Redefining Female Identity: Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Jessie in ‘Night Mother
Rachel Altemose
Edward Albee and Marsha Norman utilize their female protagonists to explore the depths of the female identity and feminine stereotypes. Through Jessie in ‘Night Mother and Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, both playwrights create characters facing similar situations with comparable backgrounds, but who handle their struggles in opposing ways. In these similarities and differences, both characters generate individual ideas of femininity in a unique and uncommon fashion. While Martha theatricalizes the accepted female gender norms through her multiple personalities, Jessie explores the extent of the female psyche in a realistic and relatable manner to the female audience. Along with Jessie and Martha’s comparable upbringing and similar depictions of feminism, Albee’s use of extreme theatre and Norman’s adherence to naturalism allow each character to redefine standardized female identity.
Both characters experienced a lack of personal control throughout their childhood, and, consequently, desire dominant roles as adults. Their similar upbringings generate corresponding responses to common problems, thus causing both characters to bring analogous qualities to their overall definition of feminism. Both characters lost one of their parents at a young age, and were brought up by a single, authoritative guardian. They did not possess the same freedom of choice as most children, as Martha’s father served as a powerful head of a college and Jessie’s epileptic episodes left her in need of supervision. Their single parents also became primary forces in choosing husbands for their daughters— depriving Jessie and Martha of a significant right of choice. Martha claims that in her household, she “… wear[s] the pants… because somebody’s got to” (Albee 173). She continuously points out George’s lack of success in order to maintain dominance, and seems almost shocked whenever George makes a significant comeback. She desires to always be right, and attacks anyone who contradicts her; evident when Nick questions her eye color and when George insists her use of “abstruse” is incorrect (Albee 68). Jessie acts similarly throughout ‘Night Mother with Mama. She plans her entire evening before informing Mama of suicide plans she has been working on since Christmas, and has a pre-formulated answer to all of Mama’s questions (Norman 23). Jessie explains how she disliked lacking control as a child, and attempts to gain the personal authority she always missed. She assumes power over her mother, taking the one thing that completely “belongs to [her],” her life, and “stop[ping] it” (Norman 26, 30). Through these behaviors, both women demonstrate the implications of early psychological stress, and ultimately indicate the comparable effects of their childhood.
Through their apparent authority, both women overcome the submissive female stereotype. They not only prevail over their fellow characters, but also female norms. Both characters reject the idea that women must present themselves as cheerful and agreeable. As assertive women, both also do not hide their dissatisfaction with their current situations (Hoorvash 13). Martha directly states her discontent with George’s average position in the college, and does not hesitate from pointing out how both he and Nick are flops (Hoorvash 16). Jessie spends the entirety of the play explaining her disillusioned view of the world and her life. She indicates an unwillingness to accept female gender norms considering they have never given her a “firm sense of self,” and turns to the ultimate rejection of the “passive female position” through suicide (Spencer 367). As both women utilize the strength garnered from their upbringings, Martha and Jessie gain their need for total control and simultaneously overcome their expected positions.
Despite both characters’ sense of authority, they turn their previously defined version of feminine power around with self-deprecation. They possess a peculiar fascination and obsession with men— specifically their fathers and spouses, and critique their inability to fulfill the confines of stereotyped female identity. Martha is proud of her father’s position as Dean of the college, stating, “Daddy knows how to run things” (Albee 28). She disregards the fact that her father basically contrived her marriage to George to get a family-based heir for the college, and alleges that marrying George was her choice (Albee 87). In her daughterly obedience, she lessens herself to an object serving as the exchange between her father and George completely negating the individuality she attempts to maintain throughout the rest of the play (Hoorvash 17). She also shows a similar fascination with George. Despite her criticism and annoyance that her husband is, in general, a flop, she still appears to take most of the blame for their marital struggles. Despite her apparent dominance over George, her contrasting sense of self-worthlessness causes her flaws to overrule his in terms of their relationship. While she attacks him repeatedly in terms of his job and the lifestyle he has given her, she explains how she “disgusts herself” treating George who “…is so good to [her],” so poorly (Albee 202). Her failure as a proper wife tops his failure as a financially successful husband, and causes the dichotomy between her authoritative presence and underlying self-critique.
Jessie, like Martha, demonstrates a similar obsession with men as she reveals her preference for her father over her mother as a child. However, her father’s early death prevented Jessie from observing his flaws personally. She admits to this fact, yet insists her father “didn’t mean to die” and that he truly loved her (Norman 33). She explains how she would not have expected her father to take her in after her divorce, and that this fact would not have mattered to her (Norman 41). Her idealization of her husband appears even more unnatural, considering he not only left her but also cheated on her. She denies all of Mama’s accusations that their divorce was his fault as much as Jessie’s, and insists that her husband Cecil’s departure was the “right thing” (Norman 53). She refers to herself as “garbage,” and blames herself and her epilepsy for their failed marriage (Norman 53). While both, in their roles as dominant females, overcome the passive, “always pleasant” female stereotype, they still criticize themselves for not being able to fill the role in the first place. Their bluntness hides an inner sorrow of failing to fit in, and failing to be content with the common female roles as wife and mother.
Along with their glorification of men, both women also condemn their inability to reach other stereotypical goals of middle-aged females. Martha particularly criticizes herself for her inability to conceive. Her want of a child and the commonality of motherhood drive her to extreme lengths, eventually causing her to create an imaginary son (Hoorvash 17). The symbolism behind the repeated “Virginia Woolf” song also indicates her desire to “fit in” with common female gender norms. The song replaces the words “big, bad wolf” with “Virginia Woolf.” According to Hoorvash, the new title attempts to make fun of the threatening nature of feminist writer, Virginia Woolf. Martha’s incredible love and repetition of the song, therefore, indicates her want to laugh at the female writer along with the men in an effort to show that, unlike Virginia Woolf, she is nonthreatening (Hoorvash 16). In ‘Night Mother, Jessie not only loses her husband, but also fails in her role as a mother. She explains how if she could get through to her son Ricky, she would “stay,” but her knowledge that she can no longer be a proper mother causes her to lose hope (Norman 20). Her constant housework and mother-like care for Mama further demonstrates her desire to fulfill her role, and her negative image works for the play’s overall message relating to “women who misrecognize themselves in traditionally negative ways” (Spencer 374). This contrast between a dominant position in the home but a deeply negative personal image creates an entirely different type of feminism. While they eventually reject the norms that have left them unsatisfied, they still seem to wish for the ability to accomplish the common goals set for middle-aged women.
Martha and Jessie may both redefine feminism through their contrasting personality traits, but the most poignant defining factor of femininity occurs in Albee’s contrasting use of alienation to Norman’s use of naturalism. In Virginia Woolf, Albee uses theatre techniques such as Brecht’s alienation in Martha’s character to force the audience to step back and observe different female stereotypes (Hoorvash 18). Her presence as the domineering, manipulative seductress quickly changes, as she suddenly appears as a helpless, needy “princess.” Each additional acquisition of a stereotype eliminates personal connection, but further emphasizes common female categorizations (Hoorvash 19). Norman, on the other hand, attempts to maintain as much naturalism as possible throughout her play to draw audiences in, and allow them to connect with Jessie directly (Spencer 365). Norman’s play occurs completely within real time with Jessie’s casualty of dialogue and ordinary appearance creating an identifiable character. Although very different in terms of depicting and defining femininity, each method allows the author to explore a different area of the feminine identity. While Albee attacks patriarchal values and gender construct in general, Norman explores the innermost thoughts of the female individual.
Throughout the play, Martha constantly contradicts herself in terms of personality, and comes across as a “self-conscious actor” (Hoorvash 11). Her games demonstrate her love of pretend, and her theatrical display of multiple characters draws attention to the ways we categorize women. She switches between vulgar and humorous to weak and psychologically disturbed, from the “wild girl” who wanted to escape with the gardener to “daddy’s obedient daughter,” and so on (Hoorvash 19). In this manner, Albee does not allow female audience members to relate directly to Martha. When she assumes a stereotype, she often overdoes it to an unrealistic or unnatural level, and never portrays two characters twice. When she decides to act as the voluptuous seductress, she disregards all other attitudes demonstrated up until this point and assumes the character entirely. She takes her portrayal to the extreme, as she not only slips into an alluring dress, but also dangles Nick in front of George without restraint (Albee 190). However, she demonstrates how this persona is nothing but a mask when she reveals her actions with Nick are merely meant to get George’s attention. She gets frustrated when George accepts her obvious infidelity without protest, crying out, “Now you pay attention to me!” and quickly shedding her flirtatious qualities for those of the neglected wife (Albee 190). Such a portrayal directly contrasts with Jessie, identifying with surface qualities as opposed to inner turmoil.
Additionally, Martha’s game of charades allows the viewer to not only witness the different pigeonholes women are categorized into, but to understand how individuals often do not recognize that women possess multiple facets to their personalities (Hoorvash 19). In her moments of truth where she reveals her actual personality, Martha appears to possess a range of her characters all within her singular identity. Her moments of helplessness are also filled with anger and love, especially during her monologue in Act III where her coarse language is met with a helplessness and soft tone (Albee 197). Martha breaks all boundaries for women facing strict classification, and emphasizes the facade-like nature of her personalities with her occasional comments like, “You always deal in appearances?” (Albee 199). In her final lines of the show, she explains her fear of “Virginia Woolf.” Since Albee explained the song deals with illusion versus reality, and the end of the play is stripped from the illusionistic qualities Martha uses throughout the show, she indicates a fear of being reduced to a single standard. Without her multiple characters, she must face reality and the defining principles of female stereotypes without a way to reject them. Through this final section, she explains her fear of “…the masquerade if she is not to perform it with her own rules,” and solidifies the importance and existence of the multi-faceted woman (Hoorvash 23).
In ‘Night Mother, on the other hand, Jessie exhibits natural and authentic qualities through Norman’s dedication to realistic and natural theatre. Instead of creating an atmosphere where the audience can observe femininity from many different, accentuated angles, Jessie allows the audience to peer into the distressed mind of a relatable, middle-aged woman. Norman does not place any direct distancing factor between Jessie and the audience, completely rejecting the Brechtian techniques Albee utilizes with Martha. Jessie’s lack of “strangeness” also allows the viewer to assume most of the things Jessie speaks are the truth, further contrasting Martha’s constant acquisition of fake facades (Spencer 365). Jessie’s character aims to connect with the female psyche in general, as Norman relies on her commonality to make a subjective connection to audience members’ personal experiences (Spencer 366). Norman specifically states in her stage directions that, “Under no circumstances should the set and its dressing make a judgment about the intelligence or taste of Jessie and Thelma,” and refers to both characters as “specific, real people” (Norman 2). Therefore, Norman strays further from Albee’s methods approaching female identity through empathetic and accessible terms.
Unlike Martha, Jessie also maintains a continuous, realistic personality throughout the play, and at no point has dialogue that sounds irrational or unlike her character. She preserves a consistent rationale of explaining her feelings and her decisions to commit suicide. At no point does she take the viewer out of the direct feeling of confrontation with her own thoughts and Mama. Her feelings of anger and “insatiable demands” towards Mama specifically target the arguments and issues each female experiences with her own mother. Also, this play consists only of a dialogue between two female characters. Jessie provides a new feminist example considering her identification and conversation can occur “unmediated” by “the gaze of men” (Spencer 373). She can speak freely without editing her comments for male characters as Martha does in Virginia Woolf, thus allowing the audience members to get a closer look at exactly what females think and/or say in a completely female-dominated atmosphere.
Jessie and Martha break the barriers of female classification. While Martha allows us to understand the numerous factors that make up a female identity, Jessie dives into women’s innermost thoughts concerning relationships and death. They show women’s inner contradictions with the desire to fit currently defined gender roles, but the need to reject them. Through these women, Albee and Norman liberate the binds that previously constricted female characters in theatre. Jessie and Martha present fully-rounded, dynamic female protagonists that were previously unknown to the stage; not only allowing us to see beyond their characters into the wider range of feminine oppression, but help change society’s views of femininity as a whole.
Rachel Altemose ’19 is a sophomore English and Drama double major with plans to study English at the University of Oxford next spring. She is currently involved with the theatre department, VSR, and VRDT on campus. Although unsure of her future plans, she hopes to attend graduate school and pursue a career in acting or some form of publishing.
Works Cited
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Norman, Marsha. ‘Night Mother. New York: Hill and Wang, 1996.
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Spencer, Jenny S. “Norman’s ‘night, Mother:’ Psycho-Drama of Female
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