Revelation Of Lies In Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

Revelation of Lies Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a deranged and mysterious story that holds a stunning finish. George and Martha, a middle aged married couple who struggles with their relationship, invites Nick and Honey, a younger married couple they met at a faculty party, over to their household near midnight to enjoy drinks and have fun. The night ultimately turns dark, as arguments flair in a hurry between George and Martha when Martha mentions their son to Honey, who George claims “ran away from home all the time because of Martha”(Albee 120). The unbearable revelation that their son is a fictional being sends a climactic shock through Nick and Honey. Edward Albee uses strong doses of irony, conflict, and symbolism to prove that falsehoods, no matter how long kept, eventually burn and unveil the truth. Albee first introduces such an interesting thesis by throwing in two versions of irony into the mix. Throughout the play, the characters utilize verbal irony very frequently, whether conversing or arguing, they cannot go a slight second without cracking a joke to create a sense of sarcasm. For example, George is conversing with Nick about Martha when he says: “You are being accorded an honor, and you must not forget that Martha is

is a play full of games, lies, and shock. Albee used many literary devices like irony, conflict, and symbolism to create and develop these two married struggling couples that have used lies to bury themselves in this sort of inhuman reality. These literary devices also developed the glorious theme that falsehoods, no matter how long kept, eventually burn and unveil the truth. The revelation of George and Martha’s imaginary son sends a climactic shock throughout the whole house at the end of the play, thus showing that the lies that they have been holding for so long to create their false reality could not help them escape the true reality that is life