Honey is Nick’s wife, a couple of years his junior, and is described as petite and plain. She is clearly not very intelligent, and becomes drunk very quickly, retiring to lie on the bathroom floor and peel labels off alcohol bottles. It is evident that Nick, handsome and intelligent, feels he deserves better, and he ultimately confesses to George that he only married Honey because of a hysterical pregnancy and his parents’ expectations. Honey, like Martha, it turns out, cannot have children and is distraught by her infertility. She is clearly the weakest character in the play and spends much of the play offstage.
Honey Quotes in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf quotes below are all either spoken by Honey or refer to Honey. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Penguin Books edition of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf published in 1983.
Act 1
Quotes
Ha, ha, ha, HA! Make the kids a drink, George. What do you want, kids? What do you want to drink, hunh?
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Act 2
Quotes
It was a hysterical pregnancy. She blew up, and then she went down.
Just before we got married, I developed…appendicitis…or everybody thought it was appendicitis…
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Honey Character Timeline in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The timeline below shows where the character Honey appears in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
...up the door, she yells at him, “Fuck you!,” such that their guests, Nick and Honey, hear it. Nick appears uncomfortable and proposes that he and his wife shouldn’t have come....
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...explain that it was made by a Greek man that Martha attacked one night, when Honey interrupts him, uncomfortable with the story. Nick starts off saying, “It’s got a…” and George...
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George prepares drinks for the crew—brandy for Honey, bourbon for Nick, and (jokingly) rubbing alcohol for Martha. George recounts that when he was...
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Martha again begins singing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” and this time Honey joins in. They begin to discuss the night’s party, and Honey praises Martha’s father as...
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...father expects his staff to grow old at the college. George calls to his wife. Honey tells the men that Martha is changing her dress, and then tells George that she’s...
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George lets Honey and Nick know that Martha is according them an honor by changing her dress, and...
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George comes from behind Martha and aims a short-barreled shotgun at her head. Honey screams when George pulls the trigger, to the blossoming of a Chinese parasol from the...
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Honey changes the subject by asking when George and Martha’s son is coming home. Martha says...
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...a white mouse. He leaves to get some more alcohol. Martha begins to explain to Honey and Nick why her husband so hates her father, and details her adolescent life: she...
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...make anybody proud of him.” George loudly sings “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” and then Honey joins in before announcing that she’s going to be sick and running offstage. Nick and...
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Act 2
...which Nick describes as occurring fairly frequently. This leads Nick to reveal that he married Honey because of a hysterical pregnancy: he thought she was pregnant, but she turned out not...
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...set him straight about something his wife said. Martha interrupts and announces that she and Honey are drinking coffee. George and Martha go back and forth, calling each other by different...
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...begins in again on Nick’s marriage, and guesses that, in addition to the hysterical pregnancy, Honey has money. Nick lets on that George’s guess is correct, but adds that he and...
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Martha returns, with a very drunken Honey in tow. Martha tells George to apologize to Honey for making her throw up, but...
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...disappointment of George’s—that he tried to publish a book, but was prevented by Martha’s father. Honey requests some music for dancing, and George puts on Beethoven’s seventh symphony. Honey gets up...
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...that he recounts is the very story that Nick told him about his marriage to Honey. He begins by describing Nick’s present situation, and then leading into a flashback to “How...
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...the end of the story, when George is describing how “the Mouse” (his name for Honey) got all puffed up, Honey stands up and declares that she doesn’t like what’s going...
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Nick reenters, leaving his wife on the bathroom floor, and apologizes for Honey’s behavior. George leaves with a bucket to get ice for Honey. When George has gone,...
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...Nick brushes off. George offers drinks to Nick and Martha and says that he saw Honey lying on the bathroom floor sucking her thumb, curled up “like a fetus.”
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Act 3
...that everyone be there for it. He makes hog calls toward the hallway to get Honey, but Nick goes and gets her himself. Martha tearfully begs George not to play any...
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Honey enters the room with Nick, hopping like a bunny. George begins to discuss their son,...
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Honey suddenly exclaims that she wants a child. Martha ignores her and continues, beginning in on...
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Honey, hysterical, screams for them to stop it, telling them they “can’t…do…this!” George tells Martha that...
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...going on. George explains that Martha broke their rule by mentioning him to someone else—to Honey. Martha repeats that he didn’t have to have him die, that that wasn’t needed.
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