Scene 2

• Scene Summary and Analysis

  It is later the same evening, and Blanche is bathing.Her frequent bathing points to her obsessive attempts at cleansing herself from her trauma and rejuvenating.Theblue pianocontinues to play, as we can hear it coming in through the door.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  Stella tells Stanley that she’s taking Blanche out on the town to get her away from his party, because she doesn’t think Blanche will be able to take it. She then informs him that she hasn’t told Blanche about the baby yet. This is also the moment when we find out about Stella’spregnancy, which has a big impact on how we view Stella and Stanley’s relationship.It shows us their commitment to each other, and informs us that Stella’s affection for Stanley at this point is deeply intimate. It also establishes a sense of vulnerability in Stella which will be relevant later, during the poker night.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  Stella tells Stanley that Blanche has been through a lot with the loss of Belle Reve, which he is unable to understand as a loss. She tries to encourage Stanley to bekindto Blanche and pamper her needs, but he’sdismissiveof it. He questionsStella more about the loss of their home,demandingthe papers for the sale, even when Stella tells him it doesn’t seem like it was sold, highlighting that Blanche isincredibly sensitive about it. He says he doesn’t care if she hears.Here, Williams is reinforcing Stanley’s thrusting aggression ashe raises his voice so it penetrates the boundaries of the house. His body, voice, and demeanor all have this same forthcomingness about them. Stella tells him she doesn’t care about papers, and Stanley points to theNapoleonic code, claiming that they are owed money by Blanche.This reference to the Napoleonic code is important because it establishes Stanley’s role as a hard working, individualistic working class man. He will fight to get what he feels he has a right to. It also reminds us of the implications of genderas it relates to class. At this point in time, he has a right to everything Stella owns.We are reminded of their dependence on each other as a married couple, financially and emotionally.Stella then reacts morefeistilythan we’ve seen her before, telling him the home was lost, emphasising that he’s being ridiculous if he thinks that her family owes him anything. She asserts that he will cause Blanche to unravel if he tries to confront her.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  Stanley“stalks”into Blanche’s bedroom, going through her things andquestioningStella on where the money for all her expensive clothes came from.Feathers and furs are an important aspect of Blanche’s costuming as they simultaneously bring her forth as a moth-like, fragile, fluttering character and emphasise her wealth.As Stanley questions Stella about the clothes, she claims that the jewellery is costume jewellery, and that the clothes are inexpensive. This is interesting because itbrings into question Blanche’s wardrobe as an actual symbol of wealth. This implies that her wardrobe is part of her illusion of wealth and status, whichhas, in actuality, slipped away from her with the decline of her family and the old South.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  Blanche comes out of the bath in a red robe,symbolising her sexuality.Blanche and Stanley have a conversation wherein she isflirtatiouslyfishing for compliments, but he continues todismissher, claiming he doesn’t care for“this Hollywood glamour stuff”. He sees himself as a man who won’t fall for women’s tricks and illusions. Stella comes by briefly, then goes to get Blanche a coke. Stella being at Blanche’s service becomes a point ofcontentionthroughout the play, especially for Stanley, who sees their relationship as unfair. Blanche claims that she understands him better than Stella does.This is odd, as this initial sense of flirtation towards Stanley gives us a sense of Blanche’s need to impress men, due to her fear of being alone and unwanted.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  Blanche says she will be forthright with him and has nothing to hide. Stanley begins to question her about the papers, mentioning again theNapoleonic codeand accusing her of being flirtatious to trick him. However, she responds with an air ofmystery, claiming there were papers, but refusing to give him a straight answer. This leads him to angrily go through her bag.Again, we see Stanley as physically invasive in his demands.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  This is especially the case when he tries to snatch up herlove letters, which she claims are all from the same boy-presumably her dead husband- and“yellowing with antiquity”. This indicates both their connection to Blanche’s past, which she is extremely sensitive about, and their physicalfragility, which is being threatened by Stanley’s stronggrasp.The tension in these kinds of physical encounters is key to note throughout the play. We see Blanche constantly afraid, her mentality fragile at the hands of Stanley’s physical aggression. She jumps angrily back at him, telling him now that he’s touched them she’ll have to burn them,connoting how Stanley’s impurity is intruding on her fantasy.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  At this point, we see Blanche unravelling with guilt at her husband’s death. She is weighed down by the burden of the losses she has endured.She claims that he was young and vulnerable but she ended up hurting him.Blanche’s husband is the epitome of sensitivity, as he represents all the fragility she feels in herself, being amplified in him. It was crushed out by the world,and she feels it’s partly her fault. She then quickly composes herself, but seems physically exhausted.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  She starts going through her papers, seemingly looking for the papers he is demanding. Whenever he asks direct questions, sheavoidsthem, always answeringambiguously. She then lays out all the papers she has, claiming they illustrate the passing of the land between different individuals over hundreds of years, and explaining that over that time an increasing amount of land was lost. This isa symbol for the descent of the old South.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  Stanley says that he will have someone analyse them, bringing up, for a third time, the Napoleonic code. He reveals Stella’spregnancyto Blanche. There is ashiftin Blanche’s demeanor as she’s elated by this news.The idea of new life, and new members of her family, seems to awaken a joy in her.
• Scene Summary and Analysis

  When Stella comes back sheembracesher lovingly and excitedly, telling her that she argued as well as flirted with Stanley but laughs it off. The men arrive for Stanley’s poker night, where Stella and Blanche disappear down the street, in the midst of a flurry ofurban dialoguecoming from street vendors and theblue piano.
• Key Quotes


  “When she comes in be sure to say something nice about her appearance...and admire her dress and tell her she’s looking wonderful. That’s important to Blanche. Her little weakness!” -Stella

  This kind of attitude from Stella regarding Blanche tells us about both of them: it shows Stella’sgentlepersonality and the ways sheappeasesBlanche’s fantasies andanxieties. Hearing this phrase directly from Blanche’s sister, who is closest to her, shows us how integral her need to appear a certain way is.
• Key Quotes


  “I don’t understand what happened to Belle Reve but you don’t know howridiculous you are being when you suggest that my sister or I or anyone of our family could have perpetrated a swindle on anyone else.” -Stella

  This line contains a sense ofirony,because we are aware at this point that Williams is not aligning himself with the morality of the old South. We know that the Dubois family wealth was built on slavery, likely involving the‘swindling’andexploitationof many people. Therefore, the fact that this is one of the first times we see Stella being forthcoming andconfrontationalwith Stanley shows that, to a certain degree, she too hangs on to the sameillusionsas Blanche when it comes to the meaning of theirupbringing.
• Key Quotes


  “Some men are took in by all this Hollywood glamour stuff and some are not.”-Stanley

  An example of Stanley’s outrightrefusalto be fooled by Blanche’s illusions. This line speaks heavily to how Stanley sees himself as arealistcharacter above being tricked by lies. This line also implies Stanley’s association betweenwomenandfalseness. He sees Blanche as the epitome of this.
• Key Quotes


  “Poems a dead boy wrote. I hurt him the way you would like to hurt me, but you can’t! I’m not young and vulnerable anymore. But my young husband was and I—never mind about that! Just give them back to me!” -Blanche

  This smallbreakdownfrom Blanche is one of the firstrevelationswe get of theguiltshe feels regarding her husband’s death, as it draws parallels between herself and her husband. She sees them equally as characters too sensitive for the world around them. She is holding on to her sanity, despite what is thrown at her, as a sort of continuation of his life.