until Stanley disillusions him. Blanche is Stanley's polar opposite, but he finds himself drawn to her through the course of the play and ultimately rapes her. He tells mitch a bout her past and ends any chance his friend and Blanche would have had at happiness by telling. Rather than Stanley's reckless actions destroying his marriage, he remains unscathed. Stella claims to believe Blanche's accusations of rape are false. Blanche is sent away to a mental hospital after Stanley assaults her. There we imagine that she will get some of the help she obviously needs. But that help can't make up for the attack that no one believes

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Intense emotion in scene 3 of "The Glass Menagerie"

Mohammed Naumann The Glass Menagerie The Glass Menagerie is a tragedy by American playwright Tennessee Williams. In the play there is a scene which involves intense emotion, the intensity is shown through the dramatist’s use of techniques such as characterisation, stage direction/lighting, theme and dialogue. In Scene 3 intense emotion is displayed through a heated argument between Tom Wingfield and his mother Amanda. Amanda is a domineering character how clearly does not appreciate the sacrifices her son has made to provide for his family. It is evident that Tom loves his family but feels trapped and he cannot fulfil his dreams. This key scene highlights the deep conflict within the family and how it has a negative impact. It is evident that a lack of communication between Tom and Amanda leads to an increasing tension between mother and son. Williams’ use of dialogue emphasises the intense emotion in this scene and this emotion is highlighted in veing important to the drama as a whole. Tom reacts angrily to an earlier incident when Amanda confiscated his book: “ TOM : Look! - I’ve got no thing, no single thing - AMANDA : Lower your voice! TOM : In my life here that I can call my own! Everything is - Amanda returns Tom’s D.H Lawrence book due to the factor that she perceives the

  • Word count: 1224
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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