All 8 Uses of
contempt
in
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- MARTHA: (Going after them, looks back at GEORGE, contemptuously)
Act 1 *contemptuously = with disrespect
- (Quietly, but with great intensity) Do you think I like having that ....whatever-it-is ....ridiculing me, tearing me down, in front of ....(Waves his hand in a gesture of contemptuous dismissal) YOU†
Act 2contemptuous = showing a lack of respect
- GEORGE MARTHA GEORGE MARTHA GEORGE MARTHA: (With a gesture of contemptuous dismissal) Yaaaahhhh!†
Act 2
- You just tend to your knitting, Grandma...I'll be O.K. GEORGE (After a silence) I've tried to ....tried to reach you ....to .... NICK: (Contemptuously) ....make contact?†
Act 2contemptuously = with disrespect
- MARTHA: (A snarl of dismissal and contempt) NYYYYAAAAHHHHH!†
Act 1
- MARTHA (Dripping contempt) You?†
Act 1
- MARTHA (Dripping contempt) You .... GEORGE: Now I said I warned you.†
Act 2
- (Dripping contempt, but there is fug and loss under it) I sat there at Daddy's party, and I watched you ....I watched you sitting there, and I watched the younger men around you, the men who were going to go somewhere†
Act 2
Definitions:
-
(1)
(contempt as in: feels contempt towards her) lack of respect for someone or something thought inferior -- often accompanied by a feeling of dislike or disgustA famous saying, "familiarity breeds contempt" comes from Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Lion". (6th century BC)
When first the Fox saw the Lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid himself in the wood. Next time however he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time they came near one another the Fox went straight up to the Lion and passed the time of day with him, asking him how his family were, and when he should have the pleasure of seeing him again; then turning his tail, he parted from the Lion without much ceremony.
The moral is traditionally, "Familiarity breeds contempt"; though an alternative moral is "Acquaintance softens prejudices." -
(2)
(contempt as in: held in contempt of court) the crime of willful disobedience to or disrespect for the authority of a court or legislative bodyFormally, this is called "contempt of court," but it is often shortened as just "contempt."