Virginia Woolf Essay

1405 words - 6 pages

Virginia Woolf

http://www.*.com/Reports/Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee
In Albee's play, he reveals the shallowness and meaninglessness of contemporary society, and exposes the falsity of "The American Dream". In doing this he refers to many different facets of society such as alcohol, social conventions, measures of success and corruption on a number of levels. Violence manifested in both language and action, reflect the frustration of the characters in not being able to live up to society's expectations. "The America Dream" is a life lived to, or close to, perfection. In brief, this perfect life is achieved by having a good education, go into a well paying career of which you enjoy, raising a family with the 2.5 children, and then finally dying in piece without ever having to look back on your life with disappointment. It is said that whoever has goals and sets them are capable of achieving them as long as they are willing to work hard for it. But "The American Dream" is just what is says, it is just a "Dream". It is a dream dreamt by many. An immigrant coming to America or any western civilization has these dreams. The dream of being able to live a life of perfection, a life of freedom. Edward Albee takes this "American Dream" and conveys it in it's true form in his play, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?. In writing this play, he exposes the falseness of "The American Dream" and shows the audience of what this "Dream" really consists of. When asked of what exactly "The American Dream" is, people often reply with uncertainty and doubt in their answers. "The American Dream" does have it's definition, but since it is only a "dream", reality in comparison is almost an exact opposite. Persons who are not familiar with this reality and still dream this dream, has been falsely informed, and do not know what the reality is. This reality is full of illusion, falseness, and deceit. In his play, Albee takes western society as a whole and places it under one household. He shows what western society is through his characters. He shows "The American Dream" in it's true form and not as it has been put out to be. In just one night, factors of western society are conveyed - violence, alcohol, lies, deceit, conflict, - along with those who participate. Through his characters, Albee was able to reveal the different types of people who make up society today. Each character represents the different approaches people have taken towards reality and life. Those who are still young and have not really experienced life and are therefore kind of clueless is represented by Honey while those who have had a good education, has a bright looking future ahead of them, and looks to become very successful, those who have been named "yuppies" are represented by Nick. He is "the wave of the future". In a sense, "The American Dream" is actually represented by Martha's farther who does not actually appear in the play but is frequently brought up into...

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