《Who27s Afraid of Virginia Woolf》人物分析.ppt

Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?  --------Characters Four Characters George? Martha? Nick? Honey? George George is an associate professor of history at a college in the New England town of New Carthage. At 46, he should probably be further along in his career, but through a lack of ambition, coupled with a bad relationship with the college president (his father-in-law), he has become bogged down in the history department. Hes been married to Martha, six years older than he, for 23 years, and their marriage has degenerated into an ongoing battle of words and psychological games to get the upper hand. George is intelligent and witty, and has a keen ability to use words. In fact, he might be an excellent dinner companion if his basic energy had not been dissipated by Marthas constant belittling of him. He fights back by using his wits, but she knows where to wound him at his most vulnerable points- his failures, his physical weakness, his passivity. Virtually nothing is told us of Georges (or the other characters) early life. George relates a story that he claims to be autobiographical, about a trip to a gin mill (saloon) during the Prohibition era, when he was a teenager. Whatever interpretation is accepted, however, its evident that George suffers from a great deal of conflict about his parents, and seems to harbor guilt and/or resentment about them. Through most of the play Martha gets the better of George, beating him down psychologically. She is skillful at dishing out punishment, and George accepts it. He turns the tables by abusing their guests in ways similar to Marthas treatment of him, by chiding them for their weaknesses and revealing their hidden secrets.In the end, however, George proves himself stronger than Martha. His decision to kill their imaginary child- a fantasy he and Martha have shared privately can be viewed as an act of heroism or as an act of revenge. Whichever approach you favor, it is clear that G