Study Questions
Explain the significance of the title, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
What is the significance of sexuality in the play?
Why do Martha and George decide to tear each other apart in front of Honey and Nick?
How does religion, pagan and Christian, function in the play?
Why do you think George tells the story about his childhood friend who accidentally killed both of his parents? What implications could it have thematically?
What is the significance of everyone drinking so much?
Why is it important that George is a history professor, whereas Nick is a biologist? How do these two disciplines relate to their characters?
Why would Edward Albee set this play at a cocktail party (rather than at a family dinner or on a vacation or at an amusement park, etc.)?
A great deal of what goes into a play is visual rather than simply literary. How would you set up the stage if you were directing this play? What costumes would you use for the characters? What actors would you cast in the parts?
What significance does Honey's weakness and vomiting have? Why would Albee create her to be so often sick?
