Professor E. M. Ashford
E. M. Ashford is a professor of English literature and serves as a graduate school mentor to Vivian Bearing. Ashford played a crucial role in guiding Bearing through her studies of John Donne's poetry. Through Ashford, the audience first hears lines from Donne's poem "Death Be Not Proud," a significant theme in this play. One of the most touching scenes occurs between Ashford and Bearing, where Ashford sits on the hospital bed shortly before Bearing's death, cradling her and reading a children's story to comfort her.

Vivian Bearing, Ph.D.
Vivian Bearing is a professor of English literature and the central character of the play. At fifty years old, she has recently been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The drama focuses on her cancer treatment and its impact on her body, mind, and emotions.

Bearing has dedicated her life to the study, comprehension, and teaching of John Donne and other seventeenth-century poets. Her deep commitment to Donne's work, along with the high level of rigor she demands from both herself and her students, has earned her college course a reputation as one of the three toughest classes on campus. Bearing takes great pride in this reputation. She is uncompromising in every aspect of her life and expects the same from those around her, showing little patience or empathy if they fall short.

Upon being diagnosed with cancer, Bearing initially confronts this challenge as she has all others—intellectually.

However, Bearing gradually realizes that her scholarly mastery of John Donne offers no comfort in her current predicament. Her strict self-discipline also fails to provide solace as the cancer ravages her body and the medical procedures and hospital humiliations shatter her illusions of control over her life. As Bearing faces her mortality, it becomes evident that she may have overlooked the true essence of life.

Bearing takes a significant amount of time to realize that wit and discipline won't guide her through her struggle. She persistently recites poetry in an effort to escape the humiliation of being examined by researchers who disregard her humanity and focus solely on her physical form. Even halfway through the eight cycles of chemotherapy, she still connects her body's experience to her academic background. "One thing can be said for an eight-month course of cancer treatment: it is highly educational. I am learning to suffer." This statement marks the beginning of the audience witnessing the breakdown of Bearing's exterior. "God, I'm going to barf my brains out," she exclaims, then turns to the audience and, attempting to apologize, says, "You may remark that my vocabulary has taken a turn for the Anglo-Saxon." The disintegration of Bearing's facade continues. She takes pride not only in her strength and stature but also in her vocabulary. By using everyday phrases like "puking my brains out," Bearing notices her academic mask slipping away. Her pain and suffering are bringing about a change in her, and this change is not merely physical. The one constant in Bearing's life has been language, and as her illness advances, she finds her vocabulary failing her.

As her treatment nears its end, Bearing begins to yearn for something beyond words. Initially, she calls it "personal contact." Later, she refers to it as "human kindness." In a flashback to one of her classrooms, she listens to a student describe Donne as "hiding … behind this wit ." Bearing then realizes that she, like Donne, has been hiding behind her wit. She admits that she is frightened. As she approaches death, she increasingly loses her ability to articulate herself with words. She sheds her masks of academic...