Reality versus Illusion in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Essay

Reality versus Illusion in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? In his play, The American Dream, Edward Albee unveils a tortured family that is symbolic of the reality beneath the illusion of the American dream. In Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Albee takes a more traditional approach than the theater of the absurd, and his nomenclature is more natural, but he returns to this theme with a vengeance. For in solely of drama there be few plays about domestic relationships that are as caustic, violent and as poisoned with the milk of human bitterness, cynicism and pessimism as is Woolf. The apologue regards George and Martha, a married couple (he a history professor and she the University Presidents daughter). verbally and emotionally George and Martha are as skilled at cutting each other without going for the final kill as much as a professional torturer trained to prolong his victims agony. Into this volley of abuse summon Nick and Honey, a young couple who also share a vision of the American dream, but Albee portrays Nick as the victor in his battles with George because George is of the old school and Nick has already been indoctrinated into the new American finishing of capitalism for its own sake. The theme of the play, other than touching on the disillusionment of the American dream for the younger generation, and a robotic-like acceptance of the evolved capitalized version by the older generation, is that each of the components in the play, like each of us in real life, are destined to struggle through our own individualized hell, a struggle that we face alone It becomes clear that each character is engaged in an isolated struggle through a personalized hell (Murphy 1113). The plot centers around George and Marthas p... ...e his themes in the play. Truth versus illusion, reality versus perception, and sum of money versus inability to come together are the main themes the author chooses to highlight throughout the work. In the end, once all illusions have been stripped or peeled away, Martha and George have a chance to come together in an effort to save their marriage. As Martha says to end the play in reaction to Georges singing Whos afraid of Virginia Woolf I...am...George...I...am... (Albee 242). Only from this point of truth can George and Martha foretaste to save their troubled marriage. WORKS CITED Albee, E. Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. rising York Signet, 1962. Carter, S. Albees Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? The Explicator. Vol. 56. June 22, 1998, 215-218. Murphy, B, ed. Benets Readers Encyclopedia. New York HarperCollins Publishers, 1996.