In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and in A Streetcar Named Desire, Edward Albee and Tennessee Williams use fear and anxiety to present social criticism. Through symbolism, subtext and stage direction, high emotional tension becomes a focal point which allows audiences to question the morality of both the characters’ choices and their own.
Symbolism in both plays demonstrate fear of reality. In A Streetcar Named Desire, “delicate beauty” (1. 5) Blanche DuBois uses darkness as a method of illusion to hide her true mentally unstable nature. Just before this scene begins, Harold Mitchell, Blanche’s beau, has humiliated her by refusing to attend her party held at Stanley and Stella’s home. Suddenly, Mitch appears at the door and Mitch confronts …show more content…
Consequently, her fear of being caught lying lead to Blanche finally revealing her history of promiscuous behavior with men after the death of her husband, Allan Grey. Her actions and preservation of a false narrative allude to Tennessee Williams's criticism of female gender roles in A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche’s promiscuous nature signifies a sexual freedom that contrasts with whom Blanche believes she should be. Blanche sees her independence as a failure of womanhood, which questions the role of women’s dependence on men and is a social criticism at the time of the play’s publication. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the tune, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (sung to the tune of the Wheels on the Bus), is sung again and again through the play. Although originally seen as to relieve rising tension, the song finally reveals its purpose in the final lines of the play after George has killed his and Martha’s imaginary son. Throughout the play, it is revealed that Martha and George could not have children and to distract from the reality of their loss of potential, they fabricate the story of their child, a “blue-haired, blond-eyed” (1. 72-73) boy, to comfort themselves, promising to never share their creation with the outside world.
Symbolism in both plays demonstrate fear of reality. In A Streetcar Named Desire, “delicate beauty” (1. 5) Blanche DuBois uses darkness as a method of illusion to hide her true mentally unstable nature. Just before this scene begins, Harold Mitchell, Blanche’s beau, has humiliated her by refusing to attend her party held at Stanley and Stella’s home. Suddenly, Mitch appears at the door and Mitch confronts …show more content…
Consequently, her fear of being caught lying lead to Blanche finally revealing her history of promiscuous behavior with men after the death of her husband, Allan Grey. Her actions and preservation of a false narrative allude to Tennessee Williams's criticism of female gender roles in A Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche’s promiscuous nature signifies a sexual freedom that contrasts with whom Blanche believes she should be. Blanche sees her independence as a failure of womanhood, which questions the role of women’s dependence on men and is a social criticism at the time of the play’s publication. In Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, the tune, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (sung to the tune of the Wheels on the Bus), is sung again and again through the play. Although originally seen as to relieve rising tension, the song finally reveals its purpose in the final lines of the play after George has killed his and Martha’s imaginary son. Throughout the play, it is revealed that Martha and George could not have children and to distract from the reality of their loss of potential, they fabricate the story of their child, a “blue-haired, blond-eyed” (1. 72-73) boy, to comfort themselves, promising to never share their creation with the outside world.