Teaching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Instructions for You

Objective: Of the title of his play, Edward Albee says in an interview with William Flanagan of The Paris Review in 1966, "When I started to write the play it cropped up in my mind again. And of course, who's afraid of Virginia Woolf means who's afraid of the big bad wolf . . . who's afraid of living life without false illusions. And it did strike me as being a rather typical university, intellectual joke."

Everyone, no matter their level of learning, is afraid of something, and in this lesson, we're going to explore fear: ours, students', and Martha's. Because fear is so very personal we're not going to force the kiddos to share, but we will have them analyze their own fears as well as Martha's in order to better understand what might motivate her actions, specifically that unattractive nasty streak she has going on. In all, this activity should take about one class period.

Materials Needed:

• Copies of the Psychology Today article "The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By"
• Copies of the play

Step 1: Every last one of us has fears. Here at Shmoop, we fear a coffee shortage, or that Bob in the back is never going to clean the leftovers from Friday's luncheon out of the fridge. Regardless, fear—real fear—is a part of human existence. Because we believe in conquering fear, have students jot down six of their own fears so they can face those puppies head on. To show students that fear is universal and encourage them to share, lead the charge with your own list of fears. Here's our example:

• flying
• spiders
• clowns (don't judge)
• speaking in front of a class or group
• making a fool of yourself in front of that hot guy (or gal) in the hall
• illness

Step 2: Now have students brainstorm some of Martha's fears. It might be a good idea to discuss this beforehand or have students discuss it in pairs. What do they think she is most afraid of? Remind students to support their ideas with text evidence.

Some ideas:

• George might leave her
• Facing the reality that her life is unfulfilled
• Facing the fact she never had a real child… and never will
• Aging

Step 3: Now that our heart rates are up and our palms are sweating thinking about all our dark, secret fears, remind students that there's nothing to fear but fear itself. Don't believe us? Check out "The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By" by Karl Albrecht, Ph.D. (He sounds smart, doesn't he?) Students can read the article independently or in groups. If you've been working on any kind of annotation strategies, this is a good opportunity to sneak in a little extra practice by having them take notes on the article.

Step 4: Next up, students will earn their self-counseling degrees. All the best doctors practice on themselves first, so to begin, student will categorize each of their own specific fears into one of the five basic fears Albrecht outlines for us, like so:

• Extinction: death
• Mutilation: spiders, clowns (ever see It?—yeah, mutilation)
• Loss of Autonomy: illness
• Separation: losing a loved one
• Ego-Death: speaking in front of class, making a fool of yourself in front of that hot guy (or gal) in the hall

Step 5: Now let's try this categorization jam for Martha's fears. Not all fears have one correct category, so feel free to encourage some discussion/debate here. You might say our fear of snakes is fear of mutilation, but we're pretty sure it's fear of extinction. Snakes can kill you, man.

Here's our Martha list:

• Extinction: Aging, Facing the fact she never had a real child…and never will
• Mutilation
• Loss of Autonomy
• Separation: George might leave her
• Ego-Death: Facing the reality that her life is unfulfilled (not having a child might fit here too)

Step 6: That was fun, but what does it all mean? Martha is one of the most openly cruel characters in dramatic literature. Hopefully we're not alone in wondering why the heck this girl is so mean. That article we read on fear mentioned that fear is often the root emotion of anger, so could Martha's fears help us understand her vicious behavior? Let's find out.

Now that students have some psych practice under their belts, it's time to really analyze how Martha's fears play into her actions. In a paragraph, have students discuss Martha's biggest fears, connecting them to some of her actions and choices in the play. These paragraphs should take the form of a character analysis where students explain how Martha's cruel actions are manifestations of her fears. Students should definitely use the texts (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and "The (Only) Five Basic Fears…") to support their reasoning, and for extra help, have them check out Martha's character page.

Step 7: Wrap things up with some sharing and discussion. Have students share their ideas with the class or in small groups, then crystalize their learning with a few final questions:

• Can you relate to the idea that fear is the root emotion of anger? When you are angry, is it often connected to something you are afraid of or anxious about?
• Have you ever been mean to someone out of fear?
• Do you think Martha's actions can be explained by her fears? Why or why not? Is there something more behind her cruelty?
• How might Martha's fears be related to some of the more cruel actions she takes?
• If Martha's actions are out of fear, does that make her a more sympathetic character? Why or why not?
• What do Martha's fears reveal about her character? What do they reveal about her relationship with George?
• How do Martha's fears relate to the play's themes?
• How do Martha's fears connect to the title of the play?

Instructions for Your Students

Forget about Virginia Woolf. What about fear of the dark? Snakes? Spiders? Heights? Small spaces? In this lesson, we're going to explore fear: ours, yours, and Martha's. Don't worry though; we know fear is personal, so we're not going to force you to share, but you will analyze your own fears as well as Martha's in order to better understand what might motivate her actions, specifically that unattractive nasty streak she has going on.

Step 1: Every last one of us has fears. Here at Shmoop, we fear a coffee shortage, or that Bob in the back is never going to clean the leftovers from Friday's luncheon out of the fridge. Regardless, fear—real fear—is a part of human existence. Because we believe in conquering our fears, let's jot down six fears and face those puppies head on. What are you afraid of? Write 'em down, like this:

• flying
• spiders
• clowns (don't judge)
• speaking in front of class
• making a fool of yourself in front of that hot guy (or gal) in the hall
• illness

Step 2: Now let's brainstorm some of Martha's fears. What do you think she is most afraid of? Remember to support your ideas with text evidence.

Some ideas:

• George might leave her
• Facing the reality that her life is unfulfilled
• Facing the fact she never had a real child… and never will
• Aging

Step 3: Is your heart rate up? Are your palms sweating thinking about all your dark, secret fears? Don't worry; it turns out that there's nothing to fear but fear itself. Don't believe us? Check out "The (Only) Five Basic Fears We All Live By" by Karl Albrecht, Ph.D. (He sounds smart, doesn't he?)

Step 4: Did you notice anything interesting? FIVE fears? We wrote down six! What the heck are you doing to us Shmoop? OK calm down; we're simply going to categorize your fears into the five fears Albrecht outlines for us, like so:

• Extinction: death
• Mutilation: spiders, clowns (ever see It?—yeah, mutilation)
• Loss of Autonomy: illness
• Separation: losing a loved one
• Ego-Death: speaking in front of class, making a fool of yourself in front of that hot guy (or gal) in the hall

Step 5: Now let's try this categorization jam for Martha's fears. Not all fears have one correct category, so feel free to have some discussion/debate here. You might say our fear of snakes is fear of mutilation, but we're pretty sure it's fear of extinction. Snakes can kill you, man.

Here's our Martha list:

• Extinction: Aging, Facing the fact she never had a real child…and never will
• Mutilation
• Loss of Autonomy
• Separation: George might leave her
• Ego-Death: Facing the reality that her life is unfulfilled (not having a child might fit here too)

Step 6: That was fun, but what does it all mean? Martha is one of the most openly cruel characters in dramatic literature. Hopefully we're not alone in wondering why the heck this girl is so mean. That article we read on fear mentioned that fear is often the root emotion of anger, so could Martha's fears help us understand her vicious behavior? Let's find out.

Now that you have some psych practice under your belts, it's time to really analyze how Martha's fears play into her actions. In a paragraph, discuss Martha's biggest fears, connecting them to some of her actions and choices in the play. These paragraphs should take the form of a character analysis where you explain how Martha's cruel actions are manifestations of her fears. You should definitely use the texts (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and "The (Only) Five Basic Fears…") to support your reasoning, and for extra help, check out Martha's character page.

Step 7: It's time to don your Freudian glasses and wax psychological for a bit, so know your stuff! Be articulate in your explanations and stroke your imaginary beard while you tell us what you think about these questions:

• Can you relate to the idea that fear is the root emotion of anger? When you are angry, is it often connected to something you are afraid of or anxious about?
• Have you ever been mean to someone out of fear?
• Do you think Martha's actions can be explained by her fears? Why or why not? Is there something more behind her cruelty?
• How might Martha's fears be related to some of the more cruel actions she takes?
• If Martha's actions are out of fear, does that make her a more sympathetic character? Why or why not?
• What do Martha's fears reveal about her character? What do they reveal about her relationship with George?
• How do Martha's fears relate to the play's themes?
• How do Martha's fears connect to the title of the play?