Hiding Behind the Wit

As I was reading this play, I knew the very moment I started what to expect from the ending.

Didn't make it any less painful.

Anyway, I thought Margaret Edison did a brilliant job of telling this story through the drama genre. There were things accomplished through this format that wouldn't have been possible through any other genre. The actions scenes were raw and powerful. Here are some of the other things I noticed while reading:

• In the way of props and backdrops, there isn't much of a focus. Because of the sparse setting, the play seems to almost happen in a floating sphere of Vivian's consciousness. The focus isn't on her surroundings, which in a performance can create more of a focus on what the characters are saying and their emotions. There isn't anything to distract from the words - the attention is solely on dialogue and action. I thought there was a definite nod to the writings of John Donne in this way; he is mainly focused on his ideas and thoughts rather than spending a lot of time describing the scenery. Every prop in his poems is well-placed and there for a reason, much like the props in Wit. 

•  Another thing I noticed was the length of her speeches to herself/the audience in comparison to the short, simple, and almost indifferent lines that she actually says to her doctors and nurses. All her "real" dialogue is much shorter than what she actually wants to say. This is another nod to Donne's poetry, because half the things he says are not to anyone specific... he's just putting his words out in the universe... telling his thoughts, most of which are so shrouded that if he were to say them out loud, chances are people would look at him like he was crazy. In the play, Vivian isn't willing to say what she really thinks, so she substitutes her thoughts with one-liners. 
• I also noticed that the diction throughout the poem was very technical... the medical team used big fancy medical words... which Vivian was attempting to break down to better understand them. Throughout the lines surrounding these fancy medical terms, the context was clear: death was something they were all preparing for, something that is evident in John Donne's sonnets. 
• The way that Edson chose to line up the doctor's explanations with Vivian's interpretations was a reflection of the way someone might read a translation of a poem alongside the original "harder to understand" version. 
• The character transformation of Vivian is especially evident. In the beginning, she is very closed off and doesn't really want the "humanity" part of the world, but she starts to yearn for that in the end. One of few specific props mentioned, the orange popsicle stands out in my mind, and the emotional vulnerability that comes to Vivian seems almost unfair because she's finally understood that there is more to life than she believed. The dramatic irony behind her finally reaching out and having no one but a nurse who is paid to be there, and then that being followed up by her old professor visiting her when she isn't fully coherent to appreciate it... all this leads the audience to brace themselves for the worst, but also the inevitable. 
• Some figurative language that is used throughout the play includes the word "fine," acting as an understatement/ litotes. Vivian is unwilling or unable to express her exact feelings, so she covers it up with what she knows they (the doctors) want to hear. As her student (mentioned in the memories) is explaining how Donne hides behind his wit, so Vivian seems to hide how she really feels. She doesn't realize she's afraid until well into the last few scenes, which alludes to the conversation where Susie asks Jason if John Donne "ever gets his Salvation Anxiety," or if he stays afraid his whole life. Vivian eventually allows herself to feel the pain and she embraces death by choosing to be "no code." As she walks to the light, the image of leaving her cares behind and hiding behind literally nothing is where the play (and her life) ends.