(Spoiler Warning – This section discusses the end of the play.)
In Act One, George warns Martha not to “bring up the kid.” Martha scoffs at his warning, and ultimately the topic of their son comes up into conversation. This upsets and annoys George. Martha hints that George is upset because he is not certain that the child is his. George confidently denies this, stating that if he is certain of anything, he is confident of his connection to the creation of their son.
By the end of the play, Nick learns the shocking and bizarre truth. George and Martha do not have a son. They were unable to conceive children – a fascinating contrast between Nick and Honey who apparently can (but do not) have children. George and Martha’s son is a self-created illusion, a fiction they have written together and have kept private.
Even though the son is a fictional entity, great thought has been put into his creation. Martha shares specific details about the delivery, the child’s physical appearance, his experiences at school and summer camp, and his first broken limb. She explains that the boy was a balance between George’s weakness and her “necessary greater strength.”
George seems to have approved of all of these fictional accounts; in all likelihood he has assisted with their creation. However, a creative fork-in-the-road appears when they discuss the boy as a young man. Martha believes that her imaginary son resents George’s failures. George believes that his imaginary son still loves him, still writes him letters, in fact. He claims that the “boy” was smothered by Martha, and that he could not take living with her anymore. She claims that the “boy” doubted being related to George.
The imaginary child reveals a deep intimacy between these now bitterly disappointed characters. They must have spent years together, whispering various fantasies of parenthood, dreams that would never come true for either of them. Then, in later years of their marriage, they turned their illusionary son against one another. They each pretended that the child would have loved the one and despised the other.
But when Martha decides to discuss their imaginary son with the guests, George realizes that it is time for their son to die. He tells Martha that their son was killed in a car accident. Martha cries and rages. The guests slowly realize the truth, and they finally depart, leaving George and Martha to wallow in their self-inflicted misery. Perhaps Nick and Honey have learned a lesson – perhaps their marriage will avoid such disrepair. Then again, perhaps not. After all, the characters have consumed a huge amount of alcohol. They’ll be lucky if they can remember a small portion of the evening’s events!
Is There Hope for These Two Love Birds?
After George and Martha are left to themselves, a quiet, calm moment befalls the main characters. In Albee’s stage directions, he instructs that the final scene is played “very softly, very slowly.” Martha reflectively asks if George had to extinguish the dream of their son. George believes it was time, and that now the marriage will be better without games and illusions.
The final conversation is a bit hopeful. Yet, when George asks if Martha is all right, she replies, “Yes. No.” This implies that there is a mixture of agony and resolution. Perhaps she does not believe that they can be happy together, but she accepts the fact that they can continue their lives together, for whatever it is worth.
In the final line, George actually becomes affectionate. He softly sings, “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf,” while she leans against him. She confesses her fear of Virginia Woolf, her fear of living a life facing reality. It is perhaps the first time she reveals her weakness, and perhaps George is finally unveiling his strength with his willingness to dismantle their illusions.
