The document provides a detailed summary and analysis of key scenes and characters in two plays: A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. In Streetcar, the character Blanche makes many requests and commands that reveal her contradictory nature and reflect the play's themes of desire and social norms clashes. In The Birthday Party, the characters employ linguistic techniques like requests and refusals to either conceal information or assert power over others, building tension until Stanley is interrogated, reflecting the play's themes of oppression and loss of identity. The document analyzes how specific linguistic choices in the characters' dialogue advance the plots and themes of both plays.

1. IB Lit - Paper 2 - Dialogue
In theatre,there are always two lines of communication. First, there is communication between characters
and second, there is communication between the stage and the audience. An action is something which
changes the situation and is often accomplished through words. A good dramatist knows that a great deal
of drama can be produced through the inclusion of requests, vows or commands since they require an
action that can be satisfying and or troubling for the audience. In ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’,written by
Tennessee Williams and first performed in 1947, many of the key moments of the play are heightened by
the commands and requests made by the major characters,and the key themes of the play: desire and fate,
death and madness, are best reflected at these points. ‘The Birthday Present’,written by Harold Pinter and
first performed in 1957, is set in an unspecified time and place in Britain and the themes of state
oppression, anonymity along with the internal conflict of that some of the characters suffer, are reflected
by the various linguistic techniques they all employ either to remain anonymous, which is particularly
true for Stanley, or execute power,which is more so the case for Goldberg and McCann.
More than any other character in the play, Blanche makes commands that both reveal elements of her
profoundly complex character as wellas reflect the key themes of the play. Blanche’s internal conflict can
cause her to often be contradictory; she clings onto a past ideal of purity and refinement, and yet is
sexually promiscuous, acceding to the demands of the flesh and body. In Scene 6, she purports to not
being “accustomed to having more than one drink” during her dialogue with Mitch, but the audience will
recall her consuming much of Stanley’s beverages earlier in the play. In Scene 8, Blanche commands that
she be treated like a respectable Southern belle to Mitch once they become more intimate, exclaiming that
he “unhand” her and that Stanley and Stella’s absence does not mean “[he] shouldn’t behave like a
gentleman.”, here,Blanche’s diction mirrors that of an upper-class debutante; she likens Mitch to a
“gentleman” awarding him the unseemly title of “Sir”, which highlights to what extent her cultural
pretensions cloud her from accepting the reality since Mitch is far from her ideal chevalier. Furthermore,
this dialogue conveys the contradictory aspect of her character as the audience will recall her flirting with
Stanley earlier and the episode with the young man in Scene 5, both of which further demonstrate the
conflict between the old South, which is characterised by Blanche’s need to uphold a veneer of social
propriety as a means to win Mitch’s heart,and the new America, which is represented by the social and
cultural progresses America has made; many of which sit in marked contrast to Blanche’s ideals.
Blanche is obsessed with her noble heritage and demands the same from Stella who conversely has quite
openly relinquished her upper-class origins. In Scene 1, Blanche delivers an extensive monologue
describing the horrors she experienced at Belle Reve, accusing her sister of not being there when the
DuBois family needed her as an attempt to cause Stella to relive her past. During this monologue,
Blanche speaks of the deaths she had witnessed whilst at Belle Reve, remarking that “the Grim Reaper
had put up his tent on [their] doorstep!” and that “Belle Reve was his headquarters!”,here,Blanche’s
tendency to self-dramatise is illustrated through her allusion to the personified figure of death: “Grim
Reaper”,as well as metaphorically and hyperbolically comparing these deaths to this figure being at
“their doorstep” and remarking that Belle Reve was “his headquarters”; this verbal outburst also reveals
her ability to devise spontaneous narratives that are often whimsical in their nature but can often upset her
listener such as Stella who is brought to tears once Blanche has completed her outburst.

2. Soon after,Blanche goes on to condemn both Stella and Stanley, saying “...Yes accuse me! Sit there and
stare at me, thinking I let the place go! Where were you. In bed with your - Polak!...”,here,Blanche’s
invitation to be deplored by her sister is actually another means to instill more guilt in Stella; moreover,
her accusations not only convey her condemnation towards Stella’s absence during the deaths,but also
underscores her profound disgust for Stella’s new found love, Stanley, reducing him to nothing more than
an ethnic slur: ‘Polak’, which is punctuated by her struggling to utter this remark signified by the brief
pause she takes before finally labelling him so contemptibly. Blanche seeks to remind Stella of her noble
past in order to undermine her present.
Throughout The Birthday Party, the major characters employ various linguistic strategies in order to
overcome their opponent as well as to conceal information, which is often supplemented by an action.
When Stanley and McCann first meet in Act Two, McCann behaves as if nothing is untoward despite
Stanley’s desperate requests that McCann inform him of the purpose of both he and Goldberg being at the
house and whether Goldberg has “told [him] anything?” and whether he “knows what [he’s] here for”.
Stanley is certain that Goldberg knows more and what makes this scene particularly riveting is that
Stanley’s expressions of self-justification carry conviction of guilt and his banal attempts at appeasing
McCann through pleading innocent: “I mean you wouldn’t think [...] that I was the sort of bloke to - to
cause any trouble, would you?”, make him sound increasingly suspect,which is punctuated by the brief
pause he takes; represented by the hyphen; before completing his unfounded plead as it suggests hesitance
and that he is likely lying; a typically Pinteresque technique.
Furthermore, McCann’s non-committal and diversion of Stanley’s requests of being told why the two
men are here as well as for McCann to see Stanley in a positive light creates even more suspense in this
scene; when Stanley informs McCann that he “wants[s] to go out”, McCann’s reply which is in the form
of a request: “Why don’t you stay here?” is full solicitude and polite concern, and its McCann’s
controlled violence along with his refusal to accuse Stanley of anything that builds even more tension and
is suggestive of an impending and more violent action. The scene becomes even intense when McCann’s
menacing nature begins to manifest itself in the form of deadpan replies that Stanley “mind” and “leave”
the “strip of paper” he had torn into “five equal strips” earlier; McCann’s command has an undercurrent
of violence which is suggested by his monosyllabacy and brusqueness when delivering the command.
Once Goldberg joins the scene,the implicit threat suggested by Stanley’s earlier exchange with McCann
is heightened. The three men play a game of ‘sitting down’ in a cat-and-mouse fashion, which precedes
the interrogation; Goldberg requests that McCann “sit down” but Stanley stoutly declines; his refusal to
concede to Goldberg’s commands demonstrate his defensiveness, however remote, and Goldberg, who
makes these requests through McCann as though McCann were his henchman, is made to appear even
more menacing given that McCann, who according to an earlier description is much larger than Goldberg
thus more physically capable, seems to be at his whims and would do anything at his command. Up to the
interrogation, Stanley has made an effort to survive but the implied threat of physical violence, with two
against one, makes a disturbing stage picture and Goldberg ends Stanley’s remote sense of authority by
sternly commanding him to “sit down” before the scene morphs into a positive verbal and physical assault
on Stanley; this action sequence in which Stanley is brutally chastised for various crimes alters the overall
mood and situation of the play #

3. The interrogation scene in Act Two moves the play into a shockingly different level of ‘realism’, and by
Act Three,Stanley is reduced to the status of an absolute victim, unable to speak his pain and unable to
protest. Petey’s final statement which is in the form of a request and is made before Stanley is eventually
taken: “Stan, don't let them tell you what to do.” is particularly poignant because it wholly captures the
play’s portrayal of the destruction of an individual and their ability to adopt their own identity as a result
of state oppression; what makes this line even more moving is the fact that Petey refers to Stanley using
the contracted form of his name “Stan”; it reflects the sentiment in his words as it mirrors how a father
would advise his son. In addition, this line has often been said to be symbolise Pinter’s own feelings
towards conformity.