Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Directed by Mike Nichols
Writing credits Edward Albee (play
[1962]) Ernest Lehman (screenplay)
Actors:
Martha: Elizabeth Taylor
George: Richard Burton
Nick: George Segal
Honey: Sandy Dennis
Runtime: 134 min
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Edward Albee
(American playwright,
1928- )
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Mike Nichols, American
comic and director (1931- )
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Virginia Woolf (British novelist
and writer, 1882-1941)
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
xxxxx
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
“Nichols’ Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?: Breaking the
Code”
David Lavery and Nancy Roche
Forthcoming in Modern American Drama on Screen, ed.
Robert Bray and R. Barton Palmer (Cambridge U P, 2013).
Available here;
http://davidlavery.net/Courses/2030/Handouts_Extras/Lavery_Roche_WAVW.pdf
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
At one point in the play Martha asks
Nick, “Do you always deal in
appearances?” In Who’s Afraid it is a
mistake to understand people based on
face values.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In a late scene of the play, George,
responding to the news that Honey is in
the bathroom peeling labels off liquor
bottles, comments “We all peel labels.”
Indeed, by the end of the night, the end
of the play, many labels have been
removed.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
The Life Lie
In Ibsen’s play The Wild Duck, the
character Relling argues for the
importance to the average individual of
the “life life”/”life illusion”:
If you take away make-believe from the
average man, you take away happiness as
well.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
When Martha suggests that her husband
cannot tell truth from illusion, George
replies “Yes, but we must carry on as
though we did.” Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf? forces the audience to decide on
the difference between truth and illusion
as well.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Insults:
“You make me puke.” (Martha to
George)
“I swear if you existed I’d divorce you.”
(Martha to George)
“Rubbing alcohol for you Martha?”
(George to Martha)
“. . . the apple of our three eyes,
Martha being a cyclops.” (George)
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
“My god I think I understand this. My god
I think I understand this.”
—Nick
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nick: You couldn’t have . . . any?
George: We couldn’t.
Martha (with a hint of communion): We
couldn’t.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
 "Get the guests." How precisely does one play this game?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
 "Get the guests." How precisely does one play this game?
 Is George’s novel true?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
 "Get the guests." How precisely does one play this game?
 Is George’s novel true?
 Martha suggests, hurtfully, it seems, that George thinks their
"son" may not be his? Is this true?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
 "Get the guests." How precisely does one play this game?
 Is George’s novel true?
 Martha suggests, hurtfully, it seems, that George thinks their
"son" may not be his? Is this true?
 Martha tells George that he cannot afford to waste liquor "on an
associate professor’s salary." What does it tell us about George
that he is still an "associate professor"?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
 "Get the guests." How precisely does one play this game?
 Is George’s novel true?
 Martha suggests, hurtfully, it seems, that George thinks their
"son" may not be his? Is this true?
 Martha tells George that he cannot afford to waste liquor "on an
associate professor’s salary." What does it tell us about George
that he is still an "associate professor"?
 Martha tells Nick she is an "earth mother." What is an "earth
mother?" Is she one?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Analyze Nick and Honey’s relationship? Do they have illusions
too?
 George threatens to have Martha "committed." Given what you
know about her at the end of the play, could he?
 "Get the guests." How precisely does one play this game?
 Is George’s novel true?
 Martha suggests, hurtfully, it seems, that George thinks their
"son" may not be his? Is this true?
 Martha tells George that he cannot afford to waste liquor "on an
associate professor’s salary." What does it tell us about George
that he is still an "associate professor"?
 Martha tells Nick she is an "earth mother." What is an "earth
mother?" Is she one?
 Nick tells George "You’ll regret this." He replies, "No doubt. I
regret everything." Explain.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
 Notice all the ways in which Nichols shows us Martha’s
uncouthness (some examples: the chicken leg, her
housecleaning techniques).
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
 Notice all the ways in which Nichols shows us Martha’s
uncouthness (some examples: the chicken leg, her
housecleaning techniques).
 Notice the lovely entrance of Nick and Honey as Martha brays
"God damn you."
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
 Notice all the ways in which Nichols shows us Martha’s
uncouthness (some examples: the chicken leg, her
housecleaning techniques).
 Notice the lovely entrance of Nick and Honey as Martha brays
"God damn you."
 What effect does George’s "mass for the dead" (including
recitation in Latin) have on the tone of the play?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
 Notice all the ways in which Nichols shows us Martha’s
uncouthness (some examples: the chicken leg, her
housecleaning techniques).
 Notice the lovely entrance of Nick and Honey as Martha brays
"God damn you."
 What effect does George’s "mass for the dead" (including
recitation in Latin) have on the tone of the play?
 When George insists he can’t take any more of Martha’s abuse,
she responds "Why not? You married me for it." What does she
mean? Is she right?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
 Notice all the ways in which Nichols shows us Martha’s
uncouthness (some examples: the chicken leg, her
housecleaning techniques).
 Notice the lovely entrance of Nick and Honey as Martha brays
"God damn you."
 What effect does George’s "mass for the dead" (including
recitation in Latin) have on the tone of the play?
 When George insists he can’t take any more of Martha’s abuse,
she responds "Why not? You married me for it." What does she
mean? Is she right?
 Why does Albee use all those one word repetitions: "clink,"
"snap," etc.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Notes and Queries (in no particular order)
 Nick tells George that he became a teacher for the "same things
that motivated you." "What were they?" George replies cynically.
Explain.
 Notice all the ways in which Nichols shows us Martha’s
uncouthness (some examples: the chicken leg, her
housecleaning techniques).
 Notice the lovely entrance of Nick and Honey as Martha brays
"God damn you."
 What effect does George’s "mass for the dead" (including
recitation in Latin) have on the tone of the play?
 When George insists he can’t take any more of Martha’s abuse,
she responds "Why not? You married me for it." What does she
mean? Is she right?
 Why does Albee use all those one word repetitions: "clink,"
"snap," etc.
 Why does this particular night result in "total war"?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In an early scene of the play George
confuses his and Nick’s wives’ names
and when corrected by Nick, observes
(redundantly but profoundly) that if he
were married to Honey he would know
what being married to Honey meant, and
if Nick were married to Martha he would
know what being married to Martha
means. As this scene suggests, Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is, in fact, a play
about marriage.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
There's only been one man in my life who's ever made me happy.
You know that? One. . . . George. My husband. . . . George who is
out somewhere there in the dark. Who is good to me. Whom I revile.
Who can keep learning the games we play as quickly as I can
change them. Who can make me happy and I do not wish to be
happy. Yes, I do wish to be happy. George and Martha. Sad, sad,
sad. Whom I will not forgive for having come to rest. For having seen
me and having said . . . ''Yes, this will do.'' Who has made the
hideous, the hurting . . . the insulting mistake of loving me. And must
be punished for it. Sad, sad, sad. Some day . . . some night . . . some
stupid liquor-ridden night I will go too far. I'll either break his back or
I'll push him off for good, which I deserve.
Martha
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nature is said to have required several
hundreds of thousands of years for the
selection of those species which now
seem to us adapted to their
surroundings. And yet we have the
presumption to suppose that all of a
sudden in the course of a single life we
may solve the problem of the adaptation
to one another of two highly organized
physical and moral beings.
--Denis de Rougemont, Love in the
Western World, Trans. Montgomery
Belgion (New York: Harper and Row,
1956): 303.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Married couples are not saints, and sin is
not some error which we may renounce one
of these days in order to adopt a more
accurate truth. We are unendingly and
incessantly in the thick of the struggle
between nature and grace; unendingly and
incessantly unhappy and then happy. But
the horizon has not remained the same. A
fidelity maintained in the Name of what does
not change as we change will gradually
disclose some of its mystery: beyond
tragedy another happiness waits. A
happiness resembling the old, but no longer
belonging to the form of the world, for this
new happiness transforms the world.
--Denis de Rougemont, Love in the Western
World
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Drama [Lavery]
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?