Allusions and Irony

Allusions and References

1.     Ghoul-haunted ghostland of Weir: Line from Edgar Allan Poe's 1847 poem "Ulalume," in which the speaker of the poem is attempting to cope with the loss of his love. While looking out a window, Blanche speaks this line, indicating that she is still coping with the loss of Allen Grey. 

2.     Napoleonic code: Laws established by Napoleon on which Louisiana based its civil law. Stanley cites this law, telling Blanche it means that what belongs to a wife belongs to a husband. Therefore, Stella as part-owner of Belle Reve was entitled to part of the property. If Blanche mismanaged it or used proceeds from it improperly, then she mismanaged or misused property Stanley owned, under the Napoleonic code. 

3.     The blind are leading the blind: Paraphrase of a verse in Matthew's Gospel in the New Testament of the Bible. Verse 14 of Chapter 15 says that if one person leads another blind person, both will fall into a pit. Blanche speaks this line when Stella leads her away from the poker game.

4.       And if God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death!" Line is from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Sonnet 43. This line is an inscription on Mitch's lighter, read by Blanche. The significance is that Blanche still thinks about her deceased husband, Allen.

5.       Arabian Nights: Collection of stories from Arabia, India, Persia, and Egypt entitled The One Thousand and One Nights (familiarly knows as the Arabian Nights). A legendary queen, Scheherezade, tells these entertaining stories, including tales about Aladdin's Lamp, Sindbad the Sailor, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Blanche tells the young collector for The Evening Star newspaper that he looks like a young prince "out of the Arabian Nights." She kisses him, then tells him he must go because "I've got to be good—and keep my hands off children." This scene tells the audience that wanton desire still haunts Blanche.

6.     My Rosenkavelier: Blanche addresses Mitch this way when he brings her a bouquet of roses. Der Rosenkavelier (The Knight of the Roses) is the title of a 1911 opera by German romantic composer Richard Strauss (1864-1949). 

7.     Pleiades: While surveying the night sky, Blanche says she is "looking for the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters." The Pleiades were seven daughters of the Titan Atlas and the ocean nymph Pleione. Their names were Alcyone, Celaeno, Electra, Maia, Merope, Sterope, and Taygete. They became a group of stars (constellation). Unlike the Pleiades, Blanche is alone. She has a sister, yes, but it becomes increasingly clear that Stella sides with Stanley against her.

8.      Je suis la Dame aux Camellias! Vous êtes Armand! Line from La Dame aux camélias, a play by Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1824-1895), which he adapted from his 1848 novel of the same name. The speaker is a courtesan (prostitute catering to the nobility) who forsakes a character named Armand. Blanche speaks this line to Mitch, perhaps seeing the outcome of her relationship with Mitch. Notice that author Williams uses the English spelling, camellias, rather than the French camélias.

9.      Huey Long: Politician elected governor of Louisiana in 1928 and U.S. senator in 1932. Although Long (1893-1935) enjoyed popularity among the people, he was dictatorial and manipulative. He was assassinated in 1935. Stanley, asserting himself against encroachment on his authority by Stella and Blanche, cites Huey Long (1893-1935) as saying, "Every man is king!" 

10. Queen of the Nile: Cleopatra, seductive and cunning Queen of Egypt in the Macedonian dynasty. She was the seventh Cleopatra, having the full title of Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (Goddess Who Loves Her Father). Stanley sarcastically refers to Blanche as "the queen of the Nile" in response to her pretensions to elegance.

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Irony and Contrast

1. Elysian Fields: The street Elysian Fields is not what its name suggests, a paradise, but a shabby thoroughfare in a working-class district of New Orleans. By contrast, a street in Paris with the same name (but in French, Champs-élysées) is a magnificent boulevard. Blanche's attempt to see the world through the eyes of a Parisian is part of the reason for her descent into unreality and insanity. 

2. White and Black: Blanche is wearing white clothing and gloves, as well as pearl earrings, when she arrives in New Orleans to suggest that she has a pristine character. However, she prefers darkness and shadows to mask her physical perfections and, symbolically, her sinful behaviour. 

3. Old and New, Fantasy and Reality: Blanche comes from an old fairyland world to live in the real world of a modern metropolis. 

4. Big and Small: In her old world, Blanche lived in a large house; in her new world, she lives in a tiny apartment. The size of the apartment suggests the diminution of Blanche's fortunes and her sanity.

5. Speech: Blanche quotes poetry and speaks the elegant patois of aristocrats. Stanley speaks the sandpaper language of reality and brutality: coarse, crude, unvarnished.