In telling a compelling story, Edward Albee employs numerous literary devices in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Remember that a literary device can include one of several common writing conventions, such as metaphors, allusions, personification, and hyperbole. As you search through the play for literary devices, consider how the author uses creative language to express his ideas and those of the characters.

There's an example of hyperbole in the opening scene of the play. Hyperbole is an extreme exaggeration intended to make a point by being too absurd to be taken literally. When Martha tells George, "You laughed your goddamn head off," she does not mean that George's laughter resulted in decapitation. Rather, the expression is meant to highlight the extreme nature of the laughter.

There is even a subtle classical allusion to the setting of the story. An allusion is a reference that is meant to suggest something different in the audience's mind, thereby making a poignant connection. The events of the play take place in the fictional New England town that George calls New Carthage. The reference to the ancient city of Carthage seems to be appropriate in two aspects. As the capital of Rome's enemy in the Punic Wars, ancient Carthage was completely destroyed by the Romans. This echoes the Cold War anxieties of annihilation present in the play's characters. Carthage was also the setting of the tragic failed romance between Dido and Aeneas in the Aeneid. In this manner, New Carthage could represent the failures of love and lack of affection in this play.

There are several instances of personification throughout the play. Personification occurs when something nonhuman is described in human terms or described as doing something normally attributed to people. For instance, in act 2, George calmly explains to Martha how he copes with what their relationship has become by mentally checking out of it.

I'm numbed enough... and I don't mean by liqour, though maybe that's been part of the process—a gradual going to sleep of the brain cells—I'm numbed enough, now, to be able to take you when we're alone.

Of course, brain cells do not actually go to sleep. Here, George is using poetic language to vividly describe his mental state.