Death And Dying In Edward Albee's Plays

As one of the greatest dramatists in the history of the American Theatre, Edward Albee is also recognized as one of the best-known playwrights in the world. He is hailed as a successor to the American playwrights Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Eugene O'Neill, and at the same time acclaimed as the forerunner of the American Absurdism.Reading Edward Albee's works, one is easily struck by the recurrent theme of "death and dying" in his plays. This thesis is going to explore this theme. On the basis of a comprehensive textual survey of relevant plots and by relating them to the writer's life experience, social background and interpreting from the philosophic and psychological perspectives, it attempts to reveal that in many plays of the playwright, the preoccupation with death and dying is more than a literary motif. Rather, the "death and dying" theme is used as the weapon to expose the serious problems which Albee finds in the modern society.The main body of the thesis is divided into five parts. The introduction part gives a brief overview of Albee's plays and their significances in world drama. It is seen that this particular theme of "death and dying" occurs frequently not only in the American theatre, but also in world literature.Part Two deals with Albee's treatment of death and dying in many of his plays, from the killing of a stranger and the murder of a neighbor, to the death and dying among intimate people, including that between parents and children.Part Three dwells on the meanings and functions of the treatment of "death and dying". It is opined that through the description of death and dying in his plays, Albee really aims at exposing some serious social problems. He is actually telling his audience that, living without love is a kind of death, worshiping materialistic values without spiritual values is a kind of death, and searching for the illusive security is also a kind of death.Part Four tries to associate the particular preoccupation of the playwright with his own life experience, social environment he lived in and interpret from philosophical and psychological perspectives, especially theories of Existentialism and the Freudian theories of Thanatos and Eros. Through this, the author of the thesis hopes to trace the reasons of Albee's obsession with this particular theme.The final part offers the conclusion that the presentation of death and dying on the part of the playwright is in fact positive, in that he is actually exposing the social problems he finds. Albee is urging his audience to think more about the present life, about the society they live in, the culture they live with, and about how to cast off the dread of death and pursue a true meaning of life.