Edward Albee's play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" made a splash when it was first staged on Broadway. American guardians of morality were terribly outraged by the fact that family troubles were put on public display. In the middle of the 20th century, relations between spouses were to resemble a glazed cake with candied fruit. Even the slightest hint of any disagreement was strictly condemned.
The title of the play was no less surprising - not many understood what the English feminist writer was doing in it. Some wits even came up with a lunge in response: who does Virginia Wool fear? In fact, truth floats on the surface, but it is available only to those who are able to see the causes behind the visible consequence.
“Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”: An Analysis of the Relationship of a Man and a Woman
The play takes place one evening when the husband and wife, returning from the next boring reception, bring a guest to the house - a young couple whose relationship did not seem to go beyond mutual adoration. They unfold a whole performance in front of their eyes, quarreling and showering each other with insults, revealing the shocking details of their life together and simultaneously trying to seduce the spouses, who were crazy about such pressure. It seems that the relationship between Martha and George (the main characters) has long been cracked at all seams, showing the world mutual contempt and hatred. However, a deeper analysis reveals that behind all this lies a sophisticated psychological game, and even, oddly enough, a deep and tender feeling.
Screen adaptation of the play
In 1966, the film adaptation of the play by Albee “Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Took place. The film with the participation of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, whose family life was also very stormy, made no less sensation than the original. He received 5 Oscars: he was awarded both female roles, cameraman, artist and costume designer. But absolutely all actors were nominated for the prize, which had never happened before. Interestingly, the film became the super-debut of director Michael Nichols. For its time, it was so full of frank scenes that for the first time in the history of cinema, a remark “From 18 and older” was assigned to it.
What does Virginia Woolf have to do with it?
The name of the work of art is its roadmap, the shortest guide to the meaning and main idea. So we used to think, brought up on the greatest books. “The Brothers Karamazov,” “Master and Margarita,” “Romeo and Juliet,” immediately outline which characters need to be focused on. "Cherry Orchard", "Arc de Triomphe" is an allegorical reference in which the interior turns into an independent actor. But what is the meaning of the name "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" The performance and the film later released shocked the audience so much that nobody even thought about the presence in the work of the fifth character (except Martha, George and their two guests). But the English writer invisibly covers the entire course of the action.
Literature of the 20th century, keeping up with other forms of art, was constantly searching for new ways of expression. The mixture of psychoanalysis, reflection and aesthetic contemplation of life is called the "stream of consciousness." The epic sagas of Joyce, Proust, Eliot became the bible of a new generation. In this environment, Virginia Woolf took her rightful place.
The Inner World of Mrs. Dalloway
From early childhood, Virginia was haunted by severe depression. At the age of 13, her own cousins tried to rape her, then she survived the death of her mother. This pain, caused at a tender age, did not heal throughout life, leaving a rough imprint on the psyche. She devoted her activities in literature as a writer, publisher and critic to the removal of women from the shadow of male pride. The books of Virginia Woolf were included in the golden fund of world modernism. She was least interested in the plot and characters of the characters, she was constantly engaged in the study and close examination of what she called a "elusive personality."
And who is Virginia Woolf scared of?
Throughout her life, the writer suffered from headaches and bouts of hallucinations. Even a highly happy marriage with Leonard Woolf, based on full mutual respect and support of each other, did not save her from slipping into madness, which ended with an immersion in the cold waters of the Uz River. Through her heroes, she painfully tried to reconcile reality with her inner world, but the final reunion never happened. If you ask who Virginia Woolf is afraid of, the answer will lie in the depths of her shaken consciousness - herself.
Movie Reviews
Of course, in the first place, the game of the actors is striking in the film. And the audience and critics simply did not recognize in the recognized beauty with violet eyes this fury raging on the screen. The indescribable glow of passions keeps the viewer in constant tension cleaner than any thriller. Moreover, the performers of the supporting roles were at their best, creating the necessary background for the struggle between two characters torn by contradictions.
A considerable number of enthusiastic reviews have deserved and camera work. The film has a huge number of close-ups, and they are all different. In no frame is the facial expression repeated, the camera sensitively follows the work of each facial muscle. This creates a more real impression than the effect of presence. It seems that the viewer is not even invited to the room where the action takes place, but to the very soul of the heroes.
True, there are those viewers who did not appreciate the dramatic glow of the film "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Reviews in which family drama is represented by nothing more than empty chatter are few, but are still present on the forums. Most likely, the film could not appeal to those who in their family life even deny the possibility of open expression of feelings. Indeed, many are used to hiding their problems under the guise of external well-being and memorized smiles. And someone is not trying to understand the partner so much that it would never occur to him that there may be some kind of cracks in the life together.
For its time, the film became a spit in the direction of the Puritan public, imposing an obligation on family life to be happy and cloudless. He showed that the marriage of real, living people is very far from the ideal universe of Ken and Barbie. But at the same time he poses a serious question: is it possible to avoid such a situation when two loving people start playing dangerous games with their feelings, subjecting them to strength tests? Is this not from boredom? In order to tell readers where to find the clue, the author of the play introduced a non-existent character - a writer who devoted her whole life to the search for hidden psychic motives of behavior. Who is afraid of Virginia Woolf? The answer, as already mentioned above, is obvious: your inner world, which is able to destroy the fragile universe of the real. The literal translation of the play would have to sound like “I’m not afraid of Virginia Woolf,” that is, I’m not afraid to look into myself and accept the challenge of the real self-made-up.