“Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf” is a play written in 1966 by Edward Albee, this play makes

strong comment on the reality in the truth behind the American dream. More specifically how
the dream is able to hide all the failures and mistakes while keeping a perfect social profile to
present to the communities. The relationships are constructed on false hopes or simple
illusions and inevitably fail to support the large personalities of the female characters.
Ambition is strong within every person yet in this play the ambitions seem to be ilformed or
misshapen by running after their own desires rather than their true goals. Disillusionment
occurs to every person in the play whether it be in the fleeting illusion of a son or the illusion
of possibly having children.

Just as in reality the relationships depicted in “who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf” are
complicated, intertwined and explosive. The relationship between George and Martha, the
older and supposedly “perfect” couple is quite the opposite behind closed doors. While they
pretend that everything is perfect the play reveals to us that the relationship is held together
on the fleeting illusion that they have a son. Even with this attachment the couple bicker and
even go to the extent of cold war esq fighting in front of Nick and Honey. Their fighting can
be described as “daggers across the room that almost always draw blood” (“Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? Tone | Shmoop”). Martha wears the pants in the relationship and controls
George often telling him to shut up, or by calling him demeaning names such as “old bog”
(“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Full Movie”). Furthermore, she does not respect what he
says:

George: Don’t shoot your mouth about you know what.

Martha: Ill talk about any goddamn thing I want to

(“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Full Movie”)

She further degrades him by saying that he makes her sick. Martha and George play the
stereotypical role of the perfect American dream styled couple yet in truth they are hiding
darker more worrying secrets and anxieties (“A Summary and Analysis of Edward Albee’s
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”). Between George and Martha there is the hidden anxiety
of sterility as well as not being married for love or attraction. There is no love between
Martha and George thus they created their own perfect reality with the invention of their son.
Just as Martha and George assumably struggle with sterility Nick and Honey have their own
traumatic experiences surrounding children. Nick and Honey marry due to her being
pregnant, soon after Nick finds out that it was a phantom pregnancy, since divorce is not an
option, they remain married. In the final act of the play, we see Honey drunk, crying and
screaming about how she does not want to have children, this decision was one-sided and
controlling, thus perpetuating the powerful control that the women in these relationships have
over the men.

Ambition is described as the strong wish or will to achieve something. Everyone has their
own internal ambitions as well as ambitions pertaining to the relationships, they involve
themselves in. Nick, Honey, Martha and George all have the same ambition, the American
dream. White picket fences, happily married, children, owning their own house and being
their own boss. These are a few of the goals pertaining to achieving the American dream.
Their ambitions are clouded by incorrect decisions and moments they regret. George even
says, “no doubt I regret everything” (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Full Movie”). If
George was truly ambitious, he would progress through his failures and stand up against
Martha and the illusion they have created. George has lost all ambition due to his past eating
him up. George also forms new ambitions, like his book, this was an ambitious pitch towards
Martha’s father, yet he turned him down and destroyed the dream. Just as George has no
ambition, Nick is quickly losing his ambition. This is due to his turbulent relationship with
Honey. The relationship is built on yet another illusion and will not be able to flourish or
produce the perfect American dream. None of the characters have any personal ambitions left
and are rather trying to display the American dream rather than live their own lives. The
stability of their mental states are all reliant on illusions rather than chasing an ambition.

Everyone has failures, but the true strength comes from taking the failure in your stride and
then continuing to flourish. George began his life as a stereotypical failure as a son after
accidentally killing both of his parents, this guilt and failure follows him and festers within to
the point where he makes up a story about it being one of his friends from school. George
then attempts to write a book about it but before publishing Martha’s dad rips the project
away from him. Even within the illusion that is George and Martha’s son they have failed as
parents. George mentions many times how Martha was controlling and had no respect for his
privacy to the point where their “son” ran away twice within the same month. Both couples
failed within their marriages as they did not marry for love. Nick and Honey failed in their
attempt to be parents, with Honey having experienced a phantom pregnancy she did not even
want to try and have children after that. This emphasised the “failure of a mother who was in
a constant conflict between motherhood and sterility” (“Illusion in Edward Albee Selected
Play ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ :: Science Publishing Group”). This is indicative of
the failing marriage between the young couple. While both men are involved in unsuccessful
in their marriages, George is also unsuccessful and a failure at his job. He has had a stable
position within the history department, yet his dream is to be the history department. Even
with holding his job position there are no signs of his status ever have improved. In the third
act it is illuded that Nick and Martha sleep with one another, George comments on this by
asking if he “sacked Martha” in the hopes of improving his status at the university as she is
the president’s son. Yet even if this had been the case, George still failed to raise up in status
at the history department. Everyone inevitably fails in terms of having a successful life as
they are all now reliant on alcohol to get them through their days. The night starts with a
party, a normal event people use to distract themselves from the truth, as the night goes on
the couples continue drinking to the point that Honey throws up. After being sick Honey goes
right back to drinking brandy claiming, “brandy makes me feel stable” (“Who’s Afraid of
Virginia Woolf? Full Movie”). At a deeper level Albee’s characters are all losers in the
modern tale of life.

Disillusionment occurs when you are disappointed after discovering the truth behind
something you once liked or respected. The major disillusionment in “who’s afraid of
Virginia Woolf” is the entire storyline of Martha and George’s son. He was a phantom
conjured by George and Martha as an attempt to save their broken marriage. (“A Summary
and Analysis of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”). This disillusionment is
of course destroyed by George in the last moments in the play when he tells her that he has
passed away. This illusion of a child between Martha and George was the only thing keeping
them together, while they are both aware that the son is fiction George near the end of the
play claiming that their son has passed put the lid on the ever-over-boiling pot that was their
relationship. George effectively “ends his son’s life” and thus also ends the illusion of their
relationship. The play is carefully crafted to “position us to see the negatives and destructive
nature of a life of illusions.” (Bansal). We watch idly by as Martha, George, Nick and Honey
all destroy their relationships by living in a world of disillusion. Just as the relationships had
their own disillusionment there was also evidence of this between Nick and Honey as a pair
and Martha and George. The younger couple had respect and excitement to be invited back to
this perfect couple’s house for extra drinks, however upon arrival the illusion is shattered.
Martha and George in their natural habitat are far from the stereotype they portray; thus, the
disillusion is gone when the couple arrives. They are disappointed to see what their own
future could possibly be if their relationship is not improved. Illusions may be a temporary
solution yet “self-delusions lead to more destruction and stasis in an individual’s life”
(Bansal). George allows his own self-delusions to “win” during act 1 when he picks up the
prop gun and “shoots” it at Martha. This action is evident of his true feelings towards Martha,
yet he replaces the illusion with a joke rather than be serious. Living in a life of illusion can
also cause confusion within. This is evident in Honey’s suffering to decide whether she wants
children. In act 3 she is drunk and while Martha explains the fake story of her son’s birth
Honey becomes emotional claiming that she wants a baby, she too is living in an illusion. Her
illusion is internal, and she denies her own true feelings that will reveal the illusion she has
built “this is shown by her overconsumption of alcohol, symbolic of a psychological solvent”
(Bansal) Overall the illusions that the couples live in are nothing but disillusionment.

The life goal of most Americans is to live the ultimate “American dream”, as mentioned
before, the perfect house, perfect family and perfect job. This play comments on this by
showing that there is deeper truths and secrets that are hidden by the outwardly portrayal of
the “perfect” family. However, this stereotype is not how Investopedia describes it: “anyone
can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for
everyone” (“What Is the American Dream? Examples and How to Measure It”). Martha and
George outperform themselves in creating an image for their own benefit in the light of being
the perfect American dream. They have the expansive house, large beautiful green lawn, “a
child” and a happy marriage. We know however that besides the house none of this is true,
they have further created a disillusion against themselves as they are disappointed in what
they received out of the expectations they had. While they are living in an illusion of what
they show to be the American dream they are also conforming to the inherent culture of their
community. The perfect couple illusion is also supported by George working at the university
and Martha being the president of the university’s daughter. This is a stereotypical match
with a simple meeting story that is not complicated, very untrue compared to reality. Honey
and Nick further perpetuate the illusion of the American dream as they remain married even
after the phantom pregnancy has passed. In the 1960s it was unheard of to get divorced thus
they remained together and remained unhappy while keeping their social portfolio intact.
These portfolios of American dreams can hide intense and unacceptable errors and traits such
as alcoholism, infidelity and conflict. These issues are all present in the play with the
infidelity presumably occurring between Nick and Martha. The material measures of success
hide the imperfections that should be addressed. (“Illusion in Edward Albee Selected Play
‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’ :: Science Publishing Group”)

In conclusion the complicated illusions created to fulfil the so called perfect American dream
simply led to relationship conflicts, failure to remain ambitious and disillusionment. “who’s
afraid of Virgina Woolf”, provides comment on the secrets that lie behind closed doors with
the illusion of a son keeping Martha and George together and a phantom pregnancy being the
only reason Honey and Nick got married. The play ultimately proves that nothing is ever as it
appears to be and that perhaps the American dream is not what persons should aim for.
Furthermore, relationships should not be constructed on illusions as clear in the play. The
ever-toxic Martha and George’s relationship gives a tension filled and hostile environment
that Nick and Honey have no idea about until they are already included into the disaster.