Reality versus Illusion in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In his play, The American Dream, Edward Albee unveils a tortured family that is symbolic of the reality beneath the illusion of the American dream. In Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Albee takes a more traditional approach than the theater of the absurd, and his language is more natural, but he returns to this theme with a vengeance. For in all of drama there are few plays about domestic relationships that are as caustic, violent and as poisoned with the milk of human bitterness, cynicism and pessimism as is Woolf. The story regards George and Martha, a married couple (he a history professor and she the University President's daughter). Verbally and emotionally George and Martha are as skilled at cutting each other without going for the final kill as much as a professional torturer trained to prolong his victim's agony. Into this volley of abuse come Nick and Honey, a young couple who also share a vision of the "American dream," but Albee portrays Nick as the victor in his battles with George because George is of the old school and Nick has already been indoctrinated into the new American culture of capitalism for its own sake.
The theme of the play, other than touching on the disillusionment of the American dream for the younger generation, and a robotic-like acceptance of the evolved "capitalized" version by the older generation, is that each of the characters in the play, like each of us in real life, are destined to struggle through our own personal hell, a struggle that we face alone "It becomes clear that each character is engaged in an isolated struggle through a personal hell" (Murphy 1113). The plot centers around George and Martha's p...
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...e his themes in the play. Truth versus illusion, reality versus perception, and union versus inability to come together are the main themes the author chooses to highlight throughout the work. In the end, once all illusions have been stripped or peeled away, Martha and George have a chance to come together in an effort to save their marriage. As Martha says to end the play in response to George's singing "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf"; "I...am...George...I...am..." (Albee 242). Only from this point of truth can George and Martha hope to save their troubled marriage.
WORKS CITED
Albee, E. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. New York: Signet, 1962.
Carter, S. Albee's 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" The Explicator. Vol. 56. June 22, 1998, 215-218.
Murphy, B, ed. Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.
The author believes that the struggle of Jews vs anti-Semites is really just another form of the “rich vs poor struggle” which is existent through many societies in our modern era. The anti-Semites will take out their aggression against the Jews because Jews are an easy target. It is easier for an anti-Semite to accept that he works a hard job for little pay just to make a factory boss rich. However, the question is raised of what good would that do? The anti-Semite needs the job, so he can't quit, and causing an uproar towards his boss would only make him even more unhappy so instead, he channels his hatred in manageable ways, such as toward Jews.
The almighty American dream, commonly misconceived as the property of those who reap great materialistic wealth, has been analyzed and sought after through generations. However, this dream, “could come from anywhere and be anything you want in this country” (Goldberg), and the numerous success stories of impoverished beings proves this. This subjectiveness stems from the great diversity within human nature and the variation of goals and pleasures. The characters in novels such as The Glass Castle, To Kill a Mockingbird and the play, The Crucible, act to portray several attempts towards achieving this dream. Ultimately, the almighty American Dream manifests itself through the novels as the desire to accomplish stability and content within one’s
In the last chapter of "The Grand Inquisitor" we meet father Zossima, who is a
coming in search of gold and everlasting youth, there has been a mystique about the land to which Amerigo Vespucci gave his name. To the Puritans who settled its northeast, it was to be the site of their “city upon a hill” (Winthrop 2). They gave their home the name New England, to signify their hope for a new beginning. Generations of immigrants followed, each a dreamer bringing his own hopes and aspirations to the green shores. The quest was given a name – the American Dream; and through the ages, it has been as much a symbol of America as the lady in the harbor, a promise of America’s riches for all who dare to dream and strive to fulfill their ambitions. Dreamers apotheosized fellow dreamers like Rockefeller and Carnegie, holding them to be the paradigm from which all could follow. But behind the meretricious dream lies the cold reality. A country built upon survival of the fittest has no sympathy for those who serve as the steppingstones for others’ success. For every person who reaches the zenith, there are countless others trapped in the valleys of despair by their heedless dash to reach the top. Playwrights Arthur Miller and Lorraine Hansberry memorialize the failures in their works Death of a Salesman and A Raisin in the Sun. Their central dreamers, Miller’s Willy Loman and Hansberry’s Walter Lee Younger, like children at a candy shop window, are seduced by that success which can be seen so clearly, yet is so unreachable. Ardent followers of the hype of America, they reveal that, far from being a positive motivator, the Ame...
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Ed. 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 2189.
... At the start, Nick and Honey seem to paint the perfect picture of of the American Dream. We have here a good looking young couple, and Nick is an ambitious young man that appears to have inevitable success coming down his way, and Honey seems to be a supportive, polite woman. But, as the play goes on, we can see that everything isn’t that nice! We learn the very sad truth that the only reason why Nick married Honey was for money, and also because she was preggos. He even cheats on her with Martha, and Honey ends up drinking. All of these examples shows us how Albee’s thoughts of the America Dream was not that of the mainstream, and again, this shows validates once more his unwillingness to sell out. So I get the feeling that the creation of this play was settled on truthfulness and a want to express the truth regardless of it being transferred to the big screen.
Throughout the history of literature, a great deal of authors has tried to reveal a clear understanding of the American Dream. Whether it is possible to achieve lies all in the character the author portrays. The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye stand as prime examples of this. F. Scott Fitzgerald and J.D. Salinger, the authors of these titles, respectively, fashion flawed characters, Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield, with one vital desire: the longing to gain what they can’t have; acceptance and the feeling of belonging. Each retaining characteristics that shows their differences and similarities in opinion of the world around them.
Each character in the novel has their own interpretation of the ‘American Dream – the pursuit of happiness’ as they all lack happiness due to the careless nature of American society during the Jazz Age. The American Dreams seems almost non-existent to those whom haven’t already achieved it.
The theme of the play has to do with the way that life is an endless cycle. You're born, you have some happy times, you have some bad times, and then you die. As the years pass by, everything seems to change. But all in all there is little change. The sun always rises in the early morning, and sets in the evening. The seasons always rotate like they always have. The birds are always chirping. And there is always somebody that has life a little bit worse than your own.
Anti-Semitism, prejudice against Jews, is a form of discrimination that has caused perhaps the most problems throughout history. Many people describe anti-Semitism as more than simply "prejudice" or "discrimination" against Jews. It is often the result of hatred and despise of the Jews, resulting in persecution and destruction. Anti-Semitism can often occur because a religious group is trying to make itself look better (Anti-Judaism/Anti-Semitism). Jealousy and envy are also major causes of anti-Semitism. A study on anti-Semitism found that people who are anti-Semitic are likely to also have negative feelings about African-Americans, Immigrants, gays and lesbians, illegal aliens, and women (JCRC - Anti-Semitism).
From the beginning of modern civilization those in a society have tried their best to join the status quo. Everyone feels that they look and act the same as others around them as to reassure themselves that they are normal and that they will be accepted into society. This type of conformity is seen greatly throughout the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in its main characters George, Martha, Nick and Honey. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf shows how a typical family is supposed to look to the outside, prim and polished, but which secretly holds their own internal problems that eventually spill out for all to see, in turn forcing their supposed peace in conformity to become chaos in their reality.
3 Woolf, Virginia: A sketch of the past , Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol.2 , sixth edition
Emily Dickinson once wrote “Much madness is divinest/Sense-To a discerning Eye.” Often in literature, a character’s madness or foolish action plays an important role. Such is the case with the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? written in 1962, by Edward Albee. The author develops and revisits the inner conflict of Martha, the protagonist, which results from the struggle between her and society throughout the plot to highlight the theme of struggle between reality and illusion. Martha’s madness is used by Albee to reveal characteristics of American society in the 50s and 60s that reveal the seemingly mad behavior as reasonable.
Jean Paul Sartre is a philosopher that supports the philosophy of existentialism. Existentialism is a twentieth century philosophy that denies any crucial human nature and embraces that each of us produces our own essence through our free actions. Existentialists like Sartre believe there isn’t a God that determines people’s nature. So, existentialists believe that humans have no purpose or nature except the ones that they create for themselves. We are free and responsible for what we are and our engagements; even though we are mindful that this can cause agony.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2013. Print.