Astrophel and Stella

Blanche Dubois enters the lives of Stanley and Stella Kowalski when she arrives at their apartment at Elysian Fields. The beautiful and cultured Blanche clashes with the primitive Stanley. However, unlike the cultured Blanche first seen, the real Blanche is penniless and has a history with many men. When Stanley reveals Blanche’s impure past to everybody, Blanche struggles to continue and ends up in a mental facility. The deterioration of Blanche’s character is a result of her attempts to…

Blanche is unhappy at the way that Stanley treats her sister and thinks that Stella would be better off without him, “In my opinion? You’re married to a madman!’. Meanwhile Stanley despises Blanche and seeks to destroy her. He goes out of his way to discover the secrets of Blanche’s past and finds that she is not who she says she…

is feeling during this time, but he’s able to also portray the lives of the people in Blanche’s life. Blanche is from Laurel, Mississippi, but after losing her family home she leaves Mississippi and moves to New Orleans to live with her sister Stella. Stella is married to a man named Stanley, whom Blanche is not too fond of. She seems to believe that her sister deserves a better husband. Stanley seems to be aware of Blanche’s feelings and perceptions towards him and seems to be feeling the same…

diagnosis for women around that period. The word itself came from the ancient Greek word for uterus and was only associated with women. Women were thought to be naturally sensitive and fragile, leaving them more susceptible to nervous breakdowns. Stella described Blanche as sensitive which meant it was easy to break Blanche…

At first glance Stella is characterised as the stereotypical female character, extremely contrasted to her older sister Blanche. The beginning of the play sets Stella’s sister up as the transgressive character. Firstly she tells Stella that one drink is her limit, although the stage directions earlier reveal how she was drinking whiskey and “tosses it down”, showing she cannot control herself. Subsequently she washes it out to deflect suspicion. Blanche’s transgressions become more obvious later…

I think that it would be fairly difficult to balance concentration on stage with appropriate level of audience awareness as it is difficult to concentrate on the performance without ignoring the audience. In the same way, it would be difficult to focus on the audience without losing concentration of the performance. As Stanislavsky recognised the audience as co-creator of the performances it shows that the audience are very a very important part of theatre and to forget about them during a…

After taking a bath in scene two Blanche says, “...Here I am, all freshly bathed and scented, and feeling like a brand new human being!” She is trying to scrub the past away so that she can start fresh (Language). After Stanley rapes Blanche and Stella does not believe Blanche, she has lost all of her sanity (Neary). Now Blanche hears the Polka music, echos of people’s voices in the room, and sees shadows appear on the wall. With all the mood swings throughout the play, believing her lies, and…

Kowalski early in the play. During an alcohol fuelled poker night with his fellow male companions, things take a turn as Stanley loses his temper and attacks his wife: “Stanley: (with heaven-splitting violence) STELLL-AHHHHH!” Upon the violent assault, Stella…

Two Souths Equally Flawed Tennessee William’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” is a story that takes place in New Orleans following the Civil War. It consists of a character named Blanche who represents the old south trying to fit into the new. The film “Unfinished Nation” talks about how the old south became known as the antebellum period during the 19th century. The film also talks about how, the social and economic life of the wealthy was very privileged and held unrealistic ideals in their world…

where Stella stands up for herself and calls Stanley out for not cleaning the table, Stanley shouts back, “That’s how I’ll clear the table! [He seizes her arm.] Don’t ever talk that way to me! Pig — Polack — disgusting — vulgar — greasy!” (Williams 118). This helps highlight Stanley's aggression and dominance that he holds over Stella in that he thinks he can get away with calling her names and yelling at her without her talking back. Also, it shows how easily provoked Stanley gets when Stella…