What is the significance of the title of this play, and later, movie? Knowing nothing about the writing of Woolf, and having no particular desire to do so, I turn to the SDMB to satisfy my curiosity. I’ve seen the movie, by the way, so if you chose to answer, don’t hesitate to refer to it.
Without going into detail (I’ve written very long research papers on just this topic before:) ), it basically boils down to the fact that Virginia Woolf wrote about some really depressing stuff; how life is transient, how 99% of people will go nowhere in life, how time is this unescapable, relentless entity that never stops moving. Also, a lot of paradoxical (and depressing) dilemnas; is it better to live a short life in relative happiness, or a long, drawn out life of mediocrity? On a larger scale, her work also reflected the emergence of the Modern Era, and with it the passing of the Victorian, something that most people had a good right to fear (think about all of the “wonders” of the Modern Era yet to come; depression, World Wars, etc).
I hope that helps clear things up.
The significance in the play’s title is “Virginia Woolf” in the context of a kiddy, nursery rhyme song. The play deals with the refusal to accept truth, to live voluntarily in a world of shallow, self-created illusion.
It is significant, also, that George and Martha are an intelligent, well-educated older couple engaging in this game and dragging the younger couple in with them. (Which may actually be the breaking point for George) They understand the Woolf reference, and they know what their game is about, but they continue to play it anyway. As Bob Cos said, to live voluntarily in a world of self-created illusion (or, as George puts it, “We all peel labels, Honey.”)