The major theme of the play seems to be that cruelty and violence are not only inherent in the nature of Man but that they also play a significant role in some relationships. It's difficult to keep from wondering if the tone and depth of the relationship between George and Martha in the play was reflective of Albee's own past.

That doesn't seem to be entirely the case, however. Albee was adopted within a month of his birth into a very financially secure but emotionally depleted family. He left the home while still in his teens and did not return until the death of his mother some years later.

The characters in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are driven to mistreat each other so bitterly by a deep, nagging despair at the way their lives have evolved and the seeming lack of affection, combined with a deep need for attention, love and a sen

She has a vulnerable side as well, that doesn't appear until the last scene where the world that she has so laboriously constructed is revealed as being made of imaginary bricks. As she is comforted by George, she appears vulnerable and sad; needing to be sung to like a child.

The ending may be an excellent catharsis for the emotional tension of the play but it doesn't resolve anything. Given the fact that the couple have been drinking heavily throughout the night, that they have an established pattern of abuse and denial and that one moment in the light of reality does not necessarily mean walking in the sun forever. That is, the life they had would be too easy to return to (Martha makes noises that that is what she would prefer). Their son is dead but they could perhaps 'build' another one.

Another major problem in the relationship is that they encourage and perpetuate the use of alcohol as a screening device for their feelings for each other and their place in the world. Rather than confront the pain of not being able to have a child, they drink and 'perform' for (what is probably) any audience willing or forced into listening.

se of respect. The world inside the closed front room of the set allows for the airing of feelings that are repressed and regretted on a day to day basis. To ask, "was this true of Albee's early home life or the relationship between his adoptive parents?" is merely rhetorical. The only way he is talking is by writing.

Albee's seems to sum up the way George feels about himself and the world when he has him tell Nick, "You gotta have a swine to show you where the truffles are." Martha seems to be extremely afraid of aging and of dying. Her 'battle' with George is somewhat centered on her sexuality and desirability - which, along with her reputation for promiscuity and her obvious seduction of Nick, strengthens the argument that she is trying to hold on to a vision of herself as young, beautiful and desirable. Her fear of aging also shows in her occasional lapses into infantilism, such as when she 'whimpers', "I'm firsty".

As to the exorcism (or the expulsion of 'evil' spirits), there may have been a symbolic exorcism, or perhaps even the son has been exorcised from their lives, however, it is not clear whether George and Martha have truly been

Some topics in this essay:
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