Analysis Of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

Play Reviews

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

1. Title of Play: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

2. List of characters:

• George

• Martha

• Honey

• Nick

• Son (imaginary)

• Martha’s father (unnamed and absent)

3. Characters that evolve or remain static:

George

• George is an intelligent character and his education shoes when he speaks. His intelligence is displayed with his eloquent way of speaking.

• Although, when speaking to Martha, he is more insulting and sarcastic with hints of dark humor.

• Also he tends to make long statements, domination the conversation at times. This can be seen especially when he and Nick are holding a conversation.

Martha

• Martha is boisterous and will say and do whatever she wants. o “Yes...we’ve got guests coming over” (8) o “He’s mine as much...i want to.” (19) o “I’m entertaining...of the guests.” (171)

• She is sometimes negative towards George and she shares his dark humor. o “Poor Georgie...what you’re doing? (12)

Nick

• Nick is straightforward and forth coming. He is more formal than the other characters which shows his higher level of intelligence. Unlike George, when Nick speaks, he seems to have little personality. o “No, it’s that sometimes...good times” (92) o “I’m a guest...right ahead.” (100)

• He also speaks to people aggression at times. o (Sharply to Honey) “Just shut up… will you?” (139) o “I mean, I’m going to make you regret this.” (150)

Honey

• Honey’s speech shows her lack of intelligence and lack of independent thinking. her sentences are often short and she often giggles either before or after her statements in the beginning of the play. Although she is in a drunken state, it seems as this is normal behavior for her as she does in consistently.

• Example:

“I love familiar st...

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...comes via a boy messenger that comes at the end of each act. One of the major elements of Waiting for Godot is repetition. As such, the boy messenger says at the end of each act that Godot will not be arriving today, but he will definitely come tomorrow. This only happens twice in the play, but the audience is lead to believe that it will keep happening as long as Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot. Incessantly waiting for someone who never shows up gives the plot of the play its entirely meaningless effect, which is critical to Beckett’s purpose of absurdism and existentialism. Vladimir comes to a realization that they will forever be waiting for Godot, and Godot is not much more than a meaningless distraction from their lives. This is the cause of a great amount of melancholy and depression in Vladimir, and this depression comes from a realization of the truth