Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf

Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a powerful yet quite disturbing work. Albee is well known for creating plays in which turbulent marriage seems to be a reoccurring motif; this is demonstrated through many of Albee’s other plays such as The American Dream, A Delicate Balance, Three Tall Women, etc. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is not just a play about emotionally destructive marriages, but also a fight for power between men and women in a household. One of the main ideas in Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is that power is a fundamental aspect of human nature; this is shown through the constant battle in the characterization of the two couples in the play, and the use of symbolism in reference to pregnancy

The title of the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a reference to the British author Virginia Woolf who was particularly famous for her novels and feminist writing. Virginia Woolf was mentally unstable due to traumatizing events which had occurred in her life, eventually leading her to commit suicide by drowning herself. This could be a metaphor to the way the characters in this play “drown” themselves in their lies. The title of the play can also be a possible allusion to Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf from the popular fairytale The Three Little Pigs. In my opinion, the “Big Bad Wolf” would be a metaphorical representation of the power, lies and secrecy in this play and how each character can handle them, emotionally and physically. Honey would be the first little pig who builds their house of straw. It is quite overt that Honey lacks intelligence and is fragile and weak. This is evident to the readers when Honey throws up at the end of Act 1, and Nick says “I…guess…she’s [Honey] all right. She…really shouldn’t drink. She’s…frail. Uh…slim-hipped, as you’d have it. I’m really very sorry” (Albee 99). Honey’s ability to cope with the power of the lies and suspense in this play is similar to a straw house, easily blown down and broken. Martha represents the second little pig who builds their house of sticks. Martha is tougher than Honey,

Martha constantly attempts to push George to his limits, but George knows where Martha is weak, so in response he pushes her to her psychological limits by killing their son. By doing this, he is metaphorically killing the lie which has governed Martha’s life and kept her psychologically happy. The third pig who builds their house out of bricks represents both George and Nick because both of them are hard to defeat. George is aware of the power in which the secrecy/lies have over Martha, Nick and Honey, and uses it as a weapon against them. This is shown when George “kills” their imaginary son in order to break Martha as well as when George reveals the secret Nick told him about the real reason why he married Honey in an attempt to break both Nick and Honey. In act 1, Martha shouts “You [George] pig!” (Albee 17) in which George responds “Oink! Oink!” (Albee 17). Also, in act 2, Martha calls George a “Cochon” (Albee 113) which in French means “pig”. Nickhowever, is cunning and clever;