PARODIED RITUAL IN THE PLAYS OF EDWARD ALBEE

Praised or criticized, experimental or imitative, hopefilled or nihilistic, Edward Albee is unquestionably the major playwright in the United States in the last quarter of a century. Of American plays, Albee's work ranks second only to O'Neill's for generating critical studies. Not a single study, however, addresses the occurrence of parodied ritual in Albee's plays. Chapter one of this dissertation establishes a definition of ritual, discusses Albee's process for parodying it, explores the relationship between ritual and drama, and investigates the effects of parodied rituals on the audience. Chapter two examines the parodied rituals in those plays where characters face their illusions. In The Zoo Story, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, All Over and Seascape, the characters at least momentarily discard their illusions after they experience the omnipotence of death in the context of a parodied death ritual. Albee's other characters, however, never learn from the spiritual deterioration suffered from the parodied ritual. Chapter three argues that in The Sandbox, The American Dream, A Delicate Balance and Tiny Alice nothing can successfully challenge the characters' self-deceptions. By parodying ritual Albee dramatizes the deterioration of the individual, the family and society. Entrapped by illusions, selfishness and self-contempt, an Albee character cannot celebrate the cherished values proclaimed in a genuine ritual. While Albee urges society to rejuvenate its spirit through genuine rituals, he also parodies ritual to warn society against the abuse of ritual. Occasionally his characters hide behind the formulaic codes of a ritual to avoid intimate communication. Sometimes the inherent authority of a ritual dictates values to an individual or forces one to abide by a ritual that no longer addresses the individual's needs. Albee ultimately represents a negative moralist. Though he provides no answers, his parodied rituals force his audience to re-examine its life. By parodying ritual, Albee engages the audience while shocking its sensibilities. To distance and engage is the hallmark of Albee's parodied rituals.