欲望号街车原文
没有_欲望_的欲望_欲望号街车_主题隐喻新解
2007年01月内蒙古民族大学学报Jan.2007第13卷 第1期 Journal of Inner Mongolia University for Nationalities Vol.13No.1没有“欲望”的欲望Ξ———《欲望号街车》主题隐喻新解邢晓宇(内蒙古大学外国语学院,内蒙古呼和浩特010021) 〔摘 要〕《欲望号街车》是剧作家田纳西・威廉斯的代表作。
作者试用文学审美维度的表现说和实用说,分别对女主人公的“欲望”和作者的创作欲望及动机进行解读。
女主人公的“欲望”表现了与作者生活中的欲望之间的映射关系;作者创作该剧的欲望在于,他渴望社会对他的性取向宽容,而这种渴望在当时的社会背景下,是一种奢望、一种注定要失败的欲望。
因此,《欲望号街车》的主题隐喻可概括为没有“欲望”的欲望,是文学创作的社会理性和人文关怀之间张力的悖论和矛盾的体现。
〔关键词〕《欲望号街车》;田纳西・威廉斯;欲望;社会理性;人文关怀〔中图分类号〕I106.3 〔文献标识码〕A 〔文章编号〕1008-5149(2007)01-0013-03 一、引言作为赢得纽约剧评奖、普利策和唐纳德森奖三项美国戏剧界大奖的作品,美国杰出的剧作家田纳西・威廉斯的代表作《欲望号街车》,以其深刻的主题隐喻、复杂的人物形象和高超的艺术特色一直倍受学界关注。
至今,其研究价值依然具有历久弥新的魅力。
故事发生在二战后的美国新奥尔良贫民区乐土街。
女主人公布兰奇是南方没落贵族的后代。
她十六岁时爱上了一位年轻浪漫的诗人艾伦,并与之成婚。
其后,她偶然间发现艾伦竟是一个同性恋者。
她无法理解丈夫的行为,在一次舞会中脱口而出谴责了他的行为。
她丈夫的自尊心受到致命的伤害,最终他在湖边饮弹自尽,逃避了现实。
理想世界的崩溃使布兰奇迷失了自我。
她内心对丈夫的死充满负罪感。
祸不单行,当时正赶上她家道中落。
面对情感灾难和生活无助的残酷现实,身为中学教师的布兰奇选择了逃避和放纵,终因诱奸了一位十七岁的男学生被学校开除。
欲望号街车 ( a streetcar named desire)原创
Blanche Dubois: An Anti-Hero In a streetcar named desire Abstract:This paper was how much I disagreed with some of the claims made about Blanche，I genuinely found some of the statements made by thesecritics to be quite inaccurate, at least in my opinion, so proving themwrong with the evidence from Tennessee Williams in my paper followednaturally. Blanche, as the representative of delicate and fragile southernfemale images, has been the focus of discussion. Later on, this paperanalyzes this typical controversial heroine from the perspective offeminism in terms of social culture, economic factorKeywords: desire, feminism, social culture, economic factor1IntroductionTennessee Williams is widely considered the greatest southern playwright and one of the greatest playwrights in the history of American drama, whose masterpieces include Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Desire, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Night of the Iguana, etc.. In these plays, he creates many unforgettable characters, especially lonely, depressed, coward and mind-distorted southern female images.As one of the most recognizable characters in American drama and a fading but sexy Southern belle, Blanche Dubois suffers from the death of her husband who has turned out to be homosexual and committed suicide, the loss of her ancestral home and the passing away of her elder relatives. Guilty and grieve, she dates with a variety of men. Finally her reputation is ruined and she is dismissed due to having an affair with a young boy in her school. And then she turns to her sister Stella for help, who lives in the slum of New Orleans where she is acquainted with Mitch, the brother-in-law Stanley‟s fellow worker. Blanche dreams to start a new life with him, but the dream is broken due to her conflict with Stanley. In the end, their final, inevitable confrontation—a rape—results in Blanches nervous breakdown, and she is sent to a madhouse. Like a delicate and fragile work of art handed down from American Old South, she cannot get rid of a set of hypocritical, strict and controversial moral standards and shows difficulty in adapting to modern culture. She is doomed to undergo misfortunes, lose self and finally go to destruction.2 From the perspective of Tennessee WilliamsThrough the play , Wi lliams‟s sympathies lie with Blanche; this sympathy condemns the environment that has brought about Blanches tragic circumstances. Sympathy for Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire is found in large part from the obvious trauma she has experienced due to the loss of her beloved husband, Allan Grey. Ironically, this aspect of the play is also one that critics and readers frequently use to demonize Blanche and disprove her role as a sympathetic character. critics claim Williams believes Blanche behaved hatefully toward her husband or failed him in some manner, leading to the death she now laments and Blanche had a responsibility as a wife to somehow rescue her husband from his own sexuality However, this claim compared with the trauma that the death has caused Blanche, and the implications of the overwhelming love she felt for Allan Grey may have been the last true emoti on‟Evidence also shows that the traumatic loss of her husband was a driving force that leads Blanche to Stella‟s doorstep. The scandalous event s that drive Blanche to her ultimate defeat do not begin until after Allan‟s death, and she even admits, “After the death of Allan—intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with . . . I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another, hunting for some protection”. Williams implies that Blanche is not inherently impious; the disintegration of the loving marriage she once clung to leads her to a wrong path.Another situation in which Williams shows sympathy toward Blanche is her most dramatic victimization in the play: her rape. This scene requires careful analysis to understand that Stanley‟s rape of Blanche is indeed an antagonistic victimization, some claim that Williams goes to great lengths to obscure the fact that rape is a political crime ,making this seem a crime of passion and desire rather than one of violence, cruelty, and revenge .However, this argument is in complete dissonance with the obvious signs of Blanches noncompliance in the rape and utterly ignores Williams‟s vilification of Stanley throughout the play. In addition to Blanches evident noncompliance, Williams‟s vilification of Stanley throughout the entire play draws aclear distinction between victim and villain in the rape scene. Upon Stanley‟s first appearance, Williams describes how “he seizes women up at a glance . . . crude images flashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them,” and in the next line Blanche not coincidentally “draw s involuntarily back from his stare” (25). This significant exchange sets the mood for the tension between Blanche and Stanley that continues throughout the play. Several times Blanche regards Stanley with a “look of panic” or a “frightened look”, subtle stage directions that further Stanley‟s dark portrayal and foreshadow his victimization of Blanche. The fact that Stanley is characterized as erotic and Blanche merely as mentally weak and insecure reflects where Williams‟s sympathies lie; it does not imply that Blanche brings on Stanley‟s womanizing cruelty but rather that any woman could become his prey. Williams establishes Blanche‟s role as Stanley‟s victim far earlier on in the play than his physical domination of her, and Stanley‟s menacing characterization implies that Blanche‟s flawed chara cter does not give her singular potential to fall victim to him.In A Streetcar Named Desire‟s final scene, Williams makes his sympathetic tone toward Blanche tangible by exploiting her vulnerability before the indifference of the people and society that surrounds her. In addition to the ir onic comment “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”, Blanche‟s vulnerability is also illuminated through stage directions such as “a look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience shows on her face” and “She turns her face to [the doctor] and stares at him with desperate pleading”. Blanches vulnerability leaves her sharply exposed before the cold unresponsiveness of the people who witness her defeat and represent the society in which she has been immersed: the men‟s poker game resumes abruptly after her dramatic exit, Blanches own sister Stella returns her pleas delivered in a “frightening whisper” by staring blankly back at her in a “moment of silence”, and Eunice simply responds to her claim of rape with, “Don‟t ever believe it. Life has got to go on”. The other characters in the play, representative of the era‟s misogynistic society, choose to disregard Blanches plight in accordance with what society expects. Blanche has fallen victim to the brutality of male dominance, yet even the women around her turn a blind eye to her suffering in order to avoid any disruption of theireveryday lives.One can easily deduce Williams‟s sympathy toward Blanche throughout the play and even in the circumstances of her downfall, which gives greater insight into both Williams‟s perceptions of her role as a character and his own views. Although at first glance Blanches checkered sexual past and addiction to the attention of men seem to safely secure her a pigeonhole in a womanizing society, in reality her experiences have only broken down her weak spirit and driven her to her downfall. Because of Williams‟s sympathy, Blanche becomes a tra gic protagonist in A Streetcar Named Desire and transforms the play into a sort of allegory: Williams uses her plight to criticize the social circumstances that have both shaped her flawed persona and led to her demise. This social commentary leaves Williams‟s motivations in question: as a homosexual male, why exactly is Williams so sympathetic toward Blanche? One possibility is that Williams‟s homosexuality in a heavily masculine society rendered him naturally sympathetic toward the plight of women, with whom he probably identified more than with the archetypical male of the era. Another explanationis that, as a homosexual, Williams criticized heterosexuality itself, condemning the sexuality that turns Blanche into a victim, Stanley into a monster, and the rest of the characters into puppets on socio-cultural strings. Altho ugh Williams‟s personal motives are debatable, the story he creates with Blanche Dubois presents a clearly sympathetic portrait of a woman .3. Social cultureIt is reasonable that almost every person‟s fame is closely related to the place where he/she grows up, so it is necessary to probe into briefly the history of the South and its cultural background in order to have a deeper investigation of the heroine‟s destruction. The prewar South is full of contradictory memories. The Southern plantation economy set a division between planters and slaves. The slaves worked all-day long under the whip, whereas the rich planters behaved like feudal lords and lived a luxury life. Under the influence of such an economic environment, the upper class of the South believ ed “itself to be unique, because it projected itself as suchthrough its writers and spokesmen, because it manufactured a folklore of plantation aristocracy, of the magnolia paradise of the antebellum days, of the Greek society and the peculiar institution of slavery, of the Lost Cause, of White Supremacy, and of the need to be born there to understand it all, and Southerners repeated this litany so many times that it became true—or almost so.” (Horton, 1987: 377) Then the framework of the South can be established: its social pattern is based on manor; its civilization is Permeated with idealized chivalry; its ruling class behaves as an aristocracy, either a gentleman or a lovely lady. They live in large mansions, own lots of estates, and have colorful soci al life. It is a “world singularly polished and mellow and poised, wholly dominated by ideals of honor and chivalry and noblesse” (Li, 2004: 21), where Blanche was brought up and used to live for years. In fact, the self-contained and self-sufficient South is an epitome of patriarchal society. Simone de Boudoir points out in her book The second sex, “males don‟t interpret females according to females Themselves, whereas they regard females as independent ones… males can be taken as the reference to define and distinguish females, while the reference to define and distinguish males cannot be females. …She‟ is the Essential in opposition of the Inessential. …He‟ is the subject and the Absolute, whereas …she‟ is the other.” (Boudoir, 1998:11) From the above arguments, it can be seen that there exists a relation of subordination and dominance, the essential and inessential, object and subject, and the other and self between males and females. Therefore, in patriarchal society, males stand at a positive position and females play a passive and inessential role. Charlotte Perkins Gilman also considers gender as the core of analysis to reveal the fact of gender oppression, pointing out that the females‟ dependence on males is not due to physiological difference but the result of coercive act of male culture (Jin, 2004:367). Particularly Kate Millet holds in Sexual Politics that the gender relation between males and females is a kind of power one, that is “sexual politics” (Jin, 2004:595). Similarly, in the south, the men as the center of the society control money, power and even women. They form their own standards to evaluate the society and other people. Women live a life of dependence on them, both economically and mentally. And there is another obvious feature here. That is the tendency toward idealism, romanticismand hedonism. Women have to keep beautiful appearance, behave graciously and flirt with men in order to please them. It is inevitable that women would lose their self when faced with traditional customs and strict standards set by men.4. Economical factorMarxism feminist theory argues that economic factor is the root of the oppression that women suffer from (Luo, 2004:100). The economic dependence on men deprives women of the right to dominate their own fate and the strength to struggle against men so that they are reduced into the other affiliated by men. British writer, Virginia Woolf thinks that women‟s independent economic status is the material foundation to obtain personal freedom. If women are dependent on men economically, they are deprived of all the equal rights (Wu, 2005:69). The economic structure of plantation in the South removes women from productive labor so that they cannot obtain the independent economic status. Even if Blanche is forced to work outside because of economic necessity, she has to choose to be a teacher in a high school which is regarded as a decent occupation of women. And as Blanche tells Mitch her miserable situation, “A teacher‟s salary is barely sufficient for her living expenses. I didn‟t save a penny last year and so I had to come here for the summer.”(Williams, 2005:1179) Evidently, her meager incomes are barely enough to maintain her extravagant life. So, it is quite natural that she has to turn to men for help after the suicide of her husband, death of relatives and loss of her manor, and she considers it the only choice to face the cruel environment, as she says, “Whoever you are-I have always dependedon the kindness of strangers” (Williams, 2005:1203) She is in and out through the gate of the second-rate hotel of Laurel and keeps dating with different men until she is banished from the town. Then she doesn‟t have any thing to her name except a dishonorable past and a trunk that just contains her clothes and some worthless papers, so she has no alternative but to seek refuge from her sister Stella in New Orleans. In Stella‟s house, she seduces her brother-in-law Stanley when meeting him for the first time, because she understands that she needs his financial support when she stays there. She says, “…maybe he (Stanley) is what we need to mix with our blood nowthat we‟ve lost Belle Reve.”(Williams, 2005:1156) But her behavior of Southern culture of delicacy and romance doesn‟t fit in with Stanley who is an animalize d person with peevish disposition. It is an irony that just immediately after she resolves to Stella at the poker night “I‟m going to do something. Get hold of myself and make myself a new life,” (Williams, 2005:1166), she turns to a married millionaire S hep Huntleigh for financial support. Her excuse is that she only has “sixty-five measly cents in coin of the realm” in the purse. Thus having recourse to this millionaire seems an effective means “to get hold of some money” and “the way out.” (Williams, 2005:1166) However, the help call and the message are not sent out. And her next proposal is Stanley‟s fellow worker Mitch, by whom she wants to get rid of the destitution and the dependence on Stanley. She thinks if the marriage with Mitch happens, she can “leave here (Stella‟s home), and not be anyone‟s problem” (Williams, 2005:1173) and live a stable life. But things do not turn out as one wishes. When knowing her past, Mitch abandons her ruthlessly. After she parts company with Mitch, she is so depressed that she creates an illusion for herself, in which she has received a telegram form Shep Huntleigh inviting her to a cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht. Without exception her luxurious life is again built on the support of men, even in an illusion. Actually, this millionaire may not exist at all, and just appears an imagined person in Blanche‟s one-sided statement. He stands for an ideal symbol that can bring material strength of dependence and guarantee for women, more exactly for Blanche. That he never shows up and gives the substantial aid to Blanche may suggest that if women place their hope and fortune on men, their oppressed and subordinate status can never be changed, and their dream of happy life is bound to break. In short, women‟s economic depende nce on men in patriarchal society serves as one of factors that result in Blanche‟s destruction.5.ConclusionBlanche is one of such females born and brought up in Old South who feels difficult in mastering her own fate and facing conflicts brought by industrialization and commercialization under the restriction and oppression of patriarchy, and onlyhides herself in imaginative world to release herself. Williams extends his great sympathy to this victim of patriarchy. However, it is evident from what Williams depicts about women that once they yield themselves to patriarchy, instead of struggling indomitably for their freedom, their miserable situation will not be changed.REFERENCES[1]Beauvoir, Simone de. (1998). The second sex. (Tao Tiezhu, Trans.). Beijing: China Books Press.[2]Horton, Rod W. & Edwards, Herbert W.. (1987). Backgrounds of American literary thought (3rd ed.).[3]JIN Li. (2004). Literary females and female literature. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Researching Press.[4]LI Li. (2004). Women‟s growth: a feminist approach to Tennessee Williams‟s works. Tianjin: Tianjin[5]People‟s Publishing House. [4]LUO Ting. (2004). Feminist literary criticism in West and China. Beijing: China Social Science Press.[6]Williams, Tennessee. A streetcar named desire. Alison Booth, J. Paul Hunter, & Kelly J. Mays (Eds.)。
欲望号街车
第一幕ST Sister Blanche, I've got a little birthday remembrance for you. I hope that you like it.B Why- Why, it's aST It's a ticket! Back to Auriol! On a bus! Tuesday!S Blanche!You didn't need to do that.ST Don't forget all that I took off her.S You don't need to be so cruel to someone alone as she is. –ST Delicate article as she is.S She is! She was! You didn't know Blanche as a girl. Nobody, nobody, was as tender and trusting as she was. But people like you abused her, and forced her to change.B Oh, stop it!S Why did you do this to her?ST Let go of my shirt.S I want to know why. Tell me why.ST The first time, baby, when we first met, me and you , baby, you thought I was common as dirt. How right you was, I was common as dirt. And wasn't we happy together, wasn't all okay till she showed here? Hoity-toity, describing me like an ape.Stella! What 's the matter with you?B Honey, what's the matter with you?ST Did I hurt you?B Honey? What is it?S Take me to the hospital.第二幕B Who is it , please?M Me- me, me. Mitch.B Hello Mitch! Y' know, I really shouldn't let you in after the treatment I have received from you this evening! So utterly uncavalier! But I forgive you. I forgive you because it' s such a relief to see you. You've stopped that polka tune that I had caught in my head.How's your mother? Is your mother ill?M Why?B Why, what's the matter with you tonight? But never mind，I'll just- pretend I don't notice anything different about you! That- music a gain…M What music?B The polka tune they were playing when Allan- wait!There! That shot! It always stops after that. Yes, now it's stopped.M Are you boxed out of you r mind?B I cant hear what u r saying ,Had you forgotten your invitation to supper?M I wasn't going to see you any more.B What's in your mind? I see something in your eyes!M I've never seen you in the light, that's a fact! I've never had a real good look at you, Blanche,Let's turn on the light in here.B Light? Which light? What for? Oh! What did you do that for?M So I can take a look at you good and plain!B Of course you don't really mean to be insulting!M No, just realistic.B I don't want realism. I want magic!M Magic!B Yes, yes, magic!I try to give that to people. I do misrepresent things. I don't tell the truth,I tell what ought to be truth.DON'T TURN THE LIGHT ON…M Oh, I don't mind you being older than what I thought, But- but, all the rest of it- Oh! The pitch about your ideals being so old-fashioned，But I was a fool enough to believe you was straight.B Who told you I wasn't- 'Straight'? My loving brother-in-law. And you believe him.M No! No! I called him a liar at first. And then I checked on the story.Didn't you stay at a hotel called the Flamingo?B Flamingo? NO! Tarantula was the name of it!M Tarantula Arms?B Yes, a big spider! Yes, I've had many meeting with strangers.After the death of Allan- intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty … .. it was panic, just panic, that drove me searching for some protection- even, at last, in a seventeen-year-old boy but- I was played out. You know what played out is?M I thought you were straight. –B Straight? What's straight?A line can be straight or a street, but the heart of a human being…M You lied to me, Blanche. –B Don't say I lied to you.M Lies, lies, inside and out, all lies. –B Never inside, I never lied in my heart…卖花人- Flores!…Flores para los muertos … - Flores!…Flores para los muertos …B What? Oh! Someone outside.卖花人Crona! Crona! Crones para los muertos… Flowers! Flowers for the dead.祭奠死者的花，要不要？B No, no! not now! not now!I lived into the house once where death was as close as you are…The opposite is desire. How could you wonder? How could you possibly wonder!Marry me, Mitch! –M No. I don't think I want to marry you any more.B No? –M You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.B Get out of here before I start screaming. Get out of here quick before I start screaming!第三幕ST Blanchy…B Oh, StanleyST What've you got the fine features out for? –B Oh, that's right. You left before my wire came.ST Oh, you got a wire?B I received a telegram from an old admirer of mine.ST - Anything good? –B I think so. An invitation.ST - What to?B - A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht!ST - Who did you say it was from?B An old beau of mine. Mr. Shep Huntliegh,. I didn't seen him for a while.ST This millionaire isn't going to interfere with your privacy none?B This man is a gentleman and he respect me. What he want is my companionship.A cultivated woman, can enrich a man's life. .Physical beauty is passing. But beauty of the mind and richness of the spirit and tenderness of the heart increase with the years! Oh- How strange that I should be called a destitute woman! I think of myself as a very, very rich woman! But I have been foolish.ST Swine huh ?B Yes, swine! And I'm thinking not only of you but of your friend, Mr. Micthell. He came here tonight, And to repeat slander to me, vicious stories that he had gotten from you!I gave him his walking papers… But then he returned. He returned with a box of roses to beg my forgiveness!But something's are not forgivable. So I said to him, "thank you,"So farewell, my friend! And let there be no hard feelings…ST as this before or after you got the telegram?B Telegram? What telegram! Oh! As a matter of fact, my wire came just asST As a mater of fact, there wasn't no wire at all! There is no millionaire! And Mitch didn't come in here with roses' cause I know where he is- There isn't a goddam thing but imagination! and lies and conceit and tricks! Take a look at yourself in that worn-out MardiGras outfit, and with the crazy crown on. What kind of queen do you think you are? You know that I don’t like you from the start! You came in here and you spray perfume and you stick a paper lantern over the light bulb and make youself into the Queen.Sitting on your throne and swilling down my liquor! You know what I say? Ha!- Ha!- Ha! Do you hear me? Ha!- Ha!- Ha!卖花者Flores. Flores. Flores para los muertos! Corones. Corones para los muertos. Flowers. Flores para los muertos! 花！祭奠死者的花！B Oh, no! not now.Operator! Operator! Get me western Union.Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Take down this message!"In desperate, desperate circumstances! Caught in a trap. Help me! Caught in a trap!", Oh!第四幕旁白：now, they want to send blanchy to psychological hospital…ST Would you mind waiting outside a second? She's…DOCTOR --Surely!ST Someone is calling for Blanche.B It is for me, then!Is it the gentleman I was expecting from Dallas?ST Yes!B yes, honey. I believe it is. – I'm not - not- quite ready.ST Everything packed? –Shall we go now, Blanche?S Stanley, she'll be out in a minute.I'll go with you.B How do I look?S Lovely. - Lovely.B You are not the gentleman I was excepting. S Did you forget something, Blanche? –B Yes! Yes- I forgot something!S What are they going to do? Don't let them hurt her!What did you forget, Blanche?DOCTOR It does’t matter. We can pick it up later. –ST Sure. We can send it along with the trunk.B I don't know you- I don't know you. I want to be- left alone- please!ST Now, Blanche! you left nothing here -unless it's the paper lantern you want to take with you. You want the lantern? DOCTOR Miss Dubois-- Please. - It' won't be necessary.B Ask him to let go of me.DOCTOR Yes- let go.B Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers。
a street car named desire欲望号街车
Learn about the controversial play 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' why it was so controversial, and why it is still considered a classic piece of American literature.A Streetcar Named DesireIn this lesson, we will examine A Streetcar Named Desire. We'll look at when it came out, identify the main characters and basic elements of the plot, and examine how it is an example of both social and psychological realism.At the end of its premiere on Broadway, the audience of A Streetcar Named Desire sat quiet - apparently they were a little shocked. But after the shock wore off, they went wild, applauding for thirty minutes straight. What could be so controversial, so shocking, and worth applauding for thirty minutes straight? In order to understand the phenomena of A Streetcar Named Desire, we need to take a look at the cultural scene at the time.In 1947, when Streetcar came on the scene, people were entertained by lighthearted productions, and musical comedies were hugely popular. It was a time after World War II, and people were in a stateof happy complacency, enjoying a carefree life free from the burdens of being at war. But Tennessee Williams had something new in store: some deep and slightly dark portrayals of human existence. He had just produced his first big success, The Glass Menagerie, a play about the inner turmoil experienced by a brother and sister who struggle to fill the expectations of their overbearing mother.While The Glass Menagerie was definitely a little controversial at the time for its portrayal of a dysfunctional family life, A Streetcar Named Desire completely broke down the door of convention with its portrayal of sexuality, violence, and a slow, rather tragic demise into insanity. Elements like these weren't talked about in public, and they certainly weren't shown on public stages, so people were taken aback at first. In the end, Williams' portrayals were so real that audiences fell in love with this play. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for best drama and to later become an American film classic.Characters And SettingLooking at a breakdown of the play, A Streetcar Named Desire takes place in a run-down section of New Orleans, where jazz and booze flow constantly, where different cultures intermingle, and where street fights are common. It starts off on a streetcar named - you guessed it - 'Desire,' where Blanche Dubois, the main character, steps off into this steamy and volatile setting.For the record, Blanche is a highly emotional, flamboyant sort of Southern belle fleeing from the loss of her ancestral plantation Belle Reve. I say 'sort of a Southern belle' because this is the image she tries to portray, wearing super-frilly dresses and constantly flirting when, in fact, her beauty is fading and she is really an out-of-work schoolteacher with a shady past. She does try to uphold the fantasy, though, and she is always reminiscing about better times in a very poetic and dreamy kind of way. Blanche uses her poetic speech to create this fantasy image of herself in order to cover up a rather shady past, which is understandable. She's dealing with guilt from her husband committing suicide, which took place after she discovered him in bed with another man. And then, having trouble coping with the loss of her husband and loss of her estate, she ended up sleeping with one of her students, which causes her to lose her job.When Blanche arrives with this haunted sort of past, she comes to stay with her sister Stella and her brother-in-law Stanley Kowalski. Stella is pregnant and they are both living in a run-down, tinyapartment, but they seem pretty happy. The drama starts in right away as Blanche flirts about the apartment like an old-school Southern belle while Stanley interrogates her about losing his wife's estate. Stanley Kowalski is a crude, straight-to-the-point, brawling factory parts salesman who doesn't buy any of Blanche's romantic fantasies. Stanley is often called 'primitive,' compared to an animal in the play, and dominates this scene physically, acting according to his wants and desires - not exactly the well-behaved citizen who follows the rules and expectations of society.The PlotBlanche and Stanley have some pretty serious sexual tension, but mostly they just bicker, with Blanche calling him 'a drunk, animal thing' and Stanley stomping around the apartment trying to reclaim his territory and maintain his position as man of the house. From Stanley's perspective, Blanche is maybe the worst roommate ever, constantly complaining about the apartment andbad-mouthing him and then drinking all of the booze and making it hard for him to sleep with his wife. At one point, the argument goes so far that violence ensues. Stanley becomes enraged by Blanche's and Stella's lack of respect for him, and he ends up beating his pregnant wife, Stella. Afterward, when he realizes that she has left him, he becomes remorseful, and in a famous scene, he stumbles out into the street calling 'STELLA!' He reminds me of a whiny toddler at this point. To Blanche's horror, however, Stella is touched by his desperation and walks back down to embrace Stanley.After this traumatic event, in an effort to keep Stella, Stanley tries to tolerate her sister Blanche - not that Blanche wants to be there. She would love for a handsome and wealthy gentleman to come and sweep her off her feet, but since there are no handsome or wealthy gentlemen around, she ends up settling for Mitch, one of Stanley's fellow factory workers. But just when she's charmed Mitch into marrying her, Stanley tells him all about the scandals of her past, which breaks up the couple for good.This causes Blanche to sink even deeper into insanity. She actually dresses up in even more gaudy costumes, puts on a tiara and starts talking full-time to 'Shep Huntleigh,' who she keeps saying is going to send for her to come and stay with him on his yacht in the Caribbean. It's hard not to feel sorry for Blanche at this point; if she hasn't completely lost her marbles, she is definitely on the path to do so. Certainly she is not stable enough to handle being sexually assaulted, but that's what happens.Stanley comes home and starts a fight with Blanche; she resists but ends up losing the battle and becoming a victim of rape via Stanley. The irony is that for a character who is known for living in a fantasy world, when she does actually tell the truth and reveal that Stanley raped her, no one believes her. She is too psychologically fragile to handle this, and she ends up completely losing her sanity. While Blanche is sent off to a mental institution, Stella and Stanley go on as a couple taking care of their baby - all in all, a pretty tragic story.Social RealismNow that we know the basic plot, we can view the play for its portrayal of social realism, which means that it realistically shows relationships going on in society at the time. Specifically, A Streetcar Named Desire is a commentary on the social changes taking place during the first half of the 20th century due to industrialization and immigration. When Streetcar came out, there was a definite clash between different classes and cultures. Immigrants were often viewed as second-classcitizens, and there was a ton of prejudice and judgment about whether immigrants were really'American.'Blanche represents the old-school traditions that separated races and classes, whereas Stanley and Stella represent the new mixing of class and culture. When Blanche shows up in New Orleans, she is full of prejudice about class, which is out-of-place in New Orleans and in direct contrast to her sister and Stanley's relationship. And when Blanche touches on a sensitive issue and tries to belittle Stanley by referring to his Polish heritage, he gets super defensive, shouting 'I'm American!' So you can see how Stanley and Blanche are not only super-volatile characters but how they also represent this larger confrontation going on in the culture at the time about what it really means to 'be American.'Psychological RealismWilliams' work is also known for its psychological realism, meaning that in his plays, we get to see reality not necessarily as it exists in the physical world but as it exists in the mind. The trip down the lane of mental instability is common in Williams' work, and it can be a little disturbing because it seems kind of plausible. For example, we have all been in that situation where something we really wanted to happen just didn't, and we just have to deal with it. Williams gives us characters who are often unable to just deal with it, and we get a close look into the frailty of the human mind.In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche literally blocks out the 'harsh light of reality,' using a paper lantern to cover up the bright bulb in the Kowalski apartment. Her comment on the light is informative when she says 'I don't want realism, I want magic! Yes, yes, magic! I try to give that to people. 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!' In this line, she confesses her inability to confront reality, and it is painful to watch her become more and more mentally unstable as she struggles to escape from the reality of her current situation by living in a fantasy. We all have desire, which for Blanche is taken to an extreme. Desire is ultimately her demise, and in Blanche, Tennessee Williams gives us a sad, yet realistic portrayal of the frailty of the human psyche.Lesson SummaryTo sum up: for its disturbing yet realistic portrayals, A Streetcar Named Desire is known as one of the best dramas in American contemporary literature. Openly exploring the controversial themes of sexuality, violence, and mental instability, it broke traditional conventions of the time and opened the door for writers to explore the darker side of humanity.。
欲望号街车(译文经典)
精彩摘录
这是《欲望号街车（译文经典）》的读书笔记模板，可以替换为自己的精彩内容摘录。
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欲望号街车（译文经典）
读书笔记模板
01 思维导图
03 读书笔记 05 作者介绍
目录
02 内容摘要 04 目录分析 06 精彩摘录
思维导图
本书关键字分析思维导图
戏剧
悲剧
街车
社会
导言
街车
简介
经典
欲望号
方式 欲望号
舞台
欲望号
世界
年表
演职员表
内容摘要
美国20世纪备受争议的天才剧作家田纳西·威廉斯的扛鼎之作，同名电影由影史传奇费雯·丽和马龙·白兰 度主演。纤毫毕现的南方式绝望，粗暴的情欲，彻底的堕落，极乐的疯狂；破碎世界的梦幻缩影，激烈而又惊悚 的亲密关系，动物般的肉体与征服。《欲望号街车》女主人公布兰奇是典型的南方淑女，家庭败落以后，不肯放 弃旧日的生活方式，逐渐堕落腐化，后来不得不投靠妹妹斯黛拉。但又与妹夫斯坦利粗暴的生活方式格格不入， 继而遭妹夫强奸，最后被送进疯人院。现代社会中野蛮残忍的势力无情地蹂躏温柔优雅的弱者，《欲望号街车》 无疑是向社会发出了一声振聋发聩的嘶喊——是谁把布兰奇逼疯了！1947年该剧在纽约上演后获得巨大成功，囊 括美国三项戏剧大奖：普利策奖、纽约戏剧奖和唐纳德森奖。阿瑟米勒称“《欲望号街车》的首演等于是在商业 戏剧的土地上插上了一面美的旗帜”。
读书笔记
“满腔悲哀，满腔情欲。 “威廉斯还赋予一个堕落女性形象男性同性恋的实质”，更大的悲剧。 我们无法真正地理解对方，无法真正地知道真实与虚假，因为我们无法诚实地面对自己。 后面的主题辨析真的太绝了！Who told you I wasn't——"straight"？。 看完原著发现翻拍的电影确实相当出色，白兰度和费雯丽演活了斯坦利的原始粗暴和兰奇的神经质和优雅。 来读这本书最大的原因在于摩登家庭这部剧。 主题解析很棒，让我更深刻理解了故事真谛，社会造就了悲哀的人生，人性的贪婪刚好触碰到欲望的陷阱！ 无奈……。 对话精妙，人物刻画特别好，但对于同性恋这个隐晦描写，真的没看出来，我太笨了，不去想的话，真的想 不到。 从时间线上来讲，《欲望号街车》是《飘》的延续。 《欲望号街车》：大学一年级新学期开学没多久，便在电影选修课上看了这部电影。
欲望号街车 终板
• Williams propounded the feminizing of American culture as a counter to a society built on masculine ideals of strength and power.
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), also a Pulitzer Prize
Themes
• Many of his plays are autobiographical, including references to elements of his life such as homosexuality, mental instability and alcoholism.
P.1173 Middle to bottom
Stella: Why are you sensitive about your age? Blanche: Because of hard knocks my vanity’s been given. What I
mean is –he thinks I ‘m sort of prim and proper, you know! [ She laughs out sharply.] I want to deceive him enough to make him- want me… Stella: Blanche, do you want him? Blanche: I want to rest! I want to breathe quietly again! Yes- I want Mitch…very badly! Just think! If it happens ! I can leave here and not be anyone’s problem…
《欲望号街车》中的“欲望”-最新文档
《欲望号街车》中的“欲望”-最新文档《欲望号街车》中的“欲望”引言《欲望号街车》是田纳西?威廉斯倾力打造的一部优秀文学作品，在这部作品中，表达出的深刻主题思想、错综复杂的人物故事情节、对多种艺术表达方式的应用，都是该部作品摘得普利策奖、纽约剧评奖、唐纳德森奖三项大奖的重要评判标准，同时它也一直是人们乐于研究的文学作品。
《欲望号街车》深受人们的喜爱，同时也受到了相关剧作评论家的青睐，而剧作中的表现主义、象征主义、诗化现实主义等，则是人们关注的重点。
大多数剧作评论家对于这部作品的评价是基于社会历史进步层面展开的，将剧作中的女主人公布兰奇当做一个病态女性进行评论，将其归入到了守旧的南方势力中，而与之相对的斯坦利则是北方新兴工业的代表性人物，这样就把整部剧作的文学主题思想归纳为新旧势力的冲突、旧势力的必然灭亡和新势力的必然胜利。
即使有一些学者从两性的角度解读该剧，但仍然将其主题划归到社会历史的冲突当中，而缺乏对两性主题的深入研究和探讨。
学者吾文泉曾经说过，这种现象可能与中国文化中的对于异域文化性的条件性过滤有关。
在今天，社会对于两性的关注度更高，使得一些文人学者不得不从社会所关注的角度来看待文化潮向的发展与变化，本文从文学审美维度的实用说和表现说视角，重新解读《欲望号街车》中的“欲望”主题思想，从一个全新的角度认知这部文学作品。
一基于表现说的视角解读布兰奇的“欲望”童庆炳将M?H?艾布拉姆斯的文学艺术理论发展为六种文学本质论：再现说、表现说、客观说、体验说、实用说、自然说等。
关于表现说，是一种关于作者和文学作品之间所达成的心灵感应，文学活动的本质就是融入作者自己的情感经历。
关于文学创作活动，田纳西?威廉斯曾经说过，他所塑造的人物，都是基于生活中的人物原型而定的，他不可能去创作生活中根本就不存在的人物形象；可以说，在一定意义上，他所塑造的某些人物形象是以自己为参造物，否则那个人物就没有真实性可言。
由此可见，田纳西?威廉斯的文学创作活动，在一定程度上是一种自传性的文学活动。
important lines欲望号街车
Lonelines
The companion theme to desire is loneliness, and between these two extremes, Blanche is lost. She desperately seeks companionship and protection in the arms of strangers. And she has never recovered from her tragic and consuming love for her first husband. Blanche is in need of a defender. But in New Orleans, she will find instead the predatory and merciless Stanley.
Blanche DuBois
insecure, dislocated individual lives in a state of perpetual panic about her fading beauty depends on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem
像一叶无依无靠的浮萍终于被风浪吞没，像 一朵美丽芬芳的花朵在风雨中凋落，粗俗与 欲望的践踏，心灵深处的呼唤，无可挽回的 堕落。爱了骗了背叛了疯了，只有眼神依然 迷离而深情，只有欲望的街车依然在黑暗的 夜色中出没
They told me to take a street-car named Desire, and transfer to one called Cemeteries, and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!
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the exterior of a two-story corner building on a street in new orleansabout: /Streetcar.htmlA STREETCAR NAMED DESIREAnd so it was I entered the broken world To tracethe visionary company of love, its voice An instant in the wind [I know not whither hurled] But not for long to hold each desperate choice. HART CRANE The Broken Tower THE CHARACTERS The first London production of this play was at the Aldwych Theatre on Wednesday,.2 October.949, with the following cast: Blanche DuBois Vivien Leigh Stella Kowalski Rerw Asfwrson Stanley Kowalski Bonar Colleam Harold Mitchell [Mitch] Bernard Braden Eunice Hubbel Eileen Dale Steve Hubbel Lyn Euans Pablo Gonzales Theodore Bikel Negro woman Brwe Howard A strange man [doctor] Sidney Monckton A strange woman [nurse] Mona Lilian A young collector John Farrest A Mexican woman Eileen Way Directed by Laurence Olivier Setting and lighting by Jo meilziner Costumes by Beatrice Dawson******************************************************************************* **********SCENE ONEThe exterior of a two-storey corner building on a street in New Orleans which is named Elysian Fields and runs between the L & N tracks and the river. The section is poor but unlike corresponding sections in other American cities, it has a raffish charm. The houses are mostly white frame, weathered grey, with rickety outside stairs and galleries and quaintly ornamented gables. This building contains two flats, upstairs and down. Faded white stairs ascend to the entrances of both.It is first dark of an evening early in May. The sky that shows around the dim white building is a peculiarly tender blue, almost turquoise, which invests the scene with a kind of lyricism and gracefully attenuates the atmosphere of decay. You can almost feel the warm breath of the brown river beyond the river warehouses with their faint redolences of bananas and coffee. A corresponding air is evoked by the music of Negro entertainers at a bar-room around the corner. In this part of New Orleans you are practically always just around the corner, or a few doors down the street, from a tinny piano being played with the infatuated fluency of brown fingers. This blue piano' expresses the spirit of the life which goes on here.[Two women, one white and one coloured, are taking the air on the steps of the building. The white woman Eunice, who occupies the upstairs flat; the coloured woman a neighbour, for New Orleans is a cosmopolitan city where there is a relatively warm and easy intermingling of races in the old part of town.Above the music of the 'blue piano', the voices of people on the street can be heard overlapping.] Negro woman [to Eunice]: ... she says St Barnabas would send out his dog to lick her and when he did she'd feel an Icy cold wave all up an' down her. Well, that night when –A Man [to a sailor]: You keep right on going and you'll find it. You'll hear them tapping on the shutters.Sailor [to negro woman and Eunice]: Where's the Four Deuces?Vendor: Red hot! Red hotsNegro woman: Don't waste your money in that clip jointSailor: I've got a date there.Vendor: Re-e-ed h-o-o-t!Negro woman: Don't let them sell you a Blue Moon cock- tail or you won't go out on your own feet[Two men come round the comer, Stanley Kowalski and Mitch. They are about twenty-eight or thirty years old, roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes. Stanley carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher's.] Stanley [to Mitch]: Well, what did he say? Mitch; He said he'd give us even money.Stanley: Naw! We gotta have odds![They stop at the foot of the steps.}Stanley [bellowing}: Hey, there! Stella, Baby[Stella comes out on the first-floor landing, a gentle young woman, about twenty-five, and of a background obviously quite different from her husband's.]Stella [mildly]: Don't holler at me like that. Hi, Mitch.Stanley: CatchStella: What?Stanley: Meat![He heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but manages to catch it: then she laughs breathlessly. Her husband and his companion hose already started back around the comer.]Stella [calling after him}: Stanley! Where are you going?Stanley: Bowling!Stella: Can I come watch?Stanley: Come on. [He goes out.]Stella: Be over soon. [To the white woman.] Hello, Eunice. How are you?Eunice: I'm all right. Tell Steve to get him a poor boy's sandwich 'cause nothing's left here. [They all laugh; the coloured woman does not stop. Stella goes out.]Coloured woman: What was that package he th'ew at 'er? [She rises from steps, laughing louder.]Eunice; You hush, now!Negro woman: Catch what[She continues to laugh. Blanche comes around the corner, carrying a valise. She looks at a slip of paper, then at the building, then again at the slip and again at the building. Her expression is one of shocked disbelief. Her appearance is incongruous to this setting. She is daintily dressed in a white suit with a fluffy bodice, necklace and ear-rings of pearl, white gloves and hat, looking as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party in the garden district. She is about five years older than Stella. Her delicate beauty must avoid a strong light. There is something about her uncertain manner, as well as her white clothes, that suggests a moth.]Eunice [finally]: What's the matter, honey? Are you lost?Blanche [with faintly hysterical humour]: They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at - Elysian Fields!Eunice: That's where you are now.Blanche: At Elysian Fields?Eunice: This here is Elysian Fields.Blanche: They mustn't have - understood - what number I wanted ...Eunice: What number you looking for?[Blanche wearily refers to the slip of paper.]Blanche: Six thirty-two.Eunice: You don't have to look no further.Blanche [uncomprehendingly]: I'm looking for my sister, Stella DuBois. I mean - Mrs Stanley Kowalski.Eunice: That's the party. - You just did miss her, though.Blanche: This - can this be - her home?Eunice: She's got the downstairs here and I got the up.Blanche: Oh. She's - out?Eunice: You noticed that bowling alley around the corner?Blanche: I'm - not sure I did.Eunice: Well) that's where she's at, watching her husband bowl. [There is a pause.] You want to leave your suitcase here an' go find her?Blanche: no.Negro woman: I'll go tell her you come.Blanche: Thanks.Negro woman: You welcome. [She goes out.]Eunice: She wasn't expecting you?Blanche: No. No, not tonight.Eunice: Well, why don't you just go in and make yourself at home till they get back.Blanche: How could I - do that?Eunice: We own this place so I can let you in. [She gets up and opens the downstairs door. A light goes on behind the blind, turning it light blue. Blanche slowly follows her into the downstairs fiat. The surrounding areas dim out as the interior is lighted. Two rooms can be seen, not too clearly defined. The one first entered is primarily a kitchen but contains a folding bed to be used by Blanche. The room beyond this is a bedroom. Off this room is a narrow door to a bathroom.]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?Blanche: Yes. [Wanting to get rid of' her] Thanks for letting me in.Eunice: pot nada, as the Mexicans say, por nada Stella spoke of you.Blanche: Yes?Eunice: I think she said you taught school.Blanche: yes.Eunice: And you're from Mississippi, huh?Blanche: yes.Eunice: She showed me a picture of your home-place, the plantation.Blanche: Belle Reve?Eunice: A great big place with white columns.Blanche: Yes . . .Eunice: A place like that must be awful hard to keep up.Blanche: If you will excuse me, I'm just about to drop.Eunice: Sure, honey. Why don't you set down?Blanche: What I meant was I'd like to be left alone.Eunice [offended}: Aw. I'll make myself scarce, in that case.Blanche: I didn't mean to be rude, butEunice: I'll drop by the bowling alley an' hustle her up. [She goes out of the door.][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. After a while, the blind look goes out of her eyes and she begins to look slowly around. A cat screeches. She catches her breath with a startled gesture. Suddenly she notices something in a half- opened closet. She springs up and crosses to it, and removes a whisky bottle. She pours a half tumbler of whisky and tosses it down. She carefully replaces the bottle and washes out the tumbler at the sink. Then she resumes her seat in front of the table.]Blanche [faintly to herself]: I've got to keep hold of myself![Stella comes quickly around the corner of the building and and runs to the door of the downstairs fiat.]Stella [calling out joyfully]: Blanche![For a moment, they stare at each other. Then Blanche springs up and runs to her with a wild cry.] Blanche: Stella, oh, Stella, Stella! Stella for Star![She begins to speak with feverish vivacity as if she feared for either of them to stop and think. They catch each other in a spasmodic embrace.]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 [Stella laughs and complies.] Come back here now I Oh, my baby! Stella! Stella for Star! [She embraces her again.] I thought you would never come back to this horrible place! What am I saying! I didn't mean to say that. I meant to be nice about it and say - Oh, what a convenient location and such - Ha-a-ha! Precious lamb! You haven't said a word to me. Stella: You haven't given me a Chance to, honey! [She laughs but her glance at Blanche is a little anxious.]Blanche: Well, now you talk. Open your pretty mouth and talk while I look around for some liquor!I know you must have some liquor on the place! Where it could be, I wonder. Oh, I spy, I spy! [She rushes to the closet and removes the bottle; she is shaking all over and panting for breath as she tries to laugh. The bottle nearly slips from her grasp.]Stella [noticing]: Blanche, you sit down and let me pour the drinks. I don't know what we've got to mix with. May- be a coke'? in the icebox. Look'n sec, honey, while I'mBlanche: No coke, honey, not with my nerves tonight! Where - where - where is -?Stella: Stanley? Bowling! He loves it. They're having a - found some soda! tournament...Blanche: Just water, baby, to chase it! Now don't get worried, your sister hasn't turned into a drunkard, she's just all shaken up and hot, tired, and dirty! You sit down, now, and explain thisplace to me. what are you doing in a place like this?Stella: Now, BlancheBlanche: Oh, I'm not going to be hypocritical, I'm going to be honestly critical about it! Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture - Only Poe! Only Mr Edgar Allan Foe! - could do it justice! Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir. [She laughs.]Stella: No, honey, those are the L & N tracks.Blanche: No, now seriously, putting joking aside. Why didn't you tell me, why didn't you write me, honey, why I didn't you let me know?Stella [carefully, pouring herself a drink]: Tell you what, Blanche?Blanche: Why, that you had to live in these conditions!Stella: Aren't you being a little intense about it? It's not that bad at all! New Orleans isn't like other cities.Blanche: This has got nothing to do with New Orleans. You might as well say - forgive me, blessed baby! [She suddenly stops short.] The subject is closed!Stella [a little drily]: Thanks.[During the pause, Blanche stares at her. She smiles at Blanche.]Blanche [looking down at her glass, which shakes in her hand]: You're all I've got in the world, and you're not glad to see me!Stella [sincerely]: Why, Blanche, you know that's not true.Blanche: No? - I'd forgotten how quiet you were.Stella: You never did give me a Chance to say much, Blanche. So I just got in the habit of being quiet around you.Blanche [vaguely}: A good habit to get into ... [then abruptly] You haven't asked me how I happened to get away from the school before the spring term ended.Stella; Well, I thought you'd volunteer that information - if you wanted to tell me.Blanche: You thought I'd been fired?Stella: No, I - thought you might have - resigned....Blanche: I was so exhausted by all I'd been through my - nerves broke. [Nervously tamping cigarette.] I was on the verge of- lunacy, almost! So Mr Graves - Mr Graves is the high school superintendent - he suggested I take a leave of absence. I couldn't put all of those details into the wire. ... [She drinks quickly.} Oh, this buzzes right through me and feels so good!Stella: Won't you have another?Blanche: No, one's my limit.Stella: Sure?Blanche: You haven't said a word about my appearance.Stella: You look just fine.Blanche: God love you for a liar! Daylight never exposed so total a ruin. But you - you've put on some weight, yes, you're just as plump as a little partridge. And it's so becoming to you.Stella: Now, BlancheBlanche: Yes, it is, it is or I wouldn't say it . You just have to watch around the hips a little. Stand up.Stella: Not now.Blanche: You hear me? I said stand up ! [Stella complies reluctantly.] You messy child, you, you've spilt something on that pretty white lace collar ! About your hair – you ought to have it cut in a feather bob with your dainty features. Stella, you have a maid, don't you?Stella: No. With only two rooms it'sBlanche: What? Two rooms, did you say?Stella: This one and — [She is embarrassed.}Blanche: The other one? [She laughs sharply. There is an embarrassed silence.] How quiet you are, you're so peaceful. Look how you sit there with your little hands folded like a cherub in choir! Stella [uncomfortably}: I never had anything like your energy, Blanche.Blanche: Well, I never had your beautiful self-control. I am going to take just one little tiny nip more, sort of to put the stopper on, so to speak.... Then put the bottle away so I won't be tempted. [She rises.} I want you to look at my figure! [She turns around.] You know I haven't put on one ounce in ten years, Stella? I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve. The summer Dad died and you left us...Stella [a little wearily]: It's just incredible, Blanche, how well you're looking.Blanche: You see I still have that awful vanity about my looks even now that my looks are slipping . [She laughs nervously and glances at Stella./ot reassurance.]Stella [dutifully]: They haven't slipped one particle.Blanche: After all, I've been through? You think I believe that story ? Blessed child! [She touches her forehead shakily.] Stella, there's only two rooms?Stella: And a bathroom.Blanche: Oh, you do have a bathroom. First door to the right at the top of the stairs. [They both laugh uncomfortably.] But, Stella, I don't see where you're going to put me!Stella: We're going to put you in here.Blanche: What kind of bed's this - one of those collapsible things? [She sits on it.]Stella: Does it feel all right?Blanche [dubiously]: Wonderful, honey. I don't like a bed that gives much. But there's no door between the two rooms, and Stanley - will it be decent?Stella: Stanley is Polish, you know.Blanche: Oh, yes. They're something like Irish, aren't they?Stella: WellBlanche: Only not so - highbrow? [They both laugh again in the same way.} I brought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in.Stella: I'm afraid you won't think they are lovely.Blanche: What are they like?Stella: They're Stanley's friends.Blanche: Polacks?Stella: They're a mixed lot, Blanche.Blanche: Heterogeneous types?Stella: Oh, yes. Yes, types are right!Blanche: Well - anyhow - I brought nice clothes and I'll wear them. I guess you're hoping I'll say I'll put up at a hotel, but I'm not going to put up at a hotel. I want to be near you, got to be with somebody, I can't be alone! Because - as you must have noticed - I'm not very well. ... [Her voice drops and her look is frightened.]Stella: You seem a little bit nervous or overwrought or something.Blanche: Will Stanley like me, or will I be just a visiting in-law, Stella? I couldn't stand that. Stella: You'll get along fine together, if you'll just try not to - well - compare him with men that we went out with at home.Blanche: Is he so - different?Stella: Yes. A different species.Blanche: In what way; what's he like?Stella: Oh, you can't describe someone you're in love with! Here's a picture of him! [She hands a photograph to Blanche.]Blanche: An officer?Stella: A Master Sergeant in the Engineers' Corps. Those are decorationsBlanche: He had those on when you met him.Stella: I assure you I wasn't just blinded by all the brass.Blanche: That's not what IStella: But of course, there were things to adjust myself to later on.Blanche: Such as his civilian background I [Stella laughs uncertainly.] How did he take it when yousaid I was coming?Stella: Oh, Stanley doesn't know yet.Blanche [frightened]: You - haven't told him? Stella: He's on the road a good deal.Blanche: Oh. Travels?Stella: Yes.Blanche: Good. I mean - isn't it?Stella [half to herself]: I can hardly stand it when he is away for a night. ...Blanche: Why, Stella? Stella: When he's away for a week I nearly go wildBlanche: Gracious!Stella: And when he comes back I cry on his lap like a baby. ... [She smiles to herself.]Blanche: I guess that is what/I meant by being in love.... [Stella looks up with a radiant smile.] StellaStella: What?Blanche [in an uneasy rush]: I haven't asked you the things you probably thought I was going to ask. And so I'll expect you to be understanding about what have to tell youStella: What, Blanche? [Her face turns anxious.] Blanche: Well, Stella - you're going to reproach me, I know that you're bound to reproach me - but before you do take into consideration - you left! I stayed and struggled . You came to New Orleans and looked out for yourself! I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold it together! I'm not meaning this in any reproachful way, but all the burden descended on my shoulders.Stella: The best I could do was making my own living, Blanche.[Blanche begins to shake again with intensity.]Blanche: I know, I know. But you are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I! I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!Stella: Stop this hysterical outburst and tell me what's happened? What do you mean fought and bled? What kind of Blanche: I knew you would, Stella. I knew you would take this attitude about itStella: About - what? - pleaseBlanche [slowly]: The loss - the loss...Stella: Belle Reve? Lost, is it? No! Blanche; Yes, Stella.[They stare at each other across the yellow-checked linoleum of the table. Blanche slowly nods her head and Stella looks slowly down at her hands folded on the table. The music of the 'blue piano' grows louder. Blanche touches her handkerchief to her forehead.}Stella: But how did it go? What happened?Blanche {springing up}: You're a fine one to ask me how it wentStella: Blanche!Blanche: You're a fine one to sit there accusing me of itStella: Blanche!Blanche: I, I, took the blows in my face and my body! All those deaths! The long parade to the graveyard! Father, mother! Margaret, that dreadful way! So big with it, it couldn't be put in a coffin! But had to be burned like rubbish You just came home in time for the funerals, Stella. Andfunerals are pretty compared to deaths. Funerals are quiet, but deaths - not always. Sometimes their breathing is hoarse, and sometimes it rattles, and sometimes they even cry out to you, 'Don't let me go!' Even the old, sometimes, say. Don't let me go.' As if you were able to stop them! But funerals are quiet, with pretty flowers. And, oh, what gorgeous boxes they pack them away in! Unless you were there at the bed when they cried out, hold me' you'd never suspect there was the struggle for breath and bleeding. You didn't dream, but I saw! Saw! Saw! And now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go. How in hell do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for ? Death is expensive, Miss Stella! And old Cousin Jessie's right after Margaret's, hers. Why, the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep! ... Stella. Belle Reve was his headquarters! Honey - that's how it slipped through my fingers! Which of them left us a fortune? Which of them left a cent of insurance even ? Only poor Jessie - one hundred to pay for her coffin. That was all, Stella! And I with my pitiful salary at the school. Yes, accuse me! Sit there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go! I let the place go? Where were you? In bed with your - Polak!Stella [springing]: Blanche. You be still. That's enough [She starts out.]Blanche: Where are you going?Stella: I'm going into the bathroom to wash my face.Blanche: Oh, Stella, Stella, you're crying.Stella: Does that surprise you?[Stella goes into the bathroom. Outside is the sound of men's voices. Stanley, Steve, and Mitch cross to the foot of the steps.]Steve: And the old lady is on her way to Mass and she's late and there's a cop standin' in front of th' church an' she comes runnin* up an' says, 'Officer - is Mass out yet?' He looks her over and says, 'No, Lady, but y'r hat's on crooked I' [They give a hoarse bellow of laughter.] Steve; playing poker tomorrow night? Stanley: Yeah - at Mitch's. Mitch: Not at my place. My mother's still sick, [He starts off-}Stanley [calling after him}: AU right, we'll play at my place ... but you bring the beer.Eunice [hollering down from above]: Break it up down there I made the spaghetti dish and ate it myself.Steve [going upstairs']: I told you and phoned you we was playing. [To the men} Jax beer! Eunice: You never phoned me once.Steve: I told you at breakfast - and phoned you at lunch ...Eunice: Well, never mind about that. You just get yourself home here once in a while.Steve: You want it in the papers.[More laughter and shouts of parting come from the men. 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 centre of his life has been pleasure with women, the giving and taking of it, not with weak indulgence, dependently, but with the power and pride of a richly feathered male bird among hens. Branching out from this complete and satisfying centre are all the auxiliary channels of his life, such as his heartiness with men, his appreciation of rough humour, his low 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 saw women up at a glance, with sexual classifications, crude imagesflashing into his mind and determining the way he smiles at them.]Blanche: [drawing involuntarily back from his stare}: You must be Stanley. I'm Blanche. Stanley: Stella's sister?Blanche: Yes.Stanley: H'lo. Where's the little woman?Blanche: In the bathroom.Stanley: Oh. Didn't know you were coming in town.Blanche: I - uhStanley: Where you from, Blanche? Blanche: Why, I - live in Laurel. [He has crossed to the closet and removed the whisky bottle.]Stanley: In Laurel, huh? Oh, yeah, in Laurel, that's right. Not in my territory. Liquor goes fast in hot weather. [He holds the bottle to the light to observe its depletion,] Have a shot? Blanche: No, I - rarely touch it.Stanley: Some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often.Blanche [faintly]: Ha-ha.Stanley: My clothes're stickin' to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable? [He starts to remove his shirt.] Blanche: Please, please do.Stanley: Be comfortable is my motto.Blanche: It's mine, too. It's hard to stay looking fresh. I haven't washed or even powdered my face and - here you are!Stanley: You know you can catch cold sitting around in damp things, especially when you been exercising hard like bowling is. You're a teacher, aren't you?Blanche: Yes.Stanley: What do you teach, Blanche?Blanche: English. Stanley: I never was a very good English student. How long you here for, Blanche?Blanche: I - don't know yet. Stanley: You going to shack up here?Blanche: I thought I would if it's not inconvenient for you all.Stanley: Good. Blanche: Travelling wears me out.Stanley: Well, take it easy.[A cat screeches near the window. Blanche springs up.] Blanche: What's that?Stanley: Cats. ... Hey, Stella.Stella [faintly, from the bathroom}: Yes, Stanley.Stanley: Haven't fallen in, have you? [He grins at Blanche. She tries unsuccessfully to smile back. There is a silence.] I'm afraid I'll strike you as being the unrefined type. Stella's spoke of you a good deal. You were married once, weren't you? [The music of the polka rises up, faint in the distance.]Blanche: Yes. When I was quite young.Stanley: What happened?Blanche: The boy - the boy died. [She sinks back down.] I'm afraid I'm - going to be sick![Her head falls on her arms.]******************************************************************************* *******************SCENE TWO------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------It is six o'clock the allowing evening. Blanche is bathing. Stella is completing her toilette. Blanche's dress, a flowered print, is laid out on Stella's bed.Stanley enters the kitchen from outside, leaving the door open on the perpetual 'blue piano' around the corner.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Stanley: What's all this monkey doings?Stella: Oh, Stan! [She jumps up and kisses him, which he accepts with lordly composure.] I'm taking Blanche to Galatoires' for supper and then to a show, because it's your poker night.Stanley: How about my supper, huh? I'm not going to no Galatoires' for supper!Stella: I put you a cold plate on ice.Stanley: Well, isn't that just dandy!Stella: I'm going to try to keep Blanche out till the party breaks up because I don't know how she would take it. So we'll go to one of the little places in the Quarter afterwards and you'd better give me some money.Stanley: Where is she?Stella: She's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves. She's terribly upset. Stanley: Over what? Stella: She's been through such an ordeal.Stanley: Yeah?Stella: Stan, we've - lost Belle Reve.Stanley: The place in the country?Stella: Yes.Stanley: how? Stella [vaguely]: Oh, it had to be - sacrificed or something. [There is a pause while Stanley considers. Stella is changing into her dress.] When she comes in be sure to say something nice about her appearance. And, oh! Don't mention the baby. I haven't said anything yet, I'm waiting until she gets in a quieter condition.Stanley [ominously}: So?Stella: And try to understand her and be nice to her, Stan.Blanche [singing in the bathroom]: From the land of the sky blue water, They brought a captive maid!'Stella: She wasn't expecting to find us in such a small place. You see I'd tried to gloss things over a little in my letters.Stanley: So?Stella: And admire her dress and tell her she's looking wonderful. That's important with Blanche. Her little weakness!Stanley: Yeah. I get the idea. Now let's skip back a little to where you said the country place was disposed of. Stella: Oh. - yes...。