This by far is the most touching play I have ever read. "Wit" by Margaret Edson has a way of really reaching out to its readers and allowing them to feel for its characters. The main character Vivian Bearing was very stern and passionate about about her work. She was very positive and strong for someone who was terminally ill with stage IV Metastatic Ovarian cancer. Yet ill, I admired the fact she was willing to accept her fate, especially at such a young age. To be 50 years old, terminally ill, and know that your days are numbered takes a lot of faith in God to accept his plans for your life. One of the issues that stood out most to me was how Vivian was treated as just a test subject. Her doctor would propose different treatments to her, hoping that they hit it big instead of genuinely making Vivian comfortable as possible in her last hours of life. Dr. Kelekian offers her a treatment called chemotherapeutic treatment and many terminally ill patients would, she accept to go through with it. At this point in her life she could only hope for a change or accept her fate. Richard Hornby also pen pointed an issue in his review of "Wit". Hornby wrote, "There is also deft satire of doctors, who are depicted as concerned but detached, viewing their patient more as a scientific case study than as a person." Despite the doctors lack of sincerity, Vivian's students truly respected her as a human being and as the great professor she was. She was know for her rigorous teachings that gave her students a challenge like no other.
Another thing I noticed while reading the play, was how Patients' rights and final wishes are not always respected and sometimes over looked. Vivian's nurse asked her what she wanted them to do if her state of health became worse than what it was. She decided for them not to resuscitate if that was to be the case. Sometimes terminally ill patients choose not resuscitate because they know there are going to die eventually and they rather die in rest instead of being revived to only suffer more. Dr. Jason tried to perform CPR once she flat lined but was made aware of her decision to not resuscitate. Vivian Bearing died a well respected person for her love and drive for her students to succeed and for her teachings of literature.
3 comments:
Campbell
In your assessment of the play, you observed that Vivian was treated as a test subject rather than a terminally ill patient. I to agree with and made the same observation. Dr. Kelekian built a rapport with Vivian based on their mutual positions as academics. From this mutual relationship, Dr. Kelekian assumes Vivian understands that her cancer is untreatable and therefore the course of treatment will strictly be to understand how it will affect the patient and the cancer. Additionally, the longer the patient survived the treatment, the more research they could conduct. When Dr. Kelekian explained to Vivian, that she was terminally ill with stage IV Metastatic Ovarian cancer, the audience as well as Vivian understand that she had reached a point of no return. Despite this fact, as you stated Vivian opted to go-along with the rigorous and demanding chemotherapeutic treatment. I felt, that Dr. Kelekian appealed to Vivian’s no nonsense hard charging nature when explaining the challenges associated with the treatment in which she was sure to accept thus giving him an ideal test subject. Additionally, Your reference to Richard Hornby and his quote, "There is also deft satire of doctors, who are depicted as concerned but detached, viewing their patient more as a scientific case study than as a person." Further illustrated Dr. Kelekian motives.
Adding to what you have stated, I fell that Vivian was aware of this fact in the beginning that Dr. Kelekian study of cancer was much like her study of Donne, in other words she was approaching her cancer from an academic standpoint. In my opinion, this academic approach was also her attempts to understand death as Donne had attempted to do in his sonnets. Vivian knew that her diagnosis was a death sentence; however, she held out hope, that the treatment might in some way offer an extension of life while trying to understand death. While Vivian’s resolve and perseverance got her through all eight courses of treatment to the surprise of the doctors, she could, Unfortunately, no longer withstand the treatment and cancer that had ravaged her body, she quickly found that human compassion was more preferable in the end over protocol and intellectual understanding.
We agree that Dr. Bearing exhibited a very brave attitude in her acceptance with death. It is quite amusing to see her go back and forth with the doctors and nursing staff. She is constantly displaying her quick witted feistiness, and that provides a very lovable quality to her character that would not otherwise be found. Despite her attempts, however, she realizes that she is fighting a losing battle (both with cancer, and with the staff at the hospital). In her maturity, she finally accepts the fact that her doctors know more about the biology of her body than she does, and she concedes to their will. To me, this was the most mature act of the entire play.
Toward the end of her life, however, she was very childlike in her approach to death – that is not to say that she was “immature,” rather she was seeking comfort and consolation in her dying hours (particularly from her nurse, Susie). She had Susie bring her popsicles, reassure her constantly, and she even had her old teacher read her a bedtime story! I feel that her “bravery” severely deteriorated as her cancer literally caused her body to deteriorate (sort of a linked mind/body regression).
Please read the above comments. They both point out some essential points about Vivian. Why do you think she becomes childlike in the end of the play. Why do you think Jason took her class--he says why, but it is also because he wants to prove that science trumps art.
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