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Home Middelbare School EN Uittreksels Uittreksel Edward Albee – Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf ?

Uittreksel Edward Albee – Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf ?

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Extracts English Literature
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Edward Albee – Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf ?

Penguin Books, London (1962)

Title:

The title Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf is derived from the American children's song "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?". Martha sings the altered version in the play. Virginia Woolf was a feminist who committed suicide in 1941. She supported the cause of womens' emancipation and experimented with various dialogue techniques, some of which are used in the play.

Author:

Edward Albee was born in Washington in 1928, and became famous in the Fifties. For a long period of time, he was better known in Europe than in America. His first works were the one-act plays The Zoo Story (1958) and The American Dream (1960). Some of his full-length plays are Tiny Alice (1965), A Delicate Balance (1966) and Everything for the Garden (1976). The first performances of his plays took place in Berlin. Later they were presented in America. He made his breakthrough on Broadway with his play Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). His plays contain many elements of absurdist drama. His plays are realistic and form a protest against American society. In his plays, Albee wants to demonstrate the meaningless existence of human beings and their pointless methods of communication.

The literary period:

The Twentieth century – second part (1945 to now).

The genre:

The play belongs to the realistic drama movement. The play is a comedy, but at the end it seems to be more of a tragedy.

Summary:

When the play begins it is two o'clock in the morning. Martha and George have just arrived home from a party organised by Martha's father at the university where George teaches history. Martha's father insists she invites the couple Nick and Honey for a drink. George isn't happy about this and they start quarrelling. During the quarrel, George opens the door in order to let Martha know that he is angry. They continue quarrelling while the guests are in the house.

Nick and Honey as a couple represent the younger version of George and Martha, who have developed various rituals. They play 'amusing' games where they try to score points from each other. These games are very popular amongst the intellectual society of America. They contain both improvisation and fixed rules. During the night, Martha and George play four games with their guests, and although Honey is too drunk to pay much attention, Nick shows his true self.

The first act

The atmosphere is quite friendly while they play the game 'Humiliate the host'. Martha shows Honey around the house, while George tries to make Nick feel uncomfortable by asking him annoying questions. When Honey joins them again, Honey explains that Martha has been telling her about George and Martha's lovely son who celebrates his birthday the next day. George is surprised since they don't have a son, it is one of Martha's jokes. Then Martha arrives in a sexy dress, and starts to humiliate George by telling the couple about his unsuccessful career, and how he has failed in everything he has done. She says the biggest joke in his life is his autobiographical novel, which is about a boy who kills his father. George gets furious and almost kills Martha. Nick is just able to stop her.The second act

Honey becomes unwell and Martha takes her upstairs. Nick tells George that he married Honey because she thought she was pregnant, but after the wedding it turned out to be a false alarm. Nick also talks about Honey's father who is a gospel preacher who became rich. When Martha and Honey join them, the atmosphere has become strained. They play the game 'Get the guest'. George talks about the plot of his new novel, which rather resembles Honey's own story. At first Honey is too drunk to understand this, then she feels humiliated and becomes ill again. She goes to the bathroom.

Nick becomes furious, and changes his attitude., starting to play the game according to his host's rules. He takes Martha to the kitchen and plays the game 'Hump the hostess', which Martha enjoys, although she is annoyed when George starts reading a book. Honey has fallen asleep in the bathroom. George has an idea of how to upset Martha. When Honey returns, he tells her that someone has sent a message to say that their son has died in a car accident.The third act

Martha and Nick come out of the kitchen, and Martha complains that sex with Nick was not a success. Nick blames the alcohol. Martha starts treating Nick as a houseboy. She says that she loves George and that she only torments him because she can't stand the fact that he loves her.The fourth act

Martha almost starts to cry when she tells the others about her pregnancy and the problems they have had with their son. She says that their son is the reason they still are married and that he is the most important thing in their lives George says that their son is important for Martha because her own father never showed her any affection. Martha uses their son as weapon against George. She becomes very emotional and says that their son is the only thing that she has been able to keep pure and healthy in their sick marriage. Meanwhile, George recites a funeral service in Latin.

 

George explains that while Nick and Martha were away a telegram arrived, saying their son had been killed in a car accident. Martha screams at George, saying that he was not allowed to kill the child, that he has no right to destroy the illusion that was a great comfort to them both. Nick is puzzled, but finally realises that the story of the child is Martha's creation, he doesn't exist. The next day George sends the guests away. George and Martha are alone and have to face the fact that they can't have children. Martha confesses that it is she who is afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Time:

The play starts at two o'clock in the morning and lasts until the following morning.

Setting:

The play is set in Martha's and George's house.

Characters and relationships:

George:

George is a 46 year-old man who is married to Martha. His hair is slowly going grey and he has a thin posture. He teaches history at a small university and is only interested in his books. George once wrote a novel, which has never been published. He loves his wife, although they have a strange relationship.

Martha:

Martha is George's wife. She is six years older and is a large, aggressive woman. She thinks of herself as an Earth Mother, although she doesn't have any children of her own. Martha's father is the principal of the university where George teaches history. She would be happy if George took her father's place when he leaves the university. Unfortunately, George doesn't have the same ambition, so Martha thinks that he is a failure.

The relationship between George and Martha is not pleasant. Martha blames George because he is not ambitious, she feels cheated, and continually tries to provoke him. After a while George becomes physically violent and then Martha changes her attitude and becomes very affectionate and tries to seduce him. When George rejects her, she becomes even more furious.

Nick:

Nick is a biologist in the field of genetic engineering. He is young, good-looking, ambitious and selfish, and wants to pursue a career at the university. He only married Honey because he thought she was carrying his baby. When they did get married, it turned out to be false alarm.

 

Honey:

Honey is a young woman who is married to Nick. She is the daughter of a rich gospel preacher. She is childish, naive, and afraid of anything unpleasant. They were married because Honey thought she was pregnant, but the pregnancy was a false alarm, caused by her own hysteria.

Credibility:

….

Theme:

The main theme concerns a bad marriage, in which the man and wife try to destroy each other. Other themes are childless couples and the generation gap.

 

Motto:

None.

Linguistic usage:

The play looks a lot like a film script. The scenes are described and there are dialogues.

Dedication:

None.

Perspective:

The story is in the form of a play, which demonstrates peoples' actions and words, not their thoughts. It is told from the point of view of the character speaking at the time.

Construction:

The play consists of four parts. Each part consists of subplot acted out by the characters.

Own opinion on the book:

Your opinion!

is called "Bringing up baby" is called "Excorcism" is called "Walpurgisnacht" is called "Fun and games".

 

To be a winner, all you have to give is all you have.

Om een winnaar te zijn, moet je alles geven wat je hebt.

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