Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

The 1966 film adaptation of Edward Albee’s stunning play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, ends with George and Martha clutching each other, while George sings “who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” As Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) looks off in the general direction of the camera, she answers slowly, “I am, George. I am.” The camera then zooms, until the frame becomes a close-up of Martha’s face. But the zoom doesn’t stop there—it continues, until George’s and Martha’s intertwining hands become the close-up, and then continues to zoom until the nature outside is in focus. Then, roll credits. This ending to the film is one way director Mike Nichols’ film adaptation stays mostly true to the original play, while still finding a way to be cinematic. There’s little doubt that the film version is a successful adaptation, but there were many points in the production process where everything could have fallen apart. The final product was only successful because Nichols (and screenwriter-producer Ernest Lehman) were willing to take risks. On March 5th, 1964, Warner Brothers purchased the rights to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? for $500,000 at the time ($3.8 million now). This was a highly controversial move on the part of Warner Brothers executive, Jack L. Warner, as Who’s Afraid of…

The Symbolism behind Who 's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Albee started his career of writing plays in New York where he became renowned for his work and received numerous awards for it. Albee is well known for his dramatic plays which one of them being Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf , which is centered around on the main couple being Martha and George. The couples get drunk and play games, but not ordinary games but games that take a whole new turn in the play. Albee…

Comedy and tragedy are often two sides of the same coin, black and white in nature, but in the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf this nature becomes a messy storm of whether we’re supposed to laugh, cry, or both. When we started reading this play, I had no doubt in my mind that it was a comedy. The conversations between George and Martha were sometimes cruel, but I saw it as banter that’s often seen in long-term relationships. However, the class reacted in quite a different way from me, they…

The play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf “by Edward Albee has a very significant meaning to the time period it was written in. The author uses this play as a method to allude to the issues America is facing during the 1960’s. To depict these concerns, the author indirectly refers to problems through the use of George and Martha, the older couple, and Nick and Honey, the younger couple. Albee uses multiple different aspects of the story to discuss with the audience about the social issues arising…

In Edward Albee’s play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, we witness an intoxicated and scathing bout of repressed emotions between four unique characters. Albee debuted his play on Broadway in 1962 to much critical acclaim (bio.com). It was later made into a motion picture, which also received many accolades (bio.com). This dramatic piece has endured to this day as a masterful work on the exploration of bitter resentment and emotional violence within a disintegrating marriage. All four…

Hard Core: How the struggle over censorship saved the modern film industry states that although Valenti stated that it was wrong to bicker over the content of a film in his memoirs, even though in 1966, he was “arguing with grown men and women over these matters” (Lewis, 2002). Furthermore, the widely publicized censorship case of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf was presented as a movie that received an “exemption”, even though the screenplay was edited involving the removal of the phrase “screw…

In both Victorian and contemporary literature the subordination of women leads to the breakdown of mental stability due to the patriarchal society and the social pressures that are attached. In who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf, Albee’s use of symbolic elements is given contemporary edge by the presence of social issues. Thus, as a parallel to the failure of communication within marriage there is a division created between the lifestyles of the two couples. The only way for George and Martha to…

they are perceived by others, that they let those expectations dictate their actions. Families, for instance, can tend to get compared to other families. This comparison can lead to feelings of inadequacy and long-term unhappiness. If every family were to compare themselves to another, changing their behavior to emulate, would a genuine family even exist? In Edward Albee’s play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, the reader is shown the implications of adjusting one’s persona to fit into a role…

In the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee, one can observe multiple acts of betrayal between characters. The main characters, and hosts of an unconventional convention, George and Martha are in a very unusual relationship. Bound by marriage, the couple seems to argue over nearly everything. They argue over things as important as their child to much smaller things such as a joke they had heard. In the play Martha and George betray one another multiple times, physically and…

People are greatly influenced and affected by their pasts; the past helps to shape who they are today. This theme reigns true in literature as well: Edward Albee, in his theatre of the absurd play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, uses Martha to show how her unfulfilling past has influenced and developed her into this woman who hides her sorrow and depression with a mask of cruelty and inhumanity. Through her tragic story, Albee utilizes Martha to illustrate the dangers of living life through…