The issue of life and death is the central theme of Margaret Edson’s play “Wit”; whereas the main character’s (Vivian Bearing) finding of her misconception of witty language’s significance is used by the author for representation of Vivian’s change due to her disease. In particular, Ms. Bearing’s advocacy for the need of wit in language loses its importance under the influence of her experiences in the hospital. Vivian’s concept of witty language undergoes fundamental changes during her hospital stay, which results in her understanding of the role played by simplicity in the expression of real life human experience.
Being a professor of English, Vivian Bearing is passionate about the subject of her life, that is, language. Her primary idea of language has cardinally changed under the influence of her experiences in the hospital, where she appeared in the result of her diagnosis of Stage IV ovarian cancer. Vivian in fact adored language in its complicacy, whereas poetry of John Donne was used by the woman as a source of the author’s wit that provided her with great examples for her students’ learning of sophisticated English. In particular, Donne’s sonnet “Death Be Not Proud” was her favorite one, as it was a manifestation of “…wit at work: not so much resolving the issues of life and God as revelling in their complexity” (Edson 39). However, Vivian reshaped her opinion of language’s beauty as triggered by its wit after her own life’s complication by the need to choose between life and death.
The final exam of Vivian’s own life has shown her that language does not need wit or any other devices of complication when simple words are more than capable of getting the message across. The woman catches herself thinking that her advocacy for language in its complexity and her respect to witty words, in general, become irrelevant in such a specific context like hers: “Now is a time for simplicity. Now is a time for, dare I say it, kindness” (Edson 45). Her stay in the hospital as a whole and especially the kind treatment given by Susie Monahan, a nurse at the Medical Centre, helped her to understand that language is a means of human life’s expression, which must be simple. Being aware of her complicated state (the start of the cancer in new places) and being required to choose whether she wants to be kept alive with the help of machines (a Code Blue) or to die without life-sustaining treatment (Do Not Resuscitate), Vivian realizes that there is no more time for erudition, interpretation or complication. It is just a choice between her life and her death, whereas language (and wit of John Donne’s sonnet “Death Be Not Proud”) so adored by her does not have the power to express the whole delicacy of the situation in which she appeared. As a result, her accustomed belief changed under the action of her doubts in witty language’s ability to be applied to her own situation: “I’m in a … quandary, having these doubts” (Edson 42).
Ms. Bearing arrives at the conclusion that her previous idea of language has nothing to do with real life and real feelings of people. For her, witty language was a sign of her ingenuity seen by her to be capable of resolving any issues. As it becomes clear, Vivian’s disease showed her that her wit cannot save her life, it even cannot be applied for her understanding of the situation. She says, “I thought being extremely smart would take care of it. But I see that I have found out. Ooohhh” (Edson 45). It is obvious that Vivian’s finding hurts her own feelings; this ‘ooohhh’ is a dramatic confirmation of this aspect. In fact, the professor of English discovers that she cannot express her thoughts with the help of words. She always taught her students that language is a great means to communicate ideas while wit is a helpful device. At the same time, when she faces the need to make her own ideas clear, she manages to say only “It’s as if … I can’t … There aren’t …” (Edson 46) She experiences a most definite problem with phrasing, for she is ambivalent about her previous love of witty language and its present failure to express her inner condition. Naturally, Ms. Bearing feels like one of her students, unable to give an answer because of inability to catch the main idea of the question: “… I don’t know what to put down because I don’t understand the question and I’m running out of time” (Edson 46). In such a way, Vivian comes to a conclusion that her adoration of complicated language and caused by it, her desire to hear a witty language of people (her students, in particular) are worth nothing when there is an urgent need for simplicity.
Vivian’s new idea of language’s benefits when it is simple is probably a message conveyed by the final scene of her life. During her painful experiences in the Medical Centre, the woman’s thoughts are preoccupied with the simplicity of language as a great means for the expression of human experience as a whole. Thus, her reflections about her desire to stand for life are deprived of any hint of wit. Instead, only clear simple thoughts come to her mind. For example, she realizes that even life needs no witty words when it is on a thread. In this respect, she says, “‘It’: such a little word. In this case, I think ‘it’ signifies ‘being alive’” (Edson 46) Finally, the professor of English shows her new respect to those words helpful for her ideas’ expression; words that convey her inner state as far as it is possible. Now, there is no place for wit but there is a need in short words, such as ‘no’, ‘uh’ and others, which prove their power to express Vivian’s thoughts as opposed to witty words failed to meet the challenge. One way or another, Dr. Vivian Bearing’s hospital stay showed the woman that wit is good for fiction, whereas real life needs simplicity.
In sum, Vivian Bearing’s experience in the hospital changed her idea of witty language’s importance for people, as it showed her that simplicity is an answer to numerous questions. Moreover, her hospital stay helped her to realize that wit is not capable of expressing feelings of people. Simple English, instead, is a great means to convey the intended idea and assist in its understanding.

Works Cited
Edson, Margaret. Wit. London: Nick Hern Books, 2012. Print