'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf!'
'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf!'
Having seen the conclusion to 'Who's afraid of Virginia woolf,' I can now comment upon the central relationship between George and Martha.
Firstly George is unsuccessful in his career. His wife Martha is the daughter of the president of the university, and it had originally been the presidents plan to groom George as his successor. George however failed to become the head of the history department, so therefore, Martha is disappointed by his failure, and nags at him continually, for his failed success.
Through out the play Martha uses total admiration to get at George because "He is not the history department." Martha then goes on to tell Nick and Honey why George does not like her father, as she believes that George is resentful of him for his success. "And Daddy built this college... I mean, he built it up from what it was... it's his whole life. He is the college".
As you can distinguish from the play, Martha defends her father, and looks up to her him as 'the one who runs the place'. This causes arguments between George and Martha, as she likes to remind him of his failures, and he retaliates by insulting her father.
The way that George and Martha react to each other, is constantly arguing in the presence of their guests. It is a constant battle between them, both using their sarcastic comments against one another to win their battle.
During the course of the play, Nick and Honey are both used by George and Martha. George tries his best to cause trouble with Nick and Honey's relationship.
In Act One, Martha and George meet their guests for their first time and they make no attempt to avoid embarrassing them with their quarrel.
Firstly, when Nick ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
The way that George and Martha react to each other, is constantly arguing in the presence of their guests. It is a constant battle between them, both using their sarcastic comments against one another to win their battle.
During the course of the play, Nick and Honey are both used by George and Martha. George tries his best to cause trouble with Nick and Honey's relationship.
In Act One, Martha and George meet their guests for their first time and they make no attempt to avoid embarrassing them with their quarrel.
Firstly, when Nick and George are alone together, George is deliberately offensive towards Nick and his motives are not explained. It is part of his quarreling with Martha to insult the guests who she has invited. By his behavior, it shows the sort of relationship that George and Martha have, as he is being rude to Martha's guests to make them feel uncomfortable in her home, just to get one over her, for his own victory.
However, Martha then uses Nick, by constantly flirting with him just to annoy George. Martha returns dressed with deliberate seductiveness, revealing her intentions towards Nick. The flirting starts when Martha says "You look like you still got a pretty good body now, too... is that right? Have you?" From this point George knows what is going on between them, and tries his best to get his own back. In Act Two, George pretends not to care at all, so Martha takes it one step further and uses Nick, and wants to make love with him, but it appears that Nick is drunk to succeed.
Nick and Honey are both dragged into their arguments, as they are never told the truth. George and Martha keep playing games, and never say whether the telling the truth or if it's an illusion.
Martha and George's quarreling and cruel behaviour is a deliberate tactic agreement, as kind of a game. Hence the title for Act one being 'Fun and Games.' They play a game where they pretend they have a son, by making imaginary plans. This, unlike their quarrels which are sometimes public, is private and their rule is to not talk about their son to anyone else. However, Martha broke the rules, by telling Honey about her son, so therefore as George sees it she has to face their consequences.
In Act Three, after Martha tries to make love to Nick, the doorbell rings and it is George with some "flowers for the dead", he says in Spanish.
As there are a lot of games all through the play, George proposes a final game, 'bringing up baby'. George then announces that the son is dead and he then uses Honey by getting her to tell Martha that her son is dead. George then forces Honey to confirm that the telegram did arrive about their son's death.
George stops playing the game where they have a son, because Martha broke their rules, so therefore the son is dead. As you can see he uses Honey to get to Martha, like she did with Nick. The son's death has an effect on Martha, so George will see this as him winning the battle between them.
To conclude, George and Martha have the type of relationship, where they like to get one over each other. It is war between them, where they are both fighting one another to win their constant battle. They both like to irritate each other, by saying nicknames, as
Martha calls George a "Swamp."
However, right through the play, in my opinion, their progress of their relationship changes. In Act one, its all about 'fun and games' between them. Then in Act Two, Martha wins by talking about George's failures, especially his non successful book. But in Act Three, George wins, with their death of the son.
On the other hand, before Martha finds out about her son, she expresses disgust with herself and her sexual adventures by telling Nick that her husband, despite appearances, is the only man who ever made her happy. Also in Act Three, George and Martha are finally on each others side by humiliating Nick and discussing and debating his status as 'houseboy.'
