1. Scene 1

2. Summary

3. First impressions: Blanche
‘Liquor goes fast in hot weather’
(Stanley)
First impressions: Blanche
What other evidence is there of Blanche’s craving for drink?
AO2: In a play, a point can be stressed by repetitive action, whilst in a novel it might be made by authorial voice.

4. First impressions: Blanche
EUNICE [defensively, noticing Blanche's look]:
It's sort of messed up right now but when it's clean it's real sweet.
BLANCHE:
Is it?
EUNICE:
Uh, huh, I think so. So you're Stella's sister?
Yes.
[Wanting to get rid of her]
Thanks for letting me in.
Blanche sits in a chair very stiffly with her shoulders slightly hunched and her legs pressed close together and her hands tightly clutching her purse as if she were quite cold.
First impressions: Blanche
How does Blanche’s response to Eunice and Elysian Fields prepare us for her attitude towards Stella’s way of life – and Stanley?

5. First impressions: Blanche
Now, then, let me look at you. But don't you look at me, Stella, no, no, no, not till later, not till I've bathed and rested! And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won't be looked at in this merciless glare! (Blanche)
‘suggests a moth’
flattery
How is pathos created for Blanche?
Find evidence of her vulnerability and vanity.
First impressions: Blanche
vulnerability
vanity
Pathos: an appeal to the emotions of the audience

6. First impressions: Stanley and Stella
Stanley throws the screen door of the kitchen open and comes in. He is of medium height, about five feet eight or nine, and strongly, compactly built. Animal joy in his being is implicit in all his movements and attitudes. Since earliest manhood the center of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependency, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying center are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humor, his love of good drink and food and games, his car, his radio, everything that is his, that bears his emblem of the gaudy seed-bearer. He sizes women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.
First impressions: Stanley and Stella
How does this introduction prepare us for Stella’s infatuation with Stanley?

7. First impressions: Stanley and Stella
‘a gentle young woman’
Fill your paper doll with quotations and analysis.
What else?
First impressions: Stanley and Stella

8. Music as motif Blue Piano Varsouviana Polka
All characters can hear this.
Varsouviana Polka
Only Blanche and the audience can hear this.
This is the polka Blanche and her husband, Allan, danced to moments before his suicide.
What might the music represent? What is its effect?
Atmosphere?
Plot?
Character?
Music as motif
Note: we don’t realise this until Scene Six. The audience builds up an understanding of the polka’s significance only gradually.

9. How does this dialogue build up our understanding of character
How does this dialogue build up our understanding of character? How does it build up dramatic tension?
Indications of Blanche’s guilt over the loss of Belle Reve
References to the horror of her life and her own suffering
Metaphors of physical injury, death and physical pain
Theatricality to avoid giving details
Lack of sentimentality when describing death
‘Attack is the best form of defence’
Stella’s responses – is she entirely passive?

10. Robert Bray: ‘Stanley is set up as ‘king of the apes’’
John Gassner: ‘[Blanche’s] consuming need is to make herself and others constantly aware of her self-refinement’
How does Williams create a sense of contrast between Stanley and Blanche in Scene 1?
You must support your answer with close reference to the text.