'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf'

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 characters have incredible depth and inner complexities that Albee develops throughout the play. Through their escalating interactions, we witness how resentment in a marriage eventually bursts, sometimes in violent ways, and destroys it from within. √
The story …show more content…
She begins by stating that George is uncomfortable with “body talk” (Albee 28). She then ridicules him, “Paunchy over there isn’t too happy when the conversation moves to muscle…” (Albee 28). It is clear that George doesn’t want to talk about the match they had, but Martha continues anyway. The language she uses in her retelling portrays George as a reluctant competitor. At the behest of her father, they were learning to box, and George refuses to go up against him (Albee 28). While her father continues to pressure George to fight, Martha dons a pair of gloves and punches George in the jaw unannounced, toppling him (Albee 29). Both Nick and Martha laugh about it while Honey shakes her head. She expresses that this incident is an excuse for George, “…It’s what he uses for being bogged down, anyway…why he hasn’t gone anywhere” (Albee 29). During her story, George exists the stage and reenters with a short-barreled shotgun behind his back (Albee 30). He aims it at Martha with the intent to shoot, which frightens the young couple. It is revealed, however, that the gun is only a novelty toy that shoots a small Chinese parasol (Albee