Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell

• Mitch is Blanche's main romantic interest.
• Stanley's colleague and poker-playing friend
• Working-class man

  "roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes" which tells the audience he is a working-class man. His register suggests he is working-class as well. Characterised mainly through dialogue, his self-deprecating comments display other opinions
• Gentle and sensitive

  • well-mannered and gentlemanly
  • Blanche notices and says "that one seems superior to the others"
  • repeatedly mentions sick mother, looks after her despite mocked
  • treats Blanche with respect and sympathy, acknowledges their mutual loneliness
• Beta male

  • antithesis of Stanley
  • says "How do you do?", juxtaposing strong, sexual, objectifying male gaze of Stanley
  • challenges Stanley but is thwarted, cries
  • deep-rooted sorrow and sensitivity
• Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell is Blanche's main romantic interest and Stanley's colleague and poker-playing friend.
• Mitch is initially introduced to us with Stanley under the same working-class light, but stands out as a sensitive gentleman as the play progresses.
• Mitch is a working-class man, introduced to us by Stanley as "they are about twenty-eight or thirty years old, roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes".
• Mitch's register suggests that he is a working-class man as well.
• Mitch is characterised mainly through dialogue, either his self-disparaging comments or other's opinions about him.
• Mitch is well-mannered and gentlemanly, unlike his friends, something Blanche notices immediately as she states "That one seems-superior to the others."
• Mitch repeatedly speaks of his sick mother and despite being mocked and made fun of for his sensitivity, he prioritizes leaving early from games to tend to his sick mother who he loves very much.
• Mitch also treats Blanche with respect and is sympathetic towards her when she tells him about Allan, realizing that they are both lonely.
• Foreshadowing is a literary technique where a writer drops hints or warnings about what is to come in the plot.
• Mitch shows Blanche the respect he believes she deserves as he believes she is “innocent”, something he takes away when he finds out she has sex with other men.
• Mitch is shy and insecure about himself, easily embarrassed and self-conscious.
• Foil is a character that contrasts the qualities of another character (usually a protagonist), therefore highlighting the qualities of the latter.
• Mitch was very distressed about everything Stanley said, and feels helpless as three people have confirmed everything about Blanche he doesn't want to believe.
• In Scene 9, Mitch is rude and aggressive towards Blanche as he feels betrayed that she lied to him constantly about everything.
• Register is the degree of formality in speech.
• Irony is when an outcome is intentionally contrary to what would ideally be expected.
• Mitch frequently talks about his mother, cares and loves her very much, and gets emotional even thinking about her demise.
• Mitch is aware that his friends and he are 'being a pretty rough bunch' compared to what Blanche is used to.
• Mitch is the antithesis of Stanley, appearing as a beta male to Stanley's alpha.
• Stanley begins to think about Blanche sexually after he notices Mitch's interest in her, making him violent and verbally and physically abusive.
• According to Judith J. Thompson, "From the beginning of their relationship, Blanche attempts to elevate Mitch to the romanticized status of the idealised Allan Grey."
• Mitch and Stanley are colleagues, bowling team players and friends who play poker together frequently.
• George-Claude Guilbert suggests that Blanche is looking for Allan in herself, but also in others.
• Mitch’s actions in scene 9 are aggressive and symbolic of him emerging out of the darkness he was in about her real-self.
• Mitch functions as the last hope for absolution for Blanche.
• Despite his actions in scene 9, Mitch is truly distressed in Scene eleven, showing that despite everything he genuinely loves and cares for Blanche as is sympathetic towards her tragic life.
• Nancy C. Page agrees with George-Claude Guilbert in “A Self-psychology Analysis of Tennessee William’s A Streetcar Named Desire”, stating that Mitch, at least in the beginning, offers Blanche a source of mirroring.
• Blanche waltzes to the music with romantic gestures, and Mitch is delighted and moves in awkward imitation like a dancing bear.
• Mitch is a sensitive and respectful man, much like the Allan she loved.
• In scene 9, Mitch rips the paper-lantern off the light bulb, a crude action that is uncharacteristic of him and unnerving.
• Mitch is like Allan in the sense that he harbours a sense of femininity.
• Blanche is tired of all the guilt she carries and sees Mitch as her beacon for hope.
• Blanche wants to rest, breathe quietly again, and have Mitch very badly, but this potential happy ending is shattered when Stanley reveals the truth about her sexual past to Mitch.
• Blanche lets out a frightened gasp and when he turns on the light, she cries out.
• Mitch wants Blanche to be herself, but Blanche, within her desperation to keep a man who finally loves her, lies to him to create an image of herself that she thinks is ideal.