Streetcar Named Desire

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Streetcar Named Desire Page 5

by Tennessee Williams

blanche [shrilly]:

  My sister is going to have a baby! mitch:

  This is terrible.

  blanche:

  Lunacy, absolute lunacyi

  mitch:

  Get him in here, men.

  [Stanley is forced, pinioned by the two men, into the bed67

  SCENE THREE

  room. He nearly throws them off. Then all at once he subsides

  and is limp in their grasp.

  [They speak quietly and lovingly to him and he leans Jus

  face on one of their shoulders.}

  stella [in a high, unnatural voice, out of fight}:

  I want to go away, I want to go away!

  mitch:

  Poker shouldn't be played in a house with women.

  [Blanche rushes into the bedroom.}

  blanche: I

  I want my sister's clothes! We'll go to that woman's upstairs 1 j

  mitch:

  Where is the clothes?

  blanche [opening the closet}:

  I've got them! [She rushes through to Stella} Stella, Stella, precious! Dear, dear little sister, don't be afraid! [With her arms around Stella, Blanche guides her to the outside

  door and upstairs.}

  stanley [dully}:

  What's the matter; what's happened?

  mitch:

  You just blew your top, Stan.

  pablo:

  He's okay, now.

  steve:

  Sure, my boy's okay!

  mitch:

  Put him on the bed and get a wet towel.

  pablo:

  I think coffee would do him a world of good, howstanley

  [thickly}:

  I want water.

  mitch:

  Put him under the showeri 1

  [The men talk quietly as they lead him to the bathroom.} stanley:

  Let the rut go of me, you sons of bitches! |

  SCENE THREE

  [Sounds of blows are heard. The water goes on full tilt.]

  steve:

  Let's get quick out of here!

  [They rush to the poker table and sweep up their winnings

  on their way out.}

  mitch [sadly but firmly]:

  Poker should not be played in a house with women. [The door closes on them and the place is still. The Negro

  entertainers in the bar around the corner play "Paper Doll"

  slow and blue. After a moment Stanley comes out of the

  bathroom dripping water and still in his clinging wet polka

  dot drawers.]

  stanley:

  Stella! [There Is a pause] My baby doll's left met [He breaks into sobs. Then he goes to the phone and dials,

  still shuddering with sobs.]

  Eunice? I want my baby. [He waits a moment; then he

  hangs up and dials again] Eunice! I'll keep on ringin' until

  I talk with my baby!

  [An indistinguishable shrill voice is heard. He hurls phone

  to floor. Dissonant brass and piano sounds as the rooms dim

  out to darkness and the outer walls appear in the night light.

  The "blue piano" plays for a brief interval.

  [Finally, Stanley stumbles half dressed out to the porch and

  down the wooden steps to the pavement before the building.

  There he throws back his head like a baying hound and

  bellows his wife's name: "Stella! Stella, sweetheart! StellaT']

  stanley:

  SteQlahhhhh!

  eunice [calling down from the door of her upper apartment]:

  Quit that howling out there an' go back to bed!

  stanley:

  I want my baby down here. Stella, Stella!

  eunice:

  She ain't comin' down so you quit! Or you'll git th' law

  on you!

  stanley:

  Stella!

  59

  SCENE THREE

  eunice:

  You can't beat on a woman an' then call 'er back! She won't

  come! And her goin' t' have a baby! . . . You stinker! You

  whelp of a Polack, you! I hope they do haul you in and

  turn the fire hose on you, same as the last time!

  stanley [humbly]:

  Eunice, I want my girl to come down with me!

  eunice:

  Hah! [She slams her door.]

  stanley [with heaven-splitting violence]:

  STELLLAHHHHHl

  [The low-tone clarinet moans. The door upstairs opens

  again. Stella slips down the rickety stairs in her robe. Her

  eyes are glistening with tears and her hair loose about her

  throat and shoulders. They stare at each other. Then they

  come together with low, animal moans. He falls to his knees

  on the steps and presses his face to her belly, curving a little

  with maternity. Her eyes go blind with tenderness as she

  catches his head and raises him level with her. He snatches

  the screen door open and lifts her off her feet and bears her

  into the dark flat.

  [Blanche comes out on the upper landing in her robe and

  slips fearfully down the steps.]

  blanche:

  Where is my little sister? Stella? Stella? [She stops before the dark entrance of her sister's flat. Then

  catches her breath as if struck. She rushes down to the walk

  before the house. She looks right and left as if for a sanctuary.

  [The music fades away. Mitch appears from around the

  corner.]

  MrrcH:

  Miss DuBois?

  blanche:

  Oh!

  mitch:

  All quiet on the Potomac now?

  blanche:

  She ran downstairs and went back in there with him.

  SCENE THREE

  MrrcH:

  Sure she did.

  blanche:

  I'm terrified!

  mitch:

  Ho-ho! There's nothing to be scared of. They're crazy about

  each other.

  blanche:

  I'm not used to such�

  mitch:

  Naw, it's a shame this had to happen when you just got

  here. But don't take it serious.

  I blanche:

  Violence! Is so�

  mitch:

  Set down on the steps and have a cigarette with me.

  blanche:

  I'm not properly dressed.

  mitch:

  That dont make no difference in the Quarter.

  blanche:

  Such a pretty silver case.

  mitch:

  I showed you the inscription, didn't I?

  blanche:

  Yes. [During the pause, she looks up at the sky] There's

  so much�so much confusion in the world ... [He coughs

  diffidently] Thank you for being so kind! I need kindness

  now.

  61

  SCENE FOUR

  It is early the following morning. There is a confusion of

  street cries like a choral chant.

  Stella is lying down in the bedroom. Her face is serene in

  the early morning sunlight. One hand rests on her belly,

  rounding slightly with new maternity. From the other

  dangles a book of colored comics. Her eyes and lips have

  that almost narcotized tranquility that is the faces of

  Eastern idols.

  The table is sloppy with remains of breakfast and the debris

  of the preceding night, and Stanley's gaudy pyjamas lie

  across the threshold of the bathroom. The outside door is

  slightly ajar on a sky of summer brilliance.

  Blanche appears at this door. She has spent a sleepless night

  and her appearance entirely contrasts with Stella's. She

  presses her knuckles nervously to her lips as she looks

  t
hrough the door, before entering.

  blanche:

  Stella?

  stella [stirring lazily}'.

  Hmmh?

  [Blanche utters a moaning cry and runs into the bedroom,

  throwing herself down beside Stella in a rush of hysterical

  tenderness.}

  blanche:

  Baby, my baby sister!

  stella [drawing away from her]:

  Blanche, what is the matter with you?

  [Blanche straightens up slowly wad stands beside the bed

  looking down at her sister with knuckles pressed to her

  lips.]

  blanche:

  He's left?

  stella:

  Stan? Yes.

  SCENE FOTTB

  blanche:

  Will he be back?

  stella:

  He's gone to get the car greased. Why?

  blanche:

  Why! I've been half crazy, Stella! When I found out you'd

  been insane enough to come back in here after what happened�I started to rush in after you!

  stella:

  I'm glad you didn't.

  blanche:

  What were you thinking of? [Stella makes an indefinite

  gesture} Answer me! What? What?

  stella:

  Please, Blanche! Sit down and stop yelling.

  blanche:

  All right, Stella. I will repeat the question quietly now. How

  could you come back in this place last night? Why, you

  must have slept with him!

  [Stella gets up in a calm and leisurely way.}

  stella:

  Blanche, I'd forgotten how excitable you are. You're making

  much too much fuss about this.

  blanche:

  Ami?

  stella:

  Yes, you are, Blanche. I know how it must have seemed to

  you and I'm awful sorry it had to happen, but it wasn't

  anything as serious as you seem to take it. In the first place,

  when men are drinking and playing poker anything can

  happen. It's always a powder-keg. He didn't know what he

  was doing. ... He was as good as a lamb when I came

  back and he's really very, very ashamed of himself.

  SlANCHE:

  And that�mat makes it all right?

  ^ella:

  No, it isn't all right for anybody to make such a terrible

  K: 63

  SCENE FOUR

  blanche:

  Yes, you are, your fix is worse than mine is! Only you're

  not being sensible about it. I'm going to do something. Get

  hold of myself and make myself a new life!

  stella:

  Yes?

  blanche:

  But you've given in. And that isn't right, you're not old!

  You can get out

  stella [slowly and emphatically}:

  I'm not in anything I want to get out of.

  blanche [incredulously]:

  What�Stella?

  stella:

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

  Look at the mess in this room! And those empty bottles!

  They went through two cases last night! He promised this

  morning that he was going to quit having these poker

  parties, but you know how long such a promise is going to

  keep. Oh, well, it's his pleasure, like mine is movies and

  bridge. People have got to tolerate each other's habits, I

  guess.

  blanche:

  I don't understand you. [Stella turns toward her] I don't

  understand your indifference. Is this a Chinese philosophy

  you've�cultivated?

  stella:

  Is what�what?

  blanche:

  This�shuffling about and mumbling�"One tube smashed

  �beer bottles�mess in the kitchen."�as if nothing out of

  the ordinary has happened! [Stella laughs uncertainly and

  picking up the broom, twirls it in her hands.]

  blanche:

  Are you deliberately shaking that thing in my face?

  stella:

  No.

  65

  80BNB ffOUB

  blanche:

  Stop it. Let go of that broom. I wont have you cleaning up

  forhimi

  stella:

  Then who's going to do it? Are you?

  blanche:

  I? II

  Orrvpi � �

  No, I didn't think so.

  blanche:

  Oh, let me think, if only my mind would functioni We*ve

  got to get hold of some money, that's the way outi

  stella:

  I guess that money is always nice to get hold of.

  blanche;

  Listen to me. I have an idea of some kind. [Shakily she

  twists a cigarette into her holder] Do you remember Shep

  Hunfleigh? [Stella shakes her head Of course you remember

  Shep Huntleigh. I went out with him at college and

  wore his pin for a while. Well--

  stella.:

  Well?

  blanche:

  I ran into him last winter. You know I went to Miami during

  the Christmas holidays?

  stella:

  No.

  blanche:

  Well, I did. I took the trip as an investment, thinking Td meet someone with a million dollars.

  stella:

  Did you?

  blanche:

  Yes. I ran into Shep Hunfleigh--I ran into him on Biscayne

  Boulevard, on Christmas Eve, about dusk ... getting into

  his car--Cadillac convertible; must have been a block long!

  60

  8UBNE FOITB

  stella:

  I should think it would have been�inconvenient in trafflcl

  blanche:

  You've heard of oil-wells?

  stella:

  Yes�remotely.

  blanche:

  He has them, all over Texas. Texas is literally spouting gold

  in his pockets.

  stella:

  My, my.

  blanche:

  Vknow how indifferent I am to money. I think of money

  in terms of what it does for you. But he could do it, he

  could certainly do iti

  I stella:

  Do what, Blanche?

  blanche:

  Why�set us up in a�shop!

  stella:

  What kind of a shop?

  blanche:

  Oh, a�shop of some kindl He could do it with half what his

  ; wife throws away at the races.

  stella:

  He's married?

  blanche:

  . Honey, would I be here if the man weren't married? [Stella

  laughs a little. Blanche suddenly springs up and crosses to

  phone. She speaks shrilly} How do I get Western Union?�

  Operator! Western Union!

  stella:

  That's a dial phone, honey.

  blanche:

  I can't dial, I'm too�

  87

  r

  SCENE FOXTB

  stella:

  Just dial 0. s .

  blanche:

  O?

  stella:

  Yes, "0" for Operator! [Blanche considers a moment; then

  she puts the phone down.}

  blanche:

  Give me a pencil. Where is a slip of paper? I've got to write

  it down first--the message, I mean...

  [She goes to the dressing table, and grabs up a sheet of Kleenex and an eyebrow pencil for writing equipment.}

  Let me see now . . . [She bites the pencit "Darling Shep.

  Sister and I in desperate situation." stella:

  I beg your pardon!

  blanche:

  "Sister and I in de
sperate situation. Will explain details later.

  Would you be interested in--?" [She bites the pencil again} "Would you be--interested--in .. ." [She smashes the pencil

  on the table and springs up} You never get anywhere

  with direct appeals!

  stella [with a laugh}:

  Don't be so ridiculous, darlingi

  blanche:

  But 111 think of something, I've got to think of--something!

  Don't, don't laugh at me, Stella! Please, please don't

  --I--I want you to look at the contents of my purse! Here's

  what's in it! [She snatches her purse open} Sixty-five measly

  cents in coin of the realm!

  stella [crossing to bureau}:

  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. You take five of it, Blanche, and I'll

  keep the rest

  blanche:

  Oh, no. No, Stella.

  68

  T�iL-'

  SCENE FOtTB

  stella [insisting}:

  I know how it helps your morale just having a little pocket- money on you.

  blanche:

  No, thank you--TU take to the streetsl

  stella:

  Talk sense! How did you happen to get so low on funds?

  blanche:

  Money just goes--it goes places. [She rubs her forehead! Sometime today I've got to get hold of a bromo!

  stella:

  I'll fix you one now.

  blanche:

  | Not yet--I've got to keep thinldngi

  stella:

  | I wish you'd just let things go, at least for a--while...

  j blanche:

  Stella, I can't live with himi You can, he's your husband.

  But how could I stay here with him, after last night, with

  , just those curtains between us?

  | stella:

  | Blanche, you saw him at his worst last night

  blanche:

  On the contrary, I saw him at his best! What such a man

  has to offer is animal force and he gave a wonderful

  ' exhibition of that! But the only way to live with such a man

  is to--go to bed with himi And that's your job--not minel

  stella:

  After you've rested a little, youll see it's going to work

  out. You don't have to worry about anything while you're

  here. I mean--expenses...

  blanche:

  I have to plan for us both, to get us both--out!

  stella:

  You take it for granted that I am in something that I want to get out of.

  89

  'Wai,t/'.

  SCENE FOUR

  blanche:

  I take it for granted that you still have sufficient memory of

  Belle Reve to find (his place and these poker players impossible

  to live with.

  stella:

  Well, you're taking entirely too much for granted.

  blanche:

  I can't believe you're in earnest

  stella:

  No?

  blanche:

  I understand how it happened--a little. You saw him in

  uniform, an officer, not here but--

  stella:

  I'm not sure it would have made any difference where I saw

  him.

  blanche:

  Now don't say it was one of those mysterious electric

  things between people! If you do I'll laugh in your face.

  stella;

  I am not going to say anything more at all about it!

  blanche:

  All right, then, don'tl

  stella:

  But there are things that happen between a man and a

  woman in the dark--that sort of make everything else seem

  --unimportant [Pause.]

  blanche:

  What you are talking about is brutal desire--just--Desire!

  --the name of that rattle-trap street-car that bangs through

  the Quarter, up one old narrow street and down another

  ...

  stella:

  Haven't you ever ridden on that streetcar?

  blanche:

  It brought me here.--Where I'm not wanted and where I'm

  ashamed to be...

  TO

  SCENE FOTTB

  stella:

  Then don't you think your superior attitude is a bit out of

  place?

  blanche:

  I am not being or feeling at all superior, Stella. Believe me Tm not! It's just this. This is how I look at it. A man like

  that is someone to go out with--once--twice--three times

  when the devil is in you. But live with? Have a child by?

  stella:

  I have told you I love him.

  blanche:

  Then I tremble for you! I just--tremble for you....

  stella:

  I can't help your trembling if you insist on trembling!

  [There is a pause.]

  blanche:

  May I--speak--plainly?

  stella:

  Yes, do. Go ahead. As plainly as you want to.

  [Outside, a train approaches. They are silent till the noise

  subsides. They are both in the bedroom.

  [Under cover of the train's noise Stanley enters from outside.

  He stands unseen by the women, holding some packages

  in his arms, and overhears their following conversation. He wears an undershirt and grease-stained seersucker

  pants.}

  blanche:

  Well--if youll forgive me--he's common!

  stella:

  Why, yes, I suppose he is.

  blanche:

  Suppose! You can't have forgotten that much of our bringing

  up, Stella, that you just suppose that any part of a

  gentleman's in his nature! Not one particle, rw! Oh, if he

  was just--ordinary! Just plain--but good and wholesome,

  but--no. There's something downright--bestial--about

  him! You're hating me saying this, aren't you?

  71

  SCENE FOUR

  stella [coldly]:

  Go on and say it all, Blanche.

  blanche:

  He acts like an animal, has an animal's habits! Eats like

  one, moves like one, talks like one! There's even some- thing--sub-human--something not quite to the stage of

  humanity yet! Yes, something--ape-like about him, like

  one of those pictures I've seen in--anthropological studies! Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right

  by, and there he is--Stanley Kowalsld--survivor of the

  stone age! Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the

  jungle! And you--you here--waiting for him! Maybe hell

  strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you! That is, if kisses

  have been discovered yet! Night falls and the other apes

 

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