Act III Act III Scene I Martha a woman full of desperation and selfpity We see her starved for affection Marthas worship of her father has turned into admitting he cries all the time ID: 131101
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Slide1
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Act IIISlide2
Act III, Scene I
Martha: a woman full of desperation and self-pity.
We see her starved for affection.
Martha’s ‘worship’ of her father has turned into admitting he cries all the time. Slide3
Martha and George cry all the time too…alcohol metaphor signifies the painful cycle of their lives.Slide4
Act III, Scene II
Nick is a ‘flop’ in bed as we are told here.
Martha’s vulnerability…Nick’s sexual inadequacies. We are beginning to see the truth behind the act. Slide5
Martha & Nick
Martha calling the men she’s been with ‘poor babies’. Could they be a substitute for children themselves.
Martha’s suggestion to Nick that George is the only man that has satisfied her again evokes appearance and reality. Slide6
George & Martha
Martha: George ‘who has made…the mistake of loving me and must be punished for it.’
Does Martha see herself as unworthy of love and therefore despises anyone who would love her.
She sums the relationship up as: ‘George and Martha: sad, sad, sad.’ Slide7
Martha & Nick
Nick as a ‘gelding’ or castrated horse. Does this mean that Martha has destroyed Nick as well as George?
Why does Nick readily take on the role of houseboy? Is he desperate to get ahead? Or because Honey is still laid out in the bathroom.
The term Gigolo is a male prostitute. Could Nick be called one? Slide8
Act III, Scene III
George shouting flowers for the dead. This heralds the death of their son.
George & Martha attack Nick.
‘Pansies
!
Rosemary
!
Violence!’ again the violence references come out.Slide9
Truth & Illusion
The scene is littered with references to truth and illusion and Martha even makes the theme explicit here. Slide10
George
He was once the evenings ‘slave’ and now he has become the ‘master’.
George warns Martha that he will win. Slide11
Religious Allusion
Easter Sunday: the celebration of a resurrection; however George is planning a death. Slide12
ACT III, SCENE IV
Martha’s beautiful description of the child’s childhood is very poetic and a million miles from her crass side.
As this occurs, George recites a Catholic mass. Slide13
Honey’s change
‘I want a child’ – this suggests a change in the character o Honey in the play. Slide14
The Son
George & Martha once again blame each other for his problems.
The circumstances of his death mirror the ‘
bergin
’ story. Therefore, the first evidence of it being a myth.
Nick soon realises that the whole story was an invention. Slide15
The Child as Jesus
Some readers see the child as Jesus. He is killed by George to save the sins of mankind (George & Martha).
Even the eating of the telegram could be seen as a form of communion. Slide16
Infertility
George ‘We couldn’t’ – in reference to the fact that they can’t have children. Slide17
The reason behind the child
Some suggest that Albee uses the child to suggest that we need illusions (the child) in the modern world to avoid madness. Slide18
George & Martha
Does George kill the child because:
1) He is acting nobly and he wants to save Martha from her destructive fantasy of the child.
OR
2) He is punishing Martha for what she has done earlier in the play
. Slide19
Act III, Scene V
All of the plays drunken energy has now subsided and been replaced by an exhausted set of characters.
It’s all filled with uncertainty.
George sings Martha ‘Who’s Afraid…’ as a lullaby now. Slide20
Three Readings of the Play
1) Hopeful: now that they have ‘exercised’ their demons – and their vices & cruelty – they can move on with happier, more honest lives.
2) Bleak: George & Martha are totally defenceless against the world.
3) Ritual: George & Martha are simply completing the circle of horrible events that characterise all their evenings. It’s relatable to
absurdist theatre.