Margaret Edson Characters In Wit

Wit by Margaret Edson is a play about Dr. Vivian Bearing succumbing to advanced metastatic ovarian cancer. Edson herself has said that this is a play about grace. This theme is evident in Vivian’s gradual transition from graceless intellectual to gracious cancer patient; a transition which is accompanied by her finally understanding life and death from a human perspective, rather than a scholarly one. Edson uses literary foils and mirrors, the evolution of Dr. Bearing’s character, Vivian’s fourth wall breaking interjections and flashbacks, and John Donne’s poetry as important tools to convey the theme of grace throughout Wit. Edson uses Susie and Dr. Jason Posner to exemplify Vivian’s character at different points in the play and provide comparisons as she evolves along her journey to grace. It is quite obvious that Susie, Vivian’s nurse, is the kindest character in Wit, while Dr. Posner is, arguably, the harshest and least humane. Susie started out as Vivian’s character foil and Dr. Posner as …show more content…
Vivian Bearing is very evident as her cancer takes hold of her. Vivian is forced to set aside her academic superiority as her illness steals away her life. Edson shows Vivian craving human connection from Dr. Posner and it becomes apparent what she has without a doubt realized: wit is not a replacement for kindness. This revelation marks her transition from a cold intellectual to a gracious compassionate woman with the ability to love. Vivian says herself when she sees that her death is near, "Now is not the time for verbal swordplay, for unlikely flights of imagination and wildly shifting perspectives, for metaphysical conceit, for wit . . . Now is the time for simplicity. Now is the time for, dare I say it, kindness. I thought being extremely smart would take care of it. But I see that I have been found out”(69-70). Once Vivian realizes the importance of compassion, she is finally able to die peacefully and gracefully without any scholarly