86 pages • 2 hours read
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
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Summary and Study Guide
Overview
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which opened in 1962, was the first full-length play by Edward Albee (1928-2016), one of the most significant American playwrights of the 20th century. In 1966, the play was adapted into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor as Martha, Richard Burton as George, George Segal as Nick, and Sandy Dennis as Honey.
Albee’s work demonstrates the influence of Theatre of the Absurd and the philosophy of Absurdism, though Albee resisted the label in a 1962 essay in The New York Times. Absurdist theatre was a loose post-World War II movement in which playwrights grappled with Postmodern sensibilities, particularly in the wake of the Holocaust. These works reflect the ideas that French philosopher Albert Camus proposes in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942). Camus compares human existence to the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus, who enrages the gods and must spend eternity rolling a boulder up a hill that only endlessly rolls back down. Camus argued that life is meaningless; the absurd arises from the clash between that truth and humanity’s innate refusal to accept it.
Stylistically, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is especially innovative because Albee seamlessly integrates Absurdism with the conventions of American Unlock all 86 pages of this Study Guide Plus, gain access to 8,900+ more expert-written Study Guides. Including features:
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By Edward Albee
