A Streetcar Named Desire
Sequence Five
This scene seems to focus on romance and relationships between men and women. We see
and hear a fight between Eunice and Steve which resembles that between Stella and Stanley
earlier and we have mention of Blanche’s relationships with Shep Huntleigh, Mitch and possibly
others in her past. We also see her with the Young Man calling to sell papers.
Return to your notes on Blanche and develop them using this scene. Have your ideas about
Blanche changed at all over the last scenes? What can you add to them? Try to think about:
 Blanche’s romantic address to Shep Huntleigh and what it shows about her view of men and
romance
 Her comments on Shep and on desire in Scene four
 Her approach to her relationship with Mitch, especially perhaps, her comments that “I want
to deceive him enough to make him want me.”
 Her speech about softness and hardness
 Her conversation with Stanley about her past
 Her flirting with the young man
Blanche seems very changeable during this scene. She begins with a “peal of laughter” then is
described as moving “nervously and brightly” followed, after Stanley’s questions, with actions of
“almost panic”. She then grabs Stella’s hand with “a show of emotion”, laughs shrilly and then
sinks faintly back before she begins to flirt with the young man. What do you make of her and
her behaviour in this scene?