a. Sharp, Colloquial Dialogue
Albee’s dialogue mimics everyday speech but is often heightened and precise. Characters frequently engage in banter that reveals power dynamics, insecurities, and emotional wounds. For example, George and Martha cloak their dissatisfaction and assert control over each other through sharp, sarcastic banter.

b. Repetition and Circularity
Albee often uses repetition to emphasize obsession, frustration, or emotional stagnation. The same insults, stories, or references are repeated, mirroring the characters’ inability to escape their psychological traps. This technique also heightens tension and gives the language a musical, almost ritualistic quality.

c. Verbal Games and Irony
Characters often use wordplay, puns, or ironic statements. These verbal “games” expose social pretenses, hypocrisies, and the gap between appearance and reality. Albee’s language can be both humorous and painfully cruel, reflecting the absurdity of human behavior.

2. Symbolism

a. Alcohol
Alcohol in Albee’s plays is a recurring symbol of escapism, emotional numbness, and social ritual. In Virginia Woolf, drinking fuels the characters’ confrontations but also reveals their dependency on illusion and avoidance.

b. The “Imaginary Child”
George and Martha’s invented son symbolizes unfulfilled desires, personal failure, and the tension between illusion and reality. It embodies the couple’s psychological struggle and the human tendency to create comforting myths.

c. Physical Spaces and Objects
Domestic settings (the living room) often become claustrophobic arenas of psychological conflict. Objects like furniture, drinks, or notebooks can acquire symbolic weight, reflecting control, memory, or emotional barriers.

3. Dramatic Structure

a. Three-Act Format
Albee structures tension through a classical three-act arc:
Act I – Introduction and Exposure: Social niceties gradually dissolve into psychological skirmishes.
Act II – Escalation and Confrontation: Conflicts intensify; secrets are revealed; illusions begin to collapse.
Act III – Resolution and Revelation: Characters face the consequences of truth; catharsis occurs, though often ambiguous or unsettling.

b. Rising Tension and Controlled Chaos
Even within domestic realism, Albee introduces moments of absurdity, theatricality, and unpredictability. The structure allows emotional and psychological escalation, keeping the audience on edge.

c. Interweaving Reality and Illusion
Albee often blurs the line between what is real and what is imagined or performed by the characters. This structure mirrors his thematic focus on the fragility of identity and the masks people wear.

d. Confinement of Space
The limited physical setting heightens dramatic intensity. By keeping action largely confined to a single space, Albee forces focus onto dialogue, conflict, and character interaction, making the psychological drama more immediate.