THE GOAT - For research purposes :)

Hey...

I'm doing a research paper on Edward Albee's "The Goat or Who is Sylvia?" and if anybody read it or saw it (with any cast in any location), I have but one question:

What was the play about; the core meaning of the piece? (not a summary... more along the lines of theme.)



The question isn't because I don't know, but because the answer is one of the main things I'm to tackle in the course of the paper and the more opinions I get, the more material I have to use

Updated On: 11/20/04 at 04:41 PM

I saw it on Broadway twice.

It's about the limits of love and tolerance. Similar in subject to his earlier masterpiece "A Delicate Balance," Albee posits a situation of man falling in love with a goat (which is an absurdist construct -- the play isn't really about bestiality) to explore this notion of just what is unforgivable and what is beyond the limits of acceptance. Just how far does the notion of tolerance go? How much does society dictate who is and isn't acceptable for us to all in love with? Is love more or less important than being accepted by ones family and ones peers? If you loved someone (or something) with all of your heart and soul, but that love causes you to be condemned and ostracized by everyone in the world that you care about, what would you do? Abandon that object of affection or stay with it? If someone you cared about fell in love with someone (something) you didn't approve of and in fact were repulsed by, could you still love that person?

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thanks guys... anybody else? finishing up my notes today.