Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Michael Y. Bennett

Author:Michael Y. Bennett
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

George and Martha

Though Jennifer Gilchrist astutely sees the relationship between George and Martha as representing a “sex war” both inside and outside of a play that is ultimately about “sex and power,”8 this relationship can also be expressed more simply as a battle of wits and intellects between equals. Seeing Martha as an equal does not mean that she is, say, a female version of George, or something to that effect. George and Martha are both fiercely intelligent interlocutors, particularly in their verbal jousting with one another. “George and Martha, Martha and George” are inseparable, for better or worse.

Mona Hoorvash and Farideh Pourgiv argue that “By allowing Martha to playfully theatricalize various aspects of her life, Albee demonstrates the possibility of representing women and feminine pleasure in a new way …”9 While the two sling daggers at one another—and, as noted by Roudané, “mixing self-disclosure with self-awareness”10—the two, I argue, are also so self-denigrating that we understand their sadomasochistic tendencies simultaneously produce pleasure and pain. The two are like jazz musicians in a discordant call-and-response, riffing on their own and each other’s phrases:

GEORGE:(Returning with HONEY and NICK’s drinks) At any rate, back when I was courting Martha, she’d order the damnedest things! You wouldn’t believe it! We’d go into a bar … you know, a bar … a whiskey, beer, and bourbon bar … and what she’d do would be, she’d screw up her face, think real hard, and come up with … brandy Alexanders, crème de cacao frappes, gimlets, flaming punch bowls … seven-layer liqueur things.

MARTHA:They were good … I liked them.

GEORGE:Real lady-like little drinkies.

MARTHA:Hey, where’s my rubbing alcohol?11

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