A Delicate Balance (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Edward Albee
- First Published: 1966
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Absurdist
- Time of Work: The 1960’s
- Setting: The living room of a large suburban house
- Genres: Drama, Absurdist literature
- Subjects: 1960’s, Family or family life, Parents and children, Communication, Fear, Existentialism, Suburban life, Houses, mansions, or manors
- Locales: United States
Characters Discussed
Agnes, a handsome wife and mother in her late fifties. Haunted by the possibility of losing her mind, which she defines as a kind of “drifting,” whereby she would become a stranger in the world, she attempts to maintain order, a “delicate balance,” in her world. She deals with the emotional withdrawal of her husband and the “embarrassment” of her sister by taking the verbal initiative to judge and thereby control them. She comes to realize that her hold on reality depends more on them than she has been willing to admit, and that frightens...
[The entire page is 769 words long]
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