Topic > The character who wasn't there: the dad in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf"

In the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee meticulously constructs dad as an ever-present character linked to the representation of the themes main characters of the show. Albee uses Dad's looming but absent presence to bring out traits in other characters and also to depict their relationships in a particularly stark light. Dad is almost lifelike in the relationship between George and Martha, and at the same time serves as a supernatural, imaginary presence that draws attention to rituals, cycles, conflicts and escapism, thus bringing to life the ideology behind the theater of Albee's nonsense. to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay On a superficial level, mostly, Dad turns out to be an important factor in Martha's life, supported by her talking about her "relationship" with him. The audience also sees its importance to her in the fact that Martha wants her son's eyes to be green, since "daddy's eyes were green too." At the same time, dad is Martha's trump card, the last word in any argument with George. When he tries to fix something between them, George is interrupted with "Daddy said..." this means that Daddy represents a third party in their relationship. Furthermore, Martha admits that George is the only one who makes her happy, but on the contrary, due to George not living up to Dad's expectations, being a "flop" and not being able to take over, Martha is eternally dissatisfied with him. their relationship and disappointed in George. So the dad hinders their relationship and looms over them and also means the inability to love completely. This lack of satisfaction and inability to find happiness and pure love connects to the absurdity of the human condition. As a result, through Dad's unquestioned authority and influence, Albee portrays him as an almost divine being. Looks like dad has the final say. “Dad didn't let him” publish the book and “Dad said we should be nice”: Dad dictates what happens. The fact that Dad is never seen in the play and yet has the highest authoritative status and can puppeteer the characters further highlights the absurdity. An invisible, unreasonable force controls the actions and conditions of characters and people in everyday life. This theme explored by Albee is intriguing due to its universal nature and its relevance even in our society today. What is also significant is the description of Dad as a large white mouse with red eyes. This gives him a fairy-tale character quality and increases the effect of the rituals in the second act. The ritual and curse are supported by the fact that he is always present and being the mouse, carries evil through the game. It should also be noted that there is no mention of him conducting, during or after the exorcism procedure. The sense of all that is cyclical, representing the futile state of humanity, is explored through Daddy. It is said to have a “sense of continuity” which is important because throughout the work Albee brings out repetition, continuity and cycles. Furthermore, the cycle of sadness is realized in the fact that “you (dad) cry all the time” and Martha, the offspring, cries “all the time”. This underlines the continuity, the sadness is passed on from generation to generation, endlessly and extends to George and, furthermore, freezes their tears in them to consume the next ones. Still along the lines of nothing being human choice, futility and foreign control of the characters, Martha and George are never alone, apart from the end of the play. They need their audience Nick, Honey and Daddy for.