GETTING ALBEE'S GOAT: 'Notes toward a Definition of Tragedy'

BILLY: I know who you are. I know you're my father. I know who you are, and I know who you're supposed to be, but . . .

MARTIN: You too? ... You don't know who I am anymore?

BILLY: No.

MARTIN: Well . . . neither does your mother. Du; 93]

-And, he might add, neither does your father who feels totally isolated, reduced to an offender and not understood. Billy must force Martin to face and acknowledge the hurt and damage he has inflicted on his son.

Indicating the room's physical "wreckage" Billy guesses "there's no point in setting all this right" - or possibility of doing so? Why bother, asks the self-pitying hero turned goat, with "All hope ... all ... 'salvation' . . . everything" gone? "Let's do it anyway," his son says, starting to pick up a few pieces. They talk about loving others, and together they "right a chair" -"Where does this shard" go? "Trash, I suspect." "Too bad," but contact is reestablished [iii; 97-99]. Billy is ready now, launching into his class-assigned speech topic "about how normal our lives" are or were. he says what he is "going to tell them-when I get up there on my hind legs" [iii; 99}. he builds from "I've been living with two people about as splendid as you can get" until today when "the shit hit the fan!" His speech is long [iii; 98-102], the spoken imagery tellingly and terribly funny. Mostly, though, it is heartbreaking [iii; 101-102]

What will I say now!?. Goodness me! The Good Ship Lollipop has gone and sunk What will I say!? ... I came home yesterday and everything had been great-absolutely normal, therefore great. . . . But then today I come home and what do I find? I find my great Mom and my great Dad talking about a letter from great good friend Ross . , . written to great good Mom about how great good Dad has been out in the barnyard fucking animals!! . . . one in particular. A goat! A fucking goat! You see, guys, your stories are swell or whatever, but I've got one'll . . . wipe the tattoos fight off your butts. Ya see, while great old Mom and great old Dad have been doing the great old parent thing, one of them has been underneath the house, down in the cellar, digging a pit so deep!, so wide!, so ... HUGE! . . . we'll all fall in and . . . never ... be able ... to ... climb . . . out . . . again-no matter how much we want to, how hard we try. And you see, kids, fellow students, you see, I love these people.

Saying it is to rediscover it. Billy is crying as he reaches out to Martin: "I love the man who has been down there digging ...! I love this man! I love him!" he overwhelms his father with that love and vulnerability, his embrace, and kisses "on the hands, then on the neck, crying the while. Then . . . he kisses MARTIN full on the mouth-a deep, sobbing, sexual kiss." Martin "doesn't know what to do" "tries to disengage' himself and finally "shoves" Billy away. Both are conscious of the sexuality and upset by it. "Dad! I love you," he repeats, and he's "So sad; so sincere" - "Hold me! Please!" Martin holds and strokes him, Billy disengages and starts to apologize, but his father finally understands the extent of his son's hurt and feels the healing force of unconditional love. "No; it's all right. (Arms out) Here; let me hold you." The son is brought back to his father.