History Theatre / Wit

* DrJerk: Kelekian turns out to be one despite his pleasant exterior when it's revealed that [[spoiler:he knew Vivian had no chance of survival and was only keeping her alive for research purposes.]] Jason's better, but he has his moments as well.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
-->'''Kelekian''': You have cancer...Ms. Bearing, you have advanced metastatic ovarian cancer.
-->'''Vivian''': [[TheStoic Go on.]]

* HumblePie: At first, Vivian is able to take the poking and prodding in her stride, until being subjected to a particularly cack-handed and painful pelvic exam performed by Jason, her former student. Things [[FromBadToWorse start]] [[HumiliationConga going]] [[TraumaCongaLine downhill]] from there.
-->"I wish I had given him an A."

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Emma Thompson in the film sticks with her natural English accent. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since academics tend to develop odd accents from working and living abroad for long periods of time.

A 1999 Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Margaret Edson that was later adapted to television by Creator/MikeNichols and Creator/EmmaThompson, ''Wit'' is about Vivian Bearing, an English professor who specializes in the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, who finds out she has an aggressive case of ovarian cancer. The story depicts her struggles with her illness and chemotherapy, as well as dealing with hospital bureaucracy. She spends much of the story [[BreakingTheFourthWall discussing the situation with the audience]], reflecting on her life and the choices she's made, as well as the poetry she's studied and how it relates to her current condition.

* AdultFear: Dying from cancer is as adult as you can get.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Vivian's appearance goes gradually downhill as she suffers more and more from her cancer. Notably, her hair [[BaldWoman is among the first of her features to go]].

%%* BreakTheHaughty

%%* DoomedProtagonist

* DrJerk: Kelekian turns out to be one despite his pleasant exterior when it's revealed that [[spoiler:he knew Vivian had no chance of survival and was only keeping her alive for research purposes]]. Jason's better, but he has his moments as well.
* DyingAlone: It's implied this happened to Vivian, but we can't be sure.

* ForegoneConclusion: In the play, we start with Vivian in [[spoiler:her death throes]]. The film skips over this to go straight to her diagnosis. This could be a case of PragmaticAdaptation, since in the play she wears the paper gown for the entire show, even when looking back over earlier periods in her life. The film chops and changes a bit more with this.

* MagicalNegro: In the film, Susie (played by Audra Mc Donald) comes close, both as a nurse who's almost too angelic, and as the one major character whose background isn't explored.

* NotSoStoic

* TooDumbToFool: Though probably the least educated character in a movie populated with geniuses, Susie is perhaps the one who understands life, death, and human dignity better than anyone else there (certainly her colleagues). Contrast with Jason's TooCleverByHalf

A 1999 Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Margaret Edson that was later adapted to television by MikeNichols and Creator/EmmaThompson, ''Wit'' is about Vivian Bearing, an English professor who specializes in the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, who finds out she has an aggressive case of ovarian cancer. The story depicts her struggles with her illness and chemotherapy, as well as dealing with hospital bureaucracy. She spends much of the story [[BreakingTheFourthWall discussing the situation with the audience]], reflecting on her life and the choices she's made, as well as the poetry she's studied and how it relates to her current condition.

* BechdelTest: Passes easily. Although it's an interesting case since the amount of times it passes may technically change depending on the gender of the viewer, given that Vivian talks to the audience (whether live or through the camera) directly about a number of subjects other than men.

* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Student" Teacher]]: Professor Ashford.

* BreakTheHaughty

* [[spoiler:DoomedProtagonist]]

* [[spoiler:DyingAlone]]: It's implied this happened to Vivian, but we can't be sure.

* [[spoiler:GoodNightSweetPrince: Professor Ashford quotes the second half of this line when she says goodbye to Vivian, despite her not actually being dead at that point.]]

* [[spoiler:OnlyMostlyDead]]: Jason's attitude towards Vivian once [[spoiler:her heart stops.]]

* ActingForTwo: In the stage version, Kelekian and Vivian's dad are played by the same actor, possibly as a [[RuleOfSymbolism comment]] on the inherently paternalistic relationship between doctors and patients.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece / ScienceMarchesOn: The play was originally performed in 1999 and as a result, Vivian's fate is completely inexorable. Had it been set in the present day, Vivian probably would have been able to get tested for the [[http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/breast-cancer/about/risks/breast-cancer-genes#options faulty breast cancer gene]], which has also been linked to ovarian cancer. Her mum's death would have been a red flag. It still might not have been enough to [[spoiler:save her life or]] stop her from becoming ill, but she would have at least had a warning and would have been able to take some preventative steps.

* ArcWords: "Death thou shalt die". Also "soporific."
* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted.

* BechdelTest: Passes easily. Although it's an interesting case since the amount of times it passes may technically change depending on the gender of the viewer, given that Vivian talks to the camera directly about a number of subjects other than men.

* TheCameo: Creator/HaroldPinter as Vivian's father.

* FriendlessBackground: Vivian. When Professor Ashcroft suggests that she go out and enjoy herself with her friends, she seizes up inside:

* [[spoiler:GoodNightSweetPrince: Professor Ashcroft quotes the second half of this line when she says goodbye to Vivian, despite her not actually being dead at that point.]]

* MagicalNegro: Susie comes close, both as a nurse who's almost too angelic, and as the one major character whose background isn't explored.
* MissingMum: While we at least meet Vivian's dad, any details about her mum are conspicuously absent, despite her living for twenty years longer than him and having [[spoiler:died]] in roughly the same manner as Vivian.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Emma Thompson sticks with her natural English accent. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] since academics tend to develop odd accents from working and living abroad for long periods of time.

* ShownTheirWork: Towards the end of the play, Vivian displays what is colloquially known as the [[spoiler:"O Sign", where morbidity is indicated by the patient being slack-jawed to the point of their mouth forming an "O" shape.]]

* TooCleverByHalf: Jason. A brilliant young man with a terrible ego and an abysmal bedside manner who forgets the entire point of his cancer research in the first place.

* TookALevelInKindness: Vivian realises that she shouldn't have been so tough on her students but, apart from being able to offer Susie half of her popsicle, she is too sick to act on her change of heart.

* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Student" Teacher]]: Professor Ashcroft.

* TearJerker: When Professor Ashcroft comes to visit Vivian,[[spoiler: and instead of quoting Donne to her on her deathbed, she reads her a children's bedtime story.]]

* TheCameo: HaroldPinter as Vivian's father.

* UnintentialPeriodPiece / ScienceMarchesOn: The play was originally performed in 1999 and as a result, Vivian's fate is completely inexorable. Had it been set in the present day, Vivian probably would have been able to get tested for the [[http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/breast-cancer/about/risks/breast-cancer-genes#options faulty breast cancer gene]], which has also been linked to ovarian cancer. Her mum's death would have been a red flag. It still might not have been enough to [[spoiler:save her life or]] stop her from becoming ill, but she would have at least had a warning and would have been able to take some preventative steps.

* UnintentialPeriodPiece/ScienceMarchesOn: The play was originally performed in 1999 and as a result, Vivian's fate is completely inexorable. Had it been set in the present day, Vivian probably would have been able to get tested for the [[http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/breast-cancer/about/risks/breast-cancer-genes#options faulty breast cancer gene]], which has also been linked to ovarian cancer. Her mum's death would have been a red flag. It still might not have been enough to [[spoiler:save her life or]] stop her from becoming ill, but she would have at least had a warning and would have been able to take some preventative steps.

* VomitIndiscretionShot

A 1999 Pulitzer-Prize winning play by Margaret Edson that was later adapted to television by MikeNichols and EmmaThompson, ''Wit'' is about Vivian Bearing, an English professor who specializes in the metaphysical poetry of John Donne, who finds out she has an aggressive case of ovarian cancer. The story depicts her struggles with her illness and chemotherapy, as well as dealing with hospital bureaucracy. She spends much of the story [[BreakingTheFourthWall discussing the situation with the audience]], reflecting on her life and the choices she's made, as well as the poetry she's studied and how it relates to her current condition.

* ForegoneConclusion: In the play, we start with Vivian in [[spoiler:her death throes]]. The film skips over this to go straight to her diagnosis.

* JerkassWoobie

* SpoilerOpening: In the play, we start with Vivian in [[spoiler:her death throes]]. The film skips over this to go straight to her diagnosis.

* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well done, Student" Teacher]]: Professor Ashcroft.

* SpoilerOpening: In the play, we start with Vivian in her death throes. The film skips over this to go straight to

* IllGirl: Averted -

* SoapOperaDisease: Averted. Very, very averted.

* HumblePie: At first, Vivian is able to take the poking and prodding in her stride, until being subjected to a particularly cack-handed and painful pelvic exam performed by Jason, her former student. Things start [[HumiliationConga going]] [[TraumaCongaLine downhill]] from there.

-->"I went outside. It was a warm day. There were students on the lawn talking about nothing, laughing. There were students on the lawn talking about nothing, laughing. Simple human truth. Uncompromising scholarly standards. They're connected. I just couldn't...I went back to the library."