(Streetcar/Malfi) Ambition/Madness
- Created by: NHow02
- Created on: 30-12-18 13:21
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- Ambition/ Madness
- Malfi
- 'Like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools'
- 'Standing' suggests contamination + disease
- 'pools' incites reflection/ judgement
- Natural image used to describe an unnatural society, creates a recessive effect (Like Stanley)
- Simile references the 'tree of life' in the Garden of Eden and the 'forbidden fruit'
- Lack of sustenance/ nutrients. Sycophants seek further corruption
- 'o'erladen with fruit.'
- Blble states 'nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit'
- Lucy Webster: A 'world that is more sinned against than sinning'
- Weight of Upper Classes ('fruit') creates a crooked class system
- Bible states 'you will recognise them (Jesus's followers) by their fruits'
- Blble states 'nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit'
- 'Standing' suggests contamination + disease
- 'diamonds are of most value, they say, that have passed through most jeweller's hands'
- 'Jeweller's hands' - moulded into a 'feminine ideal' OR her virtue is improved with sexual experience
- 'I winked and chose a husband'
- 'winked' creates a flirtatious effect + shows her autonomous personality
- Highborn 'Renaissance marriages' were practical matters and used for alliances
- 'Hysteria' is derived from the Latin word 'Hyster' meaning 'womb'
- 'winked' creates a flirtatious effect + shows her autonomous personality
- 'All the diamonds were changed to pearls'
- Elizabeth I was often painted wearing pearls to present her as a 'virgin queen'
- Leggatt: 'variety and vitality of her nature as a whole.'
- However, still a well sought after jewel. Duchess retains her authority
- Leggatt: 'variety and vitality of her nature as a whole.'
- Duchess' status was a mask against life's harsh realities (only thing that protected her and she cast it aside)
- The Bible states that Adam & Eve wept a lake of pearls after being cast out of paradise
- 'I have this night digged up a mandrake'
- Aphrodisiac + poison (once uprooted it drives someone insane)
- TS Eliot: Webster always saw the 'skull beneath the skin'
- Webster uses this play to reflect the secrecy & corruption of the English court
- TS Eliot: Webster always saw the 'skull beneath the skin'
- ForeshadowsFerdinand's lycanthropia (creates devilish/ beastial effect)
- Ferdinand gave in to his baser instincts of 'ambition blood or lust'
- Mental illness was associated with lack of morals (possessed by the Devil)
- Ferdinand gave in to his baser instincts of 'ambition blood or lust'
- Aphrodisiac + poison (once uprooted it drives someone insane)
- Elizabeth I was often painted wearing pearls to present her as a 'virgin queen'
- Defined by materialism and wealth. (Webster fails to give her a name - a prize to be won)
- 'Like plum trees that grow crooked over standing pools'
- Streetcar
- Scene 8: [the 'Varsouviana' steals in softly]
- 'that music - again...'
- By scene nine, her sentences begin falling apart
- Sibilance creates a stealthy effect (suggests Blanche is victimised by her own mind)
- Williams often introduces recurring themes such as the Polka tune, the bath motif + Shep
- [as if actually talking to Shep]
- 'as if' creates a questionable effect (Shep is also a recurring theme)
- Williams' sister was admitted to an insane asylum and subject to a lobotomy
- Later Stella mentions Blanche is 'mixed in her mind'
- 'as if' creates a questionable effect (Shep is also a recurring theme)
- [as if actually talking to Shep]
- Symbolizes Blanche's remorse + her descent into fantasy
- Scene 1: [polka tune rises up, faint in the distance]
- Scene 11: [filtered into a weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle]
- Stage directions suggest a feverish effect
- Darwinian idea of 'survival of the fittest'
- Shawn Alff describes the play as a 'heathens paradise'
- The ideal of the American Dream
- Shawn Alff describes the play as a 'heathens paradise'
- Darwinian idea of 'survival of the fittest'
- By entering the 'polka game' of life, Blanche seals her fate
- The play was originally called 'The Polka Night'
- Number of time the tune plays increases towards the end
- Stage directions suggest a feverish effect
- Scene 11: [filtered into a weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle]
- Scene 1: [polka tune rises up, faint in the distance]
- Typically an upbeat tune (she cannot let go of her past)
- New Orleans was seen as a 'melting pot' of cultural influences
- New Orleans, which is nicknamed "The City That Care Forgot" and "The Big Easy", has reputation of excess and sexual freedom.
- New Orleans was seen as a 'melting pot' of cultural influences
- 'that music - again...'
- 'peels of laughter are heard as if a child were frolicking in the tub'
- The homophone 'peels' suggests Blanche is ********* away her sins as well as reality
- Reminiscent of Lady Macbeth, who is stained by her sins (seeking purity)
- Williams: 'destructive power of society on the sensitive non-conformist individual'
- Child-like image suggests she is seeking rejuvenation as if the bath was a 'fountain of youth'
- The homophone 'peels' suggests Blanche is ********* away her sins as well as reality
- Scene 8: [the 'Varsouviana' steals in softly]
- Malfi
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