Streetcar - Scene 4

Scene 4
Why does Stella stay with her

fella?
5-minute reflection with your table
group:
Do you think
How would an there’s ever a
How do you
audience react to good reason to
respond to the
Stella in this stay in an
scene’s ending?
scene? abusive
relationship?
Task: Let’s look at Scene 4 more closely
Each group will be given a quote to analyse
Extract 1 All right, Stella. I will repeat the question quietly now. How could you
come back in this place last night? Why, you must have slept with him!
The next morning, Stella rests peacefully in bed when Blanche, wild from a sleepless night, comes in.
Blanche is relieved to find Stella safe, but horrified that she has spent the night with Stanley. Stella
explains that Stanley gets into violent moods sometimes, but she likes him the way that he is––she is
“sort of––thrilled” by him. Blanche insists that Stella can still get out of her situation, but Stella explains
that she’s not in something she has “a desire to get out of.”
Look at the stage directions at the opening of this scene. What impressions are
formed and what inferences can the audience make?
How do the audience regard Stella’s immediate forgiveness

towards Stanley? What does Stella’s forgiveness reveal within her
characterisation?
How do the audience regard Blanche’s horror at Stella’s
acceptance of Stanley’s abusive behaviour?
Yes. I ran into Shep Huntleigh--I ran into him on Biscayne Boulevard, on
Extract 2 Christmas Eve, about dusk... getting into his car--Cadillac convertible; must
have been a block long!
Blanche, still frantic and erratic, states that she recently came across an old beau of hers, Shep
Huntleigh, (an oil millionaire from Texas). Blanche suggests that Shep could provide the money for
her and Stella to escape …Blanche starts to compose a telegram to him. Stella laughs at her.
Blanche says that she is broke, and Stella gives her five dollars of the ten that Stanley had given her
that morning as an apology.
How do the audience know that Shep

Huntleigh is just another of Blanche's
fantasies?
What does Blanche fail to understand

about Stella and Stanley’s relationship?
Extract 3 But there are things that happen between a man and a
woman in the dark--that sort of make everything else seem--
unimportant
Stella explains that Blanche has only seen Stanley at his worst, but Blanche disagrees and believes
that she has seen him at his best. Blanche does not understand how a woman from Belle Reve
could live with a man like Stanley. Stella explains that the “things that happen between a man
and a woman in the dark” make everything else all right. Blanche argues that the “rattle-trap
street-car” named desire is no basis for a life.
For a woman who uses sexual

chemistry to snare Mitch why does
Blanche claim ignorance towards
Stella's viewpoint?
What is Stella specifically trying to
explain to Blanche?
I am not being or feeling at all superior, Stella. Believe me I'm not!
Extract 4 It's just this. This is how I look at it. A man like that is someone to go
out with--once--twice--three times when the devil is in you. But live
with? Have a child by?
Blanche bursts into a speech about Stanley, calling him an ape-like, bestial creature. “There’s even
something––sub-human” about him. Blanche cries with frustration, pleading, “Don’t––don’t hang
back with the brutes!” Unknown to both women in heated debate, Stanley has entered the
apartment covertly and has heard the whole heated debate.
Why does Blanche use so much bestial imagery to

describe Stanley?
Is Blanche justified in her observations and beliefs

about Stanley?
How does Stanley’s eavesdropping secretly empower him in

his evolving conflict with Blanche?
[Under cover of the train's noise Stanley enters from outside. He stands
Extract 5 unseen by the women, holding some packages in his arms, and overhears
their following conversation. He wears an undershirt and grease-stained
seersucker pants.]
Under the cover of a train’s noise, Stanley slips out and re-enters. Stella leaps into his
arms, and Stanley grins at Blanche as the “blue piano” music swells in the background.
What is the significance of the stage directions at the bottom

of page (‘Outside, a train approaches’)?
What does the 'blue piano' music represent? What does it

communicate to the audience?
What does Stanley's grin communicate to the audience?

Blanche, Stella & Class
• We learn more about Blanche and Stella’s
relationship as sisters, in addition to their different
attitudes towards class (Blanche wants to help
Stella escape) and sexual relationships.
• Stella’s casual acceptance of Stanley’s violence
reveals more about the toxic nature of their
marriage.
• Blanche expresses her low and demeaning opinion
of Stanley, claiming “he’s common” depicting him as
a caveman. This is contrasted to how she speaks
about Shep Huntleigh.
• The unseen eavesdropper used here solidifies
What is the function of Stanley’s dislike of Blanche. Stanley overhears
Blanche calling him a “survivor of the Stone Age”
this short scene in the and “ape man”.
• His triumphant grin at the end of the scene signals
play? his continued power over Stella & the danger he
poses for Blanche.
Scene Analysis: Here are 5 interpretations of the
scene. Pick the most convincing interpretation and find
three pieces of evidence to support it:
1. This scene gets to the heart of the play: it’s all about sex. And in this
play sex is going to cause trouble. Blanche’s admission that Stanley is
a man ‘to go out with – once – twice – three times when the devil is in
you’ and her wild monologue on his bestial nature ring alarm bells: her
attraction to Stanley and her fear of that attraction is obvious.
It feels very dangerous.

2. This scene in which the two women talk about desire
and lust foregrounds the play’s exploration of female
sexuality.
Blanche’s self-presentation as the young demure

southern belle, her use of her looks and sexuality to
exert power, her hysterical response to Stanley’s attack
on Stella and her admission of the power of ‘brutal
desire’ are set against Stella’s ‘narcotised’ acceptance
of masculine aggression, her thrilling in Stanley’s
violence, her open pleasure in her own sexuality and
her impending ‘maternity’.
3. Only present at the very end and never seen by the
two women, Stanley dominates this scene. Critics have
argued that the play is driven by Stanley and Blanche’s
rivalry for the loyalty and love of Stella.
But this scene suggests that any conflict will be between

the two sisters for Stanley.
4. This scene is more about delusion than sex or
passion. In comparison to Blanche, Stella appears calm,
reasonable, pragmatic – Blanche comments she is
‘matter of fact’ while Stella highlights Blanche’s
excitability.
Stella presents herself as clear-sighted while by Scene 4
the
audience is aware of Blanche’s tendency to self-delusion
(her drinking, her age, her presentation of herself as a
young girl).
Yet in this scene Stella shows herself just as deluded – as
implied by Williams’ stage direction ‘narcotised’.
5. The scene draws the audience’s attention to the play’s
use of symbolism:
The streetcar named Desire which literally brought
Blanche to the flat is given symbolic meaning by Stella
and Blanche.
Blanche describes Stanley as ‘Bearing the raw meat
home’ – a metaphor which recalls his throwing the meat
at Stella in Scene 1.
Final Thoughts:
How does Williams make scene 4

such an intense moment in the play?
Exam Preparation: Paper 2
Use the accompanying extract and PowerPoint to help
plan your response to the exam question:
Explore the ways in which Williams makes this

such an intense moment in the play.
***This can be also be completed as preparation for the mock

exams.

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Scene 4

Why does Stella stay with her

How do the audience regard Stella’s immediate forgiveness

How do the audience know that Shep

What does Blanche fail to understand

For a woman who uses sexual

Why does Blanche use so much bestial imagery to

Is Blanche justified in her observations and beliefs

How does Stanley’s eavesdropping secretly empower him in

What is the significance of the stage directions at the bottom

What does the 'blue piano' music represent? What does it

What does Stanley's grin communicate to the audience?

It feels very dangerous.

Blanche’s self-presentation as the young demure

But this scene suggests that any conflict will be between

How does Williams make scene 4

Explore the ways in which Williams makes this

***This can be also be completed as preparation for the mock

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