Pagan Elements in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
"I am preoccupied with history" George observes in Act I (p. 50) of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. But his relationship with his wife, Martha, seems to lean almost towards anthropology. Pagan social and religious elements in Albee's work seem to clarify and enhance the basic themes of the play.
Pagan trappings adorn the whole structure of the play: the prevalence of alcohol, the "goddamn Saturday night orgies" (p. 7) Martha's father throws, Martha's identification as "the only true pagan on the eastern seaboard... [who] paints blue circles [of woad?] around her things" (p. 73) or "the Earth Mother" (p. 189), or George's injunction, in Old Testament language, to "just gird your blue-veined loins, girl" (p. 205). The stage seems set for religious ritual. Even the act titles have pagan religious significance. "Fun and Games" are of course the prelude to many a religious event, even in the Christian Easter and Christmas. "Walpurgisnacht" or "St. Walburga's Night" is the evening before May Day, when Christians claim witches and nightmares are on the roam. But May Day and the evening before is also the pagan Beltaine, a day of fertility rituals as the God and Goddess bring vitality and passion to Nature -- a maypole signifies masculine fertility; the flowers about it show feminine vitality ("flores para los muertos"? (p. 195)). And "The Exorcism" is a banishment of the spirit of evil, in the sacrifice of the imaginary child who has become a scapegoat bearing all George and Martha's sins.
Martha tries to wield her power like an old-style matriarch, saying "I wear the pants in this house" (p. 157) and controlling Nick as a "houseboy" (p. 1...
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...avior by sweeping away its very foundation, by changing her beloved son into the pagan scapegoat who bears away all the twisted, hateful history they have both constructed around him.
The pagan elements in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? strengthen the main themes and plot of Albee's play. Martha's boisterousness and sexuality make her a sort of pagan priestess, but one trapped by the myths and illusions she has constructed in her worship. But George's Latin burial service at last banishes the restless spirit who had so haunted his relationship with Martha, and it bears away much of their tortured past, making a fresh slate. Samhain has been fulfilled: the God and Goddess begin again, to build a new, more fertile relationship between themselves for the new year.
Page numbers for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are taken from the 1984 Atheneum edition.
... life and goes back to these girls who turned on her in an instant. Others even confess to witchcraft because, once accused, it is the only way to get out of being hanged. The confessions and the hangings actually promote the trials because they assure townsfolk that God?s work is being done. Fear for their own lives and for the lives of their loved ones drives the townspeople to say and do anything.
After overcoming her denial and admitting that no son exists, Martha lies prostrate as George asks her, “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?”(242). Martha wearily replies, “I…am…George….I…am…”(242). In other words, “Who’s afraid of the truth?” My parents, Stuart of Christopher Durang’s Beyond Therapy, and Martha and George from Thomas Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. Ceasing to rationalize reality to suit one’s needs entails dealing with the truth and experiencing pain. Therefore, it stands to reason that many smart, reasonable people fall victim to the allure of denial. However, as Martha demonstrates, the walls crumble eventually, and one feels the pain as acutely as ever. So, who’s afraid of the truth? The more appropriate question is who’s not afraid of the truth?
Baym, Nina, and Robert S. Levine. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. Print.
...blaming Satanic stimuli for unexplained phenomena"(43). Without their cultural and societal influences, it would be difficult for the readers to understand why certain events evolve and under what pretenses. At the end of the play, each person, some more than others, has developed from their sociological experience.
Washington Irving was a very ingenious writer; he did not express his stories with Romanticism but with something more creative and dark. Washington Irving has a big role for mood; his stories are creepy, mysterious, and evil. Irving’s stories reflect on the mood, a lot of his work had deep and evil thoughts. “T...
Martha's realization of the love and the power George has over her, gives her opportunity to change her ways. No more will George and Martha exist in a land of fantasy and make-believe. Martha fears the amount of reality involved in her life. She is afraid, and her being afraid of reality in her life, makes her want control. After this night, where their masks have been removed, they are now living in their reality, and there is no longer a need for one person to have control.
Sarah Penn shows her love through many motherly acts. Sarah tells George that she wants a bigger house for her daughter's wedding. Sarah shows much love and care for her daughter and her fiancé. In the early morning Sarah, Nanny, and Sammy are all around the kitchen talking about the new barn. Nanny is cleaning a bunch of dishes and Sarah comes out the pantry to help her clean them. This exemplifies two things, Sarah cares about her daughter not cleaning a lot of dishes, as well as cooking. Sarah Penn cooks for her family like a good, loving mother would. Sarah takes off George's jacket when he "lacks the power" to take it off himself. Sarah acts to prove that she is very loving and caring.
Jackson, Shirley. "The Lottery." Gioia, Dana and R.S. Gwynn. The Art of the Short Story. New York: Pearson/Longman, 2006. 390-396.
James clearly resists historical interpretation which would fill in the blanks with knowledge on social groups. Yet, through analysis of the Governess and Mile’s relationship by placing their narration and dialogue in a socio-historic context the battle is revealed between desires and demands. Awareness of Victorian sexual commencement allows readers to trace the development of the two characters transformations from pupil and teacher to lover and mistress.
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Essay date 1935." Twentieth-Century Litirary Criticism 9. Ed. Dennis Poupond. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. 316-317
Work Cited Woolf, Virginia. A. Mrs. Dalloway. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc., 2005.
The Bedford Introduction to Literature 4th ed. of the book. Boston: St. Louis St. Martin’s Press, 1996. 883-89.
Clurman, Harold. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Edward Albee: A Collection of Critical Essays. Ed. C.W.E. Bigsby. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall 1975. 76-79
God (it does not matter whether it exists in different forms or in different numbers because the basic concept of existence is same), is a source of moral strength, but it would seem ignorant to claim that those who do not have faith in God do not often live moral lives. There are, of course many atheists (believers of non-existence of God) who do not refute the principles of morality and are ethical because they realize their importance (either by having credence on any of the other ethical systems such as Kantian ethics, Social Contract theory and Utilitarianism). With the advent of modern liberalism, people have become rational (or at least they believe so). Although they condemn the acts of murder, child abuse, rape and ethnic cleansing but this does not make them more ethical than a believer of God because realization of good or bad is already progr...