A Discussion of Similarities and Differences
in the plays of Miller and Albee
– the beginning of the plays
-the ending of the plays
–plot
-Themes
-structure
-characters
Death of a Salesman
The main character’s work as car
salesman is very important to him and
his family for it is their major of income.
His family depends on him for everything
and the family man in him made him
stick to his pride 'til the very end even
when he lost his job.
Not one member of his family knew that
he had been fired from his work, his only
source of living to his family. He went on
with this day in and day out until there
came a time when it was obvious to
everyone that there wasn't any money
coming in to put food on the table.It was
this extreme feelings of desperation and
uselessness that drove the salesman
into depression and anxiety which
ultimately brought him to his untimely
death.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The play is set on the campus of a small, New
England university. Nick, actually works in the
biology department. He and his wife, Honey, walk
into a brutal social situation. Martha and George
try to fight and humiliate each other in new,
inventive ways. George and Martha use Honey
and Nick as pawns, transforming their guests
into an audience to witness humiliation, into
levers for creating jealousy, and into a means for
expressing their own sides of their mutual story.
These games get even nastier. The evening turns
into a nightmare. George and Martha even attack
Honey and Nick, attempting to force them to
reveal their dirty secrets and true selves. Finally,
in the last act, "The Exorcism," everyone's
secrets have been revealed and purged. Honey
and Nick go home, leaving Martha and George to
try to rebuild their shattered marriage.
Death of a Salesman
Who's Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?
The Salesman image was from the
beginning absorbed with the
concept that nothing in life comes
next, but that everything exists
together and at the same time
within us; that there is no past to be
‘brought forward’ in a human being
but that he is his past at every
moment and that the present is
merely that which his past is
capable of noticing and smelling
and reacting to.
The imaginary child reveals a deep
intimacy between these now bitterly
disappointed characters. They must
have
spent
years
together,
whispering various fantasies of
parenthood, dreams that would
never come true for either of them.
Then, in later years of their
marriage,
they
turned
their
illusionary son against one another.
They each pretended that the child
would have loved the one and
despised the other.
Death of a Salesman
Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?
The exhausted, idealistic man who
has visions of a great future for his
sons does not in the end come to
terms with reality, but retains his
hopes. To Willy, death is the only
answer. .
In the final line, George actually
becomes affectionate. He softly
sings, “Who’s afraid of Virginia
Woolf,” while she leans against
him. She confesses her fear of
Virginia Woolf, her fear of living a
life facing reality. It is perhaps the
first time she reveals her
weakness, and perhaps George is
finally unveiling his strength with
his willingness to dismantle their
illusions.
themes
The play is mostly told from Willy's point of view,
and it shows previous parts of Willy's life in his time
shifts, sometimes during a present day scene. It does
this by having a scene begin in the present time and
adding characters onto the stage that only Willy can see
and hear, representing characters and conversations from
other times and places. Many dramatic techniques are
also used to represent these time shifts.
The play's structure:
resembles a stream of consciousness account: Willy
drifts between his living room, downstage, to the apron
and flashbacks of an idyllic past, and also to fantasized
conversations with Ben.
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a
literary work.
1- The American Dream:
Willy believes wholeheartedly in what he considers the promise of the
American Dream—that a “well liked” and “personally attractive” man
in business will indubitably and deservedly acquire the material
comforts offered by modern American life. Oddly, his fixation with the
superficial qualities of attractiveness and likeability is at odds with a
more gritty, more rewarding understanding of the American Dream
that identifies hard work without complaint as the key to success
Abandonment
Willy’s life charts a course from one abandonment to the next, leaving
him in greater despair each time. Willy’s father leaves him and Ben
when Willy is very young, leaving Willy neither a tangible (money) nor
an intangible (history) legacy. Ben eventually departs for Alaska,
leaving Willy to lose himself in a warped vision of the American
Dream. Likely a result of these early experiences, Willy develops a fear
of abandonment, which makes him want his family to
conform to the American Dream. His efforts to raise perfect
sons, however, reflect his inability to understand reality.
Betrayal:
Willy’s primary obsession throughout the play is what he
considers to be Biff’s betrayal of his ambitions for him. Willy
believes that he has every right to expect Biff to fulfill the
promise inherent in him. When Biff walks out on Willy’s
ambitions for him, Willy takes this rejection as a personal
affront (he associates it with “insult” and “spite”). Willy,
after all, is a salesman, and Biff’s ego-crushing rebuff
ultimately reflects Willy’s inability to sell him on the
American Dream—the product in which Willy himself
believes most faithfully
Who's afraid of Virginia woolf?
( Themes)
Reality vs. Illusion:
Edward Albee has said that the song, "Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?" means "Who is afraid to live without
illusion?" At the end of the play, Martha says that she is.
Indeed, the illusion of their son sustains George and
Martha's tempestuous marriage. Ultimately, George
takes it upon himself to "kill" that illusion when Martha
brings it too far into reality. Throughout the play, illusion
seems indistinguishable from reality. It is difficult to tell
which of George and Martha's stories about their son,
about George's past are true or fictional. Similarly, Nick
and Honey's lives are based on illusion. Nick married for
money, not love.
Games and War
The title of the first act is "Fun and Games." That in itself
is deceptive, for the games that George and Martha play
with their guests are not the expected party games.
Rather, their games of Humiliate the Host, Get the
Guests, and Hump the Hostess which involves the
characters' deepest emotions. George's characterization
of these emotionally destructive activities as games and
assumption of the role of ring master reveals that all the
events of the evening are part of a power struggle
between him and Martha, in which one of them intends
to emerge as victorugh he looks strong and forceful, he is
impotent.
History vs. Biology
George and Nick's academic departments at New
Carthage College set up a dialectic in which Albee
presents a warning about the future of life. George is an
associate professor in the History Department, while Nick
is a new member of the Biology Department. Old, tired,
and ineffectual, George exemplifies the subject that he
teaches. What's more, he notes that no one pays
attention to the lessons of history just as Nick ignores
George's sincere advice, responding contemptuously, "Up
your!" Nick, as a representative of science, is young and
vital. In the words of George, he is the "wave of the
future." Through Nick and George's argument about
Biology and History, Albee demonstrates two clashing
worldviews. George's lack of success in the History
Department and inability to rise to power as successor
to the president of the college contrasts with Nick's
plans and The American Dream
The title of one of his earlier plays, the American
Dream was a significant concern of Albee's. In Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, he explores the illusion of an
American dream that masks a core of destruction and
failure. Writing during the Cold War, Albee was
responding to a public that was just beginning to
question the patriotic assumptions of the 1950's. His
George and Martha reference patriotic namesakes
George and Martha Washington. Albee uses this
symbolic first couple's unhappy marriage as a
microcosm for the imperfect state of America
Style:
A good part of the reason Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf? appeared so vibrantly new, so challenging, to
theatergoers in 1962 is the novel and often surprising
manner in which its author combined different theatrical
styles and techniques. In particular, Albee straddled a
divide between a predominantly naturalistic American
playwriting tradition of social criticism, and what was
beginning to be called the “Theater of the Absurd”
(Martin Esslin published a landmark study with that same
title in 1961). Philosophically almost all of Albee’s
dramatic writing is aligned with the absurdist idea that
human existence is essentially pointless
Characters:
Who's afraid of Virginia woolf?
Albee uses George and Martha to show the effects
when a society crams definitive, non-pliable gender
roles down the throats of women and men. Nick and
Honey’s presence shows that even those that strive
to be the ideal cannot sustain the image without
serious consequences. All four characters are
damaged irrevocably and act out via violence,
alcoholism and infidelity as substitutes for happiness
and ways to forge identity. Engaging in this behaviors
makes them feel something, anything when their
gender identity feels nonexistent. Being seductive
makes Martha feel like a woman and being violent
lets George play out his macho fantasies.
Who's afraid of Virginia woolf?
In this play, Edward Albee
presents a set of characters
who are supposed to have
received the best that modern
education can offer. However,
this very civilized and cultured
lot behaves in an extremely
uncivilized manner. This is an
important irony in the play.
George
like Martha, has had a
traumatized past. His story
about a school acquaintance
killing his mother and
Death of Salesman
Through the main
character in this play,
Willy Loman, Miller
examines the myth of the
American Dream and the
shallow promise of
happiness through
material wealth. The
family, couldn’t distinguish
between reality and
illusion, particularly
Willy.
Willy
He cannot see who he and
his sons are. He believes
that they are great men
who have what it takes to
father in an accident can be
seen as possibly autobiographical. At one point
Martha claims that it was
George who killed his parents
exactly the same way as the
boy in the story did. Her
caustic remarks about the
book he wrote and her
accusation that he is a
"murderer" provide more
evidence that George's story
is indeed his own. If so, his
actions and behaviors, as well
as his fear of life would all
make sense. George is in
retreat from the world.
be successful and beat
the business world.
Unfortunately, he is
mistaken. In reality,
Willy and sons are not,
and cannot, be
successful. Willy vey
often falls into a
flashback and appears to
be reliving conversations
and situations that
occurred years ago. This
shows his inability to
conversations and
situations that occurred
years ago.
The meaning of the title, Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, becomes
clearer as the play progresses, but so
far we know that it comes from a
joke at a cocktail party. The song
usually goes, "Who's afraid of the
big bad wolf?" Virginia Woolf was an
English writer during the first half of
the twentieth century. She wrote in
the style of stream-ofconsciousness, which tried to mimic
the thought patterns of her
characters. One might be afraid of
Virginia Woolf because she tries to
understand the intricacies of the
human mind and heart.
She is so honest that she might
frighten characters like George and
Martha, who hide behind their
insults. At the same time, her
writing is also very complex and
intellectual. Therefore, one might
be afraid of not understanding her.
In the competitive world of a
University, no one would want to
admit to being afraid to read
something by her. The title, then,
could also refer to the competition
that George feels at his job, and the
need that all people within that
academic environment have to puff
up their own intelligence.
-The Cold War:
Albee wrote Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? while America
was in the midst of the Cold War
with the U.S.S.R. The two nations
had teamed up against the Nazis
in WWII, but it didn't take long
for them to turn against each
other after they no longer had a
common enemy
-The American Dream:
In 1962, when Who's Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? premiered on
Broadway, America was still in a
the mindset of the 1950s. People
-Seeds:
Seeds represent for Willy the
opportunity to prove the worth
of his labor, both as a salesman
and a father. His desperate,
nocturnal attempt to grow
vegetables signifies his shame
about barely being able to put
food on the table and having
nothing to leave his children
when he passes. Willy feels that
he has worked hard but fears
that he will not be able to help
his offspring any more than his
own abandoning father helped
him.
worked, built, and multiplied
all in the name of the
American Dream. For many
Americans this meant
acquiring a happy stable
family, a happy stable house,
and (if you were a man) a
happy stable job.
Christian Rituals
Throughout the play there are
several Christian symbols as
well. The chiming of doorbell
is much like the chiming of
bells at a Catholic mass. Also,
the entire play takes place on
The seeds also symbolize Willy’s
sense of failure with Biff. Despite the
American Dream’s.
formula for success, which Willy
considers infallible, Willy’s efforts to
cultivate and nurture Biff went awry.
Realizing that his all-American
football star has turned into a lazy
bum, Willy takes Biff’s failure and
lack of ambition as a reflection of his
abilities as a father.
-Diamonds:
To Willy, diamonds represent
tangible wealth and, hence, both
validation of one’s labor (and life)
and the ability to pass material
goods on to one’s offspring, two
things that Willy desperately craves.
A Sunday. George also
shows off his Catholic
chanting skills when he
intones Kyrie Eleison and
the Dies Irae, both part of
the Requiem. Act 3 is called
"The Exorcism," which is
the Catholic practice that
supposedly evicts demons
or evil spirits from a person
or home. The spirit in
question in Act 3 is George
and Martha's "son.
Correlatively, diamonds, the
discovery of which made Ben a
fortune, symbolize Willy’s failure
as a salesman. Despite Willy’s
belief in the American Dream, a
belief
unwavering to the extent that he
passed up the opportunity to go
with Ben to Alaska, the Dream’s
promise of financial security has
eluded Willy. At the end of the
play, Ben encourages Willy to
enter the “jungle” finally and
retrieve this elusive diamond—
that is, to kill himself for insurance
money in order to make his life
meaningful.
-Religious Ritual
Pagan Rituals
Act 2 of the play is called
"Walpurgisnacht." That's a big word and
refers to a festival that occurs on April
30th in many European countries.
Though the holiday is now named after
the Catholic St. Walpurga, its rituals and
meanings are of pagan origin and it is
more closely associated with pagan
ritual than Catholicism. Walpurgisnacht
is a lot like Halloween, as it's an evening
for witches, spirits, and ghosts. Kids
even go out and play pranks. It's kind of
a tease though, because there's "tricks"
but apparently no "treats" in particular.
Tsk, tsk, Europe
Linda’s and The Woman’s
Stockings
Willy’s strange obsession with
the condition of Linda’s
stockings foreshadows his later
flashback to Biff’s discovery of
him and The Woman in their
Boston hotel room. The teenage
Biff accuses Willy of giving away
Linda’s stockings to The
Woman. Stockings assume a
metaphorical weight as the
symbol of betrayal and sexual
infidelity.
-Babies:
This play is chock full of baby
images. It seems like Albee slips
one in at least every other
page. First of all, George and
Martha call each other "baby"
all throughout the play. Martha
also calls Nick that a few times
too. One of those occasions is
the first time they kiss. Nick
touches her breast and she
pushes him away saying, "Take
it easy, boy. Down, baby."
New stockings are important
for both Willy’s pride in being
financially successful and thus
able to provide for his family
and for Willy’s ability to ease
his guilt about, and suppress
the memory of, his betrayal of
Linda and Biff.
-The Rubber Hose:
The rubber hose is a stage prop
that reminds the audience of
Willy’s desperate attempts at
suicide. He has apparently
attempted to kill himself by
inhaling gas, which is, ironically,
the very substance essential to
one of the most basic elements
with which he must equip his home for his family’s health and
comfort—heat. Literal death by inhaling gas parallels the
metaphorical death that Willy feels in his struggle to afford
such a basic necessity.