问答题
Who Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Edward Albee)Nick: Indeed?George: No, kids, hunh?Nick: Not yet.George: People do...uh...have kids. That"s what I meant about history. You people are going to make them in test tubes, aren"t you? You biologists. Bebies. Then the rest of us...them as wants to...can screw to their heart"s content. What will happen to the tax deduction? Has anyone figured that out yet?(Nick, who can think of nothing better to do, laughs mildly)But you are going to have kids...anyway. In spite of history.Nick (Hedging): Yes...certainly. We...want to wait...a little...until we"re settled.George: And this...(With a handsweep taking in not only the room, the house, but the whole countryside)..., this is your heart"s content- =Illyria...Penguin Island...Gomorrah You think you"re going to be happy here in New Carthage, eh?Nick (A little defensively): I hope we"ll stay here.
问答题
What is the theme of this play? (4 points)
【正确答案】正确答案：Albee"s main concern in this play is to present the hollow nature of American ideals of success and question the American way of modern life. Inherent in this idea of public and private faces is the theme of phoniness. Many couples, Albee seems to say, project false images of themselves in public situations. In fact, that phoniness is generally preferred to exposing all of one"s problems and indiscretions to the world.
问答题
What are the techniques used by the playwright? (4 points)
【正确答案】正确答案：Albee straddled a divide between a predominantly naturalistic American playwriting tradition of social criticism, and what was beginning to be called the "Theater of the Absurd." Language in Albes"s play is cliches ridden and marked by emptiness and insignificant repetition, which mirrors a void existence. Moreover, reality is often fused with illusion in language, which demonstrates Albee"s special concern over the menace of delusion that invades people"s perception of reality.
【答案解析】解析：艾尔比的戏剧是荒诞派作品的代表之一，文中充满了大量的隐喻与典故。语言的失效(the devaluation of language)，舞台动作里体现的存在主义思想和暴力的描写(theexistential choice and violence in action)，现实主义风格的背景(the realistic style of setting)、情节和结构(plot and structure)，以及角色塑造中体现的仿真现象(the embodiment ofsimulation in characterization)这五个方面形成了艾尔比独特的荒诞派写作特色。本剧中语言的失效与现实主义的文风是最基本的特色。
问答题
Comment on one character in this play. (4 points)
【正确答案】正确答案：George"s role in the play is at first seen to be passive and complacent. His words are big but lack necessary logic, showing his hypocrisy and inability to take in control of his own life. He is pushover compared to his wife Martha, who appears to rule the roost. Trapped in a marriage with a demanding and cold wife, who in turn is influenced by her powerful father, George appears effete and ineffectual. He has not lived up to any of the expectations that both Martha and her father had for him. He is a terrible disappointment.