Essay about Redemption in Wit

Vanessa, still naive, consciously resists the “upright” values of her family and believes she has control of her own identity therefore she, purposely attempts in many early parts of the story, to show ways of opposing her entire family. “I was prepared, for the question was the same each week. I rarely listened in Sunday school, finding

In the beginning of the play the audience finds themselves growing a liking for Stella, she was shown as a dependable person, always taking care of those around her. She is seen

She realizes that the person she was as she is growing up is not who she must become as a mature youth and adult. She envisions a good life for herself and accepts that she has every right to live that life she desires. Though the Walls parents have done many wrongs to Jeannette there is one life lesson that they have instilled into her. They have empowered Jeannette with the energy and hunger to have the best education that she can obtain. ” I’ve always believed in the value of a good education” (Walls 265).

Redemption. It is a single word that holds great meaning for both the ones who seek it, and for those whose opinions are the ones to grant it, whether it is an outside party, or a personal satisfaction that must be meant in the case of the seeker.

Her first challenge comes when Billy himself does not want to do ballet because of his preconceived ideas that only girls and gay boys do it. The teacher pursues her objective by being stern and demanding. This gets Billy to take dancing seriously and she furthers her goal. However, trouble comes when Billy’s father finds out that he is not doing his boxing lessons. The teacher tackles this with her stern tactics from before but intermixes an appeal of sympathy for Billy’s talent. Unfortunately, she is unsuccessful and has to result to being secretive in order for Billy’s father not to find out. The conflict between the two characters was very intense due to conflicting objectives and strong tactics; it raised the stakes and grabbed the attention of the audience. This makes the viewer root for Billy to succeed despite his

Bearing, a hard teacher of poetry. Vivian could see herself in Kelekian. In their separate fields they both held doctorates. But in each profession there are words that one outside of the field would believe that their meaning of particular words mean something different. The passage, “Insidious means undetectable at an-….Insidious means treacherous” (Edson, 8) Dr. Bearing interrupts Dr. Kelekian because she is used to being around her students, and being known as the one who knows everything. Which is also what she believes to be to in everything. Here, she is still seen as the ‘teacher’ or the one who has more influence and power over the other in this particular moment in the play. The go back and forth on the idea about learning as much as you can, and in the end Vivian wins out. As the chapter progresses we can see Vivian explaining her position and why people should look up to her. “I am, after all, a scholar of Donne’s Holy Sonnets….And I know for a fact that I am tough. A demanding professor. Uncompromising. Never one to turn down a challenge…” (12). This quote sets up the idea that Vivian, as just coming into the hospital, still has the authority and influence over others. She still holds the knowledge above everything else, which is also all that she

Initially, the audience see Vivian as a person who is very uncompromising. The students she taught knew her as harsh, making her an unfavorable teacher. She appeared to not care about the students she taught, and her coldheartedness was reflected in her actions, an example being when one of her students tried to receive an extension on a paper because of the recent death of her grandmother, at this request Vivian concluded “ Do what you will, but the paper is due when it is due.” This impenetrable exterior that Vivian places upon herself discourages the formation of beneficial relationships from being formed in her

Vivian’s physical suffering is caused by her illness, which slowly deteriorates her identity. In W;t, Vivian’s physical character is enhanced by her power through Language and it’s discourse. As time progresses, cancer slowly cause’s her to suffer physically, and therefore inverts her powerful identity. On page 25, Vivian’s body is clinically deconstructed, the

Vivian recalls undergoing tests by various medical technicians and being the subject of grand rounds. She remembers sharing a love of language and books with her father. She flashes back to her experiences as a student of Dr E. M. Ashford, an expert on John Donne. Bearing later finds herself under the care of Dr Jason Posner, an oncology research fellow who has taken her class on John Donne. At the hospital, she recognizes that doctors are interested in her for her research value and, like her, tend to ignore humanity in favor of knowledge. Gradually, she realizes that she would prefer kindness to

Vivian’s condescending nature is a characteristic that becomes amplified in her own flashbacks. This is shown through the quote, “So far so good, but they can only think for themselves only so long before the being to self-destruct… Lost it” this shows how Vivian hides behind her wit which is a parallel drawn from herself and Donne. It shows the audience how they both try to hide from death by using wit.

This is portrayed in the scene in which Vivian goes back to her old college Professor, E.M. Ashford. Vivian’s fear is shown through the use of ellipsis’ as Vivian feels uncomfortable due to the fact that she can no longer hide behind words. Furthermore Vivian’s view on death is also conveyed in this scene as Vivian believes there is far more separating life and death than that of a comma, a breath, as said by E.M Ashford. Death, towards the end of the play, becomes an acceptance for Vivian as she finally embraces the true faith in which Donne had towards an afterlife and overcomes her salvation anxiety. Vivian begins to crave kindness and comfort when she never has before, this conveys Vivian’s change of heart. Through the quote ““It”: such a small word. In this case I think “it” signifies being alive” one can see that Vivian no longer feels the pull towards life as she did in the beginning of the play. The audience knows when Vivian is truly ready to die upon Vivian’s stage direction as she “attempts a grand summation” as if trying to conjure up her own ending. She then recites her original interpretation of John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” where only a breath separates life from death. Thus one can observe that through contextual connections that a greater understanding can be obtained in relation to the play Wit by Margaret Edson and the theme of death. Furthermore it is through these

Susie worries most about her gifted and petulant sister Lindsay. Lindsay is only one year younger but still is not told directly about what's happened to Susie; instead she hears telephone snippets and bits of conversations between her parents and the police. After hearing her father describe Susie's features, she asks her father not to lie to her, so he doesn't; but even answering her question, he can't face the truth of his words. Susie watches Lindsay sitting alone in her bedroom trying to harden herself. As the story unfolds, it is clear that Lindsay carries the hardest burden, because no one will ever be able to look at her and not think about Susie. By losing her sister, Lindsay is in danger of being robbed of herself.

Redemption is a difficult thing to achieve. Many people find it a daunting task; even impossible. Time and again people strive to attain, only to taste the bitterness of failure yet again. However, to those who would endure such a seemingly endless struggle to be able to stand on their feet once more; there lies a reward like no other. It is the ability to perceive life in a new light. This moral is an invaluable one, as it shows that no matter how hard things look, even in the deepest pits one could sink, you just need to keep moving

The play’s central conflict is about seeking connection in a marriage. Although sexual frustrations can be treated by the vibrator that became available after the discovery of electricity, the need for psychological intimacy cannot be fixed by technological advancements. The first part of the play shows the physical needs of the female body and their solutions. The main plot is about two upper-class women discovering their sexual needs and finding treatment from the vibrator despite the ignorance of their husbands to female sexuality. A secondary plot is about the problem with breast feeding. Mrs. Givings’ body cannot produce enough milk for her baby, so she finds Elizabeth to attend her child. In the second part of the play, it becomes more evident that the problems are caused by inadequate communications in a marriage. The dilemmas of both women are caused by their husbands’ ignorance to feminine desires. Mrs. Daldry’s husband becomes more and more disinterested in her and keeps neglecting her. At the end, she stops her treatment when she realizes that the physical treatments are futile with her desire to feel an emotional connection with someone. After leaving the baby for Elizabeth, Mrs. Givings experiences emotional distress. She feels deprived of the right of a mother and feels more and more disconnected with her child. Mr. Givings disapproves of her desire to feed her own baby, because he is ignorant to how breast feeding can build a psychological connection

The diverse characters in Witt all have unique characteristics that isolate them from one another. There are four characters that help progress the play along and bring different meaning to Vivian’s life. The main character Vivian Bearing is a literary professor that specializes in 17th century poetry. She is highly intelligent in poetry and known as a professor who does not put up with students being lackadaisical in the classroom. She has been diagnosed with stage-four metastatic ovarian cancer. Her doctor is Harvey Kelekian and he is her over seeing oncologist and the one to tell her that she has cancer. Susie is her charismatic nurse that is