Character

• Character Quotes

  • “There is something her uncertain manner, as well her white clothes that suggests a moth”
  • “I wont be looked at in this merciless glare”

  *New Paragraph*

  • “You haven’t said a word about my appearance”
  • “Yes - clothes are my passion”

  *New Paragraph*

  • “I know you must have some liquor in the place. Where could it be I wonder?
  • “Virgo is the virgin”
  • “A hot bath always gives me a brand new outlook on life”

  *New Paragraph*

  • “Funerals are pretty compared to deaths”
  • “Whoever you are - I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”
• “There is something about her uncertain manner, as well her white clothes that suggests a moth”

  costuming

  “Uncertain” out of place there

  “White” clean, pure. As audience can’t expect them to stay pure 

  characterisation

  “Moth” self-destructive, invasive pest, that light kills 

  Audience impression that she is doomed
• “I wont be looked at in this merciless glare”


  *Symbolism*

  Light symbolises truth.

  Blanches awareness of her fragility.

  “Merciless glare” describes how unkind light has been to her in the past.

  Feel sympathy for her vulnerability.
• “You haven’t said a word about my appearance”


  *characterisation*

  Desperate need for praise and the high value she places on her appearance.

  Audience not sure how to interpret at early stage, either needy or sympathy.
• ”Yes - clothes are my passion”


  Confirms love for style and fashion.

  Obsession with appearance, audience can assume her clothes act as disguises to her truths.

  Makes audience pay more attention to clothes to understand character.
• “I know you must have some liquor in the place. Where could it be I wonder?”


  *characterisation*

  Audience sees her lies, becomes more wary of Blanches deceptions.

  Also leads audience to why she drinks so much.
• “Virgo is the virgin”


  Another attempt to uphold innocent lies and fantasy.

  Image of innocence and purity she portrays - matches feminine and romantic old south.
• “A hot bath always gives me a brand new outlook on life” 


  Bathing symbolism for cleansing

  “Brand new” scrub off dirt of past trauma so she can keep playing as the clean innocent woman, dressed in lies.
• “Whoever you are - I have always depended on the kindness of strangers”


  “Whoever” suggests desperate and vulnerable nature despite not knowing where she is going.

  “Kindness of strangers” due to cruelty of her family and Stanley, her desperation is used to show she is clearly alone which William’s used to justify and forgive sins.
• “Funerals are pretty compared to deaths”


  Funerals are sad - describing as “pretty” shows how traumatising her losses are.

  Leads to realisation that lies are due to trauma of the only one in the novel to survive the fall of old south.

  Further trauma as after losses at home, looses Stella and trust after rape.