Discuss the role of illusion in the marriages portrayed in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

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Discuss the role of illusion in the marriages portrayed in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Literature in the 1950s and 1960s was concerned with the inevitability of failure, and that idealism is unachievable. The French writer Sartre developed a new genre in theatre known as existentialism, which criticizes insularism, and disputes the futility of human existence. The drama of this era, the Theatre of the Absurd, mirrored these ideas in an often surreal manner. Albee often combines the Theatre of the Absurd with some realism. He wrote Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf in the 1960s, the period of the Cold War, when the public was beginning to doubt the nationalistic notions of the 1950s. One of the major themes explored is the role of illusion, especially in the relationships between the characters.

Martha and George's relationship centres on their imaginary son in an effort to alleviate the pain of their inability to conceive, and therefore keep their relationship intact. Their 'son' is their creation: "our child". However, Martha broke the rule: she "mentioned it to someone else". She explains: "[crying] I FORGET! ...I... want to mention him ...I've wanted to so often." Pathos is created as her reaction demonstrates how desperate she was to make their son real. Their son is not the same figure in both their minds: Martha claims he has "green" eyes, George remarks "blue, green, brown", hinting their son is fake and they can make him into whoever they want. The heart of this delusion seems to be what novelist Kurt Vonnegut Jr. identified as "foma," or "harmless untruths, intended to comfort simple souls."
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Martha's relationship with her father seems to be close and loving on the surface. She conveys great appreciation and devotion for her father: "Jesus, I admired that guy! ... I absolutely worshipped him. I still do." Martha does not want to be "...disappointing to Daddy", yet what transpires from George's scorn is "a misunderstood little girl" whose father "doesn't give a damn whether she lives or dies". From a psychoanalytical standpoint, this reveals that perhaps Martha's constant jeering at George being "a flop" is powered by her seeking to try and gratify her father. Her illusion of her ...

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