Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Introduction + Context
Plot Summary
Detailed Summary & Analysis
Act 1 Act 2 Act 3
Themes
All Themes Imperfect Marriage Academia Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Ambition, Success, and Failure Children and Childishness
Quotes
Characters
All Characters Martha George Nick Honey
Symbols
All Symbols Babies Alcohol Virginia Woolf
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Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

by

Edward Albee
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Babies Symbol Analysis

Babies Symbol Icon
Images of babies and child-like behavior appear throughout the text. Martha and George call each other baby; Martha sometimes speaks in a childish voice; and when Honey drinks too much, she curls up like a “fetus” on the bathroom floor and sucks her thumb. The abundance of baby symbolism is explained later on in the play, when it is revealed that both Honey and Martha have failed to have children and so both couples are fixated on the possibility and absence of babies.

Babies Quotes in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

The Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf quotes below all refer to the symbol of Babies. 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:
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
). 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 Characters: Martha (speaker), George, Nick, Honey
Related Symbols: Babies, Alcohol
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 23
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2 Quotes

It was a hysterical pregnancy. She blew up, and then she went down.

Related Characters: Nick (speaker), Honey
Related Symbols: Babies
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 94
Explanation and Analysis:
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Just before we got married, I developed…appendicitis…or everybody thought it was appendicitis…

Related Characters: Honey (speaker), Nick
Related Symbols: Babies
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 119
Explanation and Analysis:
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Our son ran away from home all the time because Martha here used to corner him.

Related Characters: George (speaker), Martha
Related Symbols: Babies
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
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You told them! OOOOHHHH! OH, no, no, no, no! You couldn’t have told them…

Related Characters: Honey (speaker), Martha, George, Nick
Related Symbols: Babies
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:
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Act 3 Quotes

I cry all the time too, Daddy. I cry allllll the time; but deep inside, so no one can see me. I cry all the time. And George cries all the time, too.

Related Characters: Martha (speaker), George
Related Symbols: Babies, Alcohol
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Page Number: 185
Explanation and Analysis:
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I’M RUNNING THE SHOW! (To MARTHA) Sweetheart, I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you…for us, of course. Some rather sad news.

Related Characters: George (speaker), Martha
Related Symbols: Babies
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 229
Explanation and Analysis:
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I FORGET! Sometimes…sometimes when it’s night, when it’s late, and…and everybody else is…talking…I forget and I…want to mention him…but I…HOLD ON…I hold on…but I’ve wanted to…so often…oh, George, you’ve pushed it…there was no need….there was not need for this. I mentioned him…all right…but you didn’t have to push it over the EDGE. You didn’t have to…kill him.

Related Characters: Martha (speaker), George
Related Symbols: Babies
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Page Number: 237
Explanation and Analysis:
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Babies Symbol Timeline in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

The timeline below shows where the symbol Babies appears in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
...fear of growing too sexually excited before their guests come over. Martha asks, in a childish voice, for another drink. (full context)
Act 2
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Academia Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
...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 to be. The two... (full context)
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Academia Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Ambition, Success, and Failure Theme Icon
George 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... (full context)
Act 3
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
...George play off of each other, each adding details about the birth and the son’s childhood— the banana boat, school, summer camp, his breaking his arm. George begins to interject phrases... (full context)
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Academia Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Honey suddenly exclaims that she wants a child. Martha ignores her and continues, beginning in on the difficult parts of the marriage— how... (full context)
Imperfect Marriage Theme Icon
Appearance, Secrecy, and Truth-Telling Theme Icon
Children and Childishness Theme Icon
Martha and George go back and forth, her yelling “He is our child!” and him yelling “And I have killed him!” Nick quietly announces that he thinks he... (full context)
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