How Does Williams want us to feel about Blanche in the opening scene Free Essays

At the start of the scene, the Blanche is introduced dressed conspicuously in white, â€Å"as if she were arriving at a summer tea or cocktail party†. Williams is trying to portray a sense of youth, innocence and purity in her clothing, but she is obviously out of place; however she is also described as a â€Å"moth†-an unpleasant creature of the dark, so there is obviously more to her than meets the eye. She has an air of great self-importance and she is posh, and therefore slightly out of place. We will write a custom essay sample on How Does Williams want us to feel about Blanche in the opening scene? or any similar topic only for you Order Now She is used to grander settings than Elysian Fields: â€Å"Her expression is one of shocked disbelief†. She is also unimpressed at the state of her sister’s house. She is also very rude and dismissive towards people of lower status, like her overly-helpful neighbour Eunice. After at first failing to get rid of her with boring, one-word answers, she frankly tells her to go away: â€Å"What I meant was I’d like to be left alone†, offending Eunice. She feels superior to Eunice, and is not used to having to answer questions from people she deems to be below her. Once alone, Blanche begins to explore her sister’s house. Her eye is caught by a bottle of whiskey in a half-opened closet, and we find out that she is no novice when it comes to drinking. Whereas before she was sitting â€Å"in a chair very stiffly with her shoulders slightly hunched†, now she â€Å"springs up and crosses to it (the whiskey)†. She ‘tosses down’ half a tumbler, before hiding the evidence, thus revealing her secretive nature. This theme of her secret drinking habit continues throughout the first scene, as she lies about drinking and even has the temerity to claim that ‘one’s her limit’. She is also patronising and rude towards Stella. She joyously embraces her sister, talking far too much while trying to maintain her disguise: â€Å"turn that light off!†¦I won’t be looked at in this merciless glare!† She doesn’t want her sister to see that she is drunk or see through the facade of youthfulness. She then orders her about patronisingly while condemning her home: â€Å"What are you doing in a place like this?† After at first putting up with her sister’s degrading comments about her house, Stella describes her as â€Å"intense†, which describes her perfectly. Blanche is also very quick to accuse her sister, in a bid to deflect attention away from her own short-comings: â€Å"You thought I’d been fired?† She leaves a lot of things unsaid, such as her reason for leaving her job. She also feels the need for approval from her sister, especially appearance-wise. She orders Stella to â€Å"stand up†, before patronisingly referring to her as a â€Å"little partridge† and informing her that she’s â€Å"put on some weight†. Her sister puts up with it thought, obligingly telling her: â€Å"It’s just incredible, Blanche, how well you’re looking†. Blanch is very quick to judge, right from the very start; she is unimpressed by the local area, the neighbours, her sister’s home and even her husband’s nationality; she ignorantly refers to Polish people as â€Å"something like the Irish, aren’t they†¦only not so – highbrow?† She is keen to impose herself upon the local community, again showing her insatiable need to be liked by others. Eventually she moves on to why she came to be here, apart from â€Å"taking a leave of absence† from the school. She gives some lame excuses, like â€Å"I want to be near you† but betrays her cover with the stage direction â€Å"Her voice drops and her look is frightened†. However she is able to recover herself enough to launch into a hyperbolic defence of herself after losing the family home, even blaming Stella for leaving: â€Å"You’re a fine one to sit there accusing me of it!† She also exaggerates greatly, claiming â€Å"I fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it†. How to cite How Does Williams want us to feel about Blanche in the opening scene?, Papers