Wit

The semicolon in the title of Margaret Edson’s play W;t is significant for two reasons: this punctuation mark is misused by Vivian in her attempts to control both literary meaning and death....

This is such a great question! After having read the previous two answers, I think I can add a bit. It's important to note that Vivian is not just a hard-nosed, cold professor, she was specifically...

One of the irony's in Edson's Wit is that Vivian Bearing is a significant professor of John Donne, one of the foremost poets on love in the English language. At the same time, she is someone for...

In the movie version of the play “Wit,” patterns of knowing in nursing emerge through nurse Susie Monahan’s interactions with Vivian. Throughout their shared scenes, Susie observes, listens, and...

As the plot of Wit progresses, Vivian Bearing becomes increasingly aware that, in regard to the experimental and desperate form of chemotherapy that she is receiving, the doctors are far more...

Vivian Bearing, a fifty-year-old professor of English literature, is the protagonist of the story. She's spent her life researching and teaching the works of John Donne and other...

Humanity and humiliation in illness is a major theme in “Wit” by Margaret Edson. Death is the force that compels Bearing to reflect on her life during the process of the play. “Edson's having...

Carl Jung lists twelve archetypes or personality types that are prominent in many myths, novels, and movies. The twelve archetypes are basically divided into three universal groups: the Ego types,...

Margaret Edson’s play Wit follows Vivian Bearing—renowned professor of seventeenth-century poetry—through her treatment for and final days of advanced metastatic ovarian cancer. The title is...

Like all good plays, it's not certain that you can easily 'cut to the core' of it too easily: it's about lots of things all at once, and it has a variety of interests and themes. The main one, in...

The character Susie Monahan is an RN who plays a crucial role in providing the professional treatment and personal assistance to the protagonist, Vivian Bearing. Playwright Margaret Edson draws a...

One theme of the play W;t is the illusion—and ultimate lack—of control a person has over disease and death. Playwright Margaret Edson illustrates this theme through protagonist Vivian’s diminishing...

In Edson's Wit, Vivian Bearing transforms as a character after she ends up in the hospital dying of ovarian cancer. Vivian is a professor and scholar who is an expert on the poetry of John Donne,...

Margaret Edson's play, Wit, is a fun one to look at. Even though the play is not separated into Acts, it is fairly easy to break the text down into scenes. Try the Grand Rounds scene. This is where...

What Vivian Bearing might need to learn is how to experience life physically. Remember, Vivian is an exacting and esteemed John Donne scholar. Her remarkable knowledge of the English metaphysical...

It’s possible to argue that the play format of Wit is of critical importance. The form spotlights the singular character of Vivian Bearing in a way that a novel or a short story might not. The play...