Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? A study of a passage in Act One (pp.

58-62, 28-30)
Carmen Dez Salvatierra tudiante Erasmus American contemporary Theatre

1. Introduction: the place of this passage in the play

The passage I'm going to analyse is in the middle of Act One: Fun and Games. Even if we are at the beginning of the play is very important to understand what actually is going to happen, that's why I would say that this passage constitues itself a sort of prolepsis at the moment when George decides to take the gun as a way to rebel against his wife Martha. At this moment in the play, Martha has just revealed her fascination for Nick's physicality and is one of the first scenes in which we can discover hidden sexual allusions. Just after this, Martha tells Nick and Honey a story about a boxing match that shows George's physical incapacity and how Martha finally punch him in the jaw, not on purpose. After George had been humiliated, he takes a fake gun and puts it at the back of Martha's head crying POW!. Problmatique, it would be: How does Martha humiliate George through the boxing story?

2. A study of the characters / language through their interventions

In this passage, Martha is the dominant speaker (speaking 14 times), then goes Nick (9 times), George and Honey (3 times). They all use language as a power tool, specially Martha and George, to ble controlled and possessed, to be a victim (in this case, George) and a victimizer (Martha). Martha begins mocking of George by calling him Paunchy. She wants George to humiliate himself by telling Nick and Honey about the boxing match they had twenty years ago, but George refueses and Martha goes on. She talks about her paternal figure as the perfect man, that considers a man has to keep up his body and his brain. Her daddy wanted to box with George but he didn't, and Martha, as I said, punch George with her gloves just in the jaw. Nick acts as a spectator, but he also participates in Martha's conspiracy against George, by saying yes, yes or uhh. On the contrary, Honey seems to fell worried about George when she say Is he...all right? but then she wants to listen to the story as Nick does.

George seems to get bored with this situation, and he talks twice at the beginning and then at the end. He's actually tired even upset, that's why he said Christ! when Martha asks him to tell the boxing story, she tries again but he only says You tell them, Martha, you're good at it. What actually George is trying to say is that Martha is good at humiliating him. After this, the conversation will be between Martha and Nick.

3. A question of competitive masculinity and gender roles

The passage is based on a boxing story George and Martha had twenty years ago. By telling the boxing story, Martha is showing the incapacity of George (in physical terms) to play with her daddy. Martha considers her daddy as the perfect man, there's a moment (but not in this passage) in which she say they had a perfect relationship and how much she adored him. Throughout the play we notice that Martha thinks her father is a successful man, and she can't stand George being not so ambitious. Her aim is to underline that George has a passive role in their relationship, and we cannot forget that this passive role has always been associated with women, not with men. By telling the boxing story, Martha is comparing Nick and George different masculinities, and I would say that she's actually trying to oppose them. When we first read this passage, we see how George is flabby and unfit, as if he would have failed in his role as a man, not being able to boxing with his father-in-law. On the other hand, Nick is fit and in shape, and is supposed to be more masculine because he likes boxing and not tennis, as George does. But we will see that Nick is not so masculine at the moment he has the sexual encounter with Martha he's impotent. At first, Martha admires Nick's physicality and he feels attracted by her cause she's not a prudish at all, as Honey is. According to Butler's Gender Trouble, gender is performatively produced and compelled by the regulatory practices of gender coherence, and there's no gender coherence in George, this is what infuriates Martha. Nevertheless, at the end of this passage George changes this passive role conpletely. So it exists an opposition between both masculinities, but we should not forget about their professions: George is an History professor, Nick is a Biology one. Not only are they opposed by their different ways of performing masculinity, but also the way they look at the world they live in.

3. Humiliate the host: the first game is over

The Act's name, fun and games, tell us that Martha and George are aware of their own performance, even if this performance is sometimes painful for them. At the moment George takes the shotgun, which is a fake one, he's changing his passive gender role into a subversive one. In other words, the verbal violence of Martha while she's telling the box story POW! I hadn't mean it...honestly. Anyway...POW! Right in the jaw is transformed into performed violence by George, when he puts the gun at the back of Martha's head saying POW! again. This act represents his first revenge against his dominant wife, then he will take part on Get the guests and the last revenge would be that of George killing their son. In my opinion this scene with the gun could be considered as a prolepsis of which is going to happen with George. The red-andyellow Chinese parasol could be a metaphor of aggressiveness and hate. There are obvious reactions to this scene: Nick and Honey are both very shocked, Martha call him bastard but immediately ask him for a kiss. Both Martha and George are aware of this game, but it doesn't mean that is not a dangerous way to hurt each other.

4. What actually underlies: Martha's sterility and George's so-called failure

Martha is actually trying to hide her incapacity to have children (she's sterile) and maybe that's why she plays a dominant role with George. In their own conjugal war they change roles. George seems to be not so passive when he decides to kill their son. This is the way to purificate their marriage, but also a way to struggle hard to get on in marriage. At the end we have the impression that George has won the last game. As a conclusion, in this scene shows how George is able to rebel against the dominant Martha by taking the gun as a revenge, after being humiliated. While Martha considers Nick as the alpha man, George shows his metaphorical power, subverting his previous gender role as a passive man.