A Streetcar named Desire by Tennessee Williams Kelso High School A Streetcar named Desire by Tennessee Williams

Scene Six The opening mood of this scene is downbeat and depressing. Mitch and Blanche’s date has been a failure

Characterisation: Blanche Blanche’s encounter with Mitch exposes her sexual double standards Her play-acting emphasises her need for make-believe situations which make it possible for her to bear her life Her recklessness is also apparent. She asks Mitch in French to sleep with her and when she speaks to him about her old fashioned ideas about women’s behaviour she rolls her eyes, knowing that he cannot see her face

Characterisation: Blanche Blanche describes her first love in terms of lightness and darkness. When she fell in love her world was consumed by “blinding light” and when her husband died, “the searchlight was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that’s stronger than this – kitchen – candle” A lack of light has enabled Blanche to live a lie, but without light Blanche has lived without a clear view of herself and reality

Characterisation : Blanche Blanche needs Mitch as a stabilizing force in her life and if her relationship with him fails, she faces a world that offers few prospects for a financially challenged, unmarried, middle aged woman Yet, although she confesses her role in her husband’s suicide, her failure to be truthful about her age, her past and her intentions suggest their relationship will fail

Stagecraft The Varsouviana music that plays in the background as Blanche tells her story is symbolic. This is becThe music represents Blanche’s memories of her husband’s suicide ause the same music was playing when Blanche told her husband (just before his suicide) that he disgusted her When we hear the music in the play it shows Blanche is escaping into a fantasy world and remembering her greatest regret

Foreshadowing Blanche’s incoherent musing about Stanley conveys that she thinks his dislike might be a kind of perverse sexual attraction This speculation foreshadows her fatal encounter with Stanley in Scene 10.