Varsouviana Polka

Significance in the book

• Reoccuring motif
• Represents characteristics of Blanche

Scene 1, Page 28

Scene 6, Page 115-116

Stanley:

Haven't fallen in, have you? [He grins at Blanche. She tries to unsuccessfully to smile back. There is a silence] I'm afraid I'll strike you as being the unrefined type. Stella's spoke of you a good deal. You were married once, weren't you?

[The music of the polka rises up, faint in the distance]

Blanche:

Yes. When I was quite young.

Stanley:

What happened?

Blanche:

The boy -- the boy died. [She sinks back down] I'm afraid I'm--going to be sick!

[Her head falls on to her arms]

Blanche:

Afterwards, we pretended that nothing had been discovered. Yes, the three of us drove out to Moon Lake Casino, very drunk and laghing all the way.

[Polka music sounds, in a minor key faint with distance.]

We danced the Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later--a shot!

[The Polka stops abruptly]

[Blanche rises stiffly. Then, the Polka resumes in a major key.]

..."Don't go any closer! Come back! You don't want to see!" See? See what! Then I heard voices say--Allan! Allan! The Grey boy! He'd stuck the recolver into his mouth, and fired--so that the back of his head had been--blown away!

...

It was because--on the dance floor--unable to stop myself--I'd suddenly said--"I saw! I know! You disgust me..." And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one momnt since has there been any light that's stronger than this--kitchen--candle..."

[Mith gets up awkwardly and moves toward her a little. The Polka music increases. Mitch stands beside her.]

...

Mitch:

You need somebody. And I need somebody, too. Could it be--you and me, Blanche?

[She stares at him vacantly for a moment. Then with a soft cry huddles in his embrace. She makes a sobbing effort to speak but the words wont come. He kises her forehead and eyes and finally her lips. The Polk tune fades out. Her breath is frawn and released in long, grateful sobs.]

Scene 8-9, Pages 136-141

Varsouviana Polka

Scene 8

Stanley:

Ticket! Back to Laurel! On the Greyhound! Tuesday!

[The Varsouviana music steals in softly and continues playing. Stella rises abruptly and turns her back. Blanche tries to smile. Then she tries to laugh. Then she gives both up and springs from the tabls and runs into the next room. She clutches her throat and then suns into the bathroom. Coughing, gagging sounds are heard.]

Scene 9

...The rapid, feverish polka tune, the "Varsouviana," is heard. The music is in her mind; she is drinking to escape it and the sense of disaster closing in on her mind, and she seems to whisper the words of the song...

Mitch comes around the corcer in work clothes: blue denim shirt and pants. he is unshaven. He climbs the steps to the door and rings. Blanche is startled.

...

Blanche:

Something's the matter tonight, but nevermind. I won't cross-examine the witness. I'll just--[She touches her forehead vaguely. The polka tune starts up again.]--pretend I don't notice anything different about you!That--music again...

Mitch:

What music?

Blanche:

The "Varsouviana"! The polka tune they were playing when Allan-- Wait!

[A distant revolver shot is heard. Blanche seems relieved.]

There now, the shot! It always stops after that.

[The polka music dies out again.]

Amber Park

One of the last impressions of Blanche

Scene 11, Pages 166-177

[Blanche appears in the amber light of the door. She has a tragic radiance in her red satin robe following the sculptural lines of her body. The "Varsouviana Polka" rises audiblyy as Blanche enters the bedroom.]

...

Eunice [returning, brightly]:

Someone is calling for Blanche.

Blanche:

It is for me, then! [She looks fearfully from one to the other and then to the portieres. The "Varsouviana" faintly plays] Is it the gentlemen I was expecting from Dallas?

...

Blanche:

You are not the gentlemen I was expecting. [She suddenly gasps and starts back up the steps. She stops by Stella, who stands just outside the door, and speaks in a frightening whisper] That man isn't Shep Huntleigh.

[The "Varsouviana" is playing distantly.

...

Stanley:

Did you forget something?

Blanche [shrilly]:

Yes! Yes, I forgot something!

[She rushes past him into the bedroom. Lurid reflctions appear on the walls in odd, sinous shapes. The "Varsouciana" is filtered into a weird distortion, accompanied by the cries and noises of the jungle. Blanche seizes the back of a chair as if to defend herself.]

Stanley [sotto voce]:

Doc, you better go in.

...

[He takes off his had and now he becomes personalized. The unhuman quality goes. His voice is gentle and reassuring as he crosses to Blanche and crouches in front of her. As he speaks her name, her terror subsides a little. The lurid reflections fade from the walls, the inhuman cries and noises fie out and her own hoarse crying is calmed.]

Some specific characteristics:

• higher class -> lower class
• innocent -> unvirtuous
• independent -> dependent
• sane -> insane
• mysterious -> exposed
• etc

Bibliography

• "HL English: Music in "A Streetcar Named Desire"" Slice of Brain. WordPress.com, 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.
• "Analysis of Major Characters." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2015. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.
• "A Streetcar Named Desire." Blanche DuBois. CliffsNotes, 2015. Web. 17 Jan. 2016.