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DADDY: I think we should talk about it some more. Maybe we’ve been hasty… a little hasty, perhaps. (Doorbell rings again) I’d like to talk about it some more.

MOMMY: There’s no need. You made up your mind; you were firm; you were masculine and decisive. […]

DADDY: Was I firm about it?

MOMMY: Oh, so firm; so firm.

DADDY: And I was decisive?

MOMMY: SO decisive! Oh, I shivered.

DADDY: And masculine? Was I really masculine?

MOMMY: Oh, Daddy, you were so masculine; I shivered and fainted. […]

DADDY: (Backing off from the door) Maybe we can send them away.

MOMMY: Oh, look at you! You’re turning into jelly; you’re indecisive; you’re a woman.

Explanation and Analysis:

One of the play’s major themes is the breakdown of the idyllic American nuclear family unit. Albee skewers gender roles and relations, and the toxic ways in which men and women insult and destabilize one another—and the entire bedrock of the Am...

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Original

Romeo

(aside) She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,
As is a winged messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art though Romeo?
Deny they father and refuse they name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

Modern

Romeo

(to himself) She speaks. Speak again, bright angel! For tonight you are as glorious, there up above me, as a winged messenger of heaven who makes mortals fall onto their backs to gaze up with awestruck eyes as he strides across the lazy clouds and sails through the air.

Juliet

O Romeo, Romeo! Why must you be Romeo? Deny your father and give up your name. Or, if you won’t change your name, just swear your love to me and I’ll give up being a Capulet.

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