Family Conflict and Ethical Dilemma: A Study of Edward Albee̕ s A Delicate Balance

In A Delicate Balance, Albee tries to provide an all-round depiction of the “small wars” happening in a normal American family and highlight the “large anxieties” in people’s daily lives. From the trivial lives of the protagonists in the play, it is obvious that people have continued to pursue the life philosophy and life ideal of the Beat Generation since the middle of the 20th century. As a family problem play, A Delicate Balance narrates the family conflicts faced by the couple Tobias and Agnes. These conflicts can be divided into three parts: the drinking problem of Claire, Agnes’s sister; the marriage problem of Julia, Agnes’s daughter; and Julia’s disturbance of Harry and Edna when they come to visit their old friends Tobias and Agnes. Albee uses A Delicate Balance to advise us that the crisis of intergenerational relationships in modern society can be solved through sincere communication and love; what’s more, they can also bring about true equality and fraternity.