Based on Freudian psychoanalytic concepts: sexuality, the unconscious, the tripartite psyche and defence mechanisms, this study investigates the relationship between the personal life of the American playwright, Edward Albee and his selected plays, namely Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Ballad of the Sad Café, A Delicate Balance and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? It exposes how Albee sublimates his sufferings and reveals his life via his dramatic works. The study also shows the traumatic experiences which Albee undergoes during his childhood, a matter that affects his behaviour and actions and leaves a deep scar on his own psyche. Besides, it displays how the author sketches his fictional characters to express his unconscious mind, bruised ego and troubled childhood. Further, the study exposes the defence mechanism the playwright takes up to legitimize his suppressed wishes and undesirable impulses. The aforementioned plays are selected because they are autobiographical and self-r.....

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The aim of this study was to investigate dysfunctional marital relationships in Edward Albee's plays using psychoanalytic analysis. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Ballad of The Sad  Café, A Delicate Balance and The Goat, or Who IS Sylvia? were Albee's plays that were selected for  this study. A Freudian psychoanalytic theory of personality was used to examine the psyches of the  couples' characters in order to reveal the psychological reasons behind their dysfunctional marital  relationships. The findings of the study exposed that each one of married couples has undergone  traumatic experiences in the past, a matter which affected their personalities. The spouses   suffered  from  turbulent  childhood,  intrapsychic  conflicts,  unresolved complexes, and sexual  deviations. Consequently, most of them were dominated by the id and have weak superegos. Besides,  the study uncovered the connection between Albee's personal life and the selected plays, and show.....

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