Professor Vivian Bearing vs John Donne in the Play Wit by Margaret Edson

Is it possible to misunderstand something, yet still be guided toward its claims? Is it possible for something that ultimately has the greatest impact on your life to be unnoticed until the last possible moment? In most cases, a true revelation does not present itself until later in a person’s life. In the play Wit, by Margaret Edson, the character of Professor Vivian Bearing reaches a profound realization concerning one of the great impacts in her own life. Vivian, self-proclaimed intellectual and widely-feared professor, essentially devotes her life to the works of John Donne, a renowned metaphysical poet. She tirelessly prides herself on her exceptional skills and experience with analyzing Donne’s works, even in the midst of being diagnosed and treated for ovarian cancer. During her stay in the hospital, Vivian unwillingly sees that her lifetime analysis in Donne’s writings has only scratched the surface in comparison to the truth that she discovers in the last hours of her life. For the first time, she is able to personally relate to the speaker in the sonnets that she was supposedly so familiar with.

In poetic terms, “wit” means the development of a metaphysical conceit. It is an insightful use of analogy, metaphor or inventive joining of dissimilar images to make a point in a poem. In these regards, this play has been appropriately titled. John Donne, whose Holy Sonnets make numerous appearances in the play, uses his metaphysical poetry to spark unrest, debate, and controversy. He himself wrestles with questions about faith, God’s mercy and judgment, human mortality, sin, damnation, absolution, and salvation. The Holy Sonnets are the product of doubter, one who has not yet found inner peace. This realization i...

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...s a moment when she starts to see the true meaning but doesn’t want to accept it at first, which is evident from the groaning and “hiding.” However, at the end of the play and the end of her life, Vivian is ready to accept this truth that she herself is living out the same life as the speakers in Donne’s poems and begins “reaching for the light –“ (Edson 66).

Works Cited

Donne, John. “Holy Sonnet 5, Holy Sonnet 6, Holy Sonnet 10.” John Donne’s Poetry: A Norton Critical Edition.
Ed. Donald R. Dickson. W.W. Norton & Company. New York, London. 2004. (Handout)

Donne, John. “Hymn to God, my God, in My Sickness.” Poems of John Donne. vol I. E. K. Chambers, ed. London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1896. 211-212.

Edson, Margaret. Wit. MCC Theater: New York City, NY, 1999

Gardner, Helen, ed. The Metaphysical Poets. London: Penguin, 1985.