Analysis Of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

3067 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

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...

... middle of paper ...

...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

Show More
Related

  • The Catcher in the Rye: J.D. Salinger

    932 Words  | 2 Pages

    sixteen-year-old boy who has a lot to say about others yet recognizes little about himself,

    Read More

  • Great Gatsby

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nick’s carefulness when saying something reveals the fact that he makes good judgements. An example of his g...

    Read More

  • Betrayal In The Great Gatsby

    1008 Words  | 3 Pages

    always at Gatsby’s parties. Nick also may be polite and easy to get along with on the

    Read More

  • Dishonesty In The Great Gatsby

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nick also matures throughout the novel. In the beginning he is very innocent, saying he only drank once in his life, and he believes in the good of people. Throughout the novel Nick’s innocents drains slowly. He see’s Gatsby as a role model until he finds out how much Gatsby does for Daisy, which bothers him. Nick has also admired Gatsby for living a lavish lifestyle which is betraying in what he believes in. Nick would do anything to make Gatsby happy; his...

    Read More

  • Atticus And Mrs. Dubose Essay

    794 Words  | 2 Pages

    Along with a woman, who was the most influential woman of her time that lured in and trapped others with her work, done quietly, with the sick and poor. Atticus is the prime example of honey or good manners whereas, Mrs. Dubose represents vinegar in that she verbally attacks everyone. For example, when Atticus states, “Good evening, Mrs. Dubose! You look like a picture this evening” (Lee 133).

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby: Is Nick Carraway A Liar?

    561 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nick Carraway can’t completely be classified as an honest person, he constantly says bad things and makes remarks towards people he says he's friends with. We only know his thoughts because he is the narrator, he rarely acts on the thoughts that he has as a narrator and becomes

    Read More

  • Comparing the Human Condition in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead and Waiting for Godot

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    In ‘Waiting for Godot’, we know little concerning the protagonists, indeed from their comments they appear to know little about themselves and seem bewildered and confused as to the extent of their existence.  Their situation is obscure and Vladimir and Estragon spend the day (representative of their lives) waiting for the mysterious Godot, interacting with each other with quick and short speech.

    Read More

  • Distortion in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot

    689 Words  | 2 Pages

    Surfacely, the recurrent setting is absurd: Vladimir and Estragon remain in the same non-specified place and wait for Godot, who never shows, day after day.  They partake in this activity, this waiting, during both Act I and Act II, and we are led to infer that if Samuel Beckett had composed an Act III, Vladimir and Estragon would still be waiting on the country road beside the tree.  Of course, no humans would do such things.  The characters' actions in relation to setting are unreal-distorted, absurd.  However, it is through this distortion and only through this distortion that we can guess at the importance and the details of the evasive figure...

    Read More

  • Freedom to Choose in Waiting for Godot, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Iraq

    1484 Words  | 3 Pages

    abandoned the conventions of the classical play to concentrate on his important message to humanity. Using his pathetic characters, Estragon and Vladimir, Beckett illustrates the importance of human free will in a land ruled by science and technology. He understood the terrors of progress as he witnessed first hand the destruction caused by technologically-improved weapons working as a spy during WWII. In his tragicomedy, Estragon and Vladimir spend the entire time futilely waiting for Godot to arrive. They believe that this mysterious Godot will help them solve their problems and merely sit and wait for their solution to arrive. Beckett utilizes these characters to warn the reader of the dangers of depending on fate and others to improve one's existence. He supports this idea when Estragon blames his boots and not himself for the pain in his feet, and Vladimir responds, "There'...

    Read More

  • Mr. Ramsey's To The Lighthouse: An Analysis

    404 Words  | 1 Pages

    Argument:         Mrs. Ramsey is triumphant over Mr. Ramsey, by her awareness and intuitive feeling of the more important things in life: the value of human relationships. Though she is submissive, with no mention of extensive educational background, she innately possesses the crucial social skills that gain: the cohesion of the family as a whole; the respect and love of her children, and the continued survival of her marriage.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Symbolism In Waiting For Godot

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humans spend their lives searching and creating meaning to their lives, Beckett, however, takes a stand against this way of living in his novel ‘Waiting for Godot’. He questions this ideal of wasting our lives by searching for a reason for our existence when there is no one to find. In his play, he showcases this ideology through a simplistic and absence of setting and repetitive dialogue. Beckett’s ability to use these key features is imperative to his ability to convey his message of human entrapment and existence. The play opens with very general stage directions “a country road, a tree, evening”.

    Read More

  • Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    From the moment that the curtain rises, Waiting for Godot assumes an unmistakably absurdist identity. On the surface, little about the plot of the play seems to suggest that the actions seen on stage could or would ever happen. At the very least, the process of waiting hardly seems like an ideal focus of an engaging and entertaining production. Yet it is precisely for this reason that Beckett’s tale of two men, whose only discernable goal in life is to wait for a man known simply as Godot, is able to connect with the audience’s emotions so effectivel...

    Read More

  • Samuel Beckett’s Waiting For Godot: A Critical Allegory of Religious Faith

    1043 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot has been said by many people to be a long book about nothing. The two main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, spend all their time sitting by a tree waiting for someone named Godot, whose identity is never revealed to the audience. It may sound pretty dull at first but by looking closely at the book, it becomes apparent that there is more than originally meets the eye. Waiting for Godot was written to be a critical allegory of religious faith, relaying that it is a natural necessity for people to have faith, but faiths such as Catholicism are misleading and corrupt.

    Read More

  • Christianity in Waiting for Godot

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the tragicomedy, the pair anxiously awaits the arrival of Godot. Vladimir and Estragon’s loyalty to Godot is evident within the first act of play. During a conversation between the two, Estragon asks Vladimir, “And if he doesn’t come?” to which Vladimir answers “We’ll come back tomorrow” and the go on to continue this dialogue: “Estragon: ‘And then the day after to-morrow.’/ Vladimir: ‘Possibly.’/ Estragon: ‘And so on.’/ Vladimir: ‘The point is—‘/ Estragon: ‘Until he comes’” (Beckett 10). In the New Testament of the Holy Bible, John 3:16 states that “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (King James Version, John, 3.16). This biblical verse is used frequently in the Christian church to represent the idea of salvation. However, the Bible never gives an exact time frame on salvation, leading Christians to wait for God’s impend...

    Read More

  • Waiting For Godot Analysis

    1289 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although Samuel Beckett's tragicomedy, Waiting for Godot, has no definite meaning or interpretation, the play acts as a statement of hopelessness regarding human existence. Debate surrounds the play because, due to its simplicity, almost any interpretation is valid. The main characters, Vladimir and Estragon, are aging men who must wait for a person, being, or object named Godot, but this entity never appears to grace the men with this presence. Both characters essentially demonstrate how one must go through life when hope is nonexistent as they pointlessly attempt to entertain themselves with glum conversation in front of a solitary tree. The Theater of the Absurd, a prevalent movement associated with Waiting for Godot, serves as the basis for the message of hopelessness in his main characters. Samuel Beckett's iconic Waiting for Godot and his perception of the characteristics and influence of the Theater of the Absurd illustrate the pointlessness and hopelessness regarding existence. In the play, boredom is mistaken for hopelessness because the men have nothing to do, as they attempt to occupy themselves as, for some reason, they need to wait for Godot. No hope is present throughout the two-act play with little for Estragon and Vladimir to occupy their time while they, as the title indicates, wait for Godot.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

Open Document