Characterisation 29/09/14 MG

Characterization

 

In today's lesson we looked further into the characterization of Stanley, Blanch and Stella from 'A streetcar named Desire'. We first did a frantic assembly warm up to get us up and moving ready to do some improvisation. We then created still images from scene 3 in the play where we see Stanley calling for Stella to come back after he had violently hit her, Michael and Hannah did a really good example of the idea that Stanley stood for his dominance and masculinity however still relied on Stella's presence to calm him and almost that he feels he would be destroyed without Stella being there with his and possibly feeling slightly dependent on Stanley much like a child is on their mother. Michael and Hannah's interpretation of this was Stella stood with her back towards Stanley while Stanley grabbed her hand looking hopeless. Me and James created a still images of Stella standing up while Stanley was on his knees with his head resting on Stella's stomach, this was our attempt to show the child like image of Stanley and Stella's relationship to hit on Stanley's childlike dependence on Stella like a mother and her son.

 

After doing this we continued on to pursue in doing some improvisation using the idea of Stanley and Stella's marriage. We looked at the scene 4 where Stella first brings up their marriage and how Stanley smashed light bulbs with the heel of her slipper. We were then asked to improvise Stella first telling Blanche that she was getting married. Personally James and I felt that we were to set this before Blanche had ever met Stanley in order to rid of tension and upset from the improvisation but to show the "sisterly love" between the two characters and show Blanches reaction to marriage on a whole and not just to Stanley being the groom. This is because we wanted to hit on Blanches past marriage to show her sorrow of marriage and show hoe her experiences have affected her overlook on marriage.  





Dysart Objective. What he says about himself

• I'm lost 
• I'm wearing that horse's head myself
• I can't see it because my educated, average head is being held at the wrong angle 
• I'm desperate 
• I can't jump because the bit forbids me 
• I handle children's heads 
• I must presume to be more complicated at least in the area of my chief concern
• I'm sorry. I'm not making much sense 
• I can take no more patients at the moment. I can't even cope with the ones I have
• I share this room with two highly competent psychiatrists
• My names Martin Dysart. I'm please to meet you (meeting Alan's parents) 
• I like it better than the other two (talking about Alan's advert jingles)
• I was wrong I really do think that one's better (again talking about Alan's advert jingles)
• I had this very explicit dream. In it I'm a chief priest in Homeric Greece I'm wrestling wide gold mask 
• I've started to feel distinctly nauseous
• I redoubled my efforts to look professional
• I'd like to spend the next ten years wandering very slowly around the real Greece
• I gave him the right answer 
• I tried to discover none too successfully 
• I shall find out on Sunday 
• I want to have a look at his house so invited myself over 
• I understood Mr. Strang doesn't approve( with Alan's mothers teaching of the Christian belief)  
• I'm fascinated by the fact that Alan wouldn't ride 
• I said the truth 
• I've never been on a horse in my life 
• I felt real alarm
• I'm delighted to see you 
• I don't quite understand 
• I'd have thought he'd have wanted you to work with him 
• I told you I'm married 
• Antiseptic proficiency. I was like that in those dogs 
• I see us in our wedding photo 
• I sit opposite, turning the pages of art books on Ancient Greece. I still trial a faint scent of my enthusiasm across her path 
• I wish there was one person I could take to Greece, and stand in front of certain Shrines... and say "Look!" life is only comprehensible through a thousand local Gods 
• If I had a son, I bet you he'd come out exactly like his mother
• I'm sorry about our row yesterday
• God then leave me behind
• I can hear the creature's voice. It's calling me out of the black cave
• I can trace them. I can even, with time, pull them apart again.
• What am I doing here? I don't mean clinically doing or socially doing. I mean fundamentally
• I haven't seen him, I cancelled his appointment this morning. 
• I am almost tempted to play the real trick on him 
• I shrank my own life 
• I settled for being pallid and provincial, out of my own eternal timidity. 
• I need her sympathy mixed with resentment... I tell everyone Margaret's the puritan, I'm the pagan. 
• I say "What instinctual truths were lost with it"
• I sit looking at pages of centaurs trampling the soil of Argos. 
• I watch that woman knitting, night after night - a woman I haven't kissed in six years- and he stands in the dark for an hour, sucking the sweat off his God's hairy cheek.
• Can I make it up to you now? 
• There's a sea - a great sea - I love... It's where the Gods used to go to bathe 
• There's a village I spent one night in, where I'd like to live. It's all white
• I don't actually enjoy being a Nosey Parker you know
• I'll take it away 
• I need more 
• I cannot call it ordained of God I can't get that far

Character Objectives 24/09/14 MG

Today in class we create montages in groups from the lines in which the character Stanley used throughout the play. These lines were 2 things he said about other people, 1 thing he said about himself and 1 that other people had said about him. We took the lines and acted as the characters using out knowledge of Stanley after reading the whole text and also thinking about the way in which other characters acted and perceived Stanley to be. We then examined carefully at two scenes in "A streetcar named Desire". These were from different times in the play, one extract from the beginning when Stanley and Blanche first meet, and then other from towards the end just before Stanley rapes Blanche. These scenes were chosen so far apart because we wanted to really see the contrast between how we first perceived Blanche to how we do now and broaden our understanding of how Blanches "madness" developed over the time of staying with Stan. However most importantly we wanted to see the way in which our characters objectives have changed throughout the play. 

We then established a partner in which we were to perform this extract with. I worked with Fionna we were given the early extract. We first determined our characters objectives (this is what they character is trying to gain or do). As Stanley I was very set on being nice to Blanche and told her to "take it easy" asking her numerous questions and being friendly. However Stanley also wanted very much to impress Blanche and show his masculinity he did so but taking of his shirt after asking to "get comfortable" and then seemed to indulge himself in Blanches personal space almost forcing her to touch him to show his strength.

How does Williams explore the idea of a tortured condition in the text

Williams explores the idea of torture through the text via the tension that he builds through climax of the text for example when we are continuously fed information about the characters, such as Blanche.


Blanche faces alcoholism, faded beauty, and lost status; she tries to cover up past both as a teacher and in her marriage, all while desperately trying to keep up the appearance and her own delusion that she’s still attractive to men. This shows a tortured soul where she is constantly lying to herself and attempting to convince herself that she still lives in her youth and beauty but is constantly reminded that she is no longer a youthful, beautiful girl anymore, this connotes depression and self concision. This mentally tortures Blanche.


The same is to say for Stanley. He also suffers with alcoholism as well as gambling problems and a very short temper. This shows elements of torture because after infesting his body with alcohol, Stanley's mind is in a poor state and he is blind from knowing what is acceptable and therefore isn't in control of his body therefore says some things he doesn't mean. However his temper isn't because of the alcohol all the time, but is because of his tortured mind.


Stella seems to me personally, as the character that is most tortured in the play, not because she is personally effected by her own choices like Blanch and Stanley, but is tortured by both characters while trying to juggle the two of them and calm the scene however is always effected because they fight over her for example Stanley's alcoholism and gambling problems led him to beat Stella during a game of poker where Stella felt very vulnerable and upset due to this. Also Blanche caused torture upon Stella in a slightly sneakier way. This is because she acts like she wants to be around Stella because she is tortured herself after the loss of the plantation however is causing Stella to be sad because she wants to be there for Blanche however with Blanche's selfish acts she feels again vulnerable and very controlled by how Blanche is feeling.

Why are the advert jingles Alan recites important to the overall meaning of the play? What do they say about his state of mind and about the state of the modern psyche?

In Equus Alan is singing advertising jingles in his first meeting with Dysart (a psychiatrist). These jingles are in response to Dysart’s questions. Alan is clearly startled when Dysart coolly responds to the jingles as if Alan was speaking normally this helps to show the relationship that Dysart has with his patients to help the audience to see the difference between Dysart and the everyday people we meet through-out the text.

We see very early on that Alan seems to recites the advert jingles as if he were obsessed with TV and shows some foreshadowing on the reader or audience because we know that this is to be a theme that is later continued in order to ‘fill the gaps’ that need to be answered. It is them later carried on when we learn of Alan’s dad, Frank, not allowing him to watch TV therefore we are startled on how Alan is aware of these jingles and get the reader thinking about the overall meaning of the jingles.

These jingles are so important to get into the state of Alan’s minds and see that Alan can in some cases use these jingles to steer away from questions avoiding speaking to people and answering the questions that he being asked. This always shows him distancing himself from the other people.

The jingles show the modern life as being very TV orientated and to the modern audience remembrance of advertisement are not so strange but are seen as a reasonably normal thing for people to remember as TV is a very big thing in our culture.