A Streetcar Named Desire: Scene 4

Summary
—We see the aftermath of the domestic violence where we learn that Stella has forgiven Stanley and spent the night with him.

—Blanche and Stella discuss the events where Blanche explains to Stella how worried she was about her and how shocked she is that Stella has gone back to Stanley.

—Blanche then expresses her disgust towards Stanley to Stella but unknown to them both, Stanley has quietly entered the house and overhears the whole of their conversation…

Key Quotations

—“I’m going to do something. Get hold of myself and make myself a new life!”

—Here Williams uses amplificato to reinforce Blanche’s point and to help convince Stella that she is going to change. The use of an exclamative suggests that Blanche really believes in what she is saying and that perhaps she has a certain desire to make herself a new life. In some parts of the play we can see that Blanche realises that her life and her mental health are falling apart and she wants to try to change that. However for the majority of the play she is completely oblivious.

—“I said I am not in anything that I have a desire to get out of.”

—Desire is an involuntary feeling that cannot be stopped very easily. Therefore Stella does not leave Stanley even though she may have voluntary feelings to leave. This uncontrollable desire for each other is what holds Stella and Stanley’s marriage together but it could also become the cause of their separation. This is the one thing that Blanche does not understand about her sister as it is a feeling that she has never truly felt.

—“Stanley doesn’t give me a regular allowance, he likes to pay bills himself, but- this morning he gave me ten dollars to smooth things over.”

—This shows that Stanley has complete financial control over Stella and that he results to bribery to stop his own wife from leaving him. The fact that Stella accepts his bribe could suggest that she forgives him and is in need of the money or it could imply that she feels as though Stanley needs to prove to her that he actually loves her and so by giving her money, it gives Stella a piece of that control back. 

—“But there are things that happen between a man and a woman in the dark- that sort of make everything else seem- unimportant.”

Stella is so attracted to Stanley’s passionate side that she feels that it is a good enough reason to excuse Stanley’s violent behaviour. She uses a euphemism which makes what she is saying sound more romantic and special. However her use of the hedge ‘sort of’ could imply that it doesn’t completely excuse everything that has taken place, and she says ‘unimportant’ rather than a word such as ‘forgotten’ which also implies that although she doesn’t totally forgive Stanley, she is able to stop his actions from directly affecting her.

—“It brought me here.- Where I’m not wanted and where I’m ashamed to be…”

—Due to the events that have taken place in Blanche’s life she now views any kind of desire as being ruinous. She says that desire, both literally by the streetcar and metaphorically by her desire to be wanted by someone, has brought her to Stella’s house where she feels out of place. She uses the word ‘ashamed’ which suggests feelings of embarrassment and that she doesn’t want to be there, when in fact she needs Stella and Stanley as otherwise she wouldn’t have anywhere to go.