Scene 9

• [A while later, Blanche is seated in a tense and hunched position [...] the rapid, feverish polka tune the 'Varsouviana' is head. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her] 


  Blanche is in a hunched position, showing her distress and insecurity in the day's events. The Polka plays to reflect the same. It stops when Mitch shows up, as he is a symbol of hope.
• "Something's the matter tonight, but never mind. I won't cross examine the witness. I'll just [the polka tune starts up again] - pretend I don't notice anything different about you! That - music again..." - Blanche


  Blanche is so removed from her reality, that she tries to ignore the anger and coldness emitting from Mitch, wanting to 'pretend' that everything is alright, but the polka starts up showing the audience that she is becoming increasingly anxious.
• [He tears the paper lantern off the light-bulb. She utters a frightened gasp]

  Blanche: "I don't want realism"

  Mitch: "Naw I guess not."

  Blanche: "I'll tell you what I want. Magic!"


  Mitch violently tearing the lantern off the light is a symbol of him throwing off the illusions she trapped him in. The truth is now exposed and the light represents this. Blanche however, insists that she wants magic and not the morbid reality that is her life.
• "Yes, a big spider! That's where I brought my victims... Yes I had many intimacies with strangers. 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..." - Blanche 


  Uses the metaphor of a spider trapping "victims" in Blanche's words about herself. "panic" and "hunting" negative connotations that show us Blanche is ashamed of her behaviour while she knows it comes from her helplessness.
• "You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother" - Mitch


  As established by Blanche's need to cleanse herself of her sins by increased bathing, her actions are reinforced as dirty by Mitch