Wit

The scene changes again, and Vivian is back in the hospital. Technicians ask her to spell her name and her doctor’s name repeatedly as they subject her to a battery of medical tests. At one point, she sarcastically responds that she is “Lucy, Countess of Bedford” (17). The medical staff is unamused. The technicians are only concerned with getting the tests done and Vivian, frustrated with being ignored, begins to tell the audience about her career.

After earning her undergraduate degree, Vivian becomes Dr. Ashford’s graduate assistant. Vivian helps Ashford compile a critical edition of Donne’s work before writing her dissertation on Donne’s Holy Sonnets. She tells the audience that her career has been meteoric. Not only has her research been published in elite journals, her book on Donne’s Holy Sonnets—titled Made Cunningly—“remains an immense success, in paper as well as cloth” (19). Vivian explains that analyzing Donne’s wit is “a way to see how good you really are,” and she assures viewers that “no one is quite as good as I” (20).

Vivian has been moving from test to test during her explanation, and now her wheelchair is passed to Susie Monahan, Vivian’s primary nurse.