Truth or illusion? When the fantasy world that people create to cope with the absurdity of life is pushed too far into reality, it becomes difficult to distinguish between authenticity and fiction. This ambiguity is apparent in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, in which marital relations are based solely on illusion. Both couples in the dramas use illusions to avoid feeling the truth and the pain of failures. Yet, ultimately, they are forced to wake up from the fake world they have been living in and, by openly expressing their feelings, create hope for progress. It is essential to get rid of illusions in order to live life fully and sincerely. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe relationship between Martha and George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is disturbing from the start, because it is based on illusion. Martha married George not because of who he really was, but because of who she imagined he could become. As she tells Nick in the first act, "I had the idea at that time of getting married in college... which didn't seem as stupid as it turned out" ( Albee 79). Her father was president of the College of New Carthage and Martha, being his only daughter, hoped to take control of it herself through marriage. So she embraced George's delusion, who also embraced it himself. Yet when they realized that this illusion was not real, because George did not have "the courage to" (Albee 85) succeed his father, their marriage was significantly injured. Yet the dominant illusion in George and Martha's lives lies in the seed of their relationship. Because they couldn't have children and lived a miserable life, they decided to create an imaginary child. So the force that binds their relationship is also an illusion. Although Albee does not directly reveal the child's unreality to the audience until the very end, he provides clues that implicate him throughout the play. The first clue is provided when George warns Martha not to "start talking about the kid" (Albee 18) as their two a.m. guests arrive at the door. The physical perfection of the boy “blond hair, blue eyes” also suggests that he is an illusion. Then, as George and Martha use the child to attack each other, their bizarre insults add to the boy's unreality. Martha first says that George made him sick all the time and George counters by saying that "the real reason our son threw up all the time was because he couldn't stand you groping him" (Albee 120) . Finally, in the last act, when George informs Martha that their son has been "killed" and Martha tells him that he "can't decide these things" (Albee 232), it becomes obvious, even to Nick, that their son is only a creation of the mind. However, through Martha's reaction, we can see that the blurring of illusion and reality can cause a very real emotional impact on something that is uniquely delusional. Similarly, in A Doll's House, Nora and Torvald's entire marriage is built on illusions. The characters' lies and dishonesty towards each other mark their entire relationship. This is first revealed when Torvald asks Nora if she broke any rules today and if she had "taken a bite of a macaron or two" (Ibsen 6). Despite the fact that the audience had just seen Nora put macaroons in her mouth upon entering, Nora completely denies it and falsely tells Torvald that "I shouldn'tthink about going against your wishes" (Ibsen 6). Ibsen uses situational irony here to show that their entire marriage is based on false appearances. The greatest deception in their relationship, however, lies in the form of Nora's secret debt When Torvald was ill, she secretly borrowed money from Krogstad in order to travel to a southern climate to improve her condition. Until today, Nora did not tell her about it. husband and secretly repaid the debt, because she claims that Torvald and their marriage cannot maintain the knowledge of this secret "How painful and humiliating it would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed me something. . It would completely upset our mutual relations;" (Ibsen 13). Thus, Torvald's "manly independence" is only an illusion which also renders false the basis on which they treat each other. Illusions are so common in both dramas that they mix with reality until even the characters have difficulty differentiating what appears to be true and what is false. In fact, in most of Albee's plays, George and Martha are. engage in emotional and psychological "games" This becomes evident when Martha tells a stunned Nick that "there is only one man in my life who has ever made me happy George" (Albee 189-190). Although she continually insults and humiliates George, Martha still truly loves him. With this paradox, Albee implies that their arguments are just part of a game and that everything is not as it seems to be. this idea when she advises Nick not to “always act on the surface” (Albee 190). Plus, the only reason Martha seduces Nick is to get George's attention and make him jealous. Yet George acts as if he is indifferent and begins reading a book while Martha sexually entertains Nick. Later, it becomes clear, when George unleashes his fury alone on stage, that he was only pretending not to care. So their actions may all be false appearances. Nick even comments at the end that he doesn't know when George and Martha are lying. By blurring the lines between truth and illusion, Albee shows that it is not important whether something is a lie or not, but that the importance lies in how people choose to exist in a situation in which they found themselves trapped. is between Nora and Torvald, the roles they each assume in their marriage are only an appearance. Nora, for example, plays the role of a child-wife and mother who is entirely dependent on Torvald and spendthrift when it comes to money. Torvald also supports this illusion through the names he uses to refer to it. For example, he calls Nora “my little squirrel” and “my little lark” (Ibsen 4). Ibsen uses animal imagery to show that Torvald views Nora as a small, helpless creature. Nora, in turn, reinforces her manufactured role by acting as she knows Torvald wants her to be. The utter falsity of his actions only becomes clear in the last scene of the first act, when Nora tells Torvald that she absolutely needs his help, even with such a trivial problem as choosing a costume for the upcoming ball. “Torvald, couldn’t you take me in hand and decide what I should do because…I can’t manage at all without your help” (Ibsen 27). The audience knows, however, that Nora is not as helpless as she claims, as she decided the important matter of borrowing money to save Torvald's life on her own. So Nora Torvald thinks that he is married is just an illusion, and Torvald cannot tell the difference between the fake and helpless Nora and the real one. In addition, Torvald takes the role of Nora's protector, who would risk 58)..