"WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF" (EDWARD ALBEE).   Term Paper ID:24883 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines play's plot, characters, themes, psychological aspects, title.... More...

6 Pages / 1350 Words 1 sources, 3 Citations, MLA Format $24.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Abstract: Examines play's plot, characters, themes, psychological aspects, title. Paper Introduction: Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? brings together two couples in a college town, one couple older and more experienced, the other younger and new to the academic world, for a night of psychodrama approaching outright psychological torture. The older couple has clearly performed this ritual many times before, and over the course of the night, while they pass through a series of stages leading form one interpersonal position to another, they cannot be said to be changed by the experience. After all, as noted, they have tortured one another like this before and will do so again. On this night, Martha may give away more secrets or take the drama in a different direction, but still the couple has done this before. The younger couple, on the other hand, experience something new which challenges their view of the accepted order and tests their view Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Nick seems an ideal young professor, but infact he is shallow and cynical and willing to do whatever he needs to do tosucceed. On this night, Martha may give away more secrets or takethe drama in a different direction, but still the couple has done thisbefore. Nick and Honeychange in a small degree as far as their awareness of their own charactersis concerned, with Nick changing more than Honey because his awareness isgreater. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Nick and Honey are at adisadvantage in the evening that ensues because they are young, they areguests, and they do not know the "rules" of engagement being used by theirhosts. While Honey appears the character least able to cope with reality, infact none of these characters is able to meet reality head on and so createillusions and barriers so they will not have to do so. He admits this himself: "I am preoccupied with history" (5 ).He delves deeply into his and Martha's past, for instance, and always keepsthe past alive, never letting old slights disappear completely. She does not see the meaning of the jokestold or understand the double meanings that George and Martha toy with, butby the end of the evening she has been changed as she has come to questionherself and to doubt Nick as she never wanted to do. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? His desire to get by in life is apparent as he reveals that hemarried Honey because he thought she was pregnant and because he believedher family had money. Still, it is clear that Nick, at least, is willing to join in andexplore his own mental state as well as theirs. From the first, it is made clear that this drama belongs to Georgeand Martha and that Nick and Honey are observers and unwittingparticipants. She might be able simply to returnto life as before, though Nick may have learned too much about himself tobe so cavalier. His failure to rise to the same level achieved by he father isone of the points of contention between the couple. In any case, his impotence nowbecomes an issue for him--he has been challenged and has failed as a man inhis own eyes and more and more in the eyes of his wife. Honey is also drawn into the games, but as noted, she is not fullyaware of their meaning. Martha is described asan amply-endowed woman, an earth-mother with only her husband to oversee, aman she refers to as "the shadow of a man flickering around the edges of ahouse" (226). The older couple is in control of aspects ofthis psychodrama, though they do not shape their own responses as well asthey do those of the younger couple they are using as pawns in the battletaking place between the two of them, between George and Martha. He offers in fact to help, though it is notclear how he would be able to do so or even if he is really making such anoffer or only mouthing the words. Georgeis older, and as a professor of history, he is always looking to the pastfor answers. New york: Atheneum, 1984.----------------------- 1 Indeed, that is precisely what George and Martha havebeen doing for years--creating and maintaining a facade because they knowthe truth of their own failures and insecurities. Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Nick is abiology teacher and so has a more preset-oriented perspective, alwayslooking for the good opportunity that will help him with his ambition. He may not change, but he has been forced to face some ofthe reality about himself and so will have to work harder to create andmaintain a facade. Honey, onthe other hand, lacks the awareness of her husband and has no idea what isgoing on most of the evening. His drinking contributesto his willingness, along with his ambition in the academic community.However, as becomes evident, he has no real idea how deep are thepsychological currents he is entering as he joins in the fray. The viewer is expected toparticipate in the unfolding of the drama in a modernist way--answers arenot made clear, and the ultimate meaning of the entire night's exercise isleft to the individual viewer. Hesees George as the Old Guard to be knocked off in some sense so he and hisgeneration can take their place. Virginia Woolf is noted for her novels, which featured a new typeof literary style based on psychology and deemed "stream-of-consciousness,"but she is also known for her criticism and essays on literary subjects.The act writing was an important human action for her, and she explored themeaning of this communicative process especially in terms of gender, interms of the expression of women writers and the problems they encounteredin finding their fictional voice. The use of Virginia Woolf as part of a rewritten children's rhymerelates to the fact that the husband is an intellectual professor, butthere is also meaning in the type of work for which Virginia Woolf wasknown. Nick therefore maybecome more like them, but Honey does not have the personality of a Marthaand will be the submissive partner while Martha is outwardly the stronger. has the aura of an inside joke in itsvery title, and it carries through this sense of playfulness in a veryharsh and tense manner as its protagonists spar over a child who proves inthe end to have been a shared illusion. Nick and Honey are revealed by the end of the play as differentthan they have been presented. Work CitedAlbee, Edward. Honey, on the other hand, remainsunaware of much of what has occurred. Martha hasthe strength of character but not the intellectual level to succeed in thisacademic world on its terms, and Honey is completely at sea. The two change in a different way in terms of how they areperceived by the audience, for by the end of the play, we know much moreabout them. in the beginning, Nick and Honey are shocked by George and Martha'sfunny, profound, and often cruel "fun and games." They begin toparticipate as they drink more and so loosen up, though Nick has a betterunderstanding of the way the evening is progressing than does his naive andless intellectual wife. The older couple has clearlyperformed this ritual many times before, and over the course of the night,while they pass through a series of stages leading form one interpersonalposition to another, they cannot be said to be changed by the experience.After all, as noted, they have tortured one another like this before andwill do so again. The couple is contrasted in several ways. Honey, on the other hand, is slight and somewhat indistinct,quite the opposite of Martha and not the dominant figure in her householdor even in her life. Act II thus becomes a scene of open warfare between the two asMartha seduces Nick and so draws him into the world of George and Martha ina way he only partially understands. George and Martha hold the stage for the first part of theplay and begin their own interpersonal drama before their audience showsup, their audience being Nick and Honey. Woolf commented on the oppression andrepression of women writers in her time and in so doing says much about therelations between men and women in society and specifically about the needfor women to achieve freedom so they feel they can express themselvesthrough writing in the same way men do. In some ways, they may represented George and Martha at anearlier stage, and the older couple may be a preview of what the youngercouple will become. Nick and Honeynow become more than an audience--they are tools the older pair use againsteach other. George wassimilar to Nick in one respect when he was younger--he was also ambitiousand married Martha in part because her father was president of theuniversity. brings togethertwo couples in a college town, one couple older and more experienced, theother younger and new to the academic world, for a night of psychodramaapproaching outright psychological torture. The evocation of Woolf's name isironic in that Martha is the non-writing academic wife while George is thehusband who keeps her in check and who is anything but a proponent of therights of women, intent as he is on asserting his own rights at the expenseof everyone. Her sense of unease is evident as George swingsher around until she has to run out of the room, sick to her stomach anddizzy. George and Martha's imaginary child is reflected inthis non-pregnancy that brought Nick and Honey together. In Act I, George and Martha are carrying on their usual psychodramawith a carefully selected audience, and what changes this night for themoccurs when Martha and Honey are out of the room and Martha broaches aforbidden subject by mentioning her and George's child, a fantasy that theyuse to torment one another but that is supposed to be closed to outsiders.When Martha mentions this child to Honey, the situation changes and thepsychodrma becomes more pointed and more intended to harm. Honey is indeed another example of the modern woman and is also not agood example of how women respond to freedom in Albee's view. The wives differ in their degree ofexperience and their desire for dominance--Martha wants to be the Queen ofthe Campus (and of the household, as she notes: "I wear the pants in thishouse" [157]), while Honey is content to stand behind her husband so longas she trusts and supports him and he protects her from the sort ofintellectual barbs Martha is now hurling her way. The younger couple, on the other hand, experience something newwhich challenges their view of the accepted order and tests their view ofone another. Nick by the end of the play is aware that the child mentioned byGeorge and Martha is imaginary and that keeping this illusion between themis what keeps them together. The characters themselves are uncertain asto the reason for their fighting, and the two couples interact in a wayevocative of psychodrama. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.