Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2002. Vol. 8. Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 28)

Studies - Réka Cristian: Edward Albee's Castings

Separation, and ultimately death"

6

6 in Counting the Ways. The absurdity of the emptied relationship of He and She is accentuated by the fact that both characters enter Scenes 10, 11, and 12 with a flower (a rose) symbolizing the same thing (as their mutual possession). The rose represents love but also bear the hidden meaning of its opposite, hate

6

7. He and She pluck the petals in order to find an answer to their search for love but they do not ask each other about it, they fear direct questions and mediate their wish through the petals of the rose. Counting the petals has a contrapuntal effect and the play has a centripetal effect because of its characters that strive on the borders of insecure feelings between love and hate. The play starts and ends with the commonplace question of "Do you love me?". Love is the main structuring device that demonstrates the lack of meaning in this marriage, where one has to be able to communicate with the partner "in order to be aware of one's own self'

6

8. There are no specific details nor descriptions given about the characters, they are detached selves that live amid fragmented and momentary talks that induce the threat of the incertitude. She is the rational woman, while he is a passive man, less vocal and as such less vulnerable. Both parody themselves and of course each other. As Philip C. Kolin shows in "The Ways of Losing Heart", the parody is best exemplified by the domestic substitution of the artistic phrase, which applies to both characters: 6

6 Ibid., 125. "

7 In Counting the Ways

, roses are the symbols of the unsaid questions and uncertainties. "Roses, especially white ones, are emblems of silence, being the flowers of Harpocrates, God of Silence. This is the origin of the phrase 'under the rose', used in reference to things said that must not be repeated... The first roses were all white but some turned red when they were stained by blood... It is exceedingly unlucky to scatter petals of a rose worn upon the person or carried in the hand... Roses, like other flowers, are ill-omened if they bloom out of season". Cf. E. and M. A. Radford, (Christina Hole, ed.) Encyclopedia of Superstitions (London: Hutchinson, 1980), 285-286. Also "The single rose is a symbol of completion, of consummate achievement and perfection." Cf. J. A Cirlot A Dictionary of Symbols (trans. Jack Sage), (New York: Philosophical Library, 1983), 275. (l

S Philip C. Kolin "Edward Albee's Counting the Ways". In Julian N. Wasserman, ed. Edward Albee. An Interview and Essays (Houston: The University of St. Thomas, 1983), 128. 163