Games Of Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

Edward Albee(1928~)is the most important playwright of the United States in the 1960 s.His works concentrate on human being's inner world in modern society,such as betrayal and abandonment,illusion and reality and existentialism.Who 's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,as Albee's masterpiece,was interpreted by scholars from many angles since its appearance,among which psycho-analysis,the failure of the American Dream,feminism and absurdity are important ones.Besides,Chinese scholars also found different perspectives around the play.They researched it from the angles of new historicism,carnivalization,and space theory.However,the researches from the perspective of game are rare.The thesis tries to interpret Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by the perspective of game in the modern or even post-modern context.Using the theory of game can explore many game elements in this play even the play itself,examining the characters,the playwright and the audience to convince them even ourselves the game is not a limited game with the closed loop but an open game keeping generating and rising.The thesis includes three main parts: the introduction,the body and the conclusion.There are a thesis statement,research questions,literature reviews,and research significance in the first part.The body is from Chapter Two to Chapter Four.Chapter One introduces the games played in Who ' s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? which are surface games,psychological games,and sexual games.Chapter Three introduces the "gaming" techniques conducted by the playwright,Edward Albee,which are consisted of the arrangement of the play,the fusion of Naturalistic and Absurd Theater and the ritualistic elements.Chapter Four reveals an illusory son in the minds of George and Marsha.The son not only makes every character in the play recognize the illusion of game playing,but also incorporate spectators into the whole game,using the games to fight against reality and also completing the reality with games.The last part gives the summary of the thesis and points out the play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? itself is a game,a self-expressive game which keeps self-generating.