How does Williams create a sense of tension and drama for the audience in this extract (page 47)?

Blanche's monologue on page 47 is arguably one of the most tense scenes of 'A streetcar named Desire' because of the dramatic irony used by Williams to put across to the audience Blanche's fleeting power and how Stanley has the upper-hand.

One of the most important aspects of the play is Williams's use of stage directions. In 'Streetcar', the stage directions are used to create an authentic atmosphere, to engage the audience into a whole society, rather than a few characters on a stage. This extract is no exception, after Blanche asks Stella if she may speak "plainly", a stage direction follows: "Under cover of the train's noise Stanley enters from outside". Williams uses dramatic irony to heighten the drama, because although the audience can see Stanley is eavesdropping, Blanche and Stella cannot. Therefore, the one time that Blanche speaks "plainly" and gives up her facade of a southern belle, Stanley is there to hear it. This suggests that ultimately Stanley has power over Blanche despite their power struggle, because he is able to catch Blanche when she is vulnerable. Moreover, hiding under the roar of a "train" is significant because train's are industrial and mechanical - they are the future. Stanley is protected by the future, because he is the future. However, Blanche becomes a victim of the train's noise, because she represents the past.

Blanche's monologue uses the lexical field of apes and animalistic imagery to describe Stanley. This extended metaphor immerses the audience into the monologue, and creates a comical image of apes dressed up playing poker ("this party of apes"), almost undermining Blanche's credibility, because her point isn't being taken seriously. The film interpretation of 'Streetcar' reinforces this idea, as the poker scene in the film is portrayed in a lighter version of the play, Stanley's friends laughing as they stand Stanley under the shower and then him pushing them out one by one.

Blanche compares Stanley to an animal: "he acts like an animal, has an animal's habits", which coheres with Williams's stage directions for Stanley, "animal joy is implicit in all his movements". These consistent references to animals highlight Stanley's dangerous side and his unpredictability, such as in scene three where he suddenly throws the radio out of the window. Furthermore, after Blanche's monologue in this extract, the stage directions say: "Stanley hesitates, licking his lips". The action "licking his lips" suggests "an animal's habit's", it also shows Stanley's simplistic desires of revenge and passion, foreshadowing the rape scene in scene 11. However, it is ironic that Blanche compares Stanley to an animal, because when Stanley rips open Blanche's trunk in scene 2, he pulls out a white fox fur piece. Williams includes this detail to exhibit that Blanche herself has animalistic tendencies, she is sly like a fox.

Furthermore, Blanche mentions "such things as art - as poetry and music" in an effort to win Stella over Stanley. However, in scene 3 Blanche tells Mitch that her students are not interested in these things: "their literary heritage is not what most of them treasure above all else". People are no longer interested in what Blanche and the past has to offer, they are more concerned about earning things and living the American dream (Eunice: "we own this place"). So, when Blanche says: "don't hang back with the brutes" it is essentially foreshadowing Stella's decision to choose Stanley, the "Brutes" are going forward, and the audience knows this as the play was set at the same time as it was written so would have been relevant to the times.

A streetcar named Desire massolit lecture notes - SCENE ONE (John McRae)

Atmosphere:

·         Long stage directions – clue to important themes of the play

·         The play is set from May to September: A long, hot summer – heat is apparent, scenes often take place in the evening once it’s started to cool down

·         The scene is full of people, jazz music (as opposed to just two or three characters on stage), it’s a representation of a whole society – a multi-cultural, multi-vocal society; communicating to all the audiences senses

·         Integration of white and black (Eunice and the neighbour): much more advanced than any place in the US in the 1940’s

o   Black

o   White

o   Latin

o   Polish

o   DuBois (French)

Characters:

·         First line between Eunice and neighbour: physicality, a dog licking a woman

·         “Red hot! Red hots!” and “Blue moon cocktail” Primary colours to echo vibrancy of the scene and of the integrated society

o   Blanche = White. Before she has even entered the scene she is already separate from the rest of society

·         Stanley, Mitch and Stella enter: audience doesn’t know who they are, they are established to be with money, odds and bowling – very lively, very active setting

·         Blanche arrives: Quiet and static movement in relation to the movement just witnessed by other characters – “incongruent to this setting” Blanche is in the wrong place right from the beginning.

o   Described as a moth: suggestion of a moth to flame, linking to the bright colours of Elysian fields. Alternatively, foreshadowing her downfall as she races for “fire” – with Stanley (passion), with trying to settle down in Elysian fields etc.

o   “Delicate beauty must avoid a strong light”: reinforcing the imagery of the moth and those interpretations

·         Eunice to Blanche: “We own this place” – Blanche owns nothing other than what is in her trunk

Blanche:

·        “Blanche sits in a chair very stiffly” – Reinforcing that static movement from earlier

·        She starts drinking by herself DRAMATIC IRONY because after this scene, Blanche consistently assures people she isn’t a drinker, when the audience knows that she actually is. (complicity and sympathy from the audience to Blanche)

·        When Stella enters and her and Blanche begin talking, Blanche brings up the deaths from Belle Reeve (The past – Blanche only has a history, no future)

o   “Funerals are pretty compared to deaths”

§  A prettification of death, Blanche is determined to find the beauty for things, even death: “…with pretty flowers. And, oh, what gorgeous boxes they pack them away in!”

o   Atmosphere established: Solitude, death, loss

Stanley:

·        Masculine character

·        The new man in modern America

·        “Since earliest manhood the centre of his life has been pleasure with women…with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens” ALPHA MALE

·        Polish

·        “gaudy seed-bearer”: The emblem of the new America of capitalism, materialism and integration – A representation of what Blanche cannot aspire to, she belongs to the old society in America (Laurel, Belle Reeve, Southern Belle)

·        Stanley and Blanche:

o   “You must be Stanley, I’m Blanche”: sets the tone for their relationship – power, attraction, Blanche’s vulnerability (Stanley changes his shirt, which for the 1940s was an intimate, sexual act)

o   Stanley asks Blanche about her husband and the whole tragedy is capsulated in the final words of the scene.

The story of Goblin Market - summarised.

'Goblin Market' begins with the Goblin men advertising their fruit to whoever would listen, in an elaborate and descriptive list. Two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, hear the goblin men and tell each other "We must not look at the goblin men / We must not buy their fruit". Despite this, Laura is curious of the goblin men's chants, and chooses to stay behind, whilst her sister Lizzie "thrust a dimpled finger / In each ear, shut eyes and ran".

Next, the Goblin men reach where Laura is, and they tempted Laura with their cries "come buy, come buy". Although Laura "longed", she had no money. Hence, the goblin men told her she could pay with "a golden curl". Laura accepted the condition and then proceeded to "[suck] their fruit", and went home alone, with only a kernel-stone.

When Laura arrived home, "Lizzie met her at the gate", telling her off for staying out so late when there are goblin men around. She tells Laura about Jeanie, a girl who met the goblin men at moonlight, ate their fruit, but then after "sought them by night and day / found them no more, but dwindled and grew grey", and then died. Laura dismisses this, telling Lizzie that tomorrow she will buy more, reminiscing about the fruit that she had ate.

The next morning comes, and Lizzie and Laura attend to their chores, both embodiments of the perfect victorian woman. As they "aired and set to rights the house", however, Laura is "absent in dream", implying she is fulfilling the prophecy about Jeanie, and pining for the goblin men.

In the evening, the sister's go to the brook to fetch water, and while Lizzie is eager to get home, Laura lingers; claiming "the bank was steep". Laura could no longer hear the goblin men's cry, and then, much to her dismay, Lizzie becomes worried: "'O Laura, come / I hear the fruit call, but I dare not look'". It was then Laura came to the realisation that she could "buy no more such dainty fruit". When they went to bed that night,  Laura waited till Lizzie was asleep, "then sat up in a passionate yearning" for the fruit that she could no longer have.

"Day after day, night after night", Laura still looked out for the goblin men, but never heard nor saw them. She became a mirror of Jeanie, her hair becoming thin and grey, and she no longer did any work around the house. Laura remembers the kernel stonel, and tries to go and plant it to try the fruit again, but nothing happens and she loses all hope.

Lizzie couldn't bear to see her sister like this, and when it seemed Laura was "knocking at Death's door", she put a silver coin in her purse and for the first time she "began to listen and look".

This delighted the goblin men and Rossetti writes a very elaborate stanza on the goblin men's glee as they headed towards Lizzie in an animalistic way: "Flying, running, leaping" "Cat-like and rat-like". Lizzie interrupts the goblin men's speech about their fruit and "tossed them her penny", wanting in exchange their fruit. But the goblin men resisted, asking her to feast with them. However, Lizzie is "mindful of Jeanie" and declines the goblin men.

Lizzie's rejection infuriates the goblin men, they are "grunting and snarling", they call Lizzie "proud" and "cross-grained". They then start attacking her, they "tore her gown and soiled her stocking", trying to force their fruit into her mouth. Despite this, Lizzie stays rooted, "like a beacon left alone / In a hoary roaring sea". Although the goblin men "kicked and knocked her / maul and mocked her", Lizzie kept her mouth closed to make sure not to taste a single drop of their juices. Instead, she was glad that the juices were on her face so she could take them to her sister. The goblin men got bored of her resistance, gave back her penny and went away. Lizzie then ran home to see her sister.

She announced to Laura what she had done, implored to her to "Hug [her], kiss [her], suck [her] juices". Laura springs into action and weeps to her sister: "'Lizzie, Lizzie, have you tasted / for my sake the fruit forbidden",

Summary of a critic's analysis on Goblin Market

"Symbol and realityt in Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market'" By Lona Mosk Packer

• Symbolic and allegorical level: Christian ethical assumptions
• Psychological level: emotional experience
• The two sisters may be regarded as Rossetti's version of sacred and profane love
• Rossetti discouraged explication of the poem
• Temptation in its human and theological state is the thematic core of Goblin Market
• Temptation symbolised by the fruit: The traditional symbol of sin and temptation in the bible

Rossetti spent her childhood summer in her grandfather's garden/cottage, observing animals such as the characters described of the goblin men (cats whiskers etc.) The fruit and animals are aspects of nature, the core: "sexual passion". Rossetti is not "puritanically condemning". Sexual love: Happy ending to goblin market where sisters are married with children. Because the ending is traditionally happy "Christina seems to be implying that neither the fruit nor the animals are in themselves harmful... it is only 'mans conciousness of guilt' - that is, the Christian concept of guilt incurred through sin embedded in the evil will - ... in short, man is his own destroyer".

"The potential of sisterhood: Chistina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market'" By Janet Galligani Casey

• Feminist: Rossetti uses sisterhood to demonstrate that contradictory to the public and bible's belief, women could be both the "redeemer and redeemed, as nurturer and nutured, as lover and beloved". ("both 'male' and 'female' roles are in fact available to everyone")
• Goblin market: "defines 'sisterhood' as the interdependence rather than isolation of antinomies" - It's important in sisterhood to have opposite personalities.

Compare and contrast how Rossetti shows her views on death and the after-life in the poems 'Song' and 'Remember'

'Song' and 'Remember' by Christina Rossetti both explore her views on death and the after-life. In both, Rossetti describes death as freedom, this could be due to the restraints Victorian women faced in life. Moreover, Rossetti compels the reader to abandon the consensual rituals for grieving.

In 'Song', Rossetti imagines her death in, and leaves instructions to the reader on how to deal with her death. Rossetti once again wants to break away from any societal norm, even after her death, and rejects common rituals such as when the speaker says "plant thou no roses at [their] head". Although normally this would be considered respectful, Rossetti doesn't want any cliche's. Instead, the persona asks the reader to "be the green grass above [them]". A much more humble request than roses, it reflects the common saying "the grass is greener on the other side". The persona wants the reader to move on, if they perform all the consensual rituals they will stay mournful and sad, but if they are the "green grass" then they will be able to move on from her death.

Similarly, in 'Remember', Rossetti once again takes control of how her death will be dealt with, commanding the reader in what they should and shouldn't do. This assertiveness suggests Rossetti empowering herself, and breaking away from the traditional Victorian values where it is the man who decides everything. 'Remember' reinforces this, where the speaker calls out the reader: "You tell me of our future that you plann'd". The pronouns are significant as they expose the patriarchal constraints that Victorian women faced. Although it was their future, it was the reader that dictated what would happen, and only now in death is the persona able to break free, and in 'Song' it is illustrated with a nightingale: "I shall not hear the nightingale / sing on, as if in pain". The nightingale is the speaker, and upon their death they will no longer have to "sing on as if in pain", pain brought on by the constrictions Victorian women had to deal with.

Not only does Rossetti address death, but she also talks about life after death. In the second stanza in 'Song', the speaker describes life after death as "dreaming through the twilight". "twilight" is when it is no longer day, but not yet night - a liminal state. From this it's right to presume that Rossetti considers life after death to be in a sort of everlasting 'limbo', where the days "doth not rise nor set". However, the speaker does not consider this to be a bad thing, "dreaming" has positive connotations that imply that life after death will be a long peaceful sleep. And, in 'Remember', the speaker uses the euphemism "silent land" to symbolise death. The fact that the speaker uses "silent land" suggests that they believe in a life after death, and that they may be physically gone but their soul may live on. This would coincide with Rossetti's religious views, as she was a very devout Anglican. "Silent" further suggests that Rossetti imagines life after death to be peaceful, as in both 'Song' and 'Remember', both speakers describe life after death to be an absence of any sensations: "I shall not feel the rain".

Rossetti's ideas of life after death are also illustrated through the rhythm in the poem 'Song'. In the final two lines of the poem, the speaker contemplates what she will know beyond the grave. The penultimate line is: "Haply I may remember". This line has a trochaic rhythm, which contrasts with the majority of the poem that follows an iambic rhythm. Following that, is: "And haply may forget". The final line follows the rhythm of the poem perfectly with an iambic trimeter. What the penultimate line suggests is that for a second the speaker falters in her seemingly certain views on the after-life, hence the contrasting rhythm, and then straight after the speaker comforts themselves once more with the idea of forgetting, and the rhythm resumes back to normal. Furthermore, the word "forget" kills the rhythm, and displays an feeling of inevitability and finality. It shows the speaker's certainty towards the matter. It could also be the speaker's last breath, and in fact this was all being said to the reader at their deathbed, and after they had delivered the instructions to the reader and consumed themselves with notions of "dreaming through the twilight", they were able to let go, and thus "forget".

'Remember' is in the style of a sonnet. This is significant because normally a sonnet is a love poem for a woman. Rossetti takes this and makes it her own, turning it into an assertive list to the reader, where the speaker plans her own death after having their whole life planned for them. This creates very anti-romantic connotations, displaying that Rossetti is tired of the patriarchy and so she warps the consensual idea of a sonnet.

Initial assessment essay - improved.

"No, thank you, John" - Discuss Rossetti's portrayal between men and women

In "No, thank you, John" Christina Rossetti addresses and challenges the patriarchal values that defined victorian relationships.

Arranged marriages were extremely common in the Victorian era, and this poem illustrates the problems that arranged marriages caused. The persona in "No, thank you, John" confronts John, a general, depersonalised character on the aspect of arranged marriage. By using such a common name, the readers at the time were able to visualise themselves and their own relationships in the poem, thus Rossetti was able to empower women all over Britain, freeing them from the possessive arms of men and arranged marriage.

Rossetti's poem would have been quite controversial when it was published as at the time it was expected of a woman to agree to a marriage proposal in order to gain wealth and status - love wasn't a contributing factor. However, Rossetti disregards these patriarchal values and exposes them one by one in each stanza. For example, the persona offers to the reader the double standards that women face: adultery and cheating. Although it was common for a man to bed many women and even after they married, it was compulsary for a woman to remain a virgin until married, they would lose all respect if they weren't and faced much major consequences for adultery in comparison to men. And so, the persona tells John about "Meg and Moll". Once again Rossetti has used fairly common names to illustrate her point, but not only that, she takes it one step further and uses alliteration to reinforce the idea that to men, women's names were so insignificant that they all blended into each other. Although the persona does not want to be with John, she still addresses his unfaithfullness to emphasise the audacity that John has to try and wed her when he himself is not pure. This links to context, as Rossetti was a very religious woman whose beliefs would come before any man, she even called of an engagement after her fiance reverted back to Catholicism.

Moreover, Rossetti turns to the lack of voice that Victorian women had. "No fault of mine made me your toast", implies that the persona wanted nothing to do with John, that she didn't decide for this all to happen. "your toast" really foritifies the objectification that victorian women faced. "your" shows possessiveness, as if the persona could have been owned by John, and "toast" alludes to the image of John showing the persona off and that he had the audacity to believe that she was even his to show off.

The persona uses masculine phrases and assertive words and phrases when addressing John. For exmaple, she asks John for them to "strike hands". Handshakes have always typically been associated with men and masculinity, the persona takes that and claims it as her own. This breaks the patriarchal barrier between them, and symbolises the unity that could come between man and woman if they were to leave mysoginistic values in the past and allow women - and the persona - to be independant. Furthermore, through enjambment the persona says "And points not understood/In open treaty". Using "treaty" to describe a personal relationship intensifies the persona's confidence and authority, as during the victorian era it was uncommon for women to use political terms. Finally the use of enjambment belittles John, and the break in the sentence shows that she knew that John wouldn't undesrtand as the enjambment creates a pause.

In conclusion, I believe that Rossetti writes "No, thank you, John" to break down society's gender roles and try to illustrate their ludicrousy.

Maude Clare by Christina Rossetti

Plot of Maude Clare

·         The man (Lord Thomas) and Maude Clare had a romantic relationship, they are in love

·         Due to different social class, Thomas must marry Nell who is of the same upper class

·         So Thomas and Maude Clare cannot marry each other even though they love each other

 

Nell

• Nell loves Thomas and is proud and triumphant to be married to him
• Her character is of upper class, and this is affirmed by her way of dealing with Maude Clare: she shows off that she "won", that she gets everything that she wants (Thomas)
• Although she is quite childish in the way she confronts Maude Clare, she is also very brave for choosing to marry Thomas despite him loving someone else; although it could also be evidence for her caring about status over love.

 

Order the characters speak in

The mother is the first character to speak in the poem, this indicates her high status and power, that she has the first say above any of the other characters. This is significant to consider when analysing the order in which the other characters talk. Case in point, the next character to talk is in fact Maude Clare. Maude Clare has the lowest status of all four characters, yet not only is she second to speak she also possesses five out of the twelve stanzas. This alludes the reader to believe that Maude Clare has the upperhand in this poem, she manages to manipulate Thomas, reducing him to no more than one stanza, only able to say her name: "Maude Clare". On the other hand, this could be Rossetti's way of exposing the class system present during the Victorian era, that no matter how much Maude Clare had to say, her voice would not be heard - she had little to no influence. Last to speak is Nell. By speaking last Rossetti has given Nell the last word, which is an important part of any poem. Therefore, Rossetti is telling the reader through Nell's words that although there is true love between Maude Clare and Thomas, she has won - the class system has won. Alternatively, Rossetti may have put Nell last to show that she has the least power (in this situation) of all, that she is left trying to wrap things up between Maude Clare and Thomas.

 

Nell and Maude Clare

"Maude Clare" by Christina Rossetti is the poet's way of exposing the faults in the Victorian class system. Straight away in the first stanza she challenges class roles, comparing Nell (an upper class lady) to a "village maid", and Maude Clare (a woman of a much lower class) to a "queen". The descriptions that she has given these two characters accentuate Rossetti's belief that your class does not always equate to how you actually are.

As I previously mentioned, Maude Clare has a much bigger and more powerful role in the poem in comparison to Nell, and this could be due to the fact that Maude Clare holds more power and influence where Thomas is concerned; because he loves her, not Nell. Moreover, the stanza's in which Nell does speak show not only an air of triumphance, but also a desperation: "And what you leave, I'll take". straight away, the first line that Nell speaks lives up to Rossetti's description of her at the beginning of the poem: a "village maid". It's almost as if Maude Clare is the lady, and she's leaving her left overs (Thomas) with Nell, leaving the worst parts with her, as Maude Clare has already stolen the best part: Thomas's heart.

The desperation subtley continues until the end of the poem, it is clear Nell knows that Thomas is in love with Maude Clare, but she still grasps on to all that she can "For he's my lord". She may have lost him romantically, but she still has him for status and for title. A final thing to notice is in the two stanza's that Nell's character speaks, she ends both with "Maude Clare". The repitition could be an indication of her nervousness, she keeps faltering at the last moment and falling victim to Maude Clare's name, just as Thomas did before her. Structurally, Rossetti may have done this with intention to imply that Maude Clare cannot be forgotten, her name will always linger in not only Thomas's but also Nell's mind.