Symbolism Use of symbols as a dramatic technique

Symbolism • Use of symbols as a dramatic technique. • integrates symbols very effectively with ideas and thematic content. • He once explained that symbolism is a way to “say a thing more directly and simply and beautifully than it could be said in words … sometimes it would take page after tedious page of exposition to put across an idea that can be said with an object or a gesture on the lighted page” (Jackson 26). • Thus Williams uses symbols extensively to create mood and atmosphere on stage. • It is also used to evoke thematic concerns and define characteristics of people and places vividly.

Music, Mood and Emotion • In reading the play instead of watching it onstage or the film, the reader misses out on the effect that the music has on the story. (Especially if they are unfamiliar with the music) • Tennessee Williams could not have been more accurate in choosing appropriate tunes; • Though a polka is jolly music, mostly, the busy and quick notes can evoke an anxious feeling, which is good overshadowing both for Allen's suicide and for Blanche's mental state when she hears it in her head. Sources: http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/It's_Only_a_Paper_Moon(song) http: //www. lyricsplayground. com/alpha/songs/i/itsonlyapapermoon. shtml

Lyricism / Musicality • Lyricism springs mostly from vivid expressions that work on our reservoir of feelings and associations. • Williams works his words so that they convey deep emotions and the passion of individuals • Williams makes your imagination leap and your words sing. (use of sounds, arrangement of words, repetition of words, phrases etc) • Lyricism springs from connotation, imagery and metaphor. (Constance Hale)

Light, Perfection, Security and Hope • Matthew Arnold suggests that, "The pursuit of perfection, is the pursuit of sweetness and light. " • In many ways, this is exactly what Blanche is looking for in the play- perfection. • She looks for it in her future, as she searches for a way to find security and hope. • She finds a glimmer of hope throughout the story, yet each time it is extinguished like the lantern at the end of the play. • Light serves as a symbol of hope, which is evident in the descriptive stage directions – the lamp, candles n lantern give a glimmer of hope…

Soft Glow vs Harsh Glare • Harsh light symbolises the “merciless glare” judgmental and unforgiving nature of society that does not allow Blanche to forget her sins. • There is also a sense that she carries the epic sins of her ancestors which she tries to wash away in vain. Williams presents this fixation through Blanche’s obsession with bathing and washing. • The electric lights symbolise the material life and brutal sex devoid of the tenderness and graciousness of the old world with its emphasis on art, music, poetry and the fine life… • The soft glow of candle light symbolises a tender love, forgiving and non-judgmental.

Light, Lies and Illusions • In general, light also symbolizes the reality of Blanche’s past. • She is haunted by the ghosts of what she has lost—her first love, her purpose in life, her dignity, and the genteel society (real or imagined) of her ancestors.

The Symbolic Role of Light to Define Character • Williams uses the idea of light to describe the character and disposition. • It is not a lasting radiance, which foreshadows the end of the play where that hope will dissolve. (one possible interpretation) • Light plays an important symbolic role throughout the play because it clearly reflects Blanche’s and Stanley’s characters.

Light, Lies and a Judgmental World Blanche’s aversion to light • Blanche’s relation to light is quite obvious because she tries to avoid bright light. • Her reaction to light can be regarded as an attempt to hide her true nature as well as her vanishing beauty and youth. • Williams present Blanche hiding from the glare as she tries to escape reality, for light clearly represents reality in this play. • The first time that Blanche’s aversion to light becomes obvious is in scene one: “And turn that over-light off! Turn that off! I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare” (p. 72).

The Unforgiving Naked Light • In scene three, she covers the naked light bulb with a Chinese paper lantern: “ I can’t stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action”. • This remark shows that Blanche is wary of a society that is harsh in their judgment and unforgiving of transgressions of any kind • The paper lantern symbolises the illusion she creates for herself reflected in the poetry, songs, fine speech and fine life… • But like all illusions they threaten to expose the harsh realities of life.

The Blinding Light that Exposes the Truth Mercilessly • In scene six, she takes Mitch home with her and says, “ Let’s leave the lights off”. Blanche thinks of Mitch as a future husband, and therefore she does not want him to know her past or her true age, and the best way to hide her age is to stay out of bright light where he could possibly see her wrinkles and fading youth in her face. Later in that scene, Blanche tells Mitch about her husband Allan: • When I was sixteen, I made the discovery – love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that’s how it struck the world for me.

Light, Lies and Illusions • Allan’s suicide made her see all too plainly the harsh reality of life “…electric light bulbs go on and you see too plainly”. • This again shows her fear of light since for her it represents reality • In scene nine when Mitch tears off the paper lantern in order to take a closer look at her in the bright light, “she utters a frightened gasp”.

“I tell what ought to be the truth” Williams presents through Blanche a world of multiple realities • I don’t want realism…I’ll tell you what I want. Magic! Yes, yes, magic! I misrepresent things to them. I don’t tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth. And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it! – Don’t turn the light on • This is Blanche’s first statement concerning her true intention and nature, and it is probably the only time where she ever confesses that she builds up an illusory image of herself.

Light and Lies • Mitch complains about the darkness, not ever being able to see her in the light. [The extensive play on lighting; use of indirect lighting, adds to the shadowy, secretive atmosphere in which Blanche hides. ] • Evokes themes of illusion and reality, deception (lies), fear of alienation and judgment – characters fear society more than they fear God. Shadows provide reprieve from the judging eye, not of God but society. “You’re not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother. ” p. 75 • Vulnerable, Blanche finds comfort in the shadows: "I like the dark. The dark is comforting to me. " Mitch rips the paper lantern off a light bulb [the one he had so graciously put there for her many months earlier] - wanting the truth.

Light, Lies and the Illusion • After turning on the light switch, Mitch ruthlessly holds Blanche's haggard face up to the merciless glare of a naked bulb and shatters her dignity. • He complains not about the hard-edged lines on her face, but about how she deceived him: "Oh, I don't mind you being older than what I thought. But all the rest of it. That pitch about your ideals being so old-fashioned and all the malarkey that you've been dishin' out all summer. Oh, I knew you weren't sixteen anymore. But I was fool enough to believe you was straight. "

Light, Lies and Illusions Stanley’s affection for light • Stanley has a different attitude concerning light and reality. He is very down to earth and realistic and displays this with his brutal honesty. • For Stanley, the bright light exposes everything for what it is. He can only accept a literal truth, which can be experienced by his fanatic investigation of Blanche’s past: “You showed me the snapshot of the place with the columns. I pulled you down off them and how you loved it, having them coloured lights going” (Williams, p. 68).

Flowers as a Symbol of Death • Suddenly, a female Mexican vendor calls out from outside the building, selling flowers for the dead: "Flores para los muertos. " [Flowers for the dead. ] p. 74 • At the door, the woman offers Blanche some of the brightlypainted, tin-blossomed, inert flowers. Somehow, Blanche senses that the flower delivery implies the imminence of her death, causing her distraught and fright. • She slams the door: "No, no. Not now. No!" Blanche tells of the terrible choice she had to make between two extremes opposites: Death and Desire. She chose the company of the later - Desire - with strangers, traveling salesmen and young boys/men, anything to take away the loneliness: • I used to sit here and she used to sit there. And Death was as close as you are. Death. The opposite is Desire. Oh, how could you wonder? How could you possibly wonder?

Poker and a World of Male Dominance Only Men Can Play • Poker illustrates male dominance within society. • The men are typically seen drinking, being crude and unrefined, and ultimately portraying them as primitive, basic, and animal-like. • “STANLEY [prodigiously elated]: You know what luck is? Luck is believing you’re lucky… I put that down as a rule. To hold front position in this rat-race you’ve got to believe you are lucky. ” p. 82 • In the quotation above, Stanley speaks of having to believe “you’re lucky… to hold front position in this rat-race”. • This illustrates the developing capitalist views in America during the 1940 s. People are deservingly rewarded for hard work rather than being born into wealth and power, reflecting the deteriorating aristocratic society and the growing industrialised middle class.

The Irony… • “STEVE: This game is seven-card stud. ” This quotation is the very last line in the play. Within the house, as Blanche is taken away by the doctor to the mental asylum, the other men start another poker game. • It presents a “phony world”, a “Barnum and Bailey World”, a dog eat dog world where survivors move on regardless of those who lose their way… • “But maybe he’s what we need to mix with our blood now that we’ve lost Belle Reve and have to go on without Belle Reve to protect us…”

Poker and Life as a Game of Bluff • Moreover, Williams may have specifically chosen seven-card stud rather than five-card stud which has a subtle difference. In a seven-card stud game, four out of seven cards are exposed to other players while in a five-card stud game all five are kept to the privacy of the player until the final betting round. • Similar to reality, only certain aspects of the Kowalski household are exposed. • Life in the Kowalski household is presented as a game. Where the objective of the game is to win by calling the bluff and trouncing the opponent. Similarly no one reveals their game plan. Characters have hidden agendas.

Poker and a Deceptive World • The game of poker is based on deception and the ability to bluff. In this way, Stella is also trapped in a world of fantasy, perhaps even more so than her sister. • “[…The atmosphere of the kitchen is now the same raw, lurid one of the disastrous poker night…]” The instability of such deception and unreliability is reflected in the quotation. • Poker nights seem to foreshadow violence and disaster typical of a male dominated society.

Colours • Colours have been used frequently throughout this play and aside from white, bright colours are intended to represent the vivacity, liveliness, and spontaneity of the lower middle class of New Orleans. • The differing colours seem to reflect the events of the scene. • Blanche appears in the amber light wearing a red satin robe suggests the passion and attraction to danger which led to her downfall and is further emphasised by the quotation, “tragic radiance”. P. 83 ( The ‘Varsouviana’ rises audibly) • This heavily contrasts with the blue calm which seem to appear only after; it is perhaps, a representation of Blanche’s broken will and reluctant acceptance of the truth of reality. It may also reflect Stella’s resignation to living in deception illustrating giving the ending a melancholic tone.

Colours Define Character – Stanley and Poker Players presented as… “seed-bearers” • In Scene 3, Poker Night, the kitchen “suggests that sort of lurid nocturnal brilliance, the raw colours of childhood’s spectrum”. • “Over the yellow linoleum of the kitchen table hangs an electric bulb with a vivid green glass shade. ” • “The poker players – Stanley, Mitch and Pablo – wear coloured shirts, solid blues, a purple, a red and white check, a light green, and they are men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and direct and powerful as the primary colours. ” P. 24

Colours Define Character – Blanche’s Pursuit of the Pure Life • ‘…The building is framed by the sky of turquoise…’, ‘BLANCHE appears in the amber light of the door. She has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe following the sculptural lines of her body. . . ‘, • ‘BLANCHE: You’re both mistaken. It’s Della Robbia blue. The blue of the robe in the old Madonna pictures…’, p. 84 • ‘BLANCHE: … And I’ll be buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack and dropped overboard … into an ocean as blue as … my first lover’s eyes!’

Della Robbia Blue and Cathedral Chimes • ‘BLANCHE: You’re both mistaken. It’s Della Robbia blue. The blue of the robe in the old Madonna pictures. Are these grapes washed? … That doesn’t mean they’ve been washed. [The cathedral bells chime. ] Those cathedral bells – they’re the only clean thing in the Quarter. Well, I’m going now. I’m ready to go. ’ • The religious imagery has never appeared before in the play. • There is a slight irony to have cathedral chimes suddenly be heard in the last scene of the play, especially when so many unpleasant truths have been revealed. As Blanche says correctly, “they’re the only clean thing in the Quarter” as the Madonna pictures and the cathedral bells have connotations of purity and holiness.

Bathing/Washing and Religious Symbolism • “Sound of water can be heard running from the bathroom…” • Blanche frequents the bathroom as she primps and bathes in it constantly and escapes to it when she needs a place to cry, wash up, or be alone. • She spends much of Scene Eleven bathing, but here it is different, it is an attempt to wash away Stanley’s recent violation rather than her past sexual acts. • Blanche’s bath in this scene shows her cleansing herself and hiding from the brutal world rather than simply calming her nerves.

Bathing/Washing and Religious Symbolism • In Scene 11, Blanche believes that Shep Huntleigh will rescue her from the “trap” that is the Kowalski household and so she bathes in preparation for her departure with him. • It shows clearly the merging of fantasy and reality in her mind. She creates the fantasy to escape the brutality of the real world after the rape. • There is contrast as well to the way in which Blanche bathed in previous scenes. She used to be heard singing and often boldly came out of the bathroom, having been rejuvenated and cleansed. • But in this scene, she opens the door slightly demonstrating her hesitation. Additionally, she avoids the attention of the poker players in comparison to before where she would go out of her way to catch their attention. • The rape has evidently been a traumatic experience which has tainted her completely.

The Sea, the Della Robbia Blue and the Cathedral Chimes • BLANCHE: I can smell the sea air. The rest of my time I’m going to spend on the sea. And when I die, I’m going to die on the sea. You know what I shall die of? [She plucks a grape. ] I shall die of eating an unwashed grape one day out on the ocean. I will die – with my hand in the hand of some nice-looking ship’s doctor, a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch. ‘Poor lady, ’ they’ll say, ‘the quinine did her no good. That unwashed grape has transported her soul to heaven. ’ [The cathedral chimes are heard. ] And I’ll be buried at sea sewn up in a clean white sack and dropped overboard – at noon – in the blaze of summer – and into an ocean as blue as [chimes again] my first lover’s eyes!

The Sea, the Della Robbia Blue and the Cathedral Chimes • Though the sea has connotations of grandeur and vastness, it also evokes a sense of mystery. In this context, it may suggest Blanche’s final liberation as she transcends this world, psychologically triumphing the survivors of the new world! • The cluster of images of religious imagery maybe interpreted as final absolution as Blanche states and believes that the ‘cathedral chimes’ are the only pure thing in the quarter helping her to transcend this world to attain the purity of Madonna. • Perception becomes reality…