2. THE INABILITY TO COMMUNICATE

The characters are constantly, but unsuccessfully, attempting to communicate on a deeper level with each other. Martha and George trade competitive insults and verbal cruelties until the last scene, when they finally achieve some sense of mutual understanding.

Yet their attempts to communicate seem more genuine than those of Nick and Honey, who seem to know each other only superficially and who deliberately deceive each other—Nick with his adulterous act with Martha, and Honey with her secret use of birth control.

The usual social communication is parodied throughout the play through the use of trite remarks and common phrases that suggest the emptiness of language. Early in the play, George seems determined to confuse Nick with wordplay, rapid shifts of subject, and deliberate obtuseness.

Violence as a form of communication is demonstrated through the tale of George and Martha’s boxing match, his fake rifle, and the physical scuffles between George and Martha. Psychological violence as a form of communication is evidenced by George and Martha’s repeated attempts to humiliate each other, and by George’s decision to “get the guests.”

In this media age, the word communication is heard often. Is Martha and George’s problem in truly reaching each other a universal problem? In what ways do you see the problem affecting those around you?

3. SEX (STERILITY AND IMPOTENCE)

Sex is a strong motif in the play. Martha is a sexually aggressive “earth mother,” who presumably seduced the gardener at her boarding school and also “attacked” a Greek artist. George even accuses her of having tried to molest their imaginary son. And Martha’s seduction of Nick during the play is probably one of many such escapades. There is a great deal of sexual innuendo among the four characters.

Honey, Nick, and Martha all seem to be sexual “users.” Honey may have used a false pregnancy to get Nick to marry her. Nick hints of plans to sleep with important faculty wives to get ahead at the college. Martha uses sex with others to get even with George, whom she blames for her unhappiness.

However, sex in the play represents barrenness and impotence. George and Martha’s child is imaginary, Honey’s pregnancy was false and she fears childbirth, and Nick can’t satisfy Martha, the most important faculty wife. Even the name of the town, New Carthage, suggests the ancient civilization destroyed by Rome and sown with salt to prevent fertile growth. In the world of this play, sex is neither a comfort nor a source of growth.