Wit

Much of Wit focuses on Vivian’s time in the hospital, especially in terms of how she is treated by medical professionals. Compare and contrast Susie’s treatment of Vivian to the doctors’ treatment of herand explain how the pursuit of knowledge affects Vivian’s care. 

Edson has Vivian break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience. How does this affect the audience’s relationship to Vivian? How would the play be different if it were more traditional, i.e. if Vivian pretended that the audience did not exist? 

Dr. Ashford tells Vivian that John Donne’s “Holy Sonnet Six” shows that death is “nothing but a breath—a comma—that separates life from life everlasting…Life, death. Soul, God. Past, present. Not insuperable barriers, not semicolons, just a comma” (15). Does Wit view death in the same way? Explain your answer.