A Streetcar Named Desire Scenes 5 and 6 Summary
Blanche is in the bedroom, reading the letter she has just finished. Stella wants to know what's so funny, so she reads it out loud. It's for Shep, her rich, married friend. She lies to him about her lavish lifestyle, where she travels a lot and goes to parties. Her intention is to hide her desperate financial situation and meet him in order to seduce him and catch hold of his money.
Stella is not quite impressed with the letter, nor with the tactics her sister is using, but nothing more is said about it since the scene is interrupted with the noise coming from the upstairs, where Eunice and Steve are having a fight. Their screams and sounds of physical violence amuses them for some reason.
Stanley appears behind the corner and is equally curious to know what's happening with Steve and Eunice. After they have lost the interest in the turmoil upstairs, Blanche is curious to learn about Stanley's astrological sign. Stanley is not taking part in this conversation, so Stella and Blanche chat about it. Stanley interrupts the conversation only to ask Blanche if she knows someone named Shaw.
She immediately turns pale and touches her temples with handkerchief soaked in cologne. To avoid answering the concrete question, she replies by stating that everyone knows someone with that name. Stanley isn't buying into it, and says that this Shaw believes he met Blanche in Laurel and can easily check whether she is the girl they were talking about. Blanche feels as if she's going to pass out and Stanley ends the conversation by informing Stella that he'll wait for her at the Four Deuces.
Visibly upset, Blanche wants to know what stories circulate about her, now that she has lost Belle Reve. She dramatizes about her tenderness and inability to cope with the cruel world alone. With a drink in her hand, she nests in the chair where she remain silent even after Stella has gone outside with Stanley, Steve and Eunice.
The silence is broken by a doorbell, when a young man enters the scene asking for money for The Evening Star (newspapers). Blanche observes him with certain interest and suddenly begins flirting. Puzzled with her behavior, the young man chats with her politely, ignoring her obvious coquetry. Eventually, she compliments his looks by says that he's like a Prince out of the Arabian Nights, then kisses him on the lips and theatrically says goodbye to him. The Scene ends with Mitch coming to her, carrying a bucket of roses.
The Scene 6 focuses on Blanche and Mitch. It begins with them coming back dispirited from an obviously unsuccessful date. They apologize to each other for not being in a good mood, and Blanche invites Mitch into the apartment. Reluctantly, he enters and she makes a romantic atmosphere by lighting a candle in the dark and handing him a drink. She mumbles something in French, which Mitch doesn't understand. Although the conversation continues in English, it's somewhat absurd- Mitch complains about being sweaty and unable to take off his jacket. He goes on about his body weight and when words finally turn into something meaningful, Blanche is curious to know whether Stanley has told Mitch anything about her. With no relevant information, the course of the conversation turns towards Blanche's age, something that she likes to keep a secret. Once again she manages to avoid giving an answer to the question by inquiring about Mitch's sick mother. The atmosphere changes as they reach topics that expose their weakness. Blanche finally discovers the truth about her first marriage, when she married at the very young age to a tender boy who turned out to be a homosexual. She found him and his older friend in a room, but decided to pretend that nothing had happened. But it all came to an end one night while they were out, dancing and having fun, when she told him how disgusted she was. He suddenly left the party and committed a suicide with a gun.
Mitch takes an advantage of her vulnerability to come closer to her and says that both of them need somebody in their lives, asking her to be his girlfriend. The scene ends with Blanche crying in his arms.
To link to this A Streetcar Named Desire Scenes 5 and 6 Summary page, copy the following code to your site: