Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Act III

2. Act III, Scene I • Martha: a woman full of desperation and self-pity. • We see her starved for affection. • Martha’s ‘worship’ of her father has turned into admitting he cries all the time.

3. Martha and George cry all the time too…alcohol metaphor signifies the painful cycle of their lives.

4. Act III, Scene II • Nick is a ‘flop’ in bed as we are told here. • Martha’s vulnerability…Nick’s sexual inadequacies. We are beginning to see the truth behind the act.

5. Martha & Nick • Martha calling the men she’s been with ‘poor babies’. Could they be a substitute for children themselves. • Martha’s suggestion to Nick that George is the only man that has satisfied her again evokes appearance and reality.

6. George & Martha • Martha: George ‘who has made…the mistake of loving me and must be punished for it.’ • Does Martha see herself as unworthy of love and therefore despises anyone who would love her. • She sums the relationship up as: ‘George and Martha: sad, sad, sad.’

7. Martha & Nick • Nick as a ‘gelding’ or castrated horse. Does this mean that Martha has destroyed Nick as well as George? • Why does Nick readily take on the role of houseboy? Is he desperate to get ahead? Or because Honey is still laid out in the bathroom. • The term Gigolo is a male prostitute. Could Nick be called one?

8. Act III, Scene III • George shouting flowers for the dead. This heralds the death of their son. • George & Martha attack Nick. • ‘Pansies! Rosemary! Violence!’ again the violence references come out.

9. Truth & Illusion • The scene is littered with references to truth and illusion and Martha even makes the theme explicit here.

10. George • He was once the evenings ‘slave’ and now he has become the ‘master’. • George warns Martha that he will win.

11. Religious Allusion • Easter Sunday: the celebration of a resurrection; however George is planning a death.

12. ACT III, SCENE IV • Martha’s beautiful description of the child’s childhood is very poetic and a million miles from her crass side. • As this occurs, George recites a Catholic mass.

13. Honey’s change • ‘I want a child’ – this suggests a change in the character o Honey in the play.

14. The Son • George & Martha once again blame each other for his problems. • The circumstances of his death mirror the ‘bergin’ story. Therefore, the first evidence of it being a myth. • Nick soon realises that the whole story was an invention.

15. The Child as Jesus • Some readers see the child as Jesus. He is killed by George to save the sins of mankind (George & Martha). • Even the eating of the telegram could be seen as a form of communion.

16. Infertility • George ‘We couldn’t’ – in reference to the fact that they can’t have children.

17. The reason behind the child • Some suggest that Albee uses the child to suggest that we need illusions (the child) in the modern world to avoid madness.

18. George & Martha • Does George kill the child because: • 1) He is acting nobly and he wants to save Martha from her destructive fantasy of the child. • OR • 2) He is punishing Martha for what she has done earlier in the play.

19. Act III, Scene V • All of the plays drunken energy has now subsided and been replaced by an exhausted set of characters. • It’s all filled with uncertainty. • George sings Martha ‘Who’s Afraid…’ as a lullaby now.

20. Three Readings of the Play • 1) Hopeful: now that they have ‘exercised’ their demons – and their vices & cruelty – they can move on with happier, more honest lives. • 2) Bleak: George & Martha are totally defenceless against the world. • 3) Ritual: George & Martha are simply completing the circle of horrible events that characterise all their evenings. It’s relatable to absurdist theatre.